TMGDW 15

Chapter 15

*”Please eat plenty. I have no appetite…”*

It was truly absurd.

There wasn’t a single woman who had ever shown such obvious displeasure in front of him.

Even if he changed his eyes and hair color, the core remained the same. So even when Axion did nothing, people flocked to him like clouds.

Whenever Axion wanted to cut off the emperor’s head, he would hold a banquet under his own name, and each time, the banquet hall would be so overflowing with young ladies desperate for a single dance with him that it couldn’t contain them all.

*”Shall I tell you a secret?”*

That was why he had revealed his identity.

Rather than stubbornness, perhaps he had simply needed something to relieve his boredom.

*”I didn’t know Your Highness the Crown Prince could be so unscrupulous.”*

Selena, who trembled like an aspen but still said everything she wanted to say, looked utterly ridiculous to Axion.

So he gave her the invitation, and she tore it to shreds.

*”I have nothing to lose anyway.”*

The woman who spoke uncertainly with her eyelashes lowered looked so pitiful.

So what if she was beautiful?

To Axion, Selena’s existence was no different from a mongrel born from a maid’s womb—utterly useless.

‘How could he take such a woman as his wife?’

He truly had an interesting woman by his side.

*”By tearing up that invitation just now, you’ve given me a justification to harm Calix.”*

If he could harm Calix just by tearing up an invitation, that bastard would have already disappeared from this world without leaving a single bone fragment.

So he hadn’t expected her to believe his words.

But she had taken it at face value, her face turning pale white…

She was innocent.

Despite receiving cheap education for years, she was so innocent—like freshly fallen snow that no one had yet stepped on.

*”How can I believe that? My husband has a different hair color and eye color from you. Calix has black hair and eyes as blue as the sea.”*

Her words were brimming with affection for her husband.

Even so, to put that monster on the same level as himself.

‘Is this what it means to be a husband?’

Despite having been sold off for money, the sight of her genuinely caring for Calix as her husband was so pathetic.

There was clearly only one person in this world who genuinely worried about that insane monster—that woman.

‘It’s okay. Nothing will happen.’

Selena breathed heavily.

She tried to embroider the fabric diligently to shake off her thoughts, but what had happened earlier refused to leave her mind.

“Ouch.”

She pricked herself with the needle again, perhaps because she wasn’t concentrating properly.

Selena felt like crying.

*”I didn’t lie. Calix is indeed my younger brother, and I am his older brother. Although we are half-brothers.”*

Why would someone as important as the Crown Prince of the empire say such a thing to her? She didn’t know what was lie and what was truth.

Selena, who had lived confined to the attic, knew nothing properly.

Calix had awakened her to the existence of a new world, but she was still like a blind person with open eyes.

*”By tearing up that invitation just now, you’ve given me a justification to harm Calix.”*

‘Nothing will happen. Nothing will…’

But wasn’t he the Crown Prince?

His innate aura—as if he had never bowed to anyone—and his confident, proud demeanor could never be fabricated.

Anxiety and impatience mingled together, driving her crazy.

If her husband were harmed because of her, what would she do then?

The guilt of having caused him trouble bound Selena tightly.

*”Make sure you eat properly. Don’t let anyone in who comes to the castle.”*

She hadn’t kept her promise to Calix. She had let a stranger into the castle.

How could she even face him? Everything was her own doing.

Selena set down the fabric in her hand on the table.

Beside the stained fabric, which seemed to express her current state of mind, lay the torn pieces of the invitation she had ripped apart.

Selena pieced the scraps together one by one, like a puzzle.

When she roughly assembled them, a concisely written sentence came into view:

—

One week later, at night. Venue: Crown Prince’s Palace. Entry conditions: invitation and mask.

However, do not bring any attendants.

—

*”Yes. If you don’t want to, say so. Forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to is what fools do.”*

Selena recalled what her husband had said to her.

“It’s okay.”

It’s better to be a fool than to cause you harm.

The Elysion Knights advanced without rest.

But suddenly, a fierce storm wind blew, and an unannounced tempest began to rage violently.

