Translator: Nox

Chapter 70

A certainty like the rising sun—the conviction that even though it is night now, tomorrow will surely break.

Robert said nothing in the face of that radiant countenance. His eyes remained blurred. The inner corners of his eyes felt stiff, and his forehead was tight with tension.

Rising silently from his seat, Robert approached the desk. After trimming the wick of the lamp, he began to move through the study, lighting the lamps one by one.

Robert gazed wordlessly at Lottie, who was watching him with bated breath.

A competition to select a husband from among numerous suitors.

From a father’s perspective, it was a difficult proposition to accept, but as a businessman, it was an undeniably tempting plan.

‘If I follow her words… it will be difficult for the royal family to push the marriage proposal any further.’

The marriage between Lottie and the Crown Prince was still a confidential matter known only to a very few. Since numerous suitors had—on the surface—flocked to her voluntarily, it was difficult for the royal family to hold anyone accountable.

Even if the letters Lottie sent to her acquaintances became an issue, it didn’t matter. Though the contents were exaggerated, they were mostly close to the truth, and her speculative tone made it ambiguous to pin down responsibility.

Now that things had come to this, the royal family was left with only two choices.

‘Participate in the husband selection contest, or give up.’

“Father.”

Lottie’s low voice fell into the silence.

“My will to inherit the family in the name of Charlotte May Evanshire, and no one else’s, is firm.”

“…….”

“But I won’t throw a tantrum like I did before. I will prove to you through this selection contest that I have the ability to lead the house. So please….”

The plea for him not to be disappointed in her rose to the base of her throat, but Lottie forced herself to swallow it. She felt that if she let those words out now, she would break down in unsightly tears.

“……Just watch over me this time. So that I can achieve this entirely shifts by my own strength.”

When did this timid, fearful child become an adult?

Lost in sentiment as he looked at Lottie, Robert suddenly recalled his daughter on the day she left for Ronvernon.

The child who had stood on the platform waving, wearing her favorite deep green dress, just as she was now.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t even offered a single embrace to his daughter, who had suffered all kinds of humiliation in Ronvernon.

He had been so preoccupied with cleaning up the mess she was embroiled in that he hadn’t even considered her wounds.

“…….”

A premonition that it was already too late stifled Robert’s words. Along with it came the sense that the twenty-year-old child, who seemed so young in his eyes, had drifted forever beyond his reach.

“I will give you an answer by tomorrow at the latest. You must be tired, so go back to your room and rest.”

Instead of pestering him for an immediate answer, Lottie stood up gracefully and offered a polite greeting.

Robert watched her back in silence as she slowly moved toward the door.

— Bobby. Our daughter, Lottie… please….

— Protect Lottie. She… must never become like me….

While the world knew she had died from a worsening lung disease, his wife had actually perished in a state too horrific to put into words.

His wife’s final will echoed over Lottie’s receding figure.

---

The following morning.

Lottie headed to the study at her father’s summons. Her father’s face looked haggard, as if he had spent the night agonizing over the decision.

After a moment of silence, her father spoke just one sentence.

“Do as you wish.”

After bowing politely and leaving the study, Lottie stood before the door for a long time, unable to move. An overwhelming, indescribable emotion surged through her.

‘I will make sure it succeeds.’

A determined will filled the space where her emotions had barely settled.

She remembered it clearly.

In her first life, she remembered her father, who had been under unspoken pressure from Padrick, who wanted to devour Dempis as quickly as possible.

Her father’s funeral. The image of him lying in the coffin, unrecognizably thin, remained as vivid as if carved with a knife, no matter how hard she tried to forget.

‘I cannot let that future repeat itself.’

She would protect her family and her home from Padrick, and from the true enemy who might be lurking behind him.

With her own hands, she would protect the future of herself and her family.

If marriage was necessary for that, she would choose the most outstanding husband herself. Just as Princess Nuan had done long ago.

“I’m sorry, Father,” Lottie murmured, looking back at the study as she walked down the hallway.

‘The contest will be designed to be so difficult that no one can pass it, so… there might not be anyone who wins at all.’

Lottie’s eyes darted around for a moment like a child who had committed a small mischief, then she resumed her pace down the corridor.

Her face, which had been calm and dignified, began to darken only after she recalled the final task she had postponed.

To hold the husband selection contest as planned, there was someone she absolutely had to meet.

Calyx, her contract lover and fiancé, Kayan Stallion.

---

“We should break up.”

Despite the sudden words, Calyx remained still. The hand pouring the brandy only faltered for a fraction of a second.

Calyx turned from the side table after filling the glass. His expression was calm, without a trace of a smile.

