Chapter 20. Like a Princess in a Fairy Tale

Calyx whispered in Patrick’s ear in a low, chilling voice.

“……! What……!”

“Ah, my mistake. I momentarily forgot.”

Calyx’s large hand covered the top of Patrick’s head, then stroked his hair in the same way he used to pat his cousin’s head when he was the crown prince.

“You wouldn’t know.”

Slowly, leisurely, from the crown to the back of his head.

“You’re just the queen’s puppet.”

One who would never measure up to his mother’s expectations and ultimately be unable to do anything on his own.

“Mama’s boy.”

That was the nickname the servants at Denger Palace used to refer to him.

Not just the servants of Denger Palace but all the ministers who frequented the royal palace knew that nickname. Perhaps it was the crown prince’s humiliation known throughout the entire kingdom.

Patrick looked at his opponent, trembling with shame.

The one who knew his weakness best smiled with eyes full of pity.

In that face, Patrick read his mother’s gaze as she looked at her pathetic, stupid son.

— That’s something you don’t need to know.

— I’ll take care of everything, so you just need to walk the path I’ve laid out for you……

“Shut up!”

Patrick’s fist slammed down on Calyx. A dull cracking sound erupted.

* * *

In her fever that felt like swallowing a ball of fire, Lottie had several dreams in succession.

The first was a dream of her mother, who had passed away long ago.

Her mother, whose only remaining memory was of lying on a sickbed, was reading a fairy tale to her younger self.

It was a story about a king from long ago who loved his only daughter very much and held a competition to find the best husband for her, and after three tests, the princess married a man.

“Lottie. Ah, our angel-like Lottie. You too, like the princess in the fairy tale, will have just one prince who is prepared to overcome numerous trials for you.”

Her mother stroked her cheek while saying this. A clear light of death was settled on that face.

“The mistress was already frail, but her condition deteriorated rapidly after giving birth to the young miss……”

“If she had accepted the doctor’s recommendation for abortion, she would have lived at least twice as long. She died at such a regrettable age……”

The first dream ended with the maids’ thoughtlessly whispered voices.

The protagonist of the second dream was none other than her ex-husband.

It was during the time when she became a queen and spent lonely days in the castle. When she fell ill with a terrible cold and was bedridden for days, her husband never once showed his face.

When she hinted to her lady-in-waiting that she wanted to see her husband, he, upon hearing this, raged about what would happen if he caught her cold.

He is the king responsible for the kingdom, so it would be a disaster if he fell ill. I was foolish. She blamed herself.

Swallowing her tears and barely getting into bed, she felt a cool touch on her hot forehead.

When she opened her eyes, her husband was sitting by the bed.

“If you were this sick, why didn’t you say something? Are you satisfied making me look like a heartless husband?”

Even though her husband blamed his sick wife with an expression like he had been dragged to a slaughterhouse, she was happy just by the fact that he had come to see her.

Closing her eyes while reproaching herself for momentarily doubting her husband’s love, she wished this happy dream would never end.

And the third dream was……

* * *

The large men were so entangled in their fight that they didn’t notice what was happening elsewhere.

It was a phenomenon that occurred silently.

Just as Lottie, lying in bed, was taking shallow breaths as if on the verge of her last, a blue light began to ripple around her body.

Like a formless soul, it rippled, caressed Lottie’s cheek a few times, and then disappeared.

After the blue light vanished, Lottie’s irregular breathing gradually became regular.

Soon after, the heat that had been making Lottie boil also disappeared.

“……ric.”

At the delicate voice that burst out like a sigh, the two men who were roughly entangled stopped moving simultaneously.

She clearly said ‘ric.’ Coincidentally, it was a sound common to both Calyx and Patrick’s names.

Moreover, ‘Ric’ was also Patrick’s childhood nickname.

Sensing his victory, Patrick, still mounted on top of Calyx, smiled fiercely.

Patrick, who had grabbed Calyx by the collar, was about to throw another punch at him, but Calyx’s gaze was entirely fixed on Lottie.

“Ric……”

As soon as Lottie’s fragile call was heard again, the locked door began to rattle loudly.

Those who sensed that something unusual was happening inside had finally decided to break down the door.

Bang! Bang!

Patrick, who had been staring blankly at the door that was about to open, suddenly released Calyx’s collar. Then he slowly got up from Calyx’s body where he had been sitting.

