Calix looked me in the eye and was waiting for an answer.
If I said, “No, I just picked it out randomly,” which is what I originally claimed, would he believe me?
No, no, he’ll never believe me….
Both of them are completely different. They are books of the same taste.
“Sigh…”
I sighed loudly.
Yes! Already, my taste is coming out!
I opened my chest and said proudly.
“Yes, it is my taste. I chose them carefully, as they are the most complete in artistry and realism, and yet here they are, stolen by Your Highness the Crown Prince and Your Highness’ Knights.
“…Right. I’ll remember this, too.”
You’ll remember this, too?
What do you mean?
Are you saying you’ll remember my taste?
Oh!!!
The wrist guard!
He must be saying that because he remembers the words on my wrist guard from the last time he saw it.
The embroidery was meant to remind him to remember how much I loved him, even when he wanted to kill me.
But in this case, when he wanted to kill me, he would remember me with a 19th-century erotic book.
I should have embroidered nothing at all.
Another surge of regret washed over me.
Let’s disappear, let’s just disappear quickly in front of Calix.
“Can I go now?”
“Yes.”
Finally, Calix’s approval.
I turned back as gracefully as I could, leaving the alley trying my best to look confident.
Am I really coming back to this alley?
The most unlucky place in this novel!
Cursing with each step, cursing the night market, I fought to hold on to my sanity until I reached my home, but when I finally made it to my bed, my body collapsed as if dead.
I spent the rest of the afternoon burying my face in my pillow, trying to figure out how best to bury my face so I could effectively suffocate myself, but eventually poked my head up regularly to breathe.
*****
After a few days, I couldn’t forget what happened that day.
I’m sure Calix thinks me now a princess of very illuminating tastes….
True enough, but oh, the shame!
That was all I felt at first, embarrassment and shame.
But after a few days, not just shame, but a whole new worry was added.
I’m only going to pretend to like him until Estelle shows up, but just because I like him, he’s not going to ask me to do like this and that, right?
Oh my god!
Somehow, nothing is easy!
I went to the night market to get some respite from my worries about survival, but ended up with more.
Why is this body so weak, anyway?
Between the shock of the drowning, the fright at the night market, and the stress I’ve been under ever since, Kailyn’s weak body aches everywhere.
Her mother was so weak that she died shortly after giving birth to Kailyn, and Kailyn, who took after her mother and was naturally weak, was always a source of concern for her father, the Duke, and her brother, Luke.
She rarely used her body, relying on hired help to feed, clothe, and bathe, let alone do household chores.
During the empress’s rebellion, it was unclear whether I would be able to avoid the blade of Calix, but even if I survived, I thought that I might die after suffering like Kailyn’s mother after giving birth.
Mind aside, this body is purely Kailyn’s.
For me, who wants to survive and meet a man with a good face, body and heart and live a long life with many children, I’m starting to think that the only problem is the countermeasure against Calix.
However, the only exercise an aristocratic princess could do to improve her physical strength was walking or horseback riding. And since I had never ridden a horse, walking was my only option.
Yes, not just when I feel like it, but on a daily basis and stretching at home!
Having strengthened my resolve to exercise, I decided to diversify my walks a little more than just along the boardwalk.
Since buying books at the night market was completely out of the question, I made the library my first stop to borrow a soft romance.
I also added a few more options, including the teahouse district, taking pictures to the main gate of the Imperial Palace at the end of the trail, and visiting the flower shop.
Lastly, I added Letian Riverside Park, which was more memorable because it was the place where I fell into the water but was somehow saved by the crown prince.
With this regular walk planned, my first challenge was to reach the main gate of the Imperial Palace.
*****
Calix was reviewing reports from the border area.
The emperor had been entrusting the crown prince with military decisions and responsibilities regarding the territorial expansion and border defense of the empire for a few years.
It was an inevitable and natural result because the emperor had no military talent, and Calix was full of it.
The report concerned a serious provocation on the border with the Darkus Empire.
A few weeks ago, a minor quarrel between Imperial subjects in a border town had quickly escalated into a major conflict, and some of Aelyrium’s Knights had been sent into the town to deal with the unexpected disturbance.
Taking advantage of the gap in the defenses, an unknown group attacked one of Aelyrium’s iron ore mines, which were under the protection of the knights.
The iron ore mines in the front lines had been lost to disturbances in the towns in the rear, which were unexpectedly considered safe areas.
