Chapter 9
At first, though awkward and bewildered, he still wanted to get along with Lea since they were now family.
Having someone to visit within the palace was actually a pleasant thing.
He also liked her cute appearance. The way she flinched and stared at him like she was entranced every time they met—it was endearing.
Yes, he wouldn’t deny that, at first, he had genuinely liked her.
The more he thought about it, the more absurd the current situation felt, and Calix let out a faint laugh.
He glanced away from his now spotless plate and turned his eyes toward her palace, visible from his own.
“Why on earth did she do that back then?”
She had clearly been the one to instruct the servant, and yet she suddenly shoved the servant aside and ended up getting scalded by the hot tea herself.
And then—
Even while being carried off in a knight’s arms, she had looked back at him with a face on the verge of tears, as if desperately trying to reach him.
Remembering that, Calix felt a gnawing unease.
And then…
“She told me not to call her ‘Sister’…”
He recalled how she used to wear a smug expression every time he called her that.
Though Bianca had become Empress, Lea alone had been denied any title. Yet she particularly loved hearing him call her ‘Sister’.
It was as if that title was her most treasured possession.
Back then she clung to it like it meant the world—now suddenly she told him not to use it.
“What’s she scheming this time?”
Calix, already completely fed up with both Bianca and Lea, had no intention of being swayed again by even a momentary display of kindness.
He was certain, sooner or later, she would pretend to be kind and then stab him in the back.
“Your Highness, please eat!”
Snapped out of his thoughts by Daisy’s voice, he turned his head.
Now that his stomach had gotten a taste of food, it clamored for more.
Though he still wore an uncomfortable expression, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse the food Daisy brought.
As he hurriedly stuffed it into his mouth, he kept his eyes fixed on the palace where Lea resided.
His vivid red eyes gleamed like rubies.
***
Lea, hearing that Rose had safely delivered the food supplies to the crown prince’s palace, let out a silent sigh of relief.
“But I can’t let my guard down.”
Just because Rose had done as she asked didn’t mean she had become her person.
And in the current imperial palace, there wasn’t a single person willing to defy Bianca.
Not even the emperor.
As she had always been a Guide, Lea couldn’t fully understand what kind of pain Espers went through.
From what she had gathered from the things Espers had said, it seemed the pain was unbearable.
If one’s own child were an Esper, writhing in pain every day, any parent would try to do something to fix it.
Though, of course, there would always be exceptions.
No longer thinking of Bianca as her mother, Lea curled up on the window couch and continued her thoughts.
“How can I deceive her eyes?”
For now, she had secretly sent food to the crown prince’s palace, but that alone wasn’t enough to solve everything.
That palace had been cut off from its budget for a long time—a move that was also Bianca’s doing.
“Who was in charge of managing the palace budget again…?”
It had been so long ago, it wasn’t easy to recall.
Until the crown prince ascended as emperor, he would need to steadily build his strength.
Besides, in a few years, the Cantabrian Empire would inevitably go to war again with the Leonis Empire.
Before joining that war, she needed to plant at least one loyal subordinate in the palace, so that upon returning, it would be easier to stop Bianca’s schemes.
But above all else, one thing gnawed at her.
“He needs to receive guiding…”
Bianca only gave guiding to those within her circle.
There was no way she would have ever guided Crown Prince Calix.
Even the emperor, though Calix was his own son, thoroughly neglected to offer him guiding. The reason was simple.
Espers, by nature, didn’t like to share their Guide—not even with their own children or siblings.
Even if Bianca did offer guiding herself, there was no reason to ask her to guide the crown prince.
“Espers really are something else…”
Hadn’t Calix also desperately guarded that rabbit werebeast Guide back then?
Recalling that, Lea’s expression darkened as she silently waited for sunset.
Even if she were to go to him now and offer guiding herself, Calix wouldn’t believe her. He would only feel uncomfortable.
After everything she’d done to him over the past five years, how could he possibly trust her?
Besides, the only ones in the palace who knew Lea was a Guide were the emperor and Empress Bianca.
And there was no chance either of them would reveal that secret to anyone—
So of course, Calix had no idea.
Even though she knew this was a dream, desire kept creeping in.
Though she knew it was hopeless, she still wanted to help Calix.
Maybe she wanted, in this way, to completely erase all the wrongs she had committed against him in the past…
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