Chapter 198
“What? Hah!”
At Zion’s words, Calix couldn’t hold back his laughter. He laughed so hard that tears came to his eyes, then suddenly sobered and answered,
“Well, I suppose the Vice Commander can’t be expected to know my fox very well.”
At Calix’s provocative remark, Zion unconsciously hardened his expression. Even though he knew Calix was the Crown Prince and his superior, there were moments—especially as a fellow Esper—when he couldn’t control his own jealousy and inferiority complex.
Just like right now.
“Listen carefully. I can pretty much guess what you’re thinking, but I would never do such a thing to Lea, nor would she do that to me. Do you understand what I mean?”
Lea would sometimes contradict him, but that was almost always about work. Privately, not even once. No, there had been one exception: when she’d taken the morning-after pill.
Thinking back to that time put him in a gloomy mood, but now that the war had broken out, he actually thought it was for the best.
At the time, Cantabria had only one Guide besides Bianca, and it was Lea herself.
“My fox will do anything I say. And I would never do anything deserving of being scolded by such a Lea.”
“If that’s not the case, then I’m relieved. But then why did you hurt your palm again? The wound looks even deeper than yesterday.”
At Zion’s question, Calix hesitated for a moment. He didn’t want to talk about Lea unless he was sure, but if something really had happened to her, he wouldn’t be able to resolve it alone.
Unlike before, he had now reclaimed most of his rights as Crown Prince, but all of it was thanks to what Lea had given him. He still couldn’t win over the nobles by himself, so he knew he needed Zion’s help.
“Tch, I don’t like it, but I suppose I’ll have to say it.”
It wasn’t easy to admit, but if it concerned Lea, it was better to be clear, so Calix explained what he suspected.
“It’s strange. The stab wound in my side healed completely in just one day.”
“…Couldn’t it just be that you’re much more outstanding than other Espers, Commander-in-Chief?”
“I know I’m exceptional. But no matter how much better I am, it’s impossible for even the best Esper to heal at such a miraculous speed.”
“True. Even for an Esper, it’s hard to believe a stab wound would vanish in a single day.”
“Exactly. And for some reason, I think it’s because of Lea.”
At Calix’s words, Zion suddenly remembered something. After being severely struck by a lightning Esper, Lea had come to guide him. The direct contact guiding that time had only involved her sucking his finger, but it felt different from normal contact guiding through touch.
Just recalling that moment made Zion unconsciously swallow. At the time, he’d thought nothing of it, assuming it was just the awakening of a new power.
“Now that you mention it…”
Zion began slowly.
“When I received contact guiding from Lady Lea, something strange happened to me too.”
“What?”
Hearing the phrase ‘contact guiding’, Calix was momentarily irritated, but he suppressed it and asked calmly. Zion recalled the event and answered in detail.
“My body, which had been scorched by lightning, felt completely refreshed. Just receiving guiding isn’t enough to heal physical wounds, right? Of course, a twisted energy might be straightened out and make you feel refreshed, but that’s a separate reaction from healing a physical wound.”
“So, are you saying a physical wound disappeared?”
“I didn’t have a visible wound like you did, Commander-in-Chief, so it’s a bit hard to say for sure… Oh, but now that I think about it, the skin that had been blackened from the burn turned clean again after that guiding session.”
At Zion’s words, Calix clenched his wounded hand into a fist. Feeling as if he’d finally grasped a clue, he couldn’t wait any longer for Lea. He wanted to clear up this suspicion as soon as possible.
Even though it didn’t seem possible, the idea that she might have another side to her sparked a restless curiosity he couldn’t control.
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