When the monsters suddenly rushed toward Selina, the situation had unfolded so frantically that Calix hadn’t had the presence of mind to notice anything amiss.

But after everything at the hunting competition had finally been brought to an end, an unfamiliar emotion came upon him without warning and weighed heavily on his chest.

Most of the monsters had been low-level. Even in large numbers, they had not been difficult to deal with—especially with the imperial army arriving as reinforcements, which had made the cleanup all the easier.

And yet, there was something else that unsettled him.

After cutting down the last of the monsters, Calix turned his head sharply. At the end of his gaze stood Selina.

‘Is she all right?’

The most immediate danger had passed, and by all accounts, everything should have been over. And yet, the unease that had settled deep within him showed no sign of lifting.

He needed to check on Selina.

Whether she had been injured because he had failed to assess the situation properly. Whether some stray creature he hadn’t noticed had attacked her while he was occupied with the others.

Just as Calix was about to step toward her—

“Madam. Are you unharmed?”

An unexpected figure approached Selina, blocking her from his view.

“I—I’m fine. But what about the others…?”

D*mn it. Waldemar.

“Everyone is safe, so please don’t worry. But it looks like you’ve injured your ankle rather badly. I’ll call for someone to treat it at once.”

“Ah, that is—”

As Waldemar spoke with Selina, an image from the past overlapped with the scene before Calix’s eyes—the two of them dancing together at the previous banquet.

In that instant, it felt as though the taut cord holding Calix’s nerves together snapped with a dull thud.

Why him again—of all people?

Calix did not like imperial men to begin with, but among them, Commander Waldemar—who had persistently schemed from the shadows to swallow Thalia whole—was especially unsettling and repulsive.

Whenever Calix looked at Waldemar, an inexplicable sense of disgust crept up from the depths of his gut.

On the surface, he appeared refined and handsome. In truth, he was a man who would stop at nothing to devour Thalia—a man whose outward appearance and inner nature were completely at odds.

His n*ked ambition toward Thalia rivaled even that of the marquis. Yet unlike the marquis, his purpose seemed entirely different.

If Marquis Bryson was obsessed with boundless power and authority, driven by unending ambition and greed, then Waldemar appeared to move not out of desire—but out of hatred for Thalia itself.

Of course, Calix had no way of knowing why Waldemar harbored such deep hatred toward Thalia. Still, judging by the things he had done over the years, one thing was certain—those were not acts one could commit without hatred.

That was why, even if Calix had agreed to a truce with Waldemar, joining hands with him was out of the question. No political marriage or peace treaty could ever change that fact.

And yet, the wife he had gained through that very political marriage kept becoming entangled with the man who was a thorn in his side.

Seeing the scene unfold before his eyes once more, Calix could not help but recall words he had long since buried—Zenfri’s voice resurfacing unbidden.

“You should be wary of Selina.”

For someone like Calix, who had trusted no one since his parents’ deaths, such caution came naturally.
There was no reason his resolve should waver just because the other party happened to be Selina.

He would keep his distance from Selina Ilios Axelle.

That was the conclusion Calix reached with certainty through this hunting competition.

As the heat within him cooled and his thoughts sharpened, his mind grew clearer, allowing him to look at his circumstances with objectivity.

From the beginning, Selina had been nothing more than a card he had brought into play to obtain information—nothing more.

And yet, no matter how sudden the monsters’ attack had been, offering up his own shoulder to protect her?

‘I must have completely lost my mind.’

Calix retraced the reason behind that action.

The unfamiliar emotions that surfaced whenever he looked at her had first appeared at the inn.

On the day they left for the hunting competition, when there were no available rooms and the two of them were forced to share.

Clearly exhausted, Selina had fallen asleep first. Calix joined her in bed much later.

Sharing a bed with her had stirred no desire. From the outset, he had resolved to see her as nothing more than a means of protecting Thalia.

That was precisely why he needed to keep unnecessary emotions at bay. The moment pointless feelings intruded, it would become impossible to play his hand with any precision.

There was no reason for him to dwell on how beautiful the woman sleeping peacefully beside him was. Nor was there any reason to acknowledge the inexplicable stirrings she sometimes awakened within him.

Under normal circumstances, that night should have passed quietly and uneventfully.

If only—

“Hk…”

He had thought Selina was sleeping soundly with her eyes closed, but she suddenly started crying.

