When the Guide Stopped Playing a Villainess, the Obsession Began - Chapter 80

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“Crown Prince.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“You’ve never truly suffered from a lack of guiding. If you had known how agonizing that truly is… I would have groveled, even if it meant crawling between Bianca’s legs. No matter how humiliating, you have to stay alive if you want to enjoy the hard-won position of Emperor.”

At Luke’s words, Calix found himself speechless. He was angry, yet he couldn’t be, because every word was true.

The Empress, the only Guide in the entire Cantabria Empire. If he had tried, if he had sincerely made an effort to win her favor, just as his father said, maybe he could have received Bianca’s guiding.

But he hadn’t. Perhaps, as the Emperor said, he truly had resented Bianca for suddenly taking the place of his mother.

Luke, his face expressionless, slowly put a cigar to his lips. Andrio hurried forward and lit it for him.

A hazy stream of smoke drifted out slowly from between Luke’s lips.

“If you want to inherit my throne, then crawl through the mud some more. Just as I killed my brothers to ascend to the imperial seat, you must secure your own survival. I will not help you, not until the very end.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Calix’s eyes sank into darkness. He hadn’t expected much from his father to begin with, but he hadn’t imagined he would be this indifferent. Whatever lingering affection had remained, he was finally able to discard.

“In return, no one will lay a hand on your position. As long as you are alive.”

“…Yes.”

“That’s enough. You may go.”

“Yes, understood.”

With a hardened expression, Calix exited the office. Andrio, who followed behind him, couldn’t hide his sympathetic expression as he bowed deeply.

“Please return safely, Your Highness.”

“Right. You stay well too.”

“…Yes.”

Andrio, understanding the true meaning behind Calix’s words, could only give a brief reply.

On the way back to his own palace, Calix made a vow to himself never to forget what had happened today. He walked forward, eyes fixed straight ahead, chewing over the fact that all he had been able to do was silently respond to his father’s words—weak, powerless.

Just then, as he passed by the rose garden on the way to his residence, he heard laughter.

Calix unconsciously turned his head in the direction of the sound. There, he saw Lea, smiling brightly as she stood with someone. Unlike the day he had seen her collapsed and unconscious, her back slashed open, she now looked healthy and radiant.

She was with Zion and Derek. Seeing the three of them so warm and familiar made Calix’s insides twist.

“What is this? Looks like she’s fully recovered.”

Lea had been too sick to even complain about missing the birthday banquet, but now, for some reason, her presence irritated him. Especially her smiling face. That, most of all.

So instead of returning to his palace, he turned and entered the rose garden. His slow steps grew quicker, and soon the three also became aware of his presence.

“…We greet His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.”

The three greeted him almost simultaneously, but the only voice that reached Calix’s ears was Lea’s.

That hesitant tone in her voice grated on him for some reason.

“Seems like something good happened?”

At his sarcastic question, Lea looked flustered. She hadn’t expected to run into him so suddenly. The last time they had met in human form flashed through her mind, and her face flushed hotly.

Seeing her stammering, unable to answer, filled Calix with a strange sense of satisfaction. He hoped she would grow even more uncomfortable because of him, and opened his mouth again.

“Is my dear sister planning to simply ignore her brother’s birthday?”

Calix’s biting remark made Zion and Derek faintly frown. Calix didn’t miss that slight reaction. He looked down at Lea, observing her and trying to piece together her relationship with the two men, but nothing conclusive came to mind.

Because he knew nothing about her.

When they were younger, she had chased after him relentlessly, dEsperate for his attention, only to now become a complete stranger.

He stared at Lea, dressed in a high-necked gown that covered even her throat. Somewhere beneath that fabric, there might still be the ugly scars from the burns she received trying to shield him.

Caught up in his thoughts, Calix suddenly recalled the woman from his dream. His red eyes slightly widened as he remembered the scar he had felt above her b******s, where both his hands had been gripping tightly.