Rajiv nodded.
Calix let out a long sigh, muttering to himself.
“Her taste… It’s consistent. Is it really her cup of tea?”
Rajiv agreed to Calix’s murmur.
“Yes, I suspect it’s a smokescreen disguised as consistent taste.”
“Hmmm, hmmm!”
Rajiv commented absentmindedly, causing Calix to start coughing incoherently.
“Are you okay?”
When Rajif asked anxiously, Calix answered with an unduly loud voice.
“Yes, that’s what I mean, smoke screen!”
Calix, who had barely stopped coughing, commanded a dazed Rajiv.
“Get out.”
“Yes.”
Rajiv politely bowed out of the room.
As Rajiv went out, there was anxiety in the eyes of Calix, who was left alone, and displeasure in his face.
He’d spent the past six years since he realized he’d lost his memory, trying not to show any signs of weakness.
He’s tried to fit in at social gatherings he wasn’t suited for, and attended every opening of operas he’s never been interested in, in order to pretend he’s fine with his memory loss.
He’s tried to stop swinging his left hand, which trembled whenever he got angry.
All he had was his own abilities and his knights, who were a handful, so he never let his guard down to expose even the slightest loophole.
It had been six years of tightly controlled living, with the sole purpose of ensuring a stable succession to the throne.
It was only a matter of time before the watchful Duke of Brockburg finally began to push for the marriage of his daughter to Leon, strengthening the Empress’s power.
However, in recent months, the emergence of Kailyn Brockburg had become an unexpected variable.
It could have been ignored.
What possible threat could a small, weak-looking woman pose to them?
But her strange ways, her bizarre behavior, kept drawing his attention.
Add to that the unexpected anxiety he felt after rescuing her from the water.
In addition to his sporadic and disjointed memory recovery, he had an ominous premonition that his missing memories somehow involved her.
She knew he was left-handed, and she had shown up at the locations of the spies’ activities.
‘Kailyn Brockburg. Who are you, what is your true nature?’
He felt he needed to examine her more thoroughly.
The unpredictable princess, and the strange feelings that kept creeping into his mind.
*****
After the first week of looking around Everen, I decided on my favorite walking routine.
Monday is the park.
Tuesday is the library.
Wednesday is the park.
Thursday is a cafe.
Friday is the park.
Saturday and Sunday were walking on the promenade and stretching at home.
The park was beautiful and the atmosphere was good, and I don’t feel strangely bad when I’m there, so I decided to go there once a day.
I was following this routine regularly by the second week, but on the third Thursday, I encountered an unexpected person on the day I went to the library.
It was Grand Duke Leon.
“Kailyn, I didn’t expect to see you at the library.”
I didn’t know I’d see you here.
I couldn’t understand why he’d come to the National Library when there was the imperial library.
It was frustrating to meet him.
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
“Did you stop by to borrow a book?”
I was going to borrow one, until I ran into you.
Now that I’ve seen you, I’ll just return it and disappear as quickly as possible.
“Oh, no, I just happened to walk in, so I’ll be on my way.”
“Oh…”
My interest in reading the book vanished, and as soon as I saw Grand Duke Leon, I gave him a quick bow and rushed out of the library, returning the book I had checked out.
It wasn’t until I was far away from the library that I remembered that I had planned on borrowing the third book in the Princess series.
In the first book, the princess had fallen in love with the crown prince, but in the second book, she had fallen in love with another man.
In the third book, the crown prince finally regrets his past and begins to obsess over the princess.
In a nutshell, I ran through the first and second parts to read this third part….
Oh, really, Calix and Leon are not helping me with my reading life!
I guess I’ll just have to borrow it next week.
Annoyance washed over me.
*****
“She met Leon at the library?”
“I wouldn’t say they met, but they did run into each other there. They weren’t together long enough to get a good look at them.”
“Hmm…”
As he listened to Rajiv’s report, Calix frowned.
“How’s their engagement going?”
“That’s not progressing at all. Like they’ve really broken their engagement.”
According to the investigation, the Princess asked Grand Duke Leon to break up their engagement, but it was not known exactly whether it was true or not because there was no official comment from the Empress.
“Well…. But it says they met in the library…”
“It’s more accurate to say that they bumped into each other.”
“…”
Rajiv continued reporting back to calix, who had no answer.
“By the way, Grand Duke Leon borrowed the book that the Princess had returned immediately.”
Calix’s eyebrows wiggled noticeably at Rajiv’s report.
‘So it was no coincidence that I saw her at the night market after all, and they’re exchanging confidential information through books!’
“What was the title?”
“It’s ‘A Princess Awakens to New Love.'”
