Chapter 1 - Part 1
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***
“Hah, can you see? Are you alright?”
“… Yes, I can see.”
At Kalix’s answer, Lelia closed her eyes as if she were lucky.
Tears trickled down through the closed eyes.
Kalix stared at the figure with a strange look on his face.
It felt like Leo, who died, came back alive.
‘But that can’t be the case..’
‘Bloody fellow, unlike Leo, he is a weirdo. You’re a pervert who likes me even though you have the same thing as me…’
It’s normal to be cranky and annoyed….
‘Why? Why does he look so lovely?’
Blinking eyes, relieved expressions, cheeks messed up with tears, and swollen lips. It all felt lovely. To an intolerable extent.
In fact, Kalix had not even noticed the reason for avoiding Lelia in the past few days.
‘But now I think I know.’
It was because he was afraid to admit his heart.
He frowned.
‘Then how long were you going to stay away?’
It was funny now.
Avoiding cowardly was not in line with his personality.
Everything he has been worrying about so far was starting to feel silly.
He felt like he had finally found the answer.
‘Yeah, you like me and I like you, so what’s the problem?’
Kalix reached out and grabbed Lelia’s arm and pulled her towards him.
“… Do you still like me?”
“What?”
Lelia, who was delightedly saying “Hurray” inwardly, suddenly returned to reality and blinked.
Now that he was given the medicine, she realized that there’s a mountain of things left to explain.
But Kalix opened his mouth first.
“I lost.”
“……”
“You won. Yeah, I don’t care if you are a man. I’ll take your heart.”
“Kalix, wait a minute.”
Feeling a great sense of crisis, Lelia unknowingly called Kalix as before.
But Kalix didn’t notice that it was strange at all, but rather smiled with one corner of his mouth up.
“It’s not bad to call my name. Come closer.”
“Oh, no…”
Instead of getting close as Kalix said, Lelia shook off the hand holding her arm and took a step back.
Something’s wrong.
Kalix’s eyes were strangely shining. It felt different from before.
What’s wrong with him?
“I’m a woman.”
Lelia decided to confess the truth spontaneously.
[Yes, I wanted to put off the explanation and tell the truth first.]
“You don’t have to say that now. I’m confident that even as a man you won’t feel rejected.”
“No, I’m telling you.”
But it didn’t work.
Kalix said ridiculously.
“I’ve already seen the thing between your legs. What’s wrong with you now? Let’s give it a try, shall we?”
“No…! It’s a fake!”
“Fake? I can check it out myself. Come over here. I was going to take it off anyway, so I’ll check with my two eyes.”
“……!!!”
“Let’s go as far as we can.”
Kalix approached Lelia with his big body as if he were going to attack her right away.
Lelia stepped back in instinctive fear, opened the door and ran away.
Kalix was dumbfounded by her disappearance as quick as a rabbit.
‘Why did you come at me like that? And now you’re ashamed.’
He smiled up the corner of his mouth and looked at the end of the hallway where Lelia disappeared.
***
Next day
It was a completely different situation than yesterday.
Kalix, who was avoiding Lelia, started searching for her, and Lelia, who was searching for him, began to avoid him.
Knock, knock
Lelia, who came to her grandmother’s room pretending to be out of town, was surprised by the knock.
She was wondering if Kalix came all the way here.
But it was Uncle Carius who opened the door and came in.
As Lelia breathed out a sigh of relief, she looked into her angry uncle’s eyes and felt something was wrong.
“Lelia, follow me out for a second.”
“……”
He was in front of his mother, so he pretended not to be, but his uncle’s eyes were obviously angry.
After putting her grandmother at ease, Lelia carefully left the room.
It was when she entered the parlor on the third floor and sat on the sofa that he spoke.
“I heard everything.”
“What?”
With his jaw full of strength, Uncle Carius‘ angry eyes made her discouraged.
[What the hell are you talking about?]
[Don’t tell me Kalix said something weird.]
“When I was in the capital city, I heard everything that the princes had done to you.”
“… Ah.”
At the completely unexpected remark, Lelia bowed her head to avoid her uncle’s eyes.
It looked like Griffith revealed it.
[I should have told you to keep it a secret.]
Lelia looked at her uncle with belated regret. Carius, in a complex mood, stared at Lelia with his mouth shut.