The immediacy of the invasion, as if they knew in advance that the sudden disturbance would leave a gap in the defense.
As the chain of events began to unravel, a search for links between the incidents revealed commonalities between the groups responsible for the disturbances and the ambush.
Both groups had been assigned a date for the disturbances and a date for the raids by vendors in the night market procession.
Night market vendors traveled from country to country collecting and selling information, sometimes acting as liaisons between spies hiding in different countries.
Information was exchanged everywhere, but in the night markets of Everen, the heart of the Everetian Empire, it was most commonly done through illegal books.
To avoid arousing suspicion in the eyes of strangers, the messages were written in a style that blended seamlessly into the book’s narrative, and often involved matching pages to dates of key events.
Thus, the sighting of the Princess of the House Brockburg in the last night market operation had made Calix’s head spin.
Even a commoner could not be arrested immediately for buying illegal books at a night market.
Suffice it to say, as a book buyer, he couldn’t tell which carts were selling illegal books, and that was true.
Besides, she was a princess, the only daughter of the Duke of Brockburg. So he had no choice but to let her go.
But the fact that she was the daughter of the Duke of Brockburg made it all the more suspicious.
The Duke’s daughter, who was sure to have already joined hands with none other than the Empress, who was most at odds with the Crown Prince.
There was nothing suspicious in the books chosen by the princess.
But Calix, who had no idea that books filled with such words and pictures existed in the world, could hardly believe the princess’s claim that such books were her taste.
She must have told a lie that such a book was her preference, as she could not confess that she had appeared there to act as a liaison or informant for the Duke of Brockburg.
‘You wouldn’t have even opened them until I showed them to you, and you’re trying to get away with it by claiming it’s your taste…. I was surprised, too, how surprised the princess must have been.’
He could still see her face, red with surprise, trying to hold on to the book she had never seen before, and the way she was trying so hard to stay true to her role as a spy.
As he read the report and remembered the princess, Calix turned to Rajiv, who was waiting beside him.
“What’s the latest on the princess?”
After encountering Kailyn Brockburg at the night market, Calix had instructed him to monitor her movements more specifically.
“The Brockburg Princess has been going out exceptionally frequently lately. Starting at the Duke’s residence, she has been visiting several central locations of Everren one a day.”
Calix’s brows frown.
“Continuing to visit the centers of Everren…”
She had appeared on a night market cart and was now whirling through the center of Everren.
With a slender, young woman, a woman with sparkling, fawn-like eyes that could deceive anyone with her beauty, the suspicion that the Duke might be plotting something only grew stronger.
“What are these places in the city specifically?”
Rajiv began to report in detail to Calix’s questions.
“On the first day, she came to the main entrance to the imperial palace. On the second day, she was at the library, on the third day, she was at the florist, on the fourth day, she was at the tea shop, and on the fifth day… that’s strange.”
“Where?”
“That park where the opera was. Letian Park.”
“Are you talking about the Letian Riverside Park?”
“Yes.”
“Well…”
Calix was also lost in thought by Rajiv’s report.
That was the place where the princess almost drowned not long ago.
It was strange that she would go there on her own.
Rajiv was right to call it strange.
Was it such an important connection to the park that she’d overcome her drowning experience?
The other locations were all central, everyday places, places where you could meet anyone without being suspected.
Except for the main gate of the Imperial Palace.
“Why did you come to the main gate of the imperial palace? The Imperial Palace is… because I…!”
Calix mumbled a random thought, then shut his mouth in disbelief.
Rajiv tilted his head for a moment at the prince’s strange words and expressions, but soon continued to report again.
“She’s been back to the library for the umpteenth time, checking out books.”
Calix asked, his expression suddenly serious, as if hiding some embarrassment at Rajiv’s report.
“Books… did she show any signs of meeting anyone else?”
“No. None.”
“And the Duke hasn’t changed much?”
“He still has frequent meetings with the Marquis of Rastus, but nothing else.”
Calix was silent for a moment at Rajiv’s report, then spoke again, as if something had suddenly occurred to him.
“What was the title of the book that the princess borrowed from the library?”
“That’s…”
Rajiv faltered for a moment.
Calix narrowed his eyes, waiting for an answer.
Rajiv replied.
“<A Princess Dreams of Love with the Crown Prince>.”
“What, a princess and a crown prince?”
