Chapter 11
Our eyes met in the darkness.
Calix’s gaze slowly dropped to my lips, then lifted back to my eyes.
The look in his eyes—like he was waiting for an explanation—made cold sweat break out on my back.
‘I’m screwed. How long has he been awake?’
Just as my mind was turning completely blank, my survival instincts took over.
“You’re awake?”
I straightened my body as if nothing had happened, brushed off my sleeves, and spoke to Calix.
“That concludes your hangover treatment. You can relax now.”
Then, as confidently as I could, I added,
“How do you feel? Refreshed, right?”
Stay calm. Calm down. Act natural. You already prepared an excuse! You can do this, Riana.
Only then did Calix slightly lift himself up, still looking unconvinced, and speak.
“You treated my intoxication?”
“Yes.”
Calix ran both hands over his face once, then nodded faintly, repeating the words as if testing them.
“I see. But then…”
“Yes?”
“Just now…”
He trailed off, looking a little awkward after bringing it up himself.
‘That’s understandable. Of course you’d be curious.’
Your reaction is completely normal—but this is the only answer I can give you.
“Oh, you mean my face being right in front of yours? I was absorbing the alcohol through your nose. That’s why.”
Survival instinct is truly terrifying.
At my completely unexpected explanation, Calix blinked a few times as if spellbound, then spoke.
“Oh. The alcohol… through the nose.”
“Yes. There’s a treatment like that. It’s the latest trend—guess you hadn’t heard of it.”
At this point, I’d outright labeled Calix as someone behind the times. Of course, no such trend existed.
‘I’m truly sorry.’
I’ll apologize later.
“I see.”
Having suddenly become someone out of touch with trends, Calix fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
“…I didn’t know.”
“Oh, that happens. It’s understandable.”
“…”
An awkward silence settled between us once more.
Click—
“Hey, are you done? I hear voices.”
Like a savior, the vice-captain appeared at just the right moment.
“Oh? Captain, you really look fine now!”
I had never been so glad to see the vice-captain before, and probably never would be again.
“Vice-captain! Mission accomplished. See? He’s completely awake now.”
“You’re right. Impressive, as expected. Thank you!”
“Then may I take my leave now?”
“Sure. Go on.”
All I could think about was getting out of this room as fast as possible.
After getting permission, I glanced back—and my eyes met Calix’s again. He looked like he had a hundred questions, but I pretended not to notice and quickly turned away.
“Yes, I’ll be going now. I hope you all have a refreshing night without hangovers.”
The moment the door closed, I ran straight toward my room.
‘I’m doomed. Run, run!’
Even so, my racing heart showed no sign of calming down.
“How did this happen?”
At Calix’s question, Damon answered quickly.
“Ah, you overdid it today, didn’t you? And with an important schedule tomorrow morning, I was worried you’d have a hangover, so I asked Riana for help.”
“Unnecessary.”
Calix said firmly. Sensing his mood, Damon immediately stepped back.
“Haha! Still, you must be tired. Please get some more rest. Yes, yes.”
Click. Thud.
Once Damon left, the office fell silent.
Calix let out a deep breath. The memory of Riana’s breath brushing against him made his head spin again.
“…Hah.”
After staring blankly at the ceiling for a while, Calix exhaled and stood up.
‘What exactly is going on?’
In truth, Calix had a secret he had told no one.
Not long ago, he had died once.
Or rather, he thought he had died—only to wake up having gone back in time.
At the moment of death, there was a woman who kissed him.
Calix recalled the face of the woman who poured all her power into him at the very end. A woman who, even while coughing up blood, never let go of him—she had the exact same face as Riana.
As the memory of their lips touching resurfaced, Calix unconsciously covered his mouth. His face felt strangely hot.
At the moment her final breath entered him, an overwhelming sensation flowed through his entire body—like being released from chains that had bound him for ages.
And when he opened his eyes, he had returned to the past.
Awakened.
Calix clenched his right hand. Brilliant golden light immediately gathered there, flowing through his entire body.
The Power of Protection.
