Chapter 13

“You see it too, right?”

When Callisten said this from beside Casius, Casius nodded and replied.

“Yes.”

Casius answered honestly, and it was Callisten who looked at Demian with an expression that suggested he found the situation hilarious.

“Kaz, what do you think about lovers?”

Briseyes was about to tell him to stop, but Callisten prevented her by putting a madeleine in her mouth.

“Well… I know many nobles do such things, but… I don’t really approve.”

“Why is that?”

“Because it’s a promise. There are many promises in the world that can’t be kept, but if nothing else, I want to keep the promise I made during the wedding ceremony.”

“I see.”

Callisten smiled with satisfaction upon hearing Casius’s straightforward answer. Then he removed his hand that had been covering Briseyes’s mouth and tried to make eye contact with her. She seemed to have finished eating the madeleine.

“I think the same way, Kaz.”

At their words, Demian and Delilah became quiet, while Saturn and Evusi waved their hands as if trying to change the subject.

“Come to think of it, Bri. I heard you got extra points in the last Punishment class.”

“That’s right, it’s amazing. Have you finished your report?”

“I’m working on it. Want to do it together?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’ll join you too.”

Although the question was directed at Saturn and Evusi, the answers came from Callisten and Casius.

“Then let’s all do it together.”

So they decided to work together on the 20-page assignment. It was clear that it wasn’t meant to be done alone in the first place.

⁕⁕⁕

“Where are you going?”

“Somewhere.”

Briseyes asked as she watched Callisten suddenly leave ahead of them while they were coming down from the rooftop together. He responded with a bright smile and a vague answer.

Then he quickly disappeared.

“What’s that about…?”

Briseyes thought that although he was smiling, he seemed strangely angry. Having known him since childhood, she recognized his habits when he was angry.

“I wonder why His Highness is angry.”

Casius seemed to know this as well.

“Did we make a mistake during lunch?”

“No, Saturn. We didn’t do anything wrong. Callisten is just strange sometimes.”

With that, Briseyes and the others went down to class 1 to rest and wait for the remaining time. They had afternoon classes after all.

After they disappeared, Callisten returned to the rooftop. Demian and Delilah saw him as they were about to leave.

“Ah, I left something behind.”

Callisten said this as he brushed past them. Then he spoke.

“So it was the Grand Duke who pushed Bri down the stairs, right?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Then who pushed her?”

Demian stared at Callisten. Suddenly, Demian looked at Delilah. She seemed flustered as she touched the ring hanging on her necklace and looked at Callisten.

“Bri staged it herself.”

“Bri did?”

At those words, Callisten laughed incredulously. The Briseyes he knew would never do such a thing, if only because of her pride.

Rather, if her husband had hit her, she would have hidden even that out of embarrassment.

So was it true that she really fell down the stairs?

But Ella was a maid who never lied to him.

Could it be that the Grand Duke hit her and she fell down the stairs as an aftereffect?

“Get your head straight, Your Highness. You need to know the truth about Briseyes.”

“Truth? What truth?”

Callisten unconsciously found himself smiling again. He had a habit of smiling when he was extremely angry. This habit had developed because of the current Empress.

Due to this habit, people who didn’t know him well often failed to notice when he was angry.

“While I was away at war, Briseyes invited lovers to the mansion.”

“Bri did?”

“Yes, and she used the Grand Duke’s assets as she pleased.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, so she needs education these days. She doesn’t even appreciate that her husband has returned from the battlefield.”

Callisten unconsciously clenched his fist.

“But as far as I know, the Grand Duke hardly has any assets, so did Bri actually have any wealth to use?”

“It’s true. She used the family’s assets as she pleased… She put me in a difficult position.”

Callisten’s expression disappeared at those words.

“I told you, Bri is my family.”

“Even family has its proper rank… Agh!”

Callisten kicked Demian.

“Ugh! Ack! Argh!”

He rolled down and tumbled down the stairs.

“Kyaa! Demi!”

Delilah hurriedly followed him, her face pale as she checked on Demian.

Callisten came down with slow steps and looked at Demian. His black male uniform was covered in dust, making the clothes Demian wore look quite shabby.

“What, what are you doing!”

“If you lay a hand on Bri one more time.”

“Argh!”

He stepped on Demian’s solar plexus as he spoke.

“I won’t just stand by.”

