***

Calix read the note I handed him several times, then spent a long while spewing anger.

The cursing was a bonus. I knew he had a nasty temper, but I never knew he could use such a colorful variety of swear words.

“That bastard. How dare he touch what’s mine?”

I rubbed my forehead and shook my head.

“Your Highness. Please tone it down, it’s unseemly.”

At my words, Calix blushed and jumped up. He came stomping over, took a deep breath with a flushed face, and asked in a determined voice.

“Tell me honestly. If I gain the strongest power in this world, power so strong that no one would dare say anything about making you mine, would you give yourself to me then?”

I let out a short sigh and firmly pressed his shoulders to make him sit down.

“What do you mean by ‘give’? People aren’t objects, Your Highness. And that’s a bit too much for world domination. Please say something that makes sense.”

“…You do like me, right? Or did I misunderstand?”

Calix glared at me irritably as he spoke.

“You know it takes more than ordinary affection to work comfortably under someone with Your Highness’s personality, right?”

“…So you have to like me?”

“You’re free to like me as much as you want. Just don’t show it so openly.”

At my words, Calix stared at me like a fool for a moment, then quietly sat down and began glaring at the note.

It seemed he finally realized that trying to talk more with me would only disadvantage him.

I suppose I know him better than he knows me, so he’s no match for me.

That’s right.

I smiled gently at Calix, who was pouting.

This kid, he has some unexpectedly cute sides.

“So, what now? Should we not go?”

Just as I thought this, Calix savagely crumpled the note and said, “No?”

And he gritted his teeth fully.

“We’ll go together. That bastard, I won’t let this slide this time.”

***

The atmosphere in the separate palace where the princes lived was extremely gloomy.

It seemed to be my mood.

We had left Calix’s home ground, the Crown Prince’s palace, and entered the territory of the First Prince, who was no less than Calix’s most powerful rival.

“Your Highness. Is this really okay?”

To my question, Calix answered while fuming.

“I’d like to set the place on fire right now, but I’m restraining myself, so stop making me talk.”

I quietly sighed. Yes, I understand very well that he’s furious because the First Prince tried to secretly summon me.

“Your Highness, you really mustn’t kill him.”

“Have you started to resemble Ruel after hanging around him? It’s just a figure of speech.”

“Mine was also just a figure of speech.”

At my words, he glanced at me sharply, then rubbed his forehead a few times before striding toward the drawing room and flinging the door open.

“…What’s going on here? Why are you…”

Inside was indeed the First Prince.

And he looked quite surprised.

Regardless, Calix smiled crookedly, openly expressing his anger.

“You look disappointed that the person you were expecting didn’t show up. Right?”

Calix was in a state where his anger had reached the top of his head, and I had no ability to stop him.

No, that’s not right. I could stop him if I wanted to, but why should I?

That guy was unpleasant even from my perspective.

“…My lady, have you become quite the loyal servant? I clearly told you to come alone.”

When the First Prince glared at me as if he wanted to kill me, Calix openly mocked him.

“Your intelligence has left the building. Who would actually come alone just because someone tells them to?”

Actually, Calix was wrong. I was the strange one.

From a noble family but with nothing to show for it, a penniless house, and even the title my father had was taken by my uncle.

As a woman, I couldn’t inherit the title, but if I married, my husband could inherit it instead, so I was kicked out.

Of course, before that, they said I was an idiot who couldn’t even read properly, so it was amazing that I could enter the imperial palace as a maid at all, let alone have succession rights.

Above all, I was just a mere servant.

Yet I disobeyed the order of the First Prince, a member of the imperial family?

I would have nothing to say even if I were beheaded for insubordination.

That’s the kind of world this is.

“And that so-called secret letter, which wasn’t much of one, that you sent didn’t say to come alone.”

The First Prince looked at the completely nonchalant Calix and trembled with anger, his face turning vicious.

“…I have no business with you.”

“But I do with you. Too bad.”

Calix hardened his expression and approached the First Prince one step at a time with a face exuding his characteristic murderous intent.

Then, lifting one corner of his mouth, he patted the First Prince’s shoulder.

“Do I look like a fool to you because I’ve been quiet?”

“…!”

I felt as if Calix’s energy was filling the entire separate palace.

