Clatter—

The shadow that rose at the suddenly echoing sound saw Calix jumping down from above the window and rushed over in alarm.

“Are you planning to wake the entire lodging!”

But Calix’s face as he jumped down, seemingly weightless, was utterly serene. That serenity remained even after the shadow pulled down his hood to reveal the stern face of an old knight.

“Edrington.”

Even seeing the commander who led the Castillia Knights, Calix only nodded. When he turned his back without hesitation, the old knight’s nagging followed.

“Just where have you been?”

“Where have I been? I was on duty. Same as always, never showing any suspicious signs. Didn’t you teach me that yourself, Master?”

Calix responded shamelessly in a leisurely voice. But the old knight who had led the knights for over ten years under the suspicious Castillia was no easy opponent.

“…I don’t know how long it’s been since I heard Your Highness call me Master. Do you know something?”

“…Mm?”

“Your Highness only calls me Master when it’s disadvantageous.”

“…”

“You also only use honorifics at such times.”

“…”

When Calix couldn’t respond and turned his gaze away, Edrington’s eyes grew fierce.

“I know all about you asking to switch your afternoon shift. Are you lying now too?”

“…Wasn’t it you who taught me that lying is also necessary when needed, Master?”

Though he responded shamelessly, his voice had lost some momentum.

“You surely know how important this period is, Your Highness.”

“Mm…”

“Just where are you going and what are you doing?”

“…”

Calix turned his gaze aside and played dumb. At that sight, Edrington’s eyes narrowed further. Even if it felt excessively strict, it couldn’t be helped. More than one or two lives depended on the young man before him.

It had been nearly ten years since Calix was dragged to this Castillia castle as a hostage. 

The leopard of Lihillant, temporarily placed on the throne by the five Electors, was cowardly. So he didn’t hesitate to readily hand over his son for his own safety.

Castillia, who received the young black panther, was the richest of the five Electors but equally miserly. So as long as the young prince was alive, he didn’t care whether he looked like a beggar or ate animal feed.

Left alone, it was obvious he wouldn’t grow properly, being a royal in name only. Unable to watch her son not only be taken but ruined, the Empress Mother worked her connections and infiltrated Castillia—that was Edrington.

But had the resentment of having her son taken gnawed at the Empress’s command? 

The Empress who died far too futilely remained a deep resentment for Edrington and the others left behind. It was only natural that the loyalty of those remaining turned toward the young prince.

Fortunately, the prince grew into excellent material for a ruler worthy of blind loyalty. Edrington, who had personally raised the young man for nearly ten years, could guarantee it.

But was it because he was far from the cold power struggles of the imperial palace? 

The prince was naive and had an excessively optimistic side. That aspect was certainly a quality that would easily win favor as a leader. But now, with an important undertaking ahead, the prince’s temperament was becoming his own obstacle.

‘Am I asking for too much?’

Edrington sighed inwardly. The shield of the north, Mutheira, couldn’t have come all the way to distant Castillia just for goodwill.

It was clear they were plotting something suspicious, but Edrington didn’t bother digging into the details. That was beyond the scope of the mission Edrington had been given. His mission was only to ensure the prince grew safely and escaped Castillia.

Still, as Calix’s teacher, he felt regret. Castillia’s greatest weapon was wealth, but in the last Elector War, that was useless. So wasn’t it obvious what their intention was in summoning Mutheira? A new war was imminent.

War had made Calix a humiliating hostage. But the boy was no longer helplessly young. He could step forward and assert his right to who was more worthy of the throne.

And that decision alone wasn’t something Edrington could make for him. So he had waited patiently with patience for his prince to rise up on his own.

‘…But Your Highness!’

His gaze fixed on the young man sharpened again. Watching the prince’s movements these past few days, Edrington had wanted to shout more than once or twice.

“Don’t tell me your heart has actually become that of an ordinary Castillia knight?”

At the question filled with dismay, Calix swallowed a hollow laugh. But that reaction only raised his teacher’s suspicions further.

“Your Highness’s behavior lately is extremely suspicious. Your mind is always elsewhere… What on earth are you thinking that you don’t even notice your pheromones leaking? Are you planning to announce Your Highness’s identity to the entire territory?”

“That…”

“Have you taken a liking to some young lady now that you’ve come of age? In this situation where we might have to fight a war tomorrow? How carefree of you!”

Left alone, the nagging seemed like it would continue endlessly.

“…You were the one who said I didn’t have to become emperor.”

“That’s true. But did I only say that?”

“…”

“Did I?”

Edrington’s tone was as monotonous as usual. Yet cold sweat naturally flowed at how he latched onto the weak point. Though Edrington’s rank as a shapeshifter was lower than Calix’s, he was no easy man.

Above all, wasn’t he a knight who had infiltrated enemy territory in disguise and risked his life raising the prince for over ten years? 

