TBKBS 18

Chapter : 18

Rajif nodded.

Calix let out a long sigh and muttered to himself,

“Her tastes… so consistent. Don’t tell me this really is her taste?”

At his murmur, Rajif quietly agreed.

“Yes, it seems to be a smoke screen disguised as consistent taste.”

“Ahem, hm-hm!”

At Rajif’s polite opinion in response to his casual muttering, Calix began to cough awkwardly.

“Are you all right?”

Rajif asked with concern, and Calix suddenly replied in an excessively loud voice,

“Yes, that’s what I meant—smoke screen!”

Rajif blinked in confusion, and only after stopping his coughing fit did Calix snap irritably,

“Leave me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Rajif bowed respectfully and left the room.

Once alone, Calix’s eyes flickered with unease, and his expression darkened in displeasure.

Ever since realizing he had lost his memories, he had endured six years of desperately trying not to show a single flaw.

He forced himself to attend social gatherings that did not suit him, to pretend he was fine despite the missing memories. He even showed up at opening nights of operas he had zero interest in.

He had fought with all his might to suppress the trembling of his left hand whenever anger surged.

All he had was his own ability and the knights who served him like his own limbs. He could not afford to show the slightest weakness.

For the stable succession of imperial power, he had spent six years living in strict self-control.

That Duke Brockburgh, whom he had been watching carefully, finally tried to strengthen the empress’s faction by promoting his daughter’s marriage to Leon was a scenario Calix had fully expected.

But in recent months, Caelyn Brockburgh’s sudden appearance had become an unforeseen variable.

He could have dismissed her.

What threat could that small, seemingly fragile woman possibly pose to him?

Yet her strange manners, her odd behavior, kept catching his attention.

And after he had rescued her from the river, an unfamiliar anxiety had begun gnawing at him.

Fragmentary, disjointed flashes of memory had been returning—and with them, an ominous hunch that the memories he had lost were somehow tied to her.

She knew he was left-handed. She had appeared at the stronghold of spies.

“Caelyn Brockburgh. What exactly are you? What are you truly after?”

He felt he needed to investigate more thoroughly.

Not only the elusive reality of the lady—but also the strange feelings stirring within himself.

I had spent my first week in Everen exploring here and there, and afterward settled into a walking routine I liked.

• Monday: the park.

• Tuesday: the library.

• Wednesday: the park.

• Thursday: a café.

• Friday: the park.

• Saturday and Sunday: walks on the trail and stretching at home.

The park was beautiful, pleasant in atmosphere, and for some reason always left me in a good mood. So I decided to visit every other day.

From the second week, I kept to this routine faithfully. But on the third Thursday—library day—I unexpectedly ran into someone I never thought I’d see there.

Grand Duke Leon.

“Caelyn, I didn’t expect to see you in the library.”

Neither did I.

He should have his own imperial library—so why was he at the national one?

The very fact of running into him left me unsettled.

“I greet Your Grace.”

“Were you here to borrow a book?”

I was. At least, before running into you.

Now that I had, I’d better return mine quickly and vanish.

“Ah, no. I just happened to step inside. Well then, I’ll be on my way.”

“Ah…”

The moment I saw him, all desire to read fled. After a hasty greeting, I bolted to return the books I had borrowed and fled the library.

Only after I had walked a good distance did I remember: I had meant to borrow volume three of the Lady series.

In volume one, the lady had pined after the crown prince until she grew exhausted. In volume two, she fell in love with another man.

Volume three was about to turn the tables: the crown prince, now regretful, would begin obsessing over her.

In short, I had read volumes one and two just to get to this part!

Ugh. First Calix, and now Leon—why did neither of them ever help my reading life?

Fine. I’d borrow it next week.

Still, irritation gnawed at me.

“You say you ran into Leon at the library?”

“It’s an exaggeration to call it a meeting, but yes, they crossed paths there. Hardly enough time together to observe anything.”

“Hm…”

Listening to Rajif’s report, Calix frowned.

“What of their engagement?”

“There’s been no progress at all. Almost as if they’ve broken it off.”

According to investigations, the lady had demanded a breakup from the grand duke. But since the empress’s faction had made no official statement, the truth remained unclear.

“Mm. But they crossed paths at the library, you said…”

“More accurate to say they brushed past one another.”

“…”

Calix said nothing, so Rajif continued.

“And then—the very book the lady returned was the one Grand Duke Leon borrowed next.”

At this, Calix’s brow twitched noticeably.

So seeing them together at the night market wasn’t coincidence after all? Were they exchanging secret information through books?

