Chapter 36

Briseyes unconsciously gripped Callisten’s shoulder tightly when he tried to get up from the bed.

Through his thick, hard shoulder skin, she could feel his trembling.

She felt strange. She shouldn’t feel good about him worrying about her, but she did feel good.

Though she was still hazy from the lingering drug effects, his eyes appeared clearly, which felt strange.

They were just like his usual eyes, filled only with the desire to possess.

While everything else seemed faded like grayscale, only his eyes were red and intense, as if they contained the only color.

From the chilling sensation felt when their eyes met to the warmth of his large hand on the back of her neck, as if trying to prevent her from moving away.

She felt like prey being devoured by a carnivore.

“Are you in pain anywhere?”

“……I don’t know.”

“I decided to break the doctor’s neck if you weren’t better.”

“……Did I say that?”

“Yes.”

She suddenly felt dizzy remembering how she had carelessly answered yesterday thinking it was a dream, but his expression and bare upper body made her feel even dizzier.

Even if it was a dream, she had asked him to scold the doctor for not making her better.

She felt ashamed for speaking so carelessly. It seemed unlike her.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

“It’s okay if you don’t remember. As long as you’re not in pain.”

“I’m not in pain now. You should forget it too.”

She said this and pretended to calm her unsettled heart as she lay down on the bed.

“Can I stay with you instead of going to the Academy?”

“Go. I’m going to sleep.”

She spoke coldly and pulled the sheet. However, it wasn’t easy because his body was on top of it.

“Then can I do it again when I come back?”

“Do you think I’d say yes? I said this never happened.”

“Why? I only nursed you.”

“Would others think the same? That you came in the middle of the night to nurse a married noblewoman alone?”

“Yes. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Is it enough that only you have nothing to be ashamed of? What would people think?”

Briseyes said this as she pushed him off the bed. Of course, she couldn’t possibly push him off the bed with her strength; he simply backed away at her gesture.

When he got up from the bed, Briseyes pulled the sheet up to the top of her head.

As she was about to cover her face with the sheet, the expression she met on his face strangely felt like it would remain under her eyelids.

His expression was flushed as if in ecstasy, with a strange look that was pure like a child’s yet joyful.

Unlike the Callisten she knew.

His happiness like an ordinary man.

“Alright. I’ll be back, Bri. But before I go, just a little more……”

“If you don’t leave within one minute, I’ll never see you again.”

“I’m going!”

He said this and quickly put his clothes back in order.

Then he grabbed his coat that was hanging on the door and said as he opened it:

“I’ll be back.”

And then he left with an excited voice.

Briseyes unknowingly frowned at the strangely irritating sensation of her clothes, the ticklish feeling at the tips of her br*asts, and the unpleasant feeling as if she had swallowed feathers.

“It’s because of the medicine.”

It was clear that she had weakened to his fake warmth because of the medicine.

She tried to forget this incident. However, Callisten’s bare upper body and those eyes mad with lust that had looked at her kept her from falling asleep. And also how he had seemed to be restraining himself.

Even though it had been no different from the nursing that nurses would provide.

She felt overwhelmed by the strange emotions she felt about Callisten being the one who had done it.

⁕⁕⁕

“Why do you need this?”

Saturn and Evusi had become quite close lately. Though they were twins, they used to feel some distance between them.

These days, that distance had largely disappeared, perhaps because they were also hanging out with Callisten and Casius.

“I need it for something.”

Callisten smiled as he received the guest information from the hotel operated by Count Feril’s family.

“Thank you.”

Saturn and Evusi brightened at the Crown Prince’s words.

“But isn’t it too much for you to be working while also writing Bri’s reports?”

Saturn asked, and Callisten smiled slightly.

“I can write without researching, so it’s fine.”

“Huh? But……”

“I just write what’s in my head, so it’s quick. But tell Bri that Saturn did it.”

Saturn unconsciously nodded at his words.

“Why not tell her you did it?”

“I think she would hate that.”

At Casius’s words, Callisten unconsciously smiled.

“Yes, she would.”

Casius found their strange relationship fascinating. Since Gael had talked so much about Briseyes when he was alive, Casius knew a lot about Briseyes as if he had known her for a long time.

