Chapter 133
He left the jewelry shop and returned leisurely to the palace. Even though there were artisans in the palace, the reason he had gone out shopping was because he had other business to attend to.
On the way back in the carriage, Ilion spoke to Calix.
“According to information I got from another source, there was a rumor that the Floufrau Information Guild we visited back then was connected to the Empire of Leonis.”
“As expected.”
“But, Your Highness, how did you know?”
Ilion was genuinely curious. When the Crown Prince suddenly asked him to look into the Floufrau Information Guild, he had wondered why. Calix had never really cared about affairs outside the palace, and Ilion had originally been the one to look up that informant.
“It was odd.”
“Pardon? What was?”
“They brought information about the Empress of another country much too quickly.”
“…Why is that strange? Isn’t it possible if the informant is just very capable?”
“His Majesty the Emperor personally brought her in. It was something even I didn’t know, but an outsider informant brought the news in less than a week. Does that sound possible to you? Do you really think His Majesty is that easy to read?”
“No, of course not…”
Ilion, feeling like he’d suddenly become a felon, quickly denied it.
“If the information was delivered quickly, it could only mean one of two things. Either, as you said, the informant is so outstanding that he already had information on the Empress.”
“And if it’s not that, how would he have found out?”
Calix was more concerned about the latter.
“It would mean someone deliberately tipped off the informant, wanting to expose the Empress’s identity. Or perhaps someone looking for the Empress commissioned the request.”
Calix had various hypotheses, but he couldn’t say for certain which was correct. And honestly, he didn’t care what happened to the Empress.
He only worried about Lea, since she was connected to the Empress. If they were searching not only for the Empress but for Lea as well…
“That would be a big problem.”
He wasn’t about to let go of a woman who might be carrying his child. After finding a book about werebeast heat cycles, he was feeling restless.
“Ilion. Do you know what women want to eat when they become pregnant?”
“…Surely you didn’t go out today just to buy a gift for the Empress, did you?”
Calix answered Ilion’s off-the-mark guess with a cold expression.
“Sometimes I’m glad you’re a physical-type Esper. Or is it because you’re physical-type that you’re so clueless?”
“How could you say something so harsh…”
“No, this is actually a very profound thing. It’s a philosophical question like ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’—an infinite cycle.”
Ilion stared blankly at Calix, who was making no sense, then turned his head away as the palace drew near.
* * *
After taking her fifth emergency contraceptive pill, Lea immediately lay down on her bed. The medicine was so strong that she felt too nauseous to move.
At the same time, she felt guilty. With such complicated emotions, Lea simply stayed quietly in her room. Rose looked worried, but Lea couldn’t tell her the truth. Sometimes ignorance was better for things like this.
That she had erased the Crown Prince’s child.
Tossing and turning from the nausea, Lea eventually fell asleep without realizing it. When she opened her eyes, a handsome face was right in front of her.
“You’re finally awake.”
Calix smiled brightly as he watched her eyelids, which had been closed the whole time, finally open.
He couldn’t hold himself back today, so he had secretly unlocked her door and entered. He wanted to give her a present and, truthfully, was worried about whether she was really sick.
Information on werebeasts in the Cantabria Empire was extremely scarce. Perhaps fox werebeast suffered from illness after their heat cycle. Not knowing made him cautious. Besides, she was surely carrying his child, so he needed to take extra care of her.
“…When did you get here?”
“Last night.”
At his reply, Lea glanced out the window to gauge the time. The sun was just rising, but he didn’t look like he’d slept at all.
“You always seem to wake up at this hour.”
“What about you, Your Highness? You don’t seem to have slept.”
“I couldn’t fall asleep, I was thinking about something I was curious about.”
“What are you curious about?”
He looked at Lea, whom he felt he needed to take care of, and pulled something from his pocket.
…Showing her a packet of pills on his palm.
“Are you sick?”
Sometimes Lea showed a foolish insensitivity to her own pain. Remembering the time before he knew she was Luna, she was often injured and sick, as if bad luck followed her alone.
“This isn’t medicine made by the palace physician, is it?”
At Calix’s question, Lea couldn’t answer. The packet he held was the last of the emergency contraceptive pills.
She was sure she’d put it in her drawer… or did she take out tomorrow’s dose already?
As he watched her confused face, Calix asked gently, concern written all over his face.
“Is it because you’re beastkin that you couldn’t get it in the palace? Why, where does it hurt?”
His voice was so kind that she couldn’t bring herself to lie. She couldn’t deceive him, but the words didn’t come easily either.
After moving her lips several times, she finally managed to whisper in a small voice.
“…It’s emergency contraception.”
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