With the last words, Calix's gaze slowly shifted to Odelia.
The look in his eyes was deep and cold, as if it were piercing her heart. A look that looks like a certainty, but also a test that is somehow unknown.
Odelia's breath choked.
She couldn't tell if his words were just to find the missing person, or if he was already hinting at the truth. Only the air in the room was quietly spreading an unknown tension between the two of them.
Her hands started to sweat. Her lips were dry, and a cold sweat ran down her spine.
"...Why are you saying that to me?"
The voice she forced out was trembling.
Calix looked deeply at Odelia and then put down a heavy stack of papers on the table. It was a document that recorded the Rubis family, the land, and what they tried to protect until the end.
"The Grand Duchess asked me to investigate the Rubis family a few days ago."
The corners of his mouth curled very thinly.
"This should be enough to figure it out."
Odelia's eyes widened.
"Why are you helping me?"
"From now on, you will be very busy. I have to help what I can."
"Yes?"
"You are the hero of the Golden Lion, and I have chosen you as a new faction."
"Are you telling me to be Your Highness?"
Then Calix smiled slightly.
"Since I have already chosen you, you are my person."
***
It was a day when it rained very heavily. It was so strong and thick that it seemed that the arrows that filled the sky seemed to pierce her whole body.
All she remembered that day was extreme hunger, extreme cold, and extreme anger.
That night, she picked up a rag that someone had thrown away, put it all over her body, and sneaked into the pigsty to avoid the rain.
"Who is there?"
"...Please save me."
"..."
"Please save me..."
Little Odelia became the daughter of a butcher.
She was lucky. The fact that the place where she crawled so stubbornly that day was the butcher's house, where the butcher lived, was nothing more than allowing her to live a second life.
It is said that the common people of the common people, who had no name or family, were looked down upon and despised by people, and eventually all flowed into this place. Odelia was actually no different, so maybe this was fate.
'From now on, you are not my child. Go. Run as fast and strong as your shoes are torn and your toenails crushed. It must be so. Forget all about life here. Do you understand? You are a child who no longer exists!'
'Never look back! Only then can you live!'
So she ran. She ran to death. She ran and ran like crazy, her breath was up to her chin, her legs were relaxed, and even though she was stuck on the muddy floor, she got up and ran again.
The shouts of people coming from behind, the barking of an unleashed hunting dog... If she stops, she'll die.
The sky was cloudy, and Odelia heard the sound of the sky splitting through the clouds. The memory of the day when the thunder struck, the day when she ran through the darkness where she couldn't see ahead, is her nightmare.
"Ugh!"
Even though she threw everything away so as not to be hindered by the past, she still doesn't want to be caught up.
Even though more than 16 years have passed, it still is.
Odelia woke up from her nightmare and gasped for breath. Her whole body is covered in cold sweat.
Her body is heavy, her clothes are damp, and her mood is dirty.
Odelia took a breath and looked away, and the document she had opened last night was still on the table.
The night before, Odelia couldn't let go of the papers until she went to bed.
Aside from what kind of family the fallen Rubis family was, it was because it was the first time she learned what kind of process they went through to be extinguished.
The papers contained a cold and dry record. They were letters that cut through her heart like cold blades.
The person who accused the Rubis family of being traitors was none other than the Duke of Devon, the father of the current Empress Fabiana. And it was the Emperor of the time who acquiesced to the accusation, that is, the paternal father of Calix and Liam.
In political transactions and power struggles, the Rubis family was named scapegoats, and no one stepped forward to prove their innocence.
According to these documents, both the rebellion and the downfall of the Rubis family were due to conspiracies.
Nothing was considered, such as Rubis' loyalty or the revival of Talamand. For those in power in the imperial palace, they were just shackles to remove and fragments to remove.
Odelia's ears were facing the worst morning, and the sound that had been bothering her from earlier became clear. From the sound of squatting to the sound of nails, the surroundings were noisy.
Odelia stood up to see what Cedric wanted to do and opened the door.
"...What is this..."
Obviously, it was an empty mansion until she fell asleep. It was located at the end of the town, and because it was a mansion that had not been used for a long time, it was not properly maintained, so it was called a ghost mansion.
Odelia had no Interest in decorating her home, so the walls were lined with picture frames and cobwebs. Most of the carpets and railings were in their original state, covered in dust, but she wondered if someone had kidnapped and imprisoned Odelia the other night.
"Where the hell are you?"
She was amazed by the sparkling chandeliers, the beautiful still lifes and landscapes that filled the walls, and the vivid carpets with exotic patterns on the floor. On the colorful consoles set up in each hallway, there are also colorful candlesticks, bouquets, and baskets... Even the servants are bringing the statues.
Odelia closed the door and looked around. This room is the same room she's been living in.
When she opened the door again, a completely different world unfolded.
She opened and closed the door and opened it again and again. She stretched her cheeks as if she was in a dream, and then she opened the door to check it, one last time, and before she knew it, the well-dressed servants were standing in a row and bowing to Odelia.
Among them, the elderly-looking gentleman said with a kind smile.
"Hello. From now on, I am Phoebet, the butler who will fully support Odelia."
A small, plump middle-aged woman popped out from behind the butler, held Odelia's hand tightly, and said eloquently.
"I'm Piggy, the butler's daughter!"
"...I have never hired you..."
"I hired them."
"...Your Highness Calix?!"
"Originally, they were the servants of my villa, but I don't plan to visit the villa this social season."
"..."
Calix, who was standing in front of Odelia through the crowd, slowly raised his hand and brought it to the tip of Odelia's chin. Then it was Calix who slowly lifted Odelia's chin up.
"You're surprised, but don't look so dazed. You open your mouth so much, you look like a goby."
"...!"
Should we focus on the kindness that closes Odelia's chin with his own hands, or the shamelessness of suddenly transforming someone else's house into a dead end?
At Calix's gesture, the servants behind him, led by the maid of honor, entered Odelia's bedroom as if they had been waiting.
"Oh my God, there's dust on... curtains! Odelia, are you okay with your bronchi?"
"The bed is all over the place, and the color is faded, so I need to change the quilt!"
"I think it would be nice to put a fireplace here and a bathtub there. Oh, and a sofa across from the partition!"
Put the mirror here, put the vase over there, change the wallpaper to mint, change it to green... It was Odelia who hurriedly ran out to the yard of the mansion, thinking that she would lose her mind if she stayed here.
"Uh, did you wake up?"
"... Cedric?"
"Your Highness is still very driven."
"Why are you here?"
"I came to cook breakfast for you, but I was kicked out."
"What?"
"He said it would only disturb you. Would you like to try this? His Highness brought it to you, and it's very delicious. It's very moist, unlike the éclair that made your throat choke."
"What nonsense, what else is.... reading?"
Cedric, who was far from reading, held a small, thick book in his hand. Odelia was actually asking if he was going to leave.
"This? There is no woman in the city these days who doesn't know this. Do you want to read it too?"
"What is this?"
"It's a book that tells the hearts of women."
"What?"
"It's a book for ladies. I didn't know much about it, but according to my mother, once I read it, I would be reading a trading book that will make it easier to understand a woman's heart."
After saying that, Cedric handed the book to Odelia as if recommending it. Odelia's face when she was handed the book was like a bite with a lot of astringent persimmons.
"The Crown Prince's Rose... a dangerous relationship?"
What, what's this bizarre title? Odelia's face became even more grotesque as she opened the book.
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