Patrick’s face, looking down at Calyx, was fine except for a little sweat. In contrast, Calyx, who had been one-sidedly beaten, had a split lip on one side.

He knew that if he directly inflicted injury on the crown prince’s body with his own hands, he would be summarily executed regardless of the circumstances.

“No matter how much you boast…… I’m the winner in the end. You know that?”

Patrick muttered ominously.

Calyx’s eyes widened at what happened next.

Patrick raised one hand and slapped his own cheek.

Once, twice, three times…… After successive hits, his white cheek turned red and blood flowed from his lips.

Patrick grinned, showing his blood-stained teeth. Calyx, belatedly understanding his scheme, jumped to his feet.

At the same time, the latch fell off and the door opened.

“……! Y-Your Highness!”

In the midst of the chaos, Lottie finally opened her eyes.

‘Again…… this awful dream.’

The feeling when a dream she had hoped would never end vanished like a mirage was still disgusting.

With a clearer mind than ever before, Lottie rose from the bed and froze at the scene unfolding before her.

The door flung wide open, servants pouring in, her ex-husband with a swollen red face whose presence here was inexplicable, and……

“How dare you inflict injury on the crown prince’s body!”

Calyx, who was the only one looking at her amid the pandemonium.

Even as Patrick was framing him as a traitor, Calyx disregarded it and only sought Lottie’s gaze. Though he appeared to have been beaten twice as badly as the crown prince, he didn’t even try to explain himself.

When he finally succeeded in catching Lottie’s attention, Calyx’s reddish-brown eyes sank low.

“An act against me is an act against this kingdom! What are you all doing! Bring soldiers immediately to arrest this man!”

At Patrick’s angry voice, several servants retreated in a hurry, terrified.

Soldiers? Was he determined to turn an ordinary home into a battlefield?

Lottie gasped and got up from the bed. Then she drove all the servants who remained in the room outside.

“Don’t come in until I open the door. And you, go bring my grand-aunt right away.”

With the surprised faces of the servants behind her, Lottie closed the door.

Though she tried to appear calm, her heart was pounding.

She didn’t know what had happened while she was unconscious. But she knew that her ex-husband was lying right now.

She knew that when her ex-husband was making things up, the end of his voice trembled slightly. If there was anything she had gained from seven years of marriage, that was it.

‘Calyx would never have laid a hand on my ex-husband. But who would believe me?’

“Your Highness.”

Calyx broke through the tense air. His voice was strangely calm.

“Even if my head rolls, I’d like to tell Your Highness an interesting riddle before I go.”

Even while mentioning his own death, there was even a hint of laughter in his words.

Lottie turned to look at Calyx while gripping the doorknob.

Though he was the one backed into a corner, he somehow looked bigger than Patrick.

“Do you know what the region of Dempis, located near the border area northwest of the capital, is famous for?”

Lottie was startled by a name she never expected to hear from that man’s lips. Dempis was Lottie’s hometown and Count Ixe’s territory.

Patrick frowned, sensing something ominous.

“Lake Moffit, imbued with the beautiful love story of the night fairy and the dream god, is renowned as a summer resort for nobles. The port city of Everport has been emerging as a city of fine cuisine for several years, with a constant stream of gourmets seeking delicacies. Not to mention Dempis’s historic mining village.”

“What nonsense are you……”

“Lastly, the madman.”

Both Lottie and Patrick froze at the unexpected answer.

“A crown prince who had sworn loyalty to his father, the king, just the day before, became a madman overnight and killed his own father.”

“……”

“And currently, Your Highness is obsessed with that woman while rejecting the daughters of many influential people.”

Calyx smiled quietly.

“What could it mean, I wonder?”

Though the question was directed at Patrick, Calyx’s gaze was fixed on Lottie, who stood behind Patrick’s shoulder.

It was a calm yet persistent look, as if hoping she would realize something.

“……”

Lottie froze, momentarily forgetting even how to breathe.

Come to think of it, the eyes of the tyrant who had pierced her heart in her previous life weren’t reddish-brown.

They were blue, icy cold, as if they had long forgotten what emotions were.

“This time, I hope you’ll solve it yourself without your mother’s help.”

Calyx’s final words, mixed with laughter, finally snapped Patrick’s nerves.