“I was trying to mimic a stage actress. I failed miserably, it seems. Seeing as the reaction isn’t great….”

Lottie stood with her back to the large window that filled one wall, her lips curling awkwardly. She had tried to lighten the atmosphere with a bit of humor, but it was a total failure.

“You already know, don’t you? What I’m trying to say.”

Yes.

I know.

“It’s not like you heard it from my father…. I suppose the stories about the suitors flocking to Glaster have already reached this place?”

That you rejected the sword hilt I offered.

That you abandoned the easy path and, in the end, stubbornly chose to walk your own path.

“Saying I couldn’t contact you because I was under house arrest, or that I was busy preparing, would just be excuses. I’m sorry I couldn’t consult you in advance. Even so, I should have at least given you a hint.”

Lottie spoke in a soft tone. It was a gentle way of speaking, intended to soothe the other person’s feelings.

Calyx, staring intently at her clear face, let out a silent, dry laugh.

‘If she knew what kind of emotions were harbored in here, would she still try to soothe me so tenderly?’

The wretched desire for her to take his hand, for him to be her salvation.

The desire for him to be the only being she could hold onto in her world.

“Please don’t take it unkindly. No matter how things turn out, the fact that we are good friends and allies remains unchanged.”

Calyx was still silent. His closed lips, his eyes like an unruffled lake, his straight brow—everything was submerged and lost in silence.

A predator watching its prey with bated breath.

Lottie shook off the chilling image and moistened her dry lips. Since the other person was completely silent, she couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“To tell you in advance, it will likely be difficult for a winner to emerge from that contest. I plan to design it with hurdles so difficult that no one can pass them.”

In addition to that, it was a way to gain a pretext to refuse Padrick’s proposal, buy time to find Tom Philson, and even gain economic benefits.

Even while Lottie explained these things calmly, Calyx didn’t say a single word. He just stared at her blankly for a long time after she finished speaking.

“Your business.”

He only dropped that one short phrase.

“Your business, is that all?”

“Ah….”

Lottie let out a faint gasp, momentarily lost. It wasn’t just because the man, who had been as motionless as a portrait by a great master, had opened his mouth with an utterly dry tone.

The words she had prepared were clear. They were natural words that didn’t need any special meaning attached to them.

But the moment her eyes met his quiet yet intense reddish-brown gaze, her breath caught as if she were doing something she shouldn’t.

“So… my business is.”

Once again, the other person’s breath went still. In the silence where not even a breeze could intervene, the brilliant summer sunlight pierced through the glass window.

“Please do not participate in the contest.”

It was a voice as low as that single ray of sunshine, and as low as it was heartless.

“Because it is a contest you don’t need to exert yourself for, nor have any reason to.”

“…….”

“I came here to deliver this message.”

A beat late, a thick, hollow laugh broke through Calyx’s lips.

“To deliver those words, did the precious young lady travel this far without even a guardian?”

The mocking tone grated on Lottie’s ears.

Even seeing Lottie’s face begin to turn pale and stiff, Calyx could not stop laughing. This time, it was a cold sneer.

Lottie immediately realized that the ridicule was directed at no one other than Calyx himself.

“You’ve made a wasted trip, my lady.”

“…….”

“Because I already knew you would say that.”

And yet, there was a fool who hoped until the very end that it wouldn’t be so.

Calyx swallowed the brownish brandy in one gulp and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

Tossing the empty glass carelessly onto the side table, he sat down on the blue sofa as if throwing himself into it. Dust danced finely in the direct sunlight.

“Sit. I have no hobby of talking while keeping someone standing like they’re being punished.”

Calyx gestured toward the opposite sofa with his chin. After a moment of hesitation, Lottie moved tentatively and sat carefully on the edge of the sofa.

“Charlotte.”

Calyx spoke abruptly, his gaze cast carelessly somewhere in the empty drawing room. It was a smooth pronunciation, one that made it hard to believe it was her real name.

“Charlotte. Charlotte Evanshire. Charlotte…….”

“…….”

“Charlotte Redbreeze.”

Calyx, who had been repeating her name several times as if practicing an unfamiliar word, finally uttered that name.

Lottie was not ignorant of what that meant.

“I am curious. Back when you were a Redbreeze, what was I doing?”

“The story I told you at Lake Mofit back then was…….”

“Was I even alive?”

Lottie’s eyes trembled violently at the significant question. Calyx gave a short laugh.

“Were we in this kind of relationship then, too? Calling each other sister-in-law and brother-in-law under the name of friends, whispering sweet nothings based on a contract instead of friendship?”

“……Your Highness.”

“Calyx.”

Calyx swallowed Lottie’s words.

“Say it. My name.”