"Your Highness Calix?"
At the appearance of a completely unexpected person. Odelia stopped there with a surprised face. Why is that person here?
The Chalice of Allendasia.
If you think about it, he is a man like a star in the night sky. When he reaches out his hand, it shines vividly as if you can touch it, but it never touches... A person who lives in a world that is far away and completely different from Odelia.
'Well, in reality, it's right to live in a completely different world, whether it's a difference in status or whatever.'
Although they were on the same battlefield and were even the commander of the 1st Division, which was in charge of supply among the six divisions that assisted the Crown Prince, it was extremely rare for Odelia to face the Crown Prince alone.
Odelia was the commander of the 1st Division, but it was a position she got by chance after the last battle was over and her superior was killed.
In the final battle, where she was called the hero of the Golden Lion, she accidentally blew off the head of an enemy general, but since there was no point of contact, Odelia rarely exchanged words with the Prince like other division commanders.
At least in her memory, the conversation she had with the Crown Prince was.
'Why did you join the army?'
'...When I'm told I can eat...'
'The head of the supply unit has chosen a successor well.'
That was the end of the way he smiled and passed by. After that, when we won a victory and went straight up to the city, the Emperor ordered me to make my debut... Wasn't the crown prince always a person who had nothing to do with Odelia?
Anyway, a completely unexpected person is coming to her house at this completely unexpected time. Behind Odelia, Cedric quickly recognized the Crown Prince and saluted and shouted.
"Cedric, Deputy Chief of Supply of the 1st Knights, meet Your Highness, the Crown Prince!"
Then, he poked Odella, who was staring at him from a distance, and quickly noticed him, and only then did Odelia also salute and take a posture.
"Odelia, the commander of the 1st Knights' Supply Division, Your Highness the Crown Prince... I see you."
"It's a greeting that has been caught. In the yard where the war is over."
With his usual indifferent eyes, he naturally sat on the sofa as if this place were his home.
Cedric hurried to get the tea, and Odelia stood in front of him. She still didn't understand why His Highness the Crown Prince had come here. As he said, while the war is over, he won't have anything to see from Odelia.
Meanwhile, Cedric trembled and brought out the tea.
"I'm sorry, Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince. We should give you a generous treatment... Is it my first time having a guest?"
Calix was staring at the teacup Cedric had brought out. Apparently, the teacup is missing teeth, and even the pattern on the teacup is tacky.
As he knew, Odelia had not yet received proper land compensation, but that didn't mean she was penniless.
"Have you used up all the salary you received while working as a knight commander?"
"That's not the case. To my parents back home."
"Didn't your parents die in the ravages of war?"
"Not to my biological parents, but to my adoptive parents... But how did you know that?"
"I am not so irresponsible that I don't even know what kind of people my subordinates are."
At that, Odelia had no words to say.
"Of course, there is no old man who meddles in the private expenses of his subordinates, but this is why you can't invite guests to your house."
Calix lifted the missing teacup with a very sad look on his face and beckoned to the aide behind him. Then the aide took out a notebook and began to scribble something.
After getting up from his seat, Calix began to look around the house in earnest.
With a long, slender cane engraved with the seal of the imperial family, he cuts the carpet, frames, and wall moldings.
After a while, the Crown Prince sits down on the sofa again, drinks the tea Cedric has served, frowns, and puts the tea down again.
Even though the Crown Prince didn't say anything, the aide behind him nodded as if he understood something, and wrote something down again. Odelia doesn't know what it is, but it was definitely not a good word.
Eventually, the aide greeted the Crown Prince and went outside first.
Odelia stared blankly at the scene and asked quietly later.
"Your Highness, what are you here for..."
Sitting leisurely on the sofa, the Crown Prince slowly crossed his legs and looked up at Odelia. Ordinary men would have been unworthy, but since he was voted the number one most handsome man in the empire, Odelia blurted out her words and kept her mouth shut, as if she had shown not only grace but also beauty in her every action.
"Odelia."
"...Yes, Your Highness."
"I'm here to help you with your debutant."
"...Yes?"
"From now on, I intend to support you as a whole."
The people of the imperial palace, and the Crown Prince... Will you be my guardian? Odelia's eyes were wary.
"You don't believe me."
"How dare I doubt Your Highness? Is it just that I am lowly and lack understanding... Your Highness is now my guardian..."
"That's right. You understand it properly."
So why the hell are you? What is lacking? Odelia still looked at him with a look of disbelief that she didn't understand at all. But Calix only smiled very handsomely.
That's why smiling like that doesn't solve everything, Your Highness, Crown Prince. She wanted to criticize it, but how could she dare to do that?
"Of course, I won't do you a favor without anything in return. I'm not that benevolent."
"...If you do it..."
"I can't make a sound in my mouth because my tongue isn't long. If you find a good marriage, get married, give you land, and your husband takes over the title, I want you to use that power for me."
"..."
So you were saying that we were going to make some kind of deal.
He said that he would find a man who was moderately gentle and moderately titled, and marry them, so that the two of them could become hia own people, or hia tools, and do as they were told.
"...Why? Aren't you able to get everything you want? If you want a lump of land, you can just buy it."
"I want a new force."
"Force?"
"At least a force that really knows how to serve the people."
"I think anyone else might misunderstand those words."
"It's not a misunderstanding. It's a correct hearing. In other words, transformation, or at worst... Am I going to rebel? Or it could be revenge or restoration of honor from my point of view."
Odelia's face hardened quickly.
"...I don't know what you're talking about. There is no way I will be the force Your Highness wants. Just look at the knight that was ridiculed in today's newsletter right now..."
When Odelia brings up the newsletter, Calix puts something on the table. Odelia's eyes turned to the paper on the table.
It was the daily newspaper of an influential and famous printing house. It can be seen as a little more authoritative than a newsletter that publishes simple gossip anonymously.
Although the page that opened was not the first page. It contained a commentary about Odelia.
[ Lady Odelia's confident attitude gave freshness to those present. Instead of hiding her own shortcomings in embarrassment or trying to inflate her size, she admitted and accepted them.]
[...Lady Odelia's pure and confident smile captured the heart of Lady Herdel, who is known for her pickiness. Of course, I also praise Lady Odelia. In that banquet that showed off its nobility, there was probably no one more sincere than Lady Odelia. Perhaps, her debutante in the future may bring a new wind to the empire.]
"Not everyone mocks you like that."
Odelia looked up at Calix.
"And it's not that you're not confident because others are mocking you. Isn't that right?"
Odelia turned her head to avoid being revealed by her slightly fluctuating heart. She plans to do something else, such as looking at the distant mountains outside the window, and roughly refuses.
"No matter what, it's too undeserved for me..."
"I'm not asking you to be the leader of the operation."
"Yes?"
"There's someone I'm looking for. I want you to help me find him."
"Why me?"
"Because you are one of the few people around me who can be trusted."
Finally, Odelia sighed and nodded.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Erdel Rubis."
"..."
"He is the youngest son of the Rubis family, and he has been missing, but he has not been found for many years."
"..."
"Some people believe that the child is alive, and others think he was killed by the Emperor."
"..."
"I believe he is alive. Hiding his identity somewhere."
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