Those words sank into Odelia's heart with a much heavier and rawer emotion than she had expected.
Before Odelia, who had stopped breathing for a moment as if frozen, could even raise her gaze, Calix sighed softly.
As if he realized what he had just said, a beat too late.
He, too, was momentarily speechless, faced with emotions that had already gone too far without even being able to properly finish his sentence.
"...Forget about it now."
His low, hushed voice was a bit rougher than usual. His lips were absentmindedly bitten, and his eyes trembled slightly.
Odelia read his trembling for the first time.
She sensed that he was genuinely trying to dismiss it as a slip of the tongue. And she couldn't deny that his slip of the tongue had caused a ripple somewhere in her heart.
But Calix continued, as if throwing a larger rock to hide the faint ripple he had created.
"Odelia, marry Cedric."
Pungdung!
A huge rock sank beneath the surface, crushing Odelia's heart.
Odelia hurriedly looked at his face, trying to determine if he had really said that or if it was just her imagination.
Calix didn't avert his gaze, instead staring straight at her with a face devoid of any expression.
“Your Highness, what are you doing now...?”
Calix was silent for a moment, but then lowered his eyes and spoke clearly again.
"Marry Cedric."
She hadn't misheard. Odelia's expression visibly distorted.
"You don't know, do you? How Cedric feels, what happened between us."
"That doesn't matter. The Emperor is dead, and the state affairs are in disarray. The Empress and the royal family won't give up so easily. They'll try to seize control by taking advantage of the situation. In the process, the succession rights and other powers will become complicatedly entangled and clash. You could be in danger."
He continued speaking without even looking at her.
"Cedric's family may be small, but it's a family that's maintained its neutrality for a long time. It's unlikely he'd carelessly jump into politics. And if you marry him, you won't have to worry about him treating you poorly."
His words were reasonable, but they were more like a one-sided announcement than a warning or advice.
At that moment, Odelia's patience broke.
“Really... It's too much!”
At her scream, Calix's eyes fluttered for the first time.
"Just do one thing, Your Highness, do you intend to humiliate me or do you intend to make me give up?"
Calix looked at her quietly. He smiled briefly.
That smile wasn't mockery or composure. It was dry and lonely, like a self-deprecating laugh. It was the face of someone who knew full well that their words would hurt, yet knew they couldn't help but say them out loud.
"Whatever my intention, isn't the answer already set?"
And, he added lowly and heavily.
"Odelia. No, Erdel Rubis."
Erdel Rubis, at that name, Odelia held her breath and fell into a daze.
“How do you do that?"
Her whisper, her lips trembling, was so faint that it was drowned out by the wind.
Odelia froze, as if her entire body had been frozen. No, the freeze only lasted a moment. The cracked emotions soon burst out.
“It’s a lie...."
Odelia let out a small sigh and slowly took a step back.
"...Your Highness is truly a cruel man."
“Odelia.”
"...Even though you know everything, even though you know everything, how much do you know? How much do you intend to ignore?"
Odelia let out a small laugh and took a few more steps back. Seeing Odelia's pale, terrified face, Calix belatedly reached out and tried to grab her hand, but it was too late.
As she slowly shook her head and stepped back as if telling him not to come any closer, Odelia turned around and started running.
The hem of her dress was fluttering, and her thin slippers slipped on the gravel road several times, but she didn't stop and ran like crazy.
I had to get out of there. I had to get away from Calix's gaze, his voice, his name.
'How do you not know? Since when?'
Her breathing was ragged and her heart pounding, but her mind was seething with even more complexity. The mere fact that he knew about her past turned Odelia's world upside down.
Perhaps, she had assumed she'd be caught someday. But he never knew it would be Calix. He—the man who approached so cautiously—would so carelessly poke at her deepest flaw.
At that moment, Odelia felt a surge of resentment and betrayal, rather than understanding. If only he had pretended not to know, if only she had pretended to be deceived until the very end.
Then, she wouldn't have felt like her whole body was falling apart like she does now.
The name she had kept hidden, the past she had believed buried, and the truth that must not be revealed came out of Calix's mouth.
She didn't know why she was running, or where she was going. Even if she ran, she wouldn't be able to escape Calix, and she couldn't even avoid this situation. Nevertheless, Odelia had no choice but to run.
The expression on Calix's face as he called her by her real name.
His face was looking at her.
It was because she couldn't handle it on the spot.
Perhaps she had run so fast without even looking ahead. In the end, Odelia tripped over a rock and fell.
***
The shock of being thrown to the floor took her breath away. The child's chest heaved, and she opened her eyes coldly, staring into the empty air.
The chill of the earth surged through the child's body, piercing through her body. Blood was forming on her hands, the knees of her pants were already torn, and her eyes were trembling uncontrollably.
"Get up, Erdel."
The Marquis Rubis's voice was cold. Erdel bit her lip and couldn't raise her head.
Behind the ash-gray mansion, on that day when the sky had turned a muddy shade, Erdel Rubis stood in the middle of the training ground where a sharp wind blew.
Erdel, nine years old, with short hair like a boy, wearing a training uniform and tight-fitting combat boots, got up without a single groan.
Even when she fell, she held the wooden stick and did not let go. The back of her hand was already covered with old scars.
Even though Erdel's whole body was agitated and his lips were parched, Marquis Rubis showed no intention of stopping his training.
"You keep falling over in the same movement. I told you to keep your legs strong and not let up, even when you bring down the sword. You won't win by just striking."
Erdel Rubis, the only daughter of the Rubis family.
However, except for a very small number of people in the family, everyone thought Erdel was a boy. The Marquis of Rubis always treated Erdel like a boy.
Erdel had no disagreement with him. Even though she was born a woman, she believed she should live like a man.
"Sorry."
"Stand up straight. Keep your wrists tight."
Erdel gritted her teeth and took a stance, but her wrists were losing strength. Her tongue, her teeth, and her mouth were twitching, her vision beginning to blur.
Marquis Rubis, sensing that his daughter was reaching her limit, stopped training her.
"Let's stop here for today. You've worked hard."
"No, Dad, I can do it..."
"Erdel, too much is worse than not doing anything at all. When you reach your limit, sometimes you have to know how to take a break."
That night, after training, Erdel headed to her parents' bedroom to say goodbye to them in the evening.
"The Empress is looking for a spouse for Prince Liam. If it were to become known that Erdel is a girl..."
"Don't worry, Madam, Erdel will never become Liam's wife. I won't let that happen."
"Isn't the Lord family gradually expanding its influence? His Majesty the Emperor is already too old. The former Empress passed away, and Prince Calix also..."
The Marquis and Marchioness of Rubis didn't raise their child as a boy because they couldn't accept the fact that she was a girl. Rather, they loved Erdel so deeply that they adopted a temporary measure to ensure her safety.
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