At first, he thought the journey had simply been too exhausting and she was crying from nothing more than fatigue.

However, when he leaned closer to look at her, he saw that her eyes were still closed.

She was asleep.

Was she talking in her sleep?

He had no way of knowing what kind of dream she was having, only that she seemed to be caught in something deeply distressing.

Calix had no intention of sparing a thought for whatever was troubling her in her sleep. So he closed his eyes again, forcing himself to sleep.

“…Calix.”

The moment Selina said his name, Calix turned his head reflexively, as if he had been burned.

Calix.

Calix.

Calix.

She repeated his name through her sobs, her hands flailing as though she were grasping for something just out of reach.

What kind of dream could reduce her to this?

Calix did not want to concern himself with Selina.

Even at the best of times, her large eyes always seemed faintly lowered, giving her a melancholic air. In particular, her violet eyes bore a strange weight, as though they held a story of their own that drew the gaze, no matter how hard one tried to look away.

Now, with tears spilling from those eyes, the sight was unbearably pitiful.

It stirred an impulse he had no intention of indulging: the urge to reach out and wipe her tears away himself.

‘This is driving me mad.’

Her hand reached out as though clinging to something, stretching out towards him. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Calix took hold of her hand.

“What on earth…”

He didn’t expect the person who was sleeping to answer.

In fact, he had no expectations at all.

But watching her like this made his chest feel unbearably tight. He felt he would only feel better if he spoke to someone, even if they couldn’t hear him.

“In your dream… did I make you cry?”

The moment the question left his lips, Calix scoffed softly and let out an incredulous laugh.

If he were honest with himself, hadn’t he already given Selina more than enough reason to cry?

After all, he had dragged an innocent, unsuspecting girl into this mess. He had spoken of teaching her to smoke, laid his hands on her without hesitation, and stated outright that he intended to use her as a pawn to draw out imperial secrets.

Even if their marriage had been arranged for the sake of a peace treaty, these were things that no one should have had to endure. And yet he had done all this without restraint.

Slowly and carefully, Calix reached out and brushed away the tears that continued to spill down Selina’s cheek.

When his fingertips touched her soft skin, a shiver ran through him and he could no longer tell whether this moment belonged to a dream or to reality.

In the darkness that swallowed everything, with the world asleep, he found the courage to ask a question he should never have voiced, safe in the knowledge that he would go unseen.

“Are you crying because I made things hard for you?”

He himself did not know why he had asked. He had caused countless people to suffer. Even if she had agreed, he had no intention of making things right.

Nevertheless, Selina reacted strangely to his words.

Still holding his fingers tightly in her small hand, she slowly shook her head.

“…Calix.”

“Yes. That’s right. It’s me.”

Calix replied, carefully brushing a hand down her shoulder.

Then, on Selina’s face, which had been wet with tears just moments ago, a small smile bloomed.

Like a newborn baby smiling unconsciously in its sleep, she curved her lips into a faint, bashful grin and murmured softly.

“…That’s a relief.”

When he heard those words, Calix froze, his whole body turning to ice.

What exactly was a ‘relief’?

And why had she been crying?

He spent the entire night awake, staring into the darkness and unable to find answers to the countless questions swirling in his mind.

‘I should have shaken her awake and asked.’

Calix came to regret that night.

Seeing someone so fragile that she looked as though she might shatter, and then seeing her cry, had made him waver. That had been his mistake.

It was the only explanation for why he had started to see Selina differently.

‘Now that we’ve arrived in Thalia, it won’t happen again.’

Having decided that his feelings were an illusion born of a unique moment, Calix did not see Selina again after returning to Thalia.

If he was going to keep his distance, he needed to do so decisively.

Moreover, he had been away from the Grand Ducal Castle for far too long, and countless matters demanded his attention. Mountains of documents awaited him, including papers to approve, reports to review, and issues to resolve.

There was more work than he could comfortably manage, but for now, that was a mercy.

As long as his hands were busy and his mind was occupied, there was no room for unwanted thoughts.

It was just as he finished reviewing the budget proposal allocated for the “Extreme Heat Season Preparedness Event” and closed his aching eyes for a brief moment—

“Calix.”

A voice suddenly echoed through the quiet office, so thin it sent a chill down his spine.

“I don’t want to stop.”

It was Selina’s voice—the same voice that had clung to him with tear-filled eyes.