In an instant, the Empress's eyes flickered. It was a subtle tremor.
'Fabiana.'
'I have nothing more to say, Calix. I want a strong person. Someone who will raise me to the Empress. You're too... You're weak, aren't you?'
It was much clearer and more solid than it was six years ago, just before leaving. Calix had become a man.
He was different from Emperor Liam, who indulged in alcohol and women, and his stomach was swollen. His eyes were sharpened like sharp blades, his shoulder line was firmly tightened, and even the tendons of his neck were exposed above his uniform...
Fabiana took a breath and stood up. A pitiful smile appeared on her face.
"Calix."
His expression as he walked slowly from the end of the garden looked a little softer, unlike before. At that moment, Fabiana's heart jumped slightly with anticipation. Maybe he feels the same way as I?
However, there was no trace of warmth on Calix's face as he approached. The expression just now was a misunderstanding, and he just bowed his head silently.
"Your Majesty, the Empress."
Fabiana noticed the distance he had set just by the title, and although she was a little embarrassed, she sat down with a smile on her face.
There seemed to be a moment of silence, and then the Empress squeezed through the gap and spoke first.
"It's been a long time since we've been alone like this. Already... It's been six years."
"Is that so?"
Silent and short answer, Fabiana took a small breath.
"At that time... Are you still resenting me? No, you must be complaining. At that time, I was too..."
Before Fabiana could finish speaking, Calix replied.
"The past is just the past. I have no feelings or memories of Your Majesty the Empress."
The words were spoken softly, but they were actually the hardest lines. Fabiana had a hunch that she would not be able to shake his emotions at this moment. She turned her gaze and touched the newsletter on the table.
"Did you see the newsletter this morning? Lady Odelia said she thinks tea is cognac and drinks it. It's ridiculous..."
Then a fine curve appeared at the corner of Calix's mouth.
"Why, isn't she quite a funny woman?"
Earlier, she was the Empress who had some expectations that Calix's faint smile might be directed at her. However, the moment she realized that his smile was because he thought of Odelia, that lowly woman, Fabiana's smile gradually hardened.
It was a face that had already been read, known, and smiling. Seeing Calix smiling with a name other than hers, Fabiana slowly gritted her teeth inwardly.
"What's so funny? It's very stuffy and dirty. Rolling together in the mud doesn't make that lowly person the same as you, Calix."
Calix's eyes lit up. Fablana was stunned. When he looked at her, his eyes were empty, but when she talked about her, he became so harsh and sharp...
"The two of you are not like that, are they? Isn't it all made by you on purpose? I don't think your vision as a Prince would be so miserable."
"..."
Fabiana felt as if something had snapped and snapped. She thought she should stop talking, but she couldn't.
"She survived alone in a woman's body on the battlefield, right? To put it bluntly, since she was alone in a woman's body on the battlefield, how do you know if she would have used that body to survive?"
After finishing her words as if she were vomiting, Fabiana picked up the teacup with her trembling hands and rinsed her mouth. It really feels like she vomited. She didn't call him for this. She doesn't even understand it herself.
However, Calix accepted it with just one word.
"Odelia is too precious to hear such words."
Fabiana's expression twisted.
"Why are you wrapping up that woman, Calix? The more this happens, the harder it will be for that woman, right? You know my personality. I have to have everything I want. The social world is all in my hands after all. It's about the social world, and it's swaying by my mouth."
Calix stood up quietly. The sound of chair legs scraping the floor crossed the garden.
"For the first and last time, I would like to face you as someone who was once engaged, not an Empress."
"..."
"Six years ago, and now, you are the same, Fabiana. Your naive and greedy temperament, and your inability to distinguish between what yiu should say and what you should not say. That was your personality in the first place. Don't forget that that can be an attraction, but it can also be a weakness."
The chill in his calm volce took Fabiana's breath away.
"As I said before, I don't have any feelings about your choice of Liam. It means you don't have any feelings either."
"..."
"Calling through a maid every night doesn't look good in the eyes of others or in my own eyes. That's why I'm here today to make sure to sort it out. Don't ask me to meet you privately in the future."
"Calix!"
Fabiana couldn't say anything. Her fingertips twitched slightly.
Calix no longer paid attention, turned his back, and left the garden. The tea had not even cooled.
His last words fell like a stigma over Fabiana's head. At that moment, she had a hunch that she had crossed a line of no return.
Just like the day he accepted the engagement, the brilliant sunshine felt even more cruel.
While the tea was cooling. Fabiana sat alone, still uncooled. A venomous anger gradually began to dwell in her eyes.
She quietly vowed not to end like this... Odelia, I'm going to make Calix, who smiles with that lowly name, never laugh again.
***
Early in the morning. Odelia was sitting in the drawing room, holding her head tightly. On the most prominent page of the newsletter spread out on the table, there was a large interview with the Marquis of Salem, who had been dating yesterday.
[She has a rather unconventional way of speaking. For example, when asked about her impressions of the flavor of tea, she replied, "It doesn't taste good, so I drink it roughly thinking it's cognac." It was pleasant. He was a very honest person. Oh, and her stride was quite large. I thought that if I wanted to go on a date with Lady Odella, I had to have long and fast legs.]
"Aaaa..."
Odelia let out a deep sigh, holding her forehead and bowing her head.
"Why did I do that? Really, why did I do that?"
At that moment, a familiar voice came from the front door
"Is this real?"
It was Cedric. He ran with a big smile and a newsletter, and as soon as he entered the drawing room, he sat down opposite Odelia.
"Did you really say, 'I think it's cognac and drink it'?"
"Uh..."
Odelia covered her face with a towel. Cedric couldn't hold back his laughter and chuckled.
"They say he was a very strong-willed man, but I didn't know he would respond in such an unconventional way. I thought the Marquis must have been a hybrid, but..."
Cedric, with a playful look in his eyes, blurred the end of his words and looked a little pleasant.
"Still, it wasn't bad to see you keep so much distance."
Then the Grand Duchess quietly put down the teacup.
"Stop making fun of her. Well, everyone has trial and error at first. Wouldn't it be better to go on a casual date? Don't be too embarrassed about this, Miss Odelia."
Odelia sighed and nodded.
"No one wants to date me anymore..."
As soon as she finished speaking, there was a sound of the drawing room door opening.
"No way."
At the familiar low-pitched voice, Odelia's gaze quickly turned towards the door.
"...Your Highness!"
Dressed neatly as usual, with a nonchalant attitude. But his eyes were clearly directed at Odelia.
"There was a line outside."
As if he had even received the card himself, Calix casually put down the bouquet of flowers and the date request card on the console.
Cedric frowned nervously. A faint blush appeared on Odelia's cheeks. The air in the room was strangely stirred.
The Grand Duchess raised his cup again with a gentle smile, and Cedric glanced out the window, holding his fingertips slightly.
"Already... Three?"
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