TBKBS 14

TBKBS

Posted by Elsa, Released on September 9, 2025

Chapter : 14

Since saving Duke Brockberk’s daughter, Kaelyn Brockberk, from the river two weeks ago, Calix had been suffering from an inexplicable headache.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly pain.

Rather, it felt as if something—some images—kept crashing into his head.

A figure, and emotions directed toward that figure, struck him over and over. Yet whenever he tried to grasp what they were, they slipped away….

In short, it was a suffocating and confusing state.

This was the first time he had experienced such a headache since six years ago.

Back then, when he had just turned twenty, a sudden headache had struck him out of nowhere—and it was terrible.

It had felt like his head was being split open by unbearable blows, and the pain had continued for several days after the initial shock.

When the headache finally disappeared, he returned to his daily life as if nothing had happened. But soon after, he realized something: he had lost part of his memory.

From around age ten to sixteen, some portion of his memories had vanished, as if there were a gaping hole.

It wasn’t objective knowledge or information that was missing—it was memories tied to his feelings. But since they were already gone, he couldn’t know what they had been.

Truthfully, Calix hadn’t thought much of the missing pieces.

They hadn’t affected his intellect, physique, or social abilities.

It was simply as though there was a dark hole in a part of his childhood and teenage years.

Even so, he never told anyone about the gap in his memory.

He had no allies in the imperial palace.

The Empress, who had gathered Duke Brockberk and his faction of nobles under her wing, was growing more powerful with each passing day.

If they discovered his memory problem, it could become a fatal weakness for them to exploit.

If the Emperor—who already had another heir, Leon—learned that Calix had a mental issue, there was no guarantee he would keep acknowledging him as crown prince.

So, ever since that brutal headache six years ago, Calix had fought with himself more fiercely than ever.

He never allowed a gap to show. He strove constantly to present the image of a flawless successor.

He forced himself to endure social gatherings, where he might otherwise be attacked by the nobles, and trained his self-control endlessly to master his inner anger and instability.

Although by age twenty his swordsmanship was already unmatched in the empire, he worked even harder to refine himself.

Under constant checks from the Empress and her allies, he trained the weakened Crown Prince’s knights, unearthed hidden talents, and went through blood and fire with them on the battlefield, molding them into the strongest elite unit.

Strong enough to stand against any coalition of rebels.

As a result, the Emperor recognized the feats of Calix and his knights at the border, and this acknowledgment of his military prowess became the crucial foundation that protected his status.

But now…

Since pulling the Duke’s daughter from the river two weeks ago, fragments of his lost memory kept resurfacing.

The girl in the water, the girl who had fainted.

The beautiful young woman, the cute little girl….

The child…. that child….

And every time those vague, indistinct memories and emotions rose up, what he felt was not relief or joy at regaining something lost, but rather a strange unease.

Just what was it he had forgotten—and what memory was trying to return?

But he could ask no one.

Not even his closest knight commanders knew his childhood memories.

Perhaps only Duke Brockberk or Count Lucford might know, since he used to frequent their estates back then.

But the Duke was now his greatest enemy. How could he ask him?

Today again, half-formed memories and strange emotions clouded his mind so much that he could not focus on work.

He even interrupted his knight commander’s important report.

I should never have saved her. I could’ve ordered Rajiv to do it instead…. Why did I personally jump in? And to make matters worse, she even said she liked me! If that odd woman misunderstands further, it’ll be disastrous.

The moment he had seen her fall into the river during the opera’s intermission, his first thought hadn’t been to save her, but how absurd!

Who falls into a river during intermission?

Is she really that strange?

But then, when their eyes met as she flailed desperately in the water—eyes filled with boundless sorrow—something fierce had exploded in his chest.

At that very instant, Calix had leapt into the river.

It was something Rajiv could easily have done, yet her gaze had compelled him to act.

To think he, the Crown Prince, had thrown himself into the water for the Duke’s daughter—a girl who constantly pestered him with stares, clumsy flirtations, suspicious remarks, and odd behavior!

Looking back, it was hardly appropriate.

It hadn’t been a rational decision.

And since then, his mind had been thrown into chaos. Unwanted memories were pressing to return, leaving him unsettled.

And now, she had even come to see him.

Why? To thank me? Or… no, surely she wouldn’t say again that she likes me, would she?