While earning the trust of the suspicious Castillia at that. Even before such a teacher, Calix couldn’t hold out to the end. Eventually his surrendering golden eyes softened and rolled to the side.

“…No.”

“Haa—”

Even though Calix had tucked his tail, Edrington’s sigh only deepened. At the sight of him shaking his head, Calix anticipated a nagging bombardment. He leaned back with a fed-up expression, but Edrington didn’t miss this rare opportunity.

“Of course, I understand. Thinking of your kind Empress Mother, it must be hard to accept having to engage in cold-hearted power struggles between family.”

“No…”

Calix was dumbfounded and couldn’t find words to answer. It seemed his teacher still thought he was the little boy sniffling while missing his mother.

“However, power! Is that cold-hearted. Though it pains you, you must be cold-hearted.”

“That…”

“As I’ve already told you, the Emperor Father is also in no position to confirm anything to Your Highness while watching the Electors’ reactions. So, in other words, if Your Highness wants anything more than merely preserving your life.”

“…”

“You need the resolve to seize the Emperor Father’s position.”

Calix forcibly smoothed his face that was trying to stiffen and drew a smile. 

Though he put it roundabout as seizing the Emperor Father’s position, to do that, he would ultimately have to behead his father. The intention repeated ad nauseam over the past few months was obvious.

He probably couldn’t bring himself to tell his young lord to bear the infamy of killing his father. Even if it was a father who had thrown his son to the enemy, Calix didn’t want to kill him either. 

That’s why he had avoided answering. But these past few days, Calix had learned something new. If his guess was correct, his father, a mere temporary emperor, wasn’t even a consideration in this game.

Calix managed his expression to seem nonchalant and asked.

“Our teacher keeps inciting me, but if I decided to strike against the Emperor Father, what would happen?”

Edrington’s hazel eyes sparkled.

“Could it be! Your Highness…!”

Calix quickly added to cut him off.

“The Marquis seems to be preparing a wedding for an alliance with Mutheira.”

“That would make sense. After all, exchanging blood relatives as hostages is most reliable.”

Edrington answered in a cautious tone.

“Have you learned something?”

“Mm…”

Thinking of Ivona’s clear face, his heart naturally tickled. Calix forcibly thought of something else to calm his stirring insides.

“Unless it’s quite the bait, there’s no way Mutheira would leave their northern nest.”

“That’s tru—”

Edrington’s face, which had been answering reflexively, hardened.

“Are you saying there are other conditions hidden in this marriage beyond what’s on the surface?”

“Mm…”

Calix organized his thoughts for a moment. Thinking about it, from when he first imprisoned Ivona, there had been unusual aspects to the Marquis’s behavior.

For Alvidion’s nobility, a daughter was a good bargaining tool. She could be sent as both marriage and hostage to serve as a means of trust. Above all, if that daughter bore children, they would be bound by blood to a powerful family.

So it was normal to obsess over the bride’s virginity to ensure clear legitimacy. Even so, going so far as to imprison her in a tower was unusual.

And two nights ago, the daughter the Marquis had so sharply confined left the tower. Not only that, she did something strange and dangerous…

The moment he recalled her pale legs, his concentration tried to scatter, so Calix gathered his thoughts. The Marquis couldn’t have carelessly let Ivona slip away. Ivona also couldn’t have escaped the tower to attempt some clumsy rebellion. 

The Ivona Calix had observed was completely overwhelmed by the Marquis and couldn’t even dream of rebellion. So if she acted strangely, the Marquis must have been involved in the background.

But was the bait Castillia prepared to hook Mutheira really an ordinary v*rgin? It was suspicious from the start that the proud Mutheira accepted a marriage proposal with a bastard just because of Castillia bloodline.

Calix’s memory flew to the day he first reunited with Ivona. Certainly, it had started half as teasing.

Though it was long ago, Calix had once faced a life-threatening crisis for standing up for her. Fortunately, the calculating Marquis prioritized Calix’s value as a hostage and suppressed his anger.

Thanks to that, Calix could end with just being confined and starved for a few days as punishment. He didn’t even want to recall the nagging from Edrington that followed daily after that.

He hadn’t particularly wanted repayment. But the moment he discovered Ivona in that state in the corner of the training ground, which was practically outside, Calix became furious.

‘To think she was being treated like that by the Marquis.’

He had asked teasingly if she was playing with herself, but he already knew that couldn’t be. The Ivona he’d watched in hiding had been on the verge of bursting into tears from bewilderment.

But it seemed necessary to teach her a bit about how scary men could be. 

At this time when all sorts of riffraff were swarming, and in the corner of the training ground where men came and went, of all places, in that state. Who knows what might have happened if the shapeshifter who discovered her hadn’t been Calix.

It was also true that thinking another man might have discovered her first made uncontrollable mischief surge up. But the moment Ivona’s breath heated up and her body opened, the upper hand completely flipped.