“Ugh!”

As Callisten stomped down, Demian gasped in pain and grabbed his ankle. Then he let go and pressed his chest while glaring at Callisten.

“How could you, do this…!”

“You did it first. I warned you.”

Callisten said this and left.

“Sob… Demi… Are you okay?”

Delilah pretended to worry about him as she fiddled with the ring hanging on her necklace, and Demian looked at her as if he had just come to his senses.

She looked at his cloudy eyes and said with a face that wouldn’t stop crying.

“Are you hurt badly?”

“I’m fine now.”

When Delilah threw herself into his arms, Demian was momentarily dazed before holding her tightly and beginning to comfort the sobbing Delilah.

⁕⁕⁕

“Where have you been?”

Briseyes asked when Callisten returned just as lunch time was almost over. Callisten opened his eyes wide and said:

“Were you worried about me? Oh my… It hurts so much.”

Briseyes unconsciously frowned when he looked at her with those insane eyes again.

“Come tomorrow and get the key.”

“Ugh… Just a moment.”

He really had to struggle to sit down. However, the fact that she had worried about him made it difficult for him to even sit.

“Hah.”

He barely managed to sit down and tried to rest his head on Briseyes’s shoulder. She quickly pulled her body back and said:

“The next class is Ethics. It should be important for you, so pay attention.”

“Where’s the key? Did you put it in your room? Near the bed?”

When Callisten asked with a reddened face, Briseyes didn’t want to talk to him. So she took out her notebook that she had placed nearby and looked at it.

“I hope it’s near the bed.”

“How can you just give something so important away? What if I lose the key?”

“Then you’ll be responsible.”

“Is it worth being responsible for that thing for the rest of my life?”

“I don’t have to do it for life. As long as you take responsibility for me.”

As the two bickered in whispers, the students behind them thought they were fighting and watched from a distance.

“Stop it.”

When Briseyes pushed Callisten’s face away, he giggled as if he found it amusing. Yet his ears were so red that it was clear to anyone that he seemed to be in pain somewhere.

“I’m really in pain.”

“Yes, sure.”

When she coldly looked back at her notebook, he sat close beside her and said:

“When we were young, you used to worry about me when I said I was in pain.”

“Back then, I didn’t know you were always faking illness.”

“The only thing that’s changed since then is you, Bri. It’s bad that things have changed.”

“The bad one is the person who has consistently deceived others.”

“People should be consistent.”

Briseyes, feeling a headache coming on the more she talked to him, looked around to see if she could move to another seat.

However, everyone was quietly chatting with each other, as if trying not to catch Callisten’s eye.

—Slide.

Demian returned with Delilah, and his appearance was quite a mess.

“Demian? What happened to your face?”

“Why? Do you enjoy seeing me injured?”

Demian had cotton stuffed in his nostrils, perhaps to stop a nosebleed from hitting his nose when he fell.

“See me at the mansion later, Bri.”

He said this and attended class while receiving Delilah’s devoted attention and care.

⁕⁕⁕

After class, they gathered at the library to work on the Punishment assignment. However, someone had borrowed the book they needed, so they had to meet again tomorrow. The person returning the book was due to return it tomorrow.

So Briseyes had to return to the Grand Duke’s residence early.

“Where have you been until now?”

She looked with disgust at the familiar unwelcome voice.

The person who had been waiting at the main entrance of the Grand Duke’s main building on the first floor, as if waiting for Briseyes to arrive.

“You still haven’t learned that education is useless for a woman.”

It was Demian’s mother. The former Grand Duchess and the matriarch of the Grand Duke’s family.

“Wearing a short skirt and stockings. You’re not even ashamed that your leg lines are all visible!”

The matriarch was someone who loved her son dearly. That’s why she strongly hated the Marquis Philia family. She thought her precious son Demian was being disrespected because he married a woman from the Marquis Philia family who had nothing but money.

“Mother.”

“When you arrive, you should greet me first. How dare you look at me like that?”

Briseyes almost sighed unconsciously but held back.

“I hear that because you couldn’t fulfill your duties as a woman, our Demi had to take a lover.”

“……”

“That’s why I told you, if you’re a woman, you should know your place and submit.”

She still looked down on Briseyes with contempt, clicking her tongue.

“That’s why I’m getting a divorce.”

But Briseyes no longer needed to endure.