Her words—I like you, Your Highness!—rang once more in his ears.

Yet she was still the Duke’s daughter, a person of influence.

He couldn’t simply reject her audience request.

That was why, despite wanting to shove her away many times before, he had endured. And now she had barged into his very office.

Calix took a deep breath.

Just endure one more time. The last time.

Calming himself, he ordered his chief attendant:

“Let her in.”

“Greetings to the Crown Prince.”

Calix didn’t even rise from his desk to greet me.

How odd. I had come all this way to thank him—it should have been touching to see me alive and well—yet he just sat there?

“Why have you come, Lady Kaelyn Brockberk?”

Instead of offering me a seat, he immediately questioned me.

“I wanted to express my gratitude. You saved me.”

“When someone is drowning, you can’t just leave them.”

“…Yes.”

So shy, isn’t he?

Even though Rajiv was right there, he had jumped in himself to rescue me—yet now he acted like this.

So, to obsession he has now added… bashfulness?

Why was he becoming so complicated, making it hard to deal with him?

I sighed inwardly.

In any case, I resolved to thank him properly for saving my life twice.

Of course, part of my purpose was to see his handsome face and maybe progress our relationship, but mostly it was genuine gratitude.

In truth, when I’d thought my second chance at life would end so meaninglessly, it was Calix’s face that had flashed in my mind.

I had believed, in that desperate instant, that he would save me—and he did.

Even if one day things went wrong and he killed me, I wanted to repay him at least once for saving me.

Lost in such thoughts, I stared at his face.

“Your thanks are enough. You should leave now, Lady.”

So when he’s shy, his tone gets stiff too, huh?

Fine. I’ll leave soon. But not before saying one last thing.

“Your Highness, since you saved my life twice, I too wish to save you someday when you need it. Of course, it’s unlikely you’ll ever owe me your life, but I’ll do whatever I can to help…”

“Twice?”

His expression changed strangely.

Did I say something wrong?

But it was twice.

“You pulled me from the same river twice, Your Highness. Actually… I remembered too.”

In the novel, Kaelyn had forgotten it was Calix who saved her as a child. She only remembered him throwing the ball into the river, and after that, only Grand Duke Leon visiting her daily.

But I wasn’t that Kaelyn.

I was the author—I knew everything.

“I saved you in the same place twice… Enough! That’s enough. Leave at once!”

Suddenly Calix’s face twisted, his voice trembling uneasily.

Why?

Was he upset I was only thanking him now for saving me as a child?

No… even so, his expression looked too dark.

Ah. Of course.

Calix had felt guilty for causing Kaelyn to fall into the river as a child.

That guilt must be washing over him again!

Still, seeing his terrible expression, I decided to leave at once.

Rule number one: never upset him.

“Yes, then I’ll take my leave.”

I bowed politely and turned to go—then froze.

Right. The gift!

I had brought a present as thanks for saving my life. To show my sincerity, and… because if ever my father drove him into rage again, maybe this gift would soften him a little.

It was a wrist guard.

A protector that wrapped from the wrist to the thumb, made of thick leather embroidered over cloth.

He was left-handed.

But in the empire, being left-handed was considered unlucky. So he hid it, always pretending to use his right hand.

Even his sword—he trained and forced himself to use it with his right. But at critical moments, he would switch to his left. People simply thought his swordsmanship was so great that he could wield both hands equally.

In truth, he had trained relentlessly to raise his right hand to the level of his left.

But whenever he felt anger, displeasure, or rage, he would clench his left fist tightly.

As the emotion swelled, his left hand would begin to tremble. At its peak, he would press down on his left wrist with his right hand to restrain himself.

But if that restraint snapped—if his right hand let go of his left wrist—then whatever was before him would be shattered.

Whether object… or living being.

When he killed Kaelyn, it had been after his right hand slipped from his left wrist.

That was why I chose the wrist guard.

Though he pretended to be right-handed, in the fiercest fights—in his deepest fury—he used his left.

So even if someday he tried to kill me, perhaps when he saw the wrist guard I gave him, he might stop. A faint, desperate hope.

Of course, I had a maid do the embroidery.

As I turned back, Calix stared at me intensely.

“?”

His face was full of suspicion.

“Your Highness, I brought you a gift.”

I pulled the wrist guard from my bag and approached his desk.