My whole body felt like it was being pricked with needles.

“If you’re curious about how long I’ll stay quiet, just keep going.”

The First Prince, seemingly completely suppressed by Calix’s energy, let out a faint moan through his tightly clenched teeth.

“I’ll make sure you see with your own eyes what the result will be.”

Calix gently grabbed the First Prince’s collar and pulled him close.

If I were the First Prince, I would have wet myself by now.

I guarantee it.

“So quietly, recognize your place, and get lost. If you live as if you don’t exist, I might spare your life.”

At Calix’s words, the First Prince tried to mock him and replied.

“You?”

I felt a surge of anger at his attitude of looking down on him.

Does he already think he’s something? It was absurd. Hiding behind his mother’s skirt and coveting the throne without doing anything, even in this situation.

But Calix answered with a confident voice.

“Yes, me.”

The First Prince couldn’t refute him at all.

Calix, looking down at the fallen First Prince, appeared to be the victor to anyone.

It just felt that way.

Both externally and internally.

“Aren’t you anxious too?”

“…How dare the son of a traitor think he can have the throne!”

“Do the imperial citizens think the same?”

Calix roughly threw away the First Prince’s collar that he had been gripping, and thanks to that, the First Prince fell to the floor ungracefully.

“I’ll warn you just once.”

He crouched down and grabbed the First Prince’s chin firmly. Their eyes met under his strong grip.

“If you want to protect what’s yours, you’d better not touch what’s mine. There will be no more leniency.”

His gaze briefly touched me. Then he turned his eyes back and readjusted his grip on the First Prince’s chin.

“I can do those cowardly and dirty things you did, just as well.”

To that, the First Prince gritted his teeth and said, shooting a glare at Calix with bloodshot eyes.

“…You can’t become Emperor.”

“Why not when I’m the only legitimate heir in the empire? Even if my mother was called a traitor, she was the Empress. Not a concubine called by the fancy name of Imperial Consort.”

When Calix twisted the First Prince’s chin, the sound of bones being crushed was heard. A faint moan escaped from his mouth.

“Don’t be mistaken. I am the Crown Prince of Posnia. Not you. You have neither the qualification nor the will to have this country.”

There was a sense of long-held, deep emotion. Shaking off his hand, he stood up and added.

“If you really wanted to be Emperor, you shouldn’t have just hidden in the safest place in this dog-like situation. You bastard.”

The First Prince wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glared at Calix.

“You’re the one who shouldn’t be mistaken. Do you think you’re something just because the lowly commoners cheer for you?”

I was shocked inside. No, is there no noblesse oblige or people-centered ideology here?

Is that something that should come out of a royal’s mouth? Treating the people like dirt. A perfect type for purging, isn’t he?

Well, I suppose all the royals think that way, which is why no one except Calix is taking any measures in this situation.

“We’ll have to wait and see about that.”

Calix looked at the First Prince and smiled arrogantly.

“How far those noble forces your precious mother struggled to gather will protect you.”

The First Prince’s gaze became even more menacing.

“Don’t speak carelessly just because you have a mouth.”

“You dare try to tempt my maid to make her a spy in front of the Crown Prince of the Empire?”

Calix took a shallow breath, visibly trying to suppress his anger.

“Even when you openly sent assassins and spies at me, I let it pass with great generosity.”

His voice rose as if the anger he had just suppressed was rising again.

I hurriedly grabbed the hem of his clothes from behind him secretly.

I told him not to show it, but he’s showing it openly? What is he thinking?

Until just now, it could be seen as an outburst of accumulated feelings, but that last line was strange to anyone.

He had never directly confronted the First Prince about his nanny becoming a spy for the Duke or his coachman becoming an assassin, but as soon as I was targeted, he got this angry? It’s excessive.

Calix finally managed to suppress his anger and said through gritted teeth.

“…If you touch my inner circle, it becomes difficult for me to maintain the kind Crown Prince act I’ve been keeping up all this time.”

And suddenly, he pulled out a dagger from his person.

Looking at Calix with surprised eyes, he immediately threw the knife at the wall.

“Ugh!”

With a thud, someone appeared in the air and collapsed on the floor.

“Ca-Caleb!”

“Behave yourself. Otherwise, just as you did, I’ll break all your precious people one by one.”