Chapter 17

“You’re here?”

Alicia, who noticed Cabellenus entering the bedroom, got up in a hurry.

As soon as Cabellenus entered the room, he quickly examined her condition with his eyes.

Alicia did not say she wanted to die anymore, but he could not help feel bothered.

After all, a woman who did not regard anything as her own could leave at any time.

“What kind of wound is that?”

Cabellenus’s gaze turned to Alicia’s fingertips.

“Oh, it’s a prick by a thorn…….”

As Alicia spoke, she looked at Cabellenus with a hesitant look.

It was because she remembered Cabellenus’s words that he would kill others if she ever shed a drop of blood.

“Thorn?”

“The roses blooming in the garden were beautiful, so I touched them and…”

“If that’s the case, ask a servant.”

Fortunately, Cabellenus did not seem to remember those words.

Alicia approached Cabellenus carefully, sighing in relief.

“I’m a slave. I can’t ask a servant.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“There are no slaves in the kingdom, so I studied the slaves of the Blanche Empire separately.”

Alicia smiled lightly. Though weak, her face showed pride.

“You’re doing something useless. Who told you that?”

Cabellenus frowned.

“Well, that’s what I found while going through a book…”

Lies.

Alicia’s act of drawing out her words caused Cabellenus’s forehead to wrinkle up.

It was obvious without asking.

There were only a limited number of places where Alicia could get information.

While Cabellenus was away, the servants guarding her had informed him.

“Tomorrow, we’ll bring in new servants.”

“Ha, but…….”

‘You must have noticed the lie.’

Alicia looked up at Cabellenus with an anxious gaze.

She studied in order to not offend Cabellenus, not to get someone else in trouble because of her.

“Why? You don’t like it?”

“Oh, no.”

Slaves must not disobey their masters.

Compliance was the virtue of a slave.

Recalling the virtues of a slave she had memorised for days, Alicia bowed her head.

“Ha ….”

Cabellenus sighed, looking at the woman’s round head.

A woman who tried to keep her position thoroughly was a good slave.

But what Cabellenus wanted was not her as a slave.

“I’ll leave the servants be.”

“Seriously, ah……. No, no, I mean, I didn’t mean to argue with you….”

The more she spoke, the stranger it became.

Alicia frowned and eventually lowered her head again.

Cabellenus laughed at the sight.

“You’re still a clumsy slave.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I’d rather you be so.”

There was no need for Alicia to get used to the life of slaves.

Cabellenus had no intention of keeping her in slavery.

At the moment, it was not long after the war had ended, so it could not be helped, but over time, her status would be restored.

“But, if I can’t do this much, I’ll be a nuisance to Your Grace who has done so much for me.”

“I’ve done a lot for you?”

Cabellenus’s mouth was stiff.

It was hard to tell her honestly that she did not have to live as a slave.

In his eyes, Alicia who casually said that despite never happily received anything that she was given, was a disgrace.

“Well, you took my revenge for me, and gave me clothes and jewellery…”

“I never took revenge for you. It was just this land that I had to conquer. It was not for you that I killed King Neinstein, it was just for my brother.”

Even if he succeeded in sitting on the throne, the position of Gerpenus was still unstable.

[T/N: Gerpenus is the emperor. We met him in chapter 8.]

As a half-blood, Gerpenus was far from a flawless successor the nobles wanted from birth.

More strength and achievement was required to solidify his precarious position.

For that purpose, Cabellenus was willing to raise his sword.

“Even so, I was happy.”

“Happy?”

“If Your Grace hadn’t come that day, my fate would have been obvious.”

Alicia’s smile was so pitiful that Cabellenus lost his words for a moment.

“……Don’t you resent me?”

No matter how much Alicia hated it, King Neinstein was her parent.

Even if she resented the killer who executed King Neinstein and left his neck outside the castle, Cabellenus had nothing to say.

“Not all parents are good parents. That’s all.”

“My father loved another woman instead of my mother, and he did everything he could do for the son from the woman he loved, even if it was his other son.”

“…….”

“When even such a father died, I burst into tears.”

Cabellenus’s voice was calm, but as he spoke, he constantly glanced at Alicia’s expression.

He knew there was nothing good about revealing his past.

But, he wanted to confirm it by doing so.

He rather her hold a grudge against him. This way, she would have a touch of emotion with him.

“You really don’t blame me?”

“Yes, I don’t.”

Contrary to Cabellenus’s wishes, Alicia shook her head weakly.

For Alicia, the presence of a father was different from what people commonly thought.

She cried when she saw King Neinstein hanging from the castle, but it was not sadness.

It was relief that everything was over.

“…… You’re always the same.”

How could he break it down?

Cabellenus reached out and grabbed Alicia’s cheek.

A woman whose face was small enough to fit in one hand posed no threat, but he could not understand why every time he looked at those listless eyes, a shiver would run down his spine.

“Does Your Grace see me that way?”

“Yes. That’s how it looks. You always seem calm.”

‘The only thing that you are always anxious about is yourself.’

[T/N: This is Cabellenus’s thoughts.] 

Cabellenus tilted his face towards Alicia.

It was easy to kiss.

Because she was shy, she would not refuse.

But because of that, he could not do anything.

Cabellenus distorted his face as he noticed the woman in front of him silently close her eyes, waiting for the kiss.

He could not figure out why her lips, which he had already kissed countless times, felt so distant.

No, maybe it was something he did not want to know.