“Your Highness... You need treatment."
“Leave it behind.”
Calix cut off the doctor who had rushed over.
The doctor looked up at him with a puzzled look, but remained silent. Finally, the doctor, in a panic, put down the bandages and the stool and hurried away.
Then Calix gently pushed a silver tray containing bandages and ointment towards Odelia.
"You said you would treat me, so do it."
Odelia looked up at him with a puzzled expression. His demeanor was natural, as if it were a given, and his gaze held a strange trust.
Calix's palms were swollen and red, blood splattered here and there. The sight of this made Odelia feel even more pained.
"Please stay still."
She carefully soaked a gauze pad with the disinfectant from the small bottle and dabbed it lightly on his palm.
"Haa..."
Calix took a tiny breath. The normally motionless man furrowed his brow slightly at the touch of her fingertips.
"Are you hurt? Just a moment."
Then, as her warm breath touched him, Calix's fingers twitched ever so slightly.
"Why did you grab that with your bare hands..."
Odelia took a deep breath and muttered something in a low voice.
"No, it is. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I think I let my guard down. If I had just been a little more careful, Your Highness wouldn't have been hurt like this..."
Calix slowly raised his head and looked straight at her.
"If you have a scar in your hands..."
"What's the big deal, if only I hadn't done that..."
He continued speaking low, almost in a whisper.
“I lost you.”
In an instant, Odelia's breath caught in her throat, and a burning sensation rose to the tip of her neck. Even her earlobes felt hot.
"Then... if that's the case, then the calculations you've been making toward me all this time won't be fair."
A remark barely disguised as a joke came out.
Calix's eyebrows quirked subtly. Then, he chuckled softly and slowly shook his head.
"No, not that."
Calix stroked the back of her hand, as if holding her back so she wouldn't run away, and continued speaking slowly.
"I did it because... I was really afraid of losing you."
Those words dug deep into Odelia's heart.
Her heart began to pound, exploding, and her fingertips unconsciously gripped Calix's hand tighter. Then, with a sudden jolt of shock, Odelia abruptly looked away.
While treating Calix's hand, Odelia was constantly aware of his gaze.
He stared at her silently, from a very close distance. His gaze seemed to penetrate not only Odelia's movements but also her very heart.
No, why are you staring at me like that...
She felt her heart burn, her cheeks flushing in real time. Afraid of how red her face must have become, Odelia lowered her head even further.
To avoid his gaze, she deliberately focused more on treating Calix's hands.
Finally, she unwrapped the white bandage and wrapped it around his hand. Her hands were careful and delicate as she wrapped the bandage.
Their breaths were close enough to touch each other's faces, but Odelia tried not to be conscious of the distance.
“It’s done.”
Then Calix turned his palm, which had become thick due to the bandage, back and forth. Then he smiled as if he liked it quite a bit.
"You will treat me, so I think I will get better soon."
"...Don't joke."
"I'm not kidding."
His low, soft-ringing voice spread like ripples in her ears.
"It really hurts less than before."
Odelia's eyes fluttered violently for a moment. Unable to look him in the eye, she lowered her gaze again.
"Please don't keep doing that for me. It was like that at the bazaar, and it's like that now... Your Highness is always the one who suffers because of me."
Her fingertips began to tighten. As she continued speaking, the deep anxiety within her began to spill out.
"And I understand Lady Judith hasn't used her date ticket yet, so I'm worried that Your Highness might not be able to enjoy it because of today's events."
Odelia simply hoped she wasn't causing trouble, but her words inadvertently touched a strange spot in Calix's heart. Calix's gaze slowly darkened.
"Are you really worried that I won't be able to enjoy the date?"
Calix smiled very subtly, but the smile was strangely sad.
"Of all the things, that was the first thing that came to mind."
Only then did Odelia open her eyes wide and look at him. She lowered her head, unable to say anything, and fiddled with the knot of the bandage with her fingertips.
Calix's eyes shook deeply for a moment, then slowly settled down beside him. His gaze softened, and a low voice flowed out.
"You must be tired. Let's go back now."
Calix personally took Odelia to the carriage and carefully put her in it.
Before closing the door, he looked at her once more, and a strange current passed through his gaze. But before Odelia could even fathom its meaning, the carriage began to slowly move.
Inside the shaking carriage, Obelia watched Calix's figure disappear further and further through the gap in the curtains.
Odelia let out a small sigh without realizing it.
"Why do I feel like I made a mistake?"
Feeling her eyes burning hot, she smacked her lips with both hands.
"This guy's mouth is really open, really..."
A soft, self-reproachful murmur spread through the carriage.
After arriving at the mansion, Odelia hurried into her room, took off her bloody clothes, and washed herself with hot water.
As she emerged from the room, drying her hair with a towel, the excited voices of the maids could be heard from the end of the hallway.
"Did you hear? Lady Herdel and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have finally set a date!"
Odelia's footsteps stopped. The fingertips holding the towel trembled subtly. Her heart pounded strangely, and an inexplicable emotion surged through her.
Odelia froze in place for a moment, listening to the maids' chatter coming from the end of the hallway.
"Hu..."
Her mind was so complicated that she felt like she wouldn't be able to sleep.
As night deepened, the lights in the mansion began to go out one by one, but Odelia's training grounds were the exact opposite. In a corner of the garden, bathed in moonlight, she held a wooden sword and moved her body tirelessly.
Sweat trickled down her temples, and her thin clothes were already soaked with sweat and clung to her. Even though she was breathing heavily, I couldn't stop.
The maids who were watching the scene through the crack in the door whispered to each other.
"No, didn't you just touch the sword all day today?"
"That's what I'm saying... I heard you had a winning streak in the midst of all that chaos at the training ground. Are you preparing anything else?"
"Is there going to be a war...?"
Odelia felt their gazes on her back, but she pretended not to care and grabbed her wooden sword.
“I don’t know either."
With each swing of the wooden sword, a hollow sound cut through the air. Calix's gaze, the Emperor's smile, even Lady Judith's name, all tangled together, clawing at her heart, but the only way to release those emotions was to grasp the sword in her hand.
"What the hell is this..."
Odelia let out a self-deprecating laugh, roughly wiping her sweaty face with her wrist. Then she swung her sword harder, faster.
It felt like she was punishing herself rather than training.
Under the moonlight, Odelia's shadow stretched long.
***
The date between Calix and Judith Herdel was approaching.
Information about him was not something Calix had personally come to Odelia's mansion to learn in detail. The rumors that began to spread immediately after the auction swept through the noble society in an instant and adorned the news bulletins throughout the empire.
[ The Crown Prince and the Marquis' Young Lady on a Date! ]
[ His Highness the Crown Prince, who won the auction, is becoming a woman's man like this! ]
[ Perhaps the protagonist of this debutante is not Odelia, but the hidden gem, Lady Herdel? ]
The provocative title has been attracting readers' attention for several days.
Whether or not she knew Odelia's feelings, from that day on, Judith began to visit Odelia's mansion every day. She said that one cannot spit on a smiling face, and she had a very innocent expression.
"I really can't forget the cookies and tea I had last time."
Today, as always, she stood with her white face stained with food again. Her nanny said that she brought honey collected by herself as a gift.
"Come inside, Lady Judith."
"Yes!"
On a small tea table, cookies, sandwiches, and this time warm tea with honey were served.
Judith was quietly watching Odelia. Her fingertips in the teacup were still graceful, but her gaze was delicate, as if she didn't want to miss every movement of Odelia's eyes.
Judith, who had been watching for a while, opened her mouth cautiously.
"Maybe... Can Lady Odelia join us on tomorrow's date? As a witness."
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