Even though they had ridden without pause, it had taken several days just to reach near the border. With their stamina already depleted from lack of sleep, pushing through this weather was madness.

“Damn it.”

Calix cursed and had no choice but to arrange temporary quarters.

He considered setting up camp and sleeping, but they would surely lose everything if swept away by the storm.

Moreover, not only the knights but also the horses showed clear signs of fatigue.

They needed to find lodging where they could rest properly for at least one night, even if it was in a nearby village.

Perhaps because it was near the border, or because of the raging storm, the village was enveloped in a generally gloomy atmosphere.

But Calix wasn’t one to care about atmosphere. He eventually found an inn large enough to house the entire knight order and more.

Ding.

As he opened the door, the small bell hanging above it rang.

Hearing the sound, the innkeeper, realizing a guest had arrived, approached rubbing his hands together.

But upon confirming Calix’s face up close, the innkeeper let out a gasp and fell flat on his backside.

A long sword scar running from his forehead to his left cheek, a black eyepatch worn on the right, and a height that required craning one’s neck to see.

“…A-Archduke!”

Belatedly recognizing the guest’s identity, the innkeeper prostrated himself on the floor.

Calix tossed a few gold coins to the innkeeper, who showed no sign of getting up from the ground, and said:

“I’ll rent this place for just one day.”

After confirming the money, the innkeeper bowed his head repeatedly with an overwhelmed expression.

The amount Calix had given him was equivalent to a full year’s income of the inn.

—

The knights, exhausted, fell asleep as soon as they entered their rooms. In the meantime, Calix soaked in a hot bath to wash off his grimy body.

“Huff…”

He finally felt somewhat alive.

But as his body relaxed, stray thoughts began to surface.

*”The campaign is coming up soon, and I didn’t want to cause any trouble…”*

The woman who couldn’t even say she was sick, whose wrists were as thin as dry twigs, making her barely strong enough to hold a spoon.

*”Calix, thank you. Thank you…”*

The woman who repeated words of gratitude even though he had done nothing for her.

“…Selena.”

Calix tried saying his wife’s name aloud—a name he had never once called—then wrinkled his brows in awkwardness.

Thinking of his wife brought simultaneous waves of sorrow, anger, and pity. But Calix didn’t want to know what he was feeling.

‘It’s not that I treasure her. It’s just that woman is too foolish.’

Her admitting herself to be a fool was utterly pathetic.

And yet, recalling her face as she looked at him—him, called a monster—as if he were a shining sun, somehow pained him.

Thinking that this worry, this feeling, was nothing but a mirage that would soon disappear, Calix closed his eyes as if trying to erase all thoughts of Selena.

But even with his eyes closed, the image of his wife crying and saying thank you kept surfacing, and if he could, he wanted to crush his own skull.

‘It’s all because that woman is too soft.’

“……”

Nevertheless, he couldn’t erase the worry that someone might harm his innocent, rabbit-like wife while he was away.

The imperial palace, shrouded in night.

Selena, dressed in a blue long dress, slowly stepped down from the carriage.

She wore a pure white half-mask over her shining golden hair.

She wasn’t the only one wearing a mask. Quite a few people were stepping out of carriages with masks on.

The masquerade ball hosted personally by Axion was an opportunity for noble young ladies to aim for a dance with the Crown Prince.

However, only those who had received invitations—the chosen ones—could attend, and the proud Axion was famous for not handing out invitations to just anyone.

The young ladies, who wanted to go to the banquet but couldn’t, found nothing more unfair. So some would buy illegally duplicated fake invitations at high prices and come anyway.

Axion knew this but didn’t impose any particular punishment.

*”Leave them be. It’s pathetic how they grovel for a single dance with me—they look just like squirming worms.”*

That was what he said.

Axion possessed an angelic appearance, but his inner self was anything but. And almost no one in attendance knew the truth of what Axion really was.

Of course, even if they knew the truth, there was nothing they could do about it.

“Please go in.”

Selena blended into the crowd and entered the Crown Prince’s palace.