“What?”
Calix squinted and asked back.
“I think it’s a continuation of a book I borrowed before.”
It was only then that Calix saw Rajiv with a book in his hand.
“What’s that?”
Rajiv said, putting down the book.
“This is the third part of the ‘Princess Series,’ which were borrowed consecutively by the Princess and subsequently borrowed by Grand Duke Leon. I borrowed it to see if I could find any clues in her behavior.”
Calix listened to Rajiv and looked at the title of the book on his desk.
‘The Crown Prince Begins His Obsession with the Princess’
“What’s wrong with the title? The title of the series of novels are getting worse.”
Rajiv gave his opinion with a serious look on his face as he saw Calix looking uncomfortable.
“It seems like a calculated choice for a genre that doesn’t arouse suspicion.”
Calix grunted and flipped the book open face down.
“Leave.”
“Yes.”
As Rajiv left, Calix, left alone, looked at the left wrist protector on the desk, holding and stretching his left hand.
‘She met Leon at the library…’
She was a mysterious woman.
Tomorrow she was supposed to show up at the park.
‘The park…’
Calix reached out and picked up his left wrist bracer.
<Don’t Forget – Kailyn Brockburg> was embroidered on it.
At that moment, Calix suddenly felt his chest pounding.
“Why did you give me that!”
He knocked over the wrist guard so that the embroidery could not be seen.
‘I need to see her for myself, she’s suspicious!’
Calix was making excuses for his plans.
*****
Oh, my!
Yesterday was Grand Duke Leon, but today it’s Prince Calix?
What’s with the bad luck two days in a row?
I went for a walk in the park and unexpectedly ran into Calix there.
Of course, I had hoped to see him more, to reassure him of my love for him and to reassure him that I would not participate in the usurpation of the throne, but this day was different.
It was the first time I had seen him since our encounter at the night market, and I was not in a good mood.
I felt uncomfortable.
I didn’t want to face him.
However, it was impossible to ignore the man I encountered.
“I see Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Princess. I never expected to see you in the park.”
???
What… unexpected?
When I gave him an unreadable look, he said.
“You almost drowned in the river here, didn’t you, and yet you come to the park again.”
Ah…! Trauma?
Yeah, well, strangely enough, I don’t have that.
Anyway, is it because you saved me?
“I’m fine, I’m fine.”
“Really?”
“Is Your Royal Highness okay?”
More than me, I’m more curious about you.
I don’t have pleasant memories of falling into the river, but it’s not particularly painful.
And the Kailyn who fell into the river here as a child is not the Kailyn I am now, so there’s no trauma or anything.
But the you I wrote about in the novel was reluctant to come here because of the negative feelings about this park where Kailyn almost died because of you.
And yet you’ve been here to see the opera, and you’re here now, looking fine.
What else could have brought you here today?
“Me? What do you mean?”
Calix asked, looking at me with a strange expression on his face.
“Ever since I fell into the Letian River in this park when I was a kid, you’ve hated this place…”
“…Ah…”
Calix spat out the words and then shut his mouth.
A hint of embarrassment crossed his face.
Did I bring that up for nothing?
I was feeling a bit remorseful at the look on his face, but after a moment of silence, Calix suddenly asked a question in a very sharp voice.
“How do you know I didn’t like it here? I wouldn’t have mentioned it to anyone else.”
“Yes? Ah!”
Calix looked down at me with a piercing look.
That’s right.
Only I, the writer, know that he hated it.
He only hated it in his mind.
No one knew how he felt inside, how he felt about Cailin.
“Do you know me well, Princess?”
It was a clear tone.
No, I don’t know why I always make the writer’s advantage such a loophole.
I shouldn’t pretend to know his inner workings.
Anyway, this mouth is the problem!
There’s nothing I can do.
I’ll just have to push through with this.
“Your Highness, I like you, Your Highness. All the nerves are on edge when it comes to the person you like. That’s just how I felt.”
Although it was a struggle to live, I naturally bowed my head to avoid his eyes because I became embarrassed after saying nonsense.
But out of the corner of my eye, I saw his clenched left fist.
Is that a sign of anxiety?
Or angry, or offended.
Is it because I told him I liked him so openly that it made his heart flutter?
Calix said to me in wonder.
“Princess, I can’t let it go anymore because you say weird things every time.”
Weird things
You can’t let it go?
Calix continued to say with a strange nuance to me, who was leaning my head.
“I don’t even believe you like me, but even if you do, I’m not interested in you, let alone fond of you, which is unlikely, but if you are, I’m sorry.”
“What?”
What does he mean?
You don’t like me?
You’re not interested?