A mysterious power said to appear once every few generations in the Reinhardt imperial family—the authority of the holy knight who founded the empire, passed down to protect it.
It was said that any successor who possessed the Power of Protection would become the next emperor, regardless of rank.
Until her dying breath, Calix’s mother had believed her son had inherited that power. The golden light swirling in his eyes was proof, she’d said.
‘But I never awakened it.’
He could feel something flowing somewhere within him, but whenever he tried to manifest it, it felt blocked—like something stuck in his chest.
At least, that was how it had been before his regression.
But now—
‘It’s different.’
The very first thing he felt after regressing was an immense power flowing through his entire body. A refreshing sensation, like a long-dammed river had finally burst open.
The power was so overwhelming that he couldn’t help but regret awakening so late. His life before regression had been nothing but—
‘A nightmare.’
He had lived his entire life in hiding. As the empress had ordered, he never revealed his true name and concealed his identity everywhere he went.
Even that hadn’t been enough.
In the end, Valdier took everything from him.
The blood and tears of comrades whose throats were slit while protecting him. The horrifying pain of limbs being severed. And the chilling smile of his half-brother, enjoying the sight—all of it had rendered him helpless.
Perhaps that was why, at the very end of despair, the warmth of the woman who embraced him felt so incredibly gentle.
Ridiculously, he’d regretted not asking her name even as he died.
And then, as if by a lie, after regressing—she appeared before him again.
‘Riana.’
That was her name.
At first, he was merely interested upon hearing there was a priest trainee among the applicants. He hadn’t thought much of it. Deciding to observe her had been an offhand choice.
But the moment he saw her running across the training grounds, he knew.
‘It’s her.’
The woman who kissed him at the end. The one who ensured that the final moments of his agonizing life were not painful.
It felt like his heart dropped.
The woman he’d thought he’d never see again stood there as if to defy fate.
She looked like she might collapse, yet she pushed forward again, even leaping over a fallen applicant. She was clearly struggling—but alive.
Unlike the woman he’d met in the prison, she radiated vitality.
Without realizing it, Calix smiled as he watched her.
He was curious why a woman who had clearly been a saint was taking his mercenary band’s recruitment test—but that wasn’t important.
Just the fact that he had met her again made Calix feel interested in life for the first time in ages. A small breeze seemed to blow into his bleak existence, where he’d merely been enduring each day.
Yet strangely, her life now seemed different from before.
Before regression, she had definitely been a saint. Valdier had denied it, but the power Calix felt from her could not be explained otherwise.
‘But now, she says she failed even the priest aptitude test and was expelled from the temple.’
Calix wanted to keep her close and watch her.
She was clearly the same person—yet living a different life. He wanted to observe the life he hadn’t known, to learn more about her.
Perhaps then he might understand why she had kissed him before his death—and why the power sealed within him awakened after that kiss.
‘And yet… what was that just now?’
Hearing movement outside the door, he had pretended to sleep. Then Riana entered and approached him.
‘She came close enough that I could feel her breath…’
Curious about what she intended to do, he stayed still.
She seemed to hover close for quite a while. When her breath finally neared his lips, he could no longer endure it and opened his eyes.
At that moment, his heart nearly stopped.
It was exactly like before.
Riana looked at him with those same sorrowful eyes whose meaning he could never grasp.
Though he knew it was impossible, he wanted to ask whether she had come to save him again.
Of course, he couldn’t ask. He’d sound insane.
As expected, she gave a completely unexpected explanation—then withdrew and disappeared.
Somehow, her retreat left him feeling disappointed.
‘Even if I’d stopped her… there wouldn’t have been anything more I could ask.’
Calix forced his thoughts away from Riana and concealed the Power of Protection enveloping his body.
He had not yet revealed his awakening to anyone.
If he showed this power carelessly, word would reach the imperial family in no time.
‘Then there’s no telling what the empress and Valdier might scheme.’
He still hadn’t decided how to deal with them.
Until he chose a path that would protect those precious to him more safely, he would have to move as quietly as possible.
