Chapter 137
“Could she be a twin?”
Otherwise, there was no way to explain it. But the Lucy she had seen in person was exactly the same as in the past.
Could twins really look that much alike?
“I’m truly sorry that I couldn’t be of more help, my lady.”
“…No, it’s fine. But does no one know why she disappeared?”
“Yes. They say her workshop vanished completely in less than a day.”
“Ah…”
“By any chance, is she from the beastkin nation?”
Derek asked cautiously. Lea covered her face with her hands and slowly nodded.
“If that’s the case, I may be able to find out more.”
“…How?”
“I learned this while running my information network. Among the informants, there’s a place called Floufrau. Apparently, they’ve been buying and selling information in the beastkin nation for a long time.”
“Then you can look into it?”
“Yes. Since we’re not in a wartime situation right now, I believe it’s possible.”
“Then, please look into it.”
“Understood.”
Even after Derek left, Lea couldn’t get up from the sofa. New pieces of information were whirling chaotically in her mind.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something she didn’t know. She was afraid that if she remained ignorant, it might cause some terrible consequence when Calix went off to war.
Not only that, but her heart was pounding with anxiety, making it impossible to stay still.
She had always loved him, so of course she would worry. But lately, she felt that her reactions were unusually intense.
‘Is it because I spent my heat with him?’
Lea was indeed a fox werebeast, but she didn’t know much about her own kind. She had come here before she could learn more from her tribe, so it was natural for her to be ignorant. Bianca might know more, but it wasn’t as if she could ask her.
That’s why the feeling of unease only grew deeper. Her body was changing, but she had no way of knowing whether these were good signs or bad.
At a loss for what to do, anxiously pacing in worry, Calix appeared at her palace.
Despite not having come for a while, he looked the same as usual.
“When are you going to come apologize?”
Even his blunt tone felt so familiar that Lea felt oddly relieved.
“Y-Your Highness!”
Though she had been too afraid to go to him first, as soon as she saw Calix, Lea jumped up and ran over to him.
Throwing herself into his arms, she pleaded earnestly,
“I, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was just too scared, that’s why I couldn’t come to see you.”
“Ha, how harshly could I even scold you? Still, you should have come to apologize. You left me waiting like a fool.”
Calix felt relief welling up at her words. He was determined to properly teach her not to ever recklessly take something dangerous like emergency contraception again.
In the meantime, he had given one of the pill packets she’d taken to the palace physician for analysis. The ingredients were full of substances that could, in the worst case, be life-threatening.
To think she’d taken such a thing without hesitation.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and that was why he hadn’t gone to her palace. He was afraid he might say something too harsh again. In reality, he’d been eaten up with worry.
And yet, when he finally came to see her, she was crying like this again. It made him feel frustrated, and also sorry for her.
Lea trembled as she confessed her feelings to Calix.
“I’ve spent so long thinking only of Your Highness. I’ve never really thought about anything else.”
“…What?”
“Just seeing Your Highness give me a gentle smile was enough for me. But now, with so many things happening all at once…”
Lea was afraid that if things changed too much from her past, it would change his future as well.
This was the conclusion she’d reached after all her worry. Unconsciously, she realized she’d been afraid.
So maybe, without even realizing it, she’d tried to keep some distance, to keep things from changing too much from before.
Lea, catching her breath, gripped his jacket and looked up at him. Her wide-open golden eyes were shining with pain.
“As long as I have Your Highness, that’s all I need. Safe, unharmed… just like that.”
The more she spoke, the more Calix’s face began to flush.
This was, in its own way, an even deeper confession than when she’d blurted out her love for him in a moment of chaos.
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