Before she knew it, his eyes were wet with moisture. All emotions seemed to cross.
[Well, I thought…]
Cedric and Damien were also precious nephews to him, although they were his uncle’s nephews.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you at that moment.”
Lelia shook her head without saying a word.
Carius sighed with a disastrous look on his face.
“Empress Perseus raised them from an early age, asking them to come and go. Maybe it’s because they lost their mother when they were young.”
“……”
“But that doesn’t justify what they did.”
Lelia felt uncomfortable. She thought her uncle was in turmoil over his nephews because of her.
She understood her uncle’s situation as he couldn’t take anyone’s side. She wasn’t upset at all.
She wouldn’t be upset even if her uncle told her to be understanding and forgive the two princes.
Of course, she doesn’t think she can easily forgive them even if her uncle asked.
But her uncle never said anything like that.
Instead, he said, holding Lelia’s hand tightly with determined eyes.
“From now on, this uncle will protect you. At the risk of this uncle’s life, okay?”
At that, even the disappointment that Lelia had not felt was melting away.
With tears hanging in her eyes, Lelia tried to smile and nodded.
Carius patted Lelia on the head like that. It was still like treating a child.
Lelia laughed and said at the attitude of her uncle, “Then don’t leave the castle for a while.”
Carius, as usual, nodded without asking why.
***
After the conversation with Carius, Lelia immediately went to Griffith.
She didn’t mean to argue, but she was going to ask him to be careful in the future.
[Even though my uncle knows, I don’t want him to tell that to my grandfather or grandmother…]
She didn’t want to see the two hurt and struggling.
Griffith opened the door and led her to the drawing room, as if he had expected Lelia to come.
Lelia took a sip of tea from the cup the servant brought and asked carefully, “Why did you tell uncle that story?”
Griffith replied nonchalantly as he expected the question.
“I had something to check.”
“What do you mean, to check?”
“I just wanted to know if he was really on your side.”
“What do you mean…?”
“They’re family, too. If all the people of Superion take sides with the princes, you…”
“……”
“Because you’re really alone. Because we’re the only ones.”
Lelia couldn’t say anything. She understood everything Griffith said.
She let out a small laugh without realizing it.
It was a smile filled with gratitude.
It was also a smile of relief.
When she was young, she saw Julianna with the princes.
It’s a lie if she said she didn’t feel jealous. Whenever she felt this way, Lelia muttered to herself.
‘I have friends, don’t I? They’re here, aren’t they? So I don’t envy you at all.’
She had been comforting herself with such words and supporting herself.
And that was no bluff.
Indeed, her friends were always holding up Lelia from behind. Long before she met her family.
“Rely on me, Lelia.”
At the sudden remark, Lelia looked up and looked at Griffith opposite her.
Griffith said in a determined and stable voice.
“My sacred power will be much more useful than you think. So… rely on me.”
She was about to cry at the kind words. It was the first time she had heard such a thing openly.
She felt foolish to be hitting a wall with her friends who she met again.
Even when Lelia was hiding a secret, her friends were waiting for her, noticing everything…
“Thank you.”
Lelia replied with a small smile.
Griffith was amazing.
He seemed to understand everything she had in her mind and to say what she wanted to hear.
“And don’t worry, I won’t say anything to the duchess.”
Griffith rose from his seat while saying so. He was going to go to Lelia’s side and hug her shoulder.
But it was then.
Boom boom!
A second after hearing a harsh knock that didn’t even sound like a knock, the door opened.
The stomping footsteps drew closer to the drawing room.
“……”
Lelia’s expression quickly darkened.
She could tell who was here just by the knock and the loud footsteps.
She touched her forehead in agitation.
“Oh, uh, you’re with him, are you? That’s great.”
Kalix, in a sweet voice, approached with a pleasant face and plopped next to Lelia.
Griffith sat back in place and squinted at Kalix. That was exactly where he was going to sit.
“I feel like you are sitting too close to Lelia.”
At that thought, Kalix asked in a light tone.
Like it’s very obvious.
“Griffith, you can do it because you’re a priest, right? You have to hold a wedding ceremony for this man and me.”
“What?”
[T/N: BWAHAHAHAAHA xD Kalix is ADORABLE! Just SO ADORABLE!]
***
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