However, he hadn’t guessed that their relationship would be so complicated.

So the four of them ate lunch together and worked on assignments together.

When it was time to study, they went to the Imperial Central Hospital where Briseyes was, carrying books.

⁕⁕⁕

“Bri, are you feeling better?”

“You came when I was sleeping yesterday, I heard. You should have woken me up.”

Briseyes spoke affectionately when she saw Saturn and Evusi. Saturn blushed and smiled, and Evusi continued:

“I thought it was good that you were sleeping well. Did you eat the fruit we left?”

“Yes, a little. The hospital food doesn’t taste good, so I’m really glad to have the fruit.”

In reality, Briseyes wasn’t particularly picky about food, so the hospital food didn’t taste bad to her. It’s true that it was rather bland though.

She said this out of consideration for their thoughtfulness in bringing her a fruit basket.

The people who noticed this were Callisten and, surprisingly, Casius, who was carefully observing Briseyes’s behavior.

“You’ll be discharged tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, I plan to go to the Academy the day after tomorrow after being discharged tomorrow.”

“What time are you being discharged tomorrow?”

“3 o’clock.”

Briseyes unconsciously answered Callisten’s question.

Somehow her chapped lips felt painful again. Above all, his lips were also chapped, making them look redder than usual.

When she unconsciously bit her lip and frowned, Callisten smiled slightly.

“How about staying at the Imperial Palace after you’re discharged? I heard the former Grand Duchess Mays is not only stupid but also lacks manners.”

“That would be difficult. Thanks for your concern though.”

“If Your Highness is worried, we also have our mansion.”

“The Rozefel Duke’s residence would be good too. I just bestowed all new furniture there, so it’s like a complete hotel now.”

Casius smiled happily at Callisten’s words.

“If you’re grateful, you should give money, not furniture.”

“Ah, I requested it. I don’t have a good eye for such things.”

Casius quickly said this, and Briseyes thought it strange that he seemed to make unusual requests to Callisten.

“Have you found all the furniture you need?”

“Yes, when Bri is better, you should come visit our mansion sometime.”

“That sounds good. I’m curious about Kaz’s mansion too.”

“Me too.”

“It’s more boring than you’d expect. Casius doesn’t care much about possessions.”

When Callisten spoke as if he had already been there, Saturn and Evusi looked at Casius.

“I am like that. If His Highness hadn’t forced them on me, it would still be empty now.”

“How is it a gift if it’s forced?”

“If I hadn’t given it forcefully, the mansion would have been empty. You should go see too. What I gave has my seal stamped on it as an imperial gift.”

Briseyes unconsciously smiled as it seemed more serious than she had thought.

“Then let’s all go together after I’m discharged.”

“Yes, that would be nice.”

So they spent time with Briseyes.

After they left, Briseyes studied alone.

Callisten, who returned after finishing his work in the evening, helped her review.

“I heard this part has changed.”

He was checking and writing with a fountain pen beside her while still in his uniform.

“This part is what Saturn explained incorrectly earlier. These two are actually the opposite.”

Briseyes nodded at his words.

As she turned her gaze following where his finger pointed, her eyes met Callisten’s, who was sitting very close to her.

“Can I stroke your hair?”

“No.”

She indifferently said this and looked back at her book.

She felt strange. Whether it was because she had seen his bare upper body, or because her own sexual desire was boiling.

Even the way Callisten’s lips looked redder.

“Really?”

When he brought his face closer like a flirtatious fox and said this, Briseyes stared at him blankly for a moment.

When his fresh eyes brushed her gaze, Briseyes turned her head in the opposite direction.

He then grabbed her chin and turned it toward him, and she turned her head in the opposite direction again.

“Bri.”

When he looked at her with an ecstatic expression, she really felt strange.

“Should I leave?”

When he obediently offered to leave, she felt even more strange.

“No.”

That’s why, even though she was close enough to touch him, she couldn’t move. The hand holding her chin wasn’t that strong. She could have pushed him away at any time.

But the moment she looked into his eyes, she couldn’t do it.

“I really hate you.”

At her words, he stroked Briseyes’s cheek as if he didn’t understand what she had said.