“What was the title?”

“The Lady Awakens to New Love.”

“What?”

Calix narrowed his eyes.

“It seems to be part of the same series she borrowed earlier.”

Only then did Calix notice Rajif was holding a book in his hand.

“And that one?”

Rajif set it on the desk.

“It’s the third in the Lady series, which the lady borrowed consecutively, followed by Grand Duke Leon. I thought there might be a clue in her reading habits, so I borrowed it myself.”

Calix looked at the cover.

The Crown Prince Begins His Obsession with the Lady.

“What kind of title is this? These novels grow more ridiculous as they go.”

Seeing Calix’s displeasure, Rajif offered a grave opinion.

“It seems to be a carefully calculated choice—selecting a genre that avoids suspicion.”

Calix flipped the book face-down on the desk, scowling.

“Leave me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Rajif left.

Alone, Calix flexed and unflexed his left hand, staring at the wrist brace lying on the desk.

She ran into Leon at the library…

She was a woman impossible to read.

Tomorrow, he’d been told, she would appear at the park.

The park, hmm…

He reached for the brace. Embroidered on it were the words:

“Don’t forget—Caelyn Brockburgh.”

In that instant, his chest lurched heavily.

“Why did she give me such a thing!”

He threw the brace face-down as well, hiding the embroidery.

I’ll have to see her myself. She’s a suspicious woman!

He tried to cloak the thought in excuses.

Oh, come on!

Yesterday it was Grand Duke Leon, and today it’s Crown Prince Calix?

Why was my luck so rotten two days in a row?

I had gone for a walk in the park, only to bump into Calix.

Of course, I did want to meet him more, to encourage his affection for me and assure him I wouldn’t join in any usurpation.

But today was different.

It was the first time I’d seen him again since our encounter at the night market—not exactly a comfortable reunion.

It felt awkward, embarrassing even, to face him.

Still, I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen him.

“I greet Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

“Lady. What a surprise to see you here. I never imagined I’d meet you in a park.”

???

What’s so surprising about that?

As I puzzled, he added,

“Didn’t you nearly drown here in the river? And yet you come to this park again.”

Ah… he means trauma?

Well, strangely enough, I didn’t seem to have one. Maybe because he saved me?

“I’m fine, Your Highness.”

“Are you?”

“And you, Crown Prince—are you all right?”

I was more curious about him than myself.

My memory of falling in the river wasn’t pleasant, but it didn’t particularly torment me.

And the Caelyn who had drowned here as a child wasn’t me—so I had no trauma from it.

But the Calix I had written in the novel did harbor negative feelings about this park—because it was here that Caelyn had nearly died because of him.

Yet in reality, he had come here for an opera once, and now again today, looking perfectly composed.

So what brought him here this time?

“Me? What do you mean?”

Lost in thought, I was startled by his strange expression as he asked.

“Since I nearly drowned in the Retian River here as a child, I’ve always disliked this place… or so they say.”

“…Ah…”

Calix gave only that one syllable, then fell silent.

His face looked unsettled, almost flustered.

Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.

As I regretted it, he suddenly shot a sharp question at me:

“How do you know that I disliked this place? I’ve never told anyone such a thing.”

“What? Ah—!”

He stared down at me with piercing eyes.

Right.

That he “disliked it” was something only I, the author, knew.

He had never voiced it aloud—only harbored it in his heart.

No one else knew his inner feelings, least of all about Caelyn.

“You seem to know me well, Lady.”

His voice was edged with suspicion.

Why did I always turn an author’s advantage into a vulnerability?

I wasn’t supposed to act like I knew his inner thoughts!

This mouth of mine—such trouble!

No choice now but to bluff.

“Your Highness, it’s because I like you. When you like someone, you become hypersensitive to every little thing about them. It was just my intuition.”

Though it was merely a desperate excuse for survival, I felt so embarrassed after blurting it out that I dropped my gaze.

And when I did, I noticed his tightly clenched left fist.

That was what he did when anxious—or angry, or displeased.

Or maybe, was he flustered because I’d been so blunt about liking him?

As I wondered, Calix said,

“Lady, every time you spout nonsense, I find it harder and harder to let it slide.”

Nonsense?

Not let it slide?

I tilted my head at his odd phrasing, and he went on,

“Your claim of liking me—I don’t believe it. But even if, by some chance, it were true, I neither like you nor care for you. If your feelings are genuine—which I doubt—I can only regretfully decline them.”

“W-what?”

What on earth was he saying?

He doesn’t like me?

He has no interest in me?