“Don’t act rashly because you’re emotional. Even if the academy incident is being resolved, you’re still wanted.”

“Resolved? How can you say it’s resolved? As long as the killers of Meriel are still alive, it’s not over!”

“For now, we only have suspicions about the criminal. We have doubts, but no evidence to present.”

“… Is there really no evidence?”

Cheshire narrowed his eyes in displeasure, but Calix merely lit the end of the cigar he had pulled out of his pocket.

“Thinking that way will help you mentally.”

“Don’t treat me like a child. I’m not a kid anymore.”

His yellow eyes flickered. Even amid the thick smoke, Cheshire’s two eyes, shining brightly like his nickname, reminded one of a cat.

“If you’re not a child, then you should accept it more obediently. Knowing who the criminal is and being able to catch them are distinctly different.”

“……”

Cheshire’s long, slit eyes trembled.

He didn’t think that the inscrutable Calix was sincerely for Meriel, but there was nothing he could do for now.

Rose was being blamed as the murderer and wanted posters for the Cat Mercenary Corps were falling all over the capital, so it was impossible for him to stand at the forefront, and more than anything, Liviana was staying in Creighton.

He couldn’t act rashly for her safety. Only Duke Gail of Jawy, the de facto highest family in the empire, was the opponent for Creighton. To oppose him, he needed a powerful force.

That’s why Liviana chose Calix, knowing that.

In the empire, the only one who could confront Creighton was Calix.

Even if he was Duke Creighton, full of overflowing wealth, he did not have two lives.

The nobleman, who everyone said would die in a few days, survived countless wars and became a war hero. He killed, conquered, and ruled, and created the strongest army in the empire.

Now, people were estimating whether the Duke Pieren’s army or Creighton’s wealth was more superior.

“When the academy incident is settled, the bounty on you will be lifted soon.”

“……”

“It’s a solo act by Rose Hamilton. We’ve agreed to conclude it as such.”

Calix took a long puff of his cigar.

The cigar, rolled with cheap tobacco leaves, was so toxic that just smelling its smoke was enough to wrinkle one’s nose, but Calix was remarkably calm.

Even after returning to the capital, habits from the frontier didn’t easily change.

It was a battlefield where he had been sent to die.

Without proper treatment, countless times he had to fight the incoming enemy even before his wounds healed.

Some days, he poured strong liquor on his wounds because there was no disinfectant, and on other days, he tore his flesh with his senses fully awake because there was a shortage of anesthesia, and there were even days when he was burned by fire.

It was either smoking a cigar mixed with hallucinogens that hadn’t been properly purified or drinking poison, these were the only ways to alleviate the pain in hell.

“… I have no intention of covering up Meriel’s death as it is.”

“Is that so?”

Calix tilted his head with a sour expression.

The more he did, the harder Cheshire glared.

“When the time comes, I’ll be the first to kill them. Both of those bastards.”

“That’s fine. I hope you succeed.”

“Are you going to treat me like a child until the end?”

Cheshire growled like an angry beast.

Looking at Cheshire, who had grown so big that he could hardly remember his old face, Calix tilted his head.

“I keep telling you, just because you’re big doesn’t mean you’re an adult.”

“Sir.”

“The fact that you’re calling me by that name means you’re even more so.”

The murky smoke passed through his lungs and slowly slipped out between his lips.

Watching the smoke disappear, Calix twisted his lips.

Calling him ‘sir’, a nickname from the past that he hadn’t heard in a long time, was more irritating than he had thought.

In the end, Calix picked up a bottle of liquor lying next to him, leaving the cigar he had not smoked much on the table.

The strong liquor that could even knock down a stout man didn’t seem to improve his mood, even when he drained the glass in one go.

“…… Could you possibly be resenting sister?”

“Everyone should know the story. It’s a famous tale, isn’t it? That Livianna Creighton sent her fiance’s family to hell instead, to save her own life.”

“That’s just a rumor. You know sister.”

“I know. As if mocking the dragged fiance, she, of all people, had to hold another man’s hand and vow her marriage that day.”

“There must have been circumstances.”

He hurriedly defended Livianna, but he knew that wouldn’t convince Calix.

Chesha didn’t know anything about the situation that day to begin with.

Livianna wasn’t one to spread such stories carelessly, and she didn’t even bother to stop the circulating rumors. It was rather the Bake family that was agitated by her bad rumors.

“Circumstances? Did she tell you something like that?”

“No, it’s not like that. But sister would never do such a thing.”

“I thought so too. Thanks to that, I ended up like this.”

“……”

Chesha opened his mouth but gave up shortly after.

He remembered the days when Calix had been Livianna’s fiance.

Unlike himself, who had been a powerless boy, Calix had been a promising young man whom everyone admired.

Perfect to the point where even a teenager, who saw everything skewed, couldn’t reproach him, and therefore no one dared think of holding Livianna’s hand in his place.

The two people who were deeply in love with each other seemed happier than any other lovers.

“…… I thought you still had feelings.”

“……”

“You came to find me then, and even now you’re hiding me as per sister’s request.”

“Nonsense. I just wanted to check something.”

Emptying the glass forcefully was useless. He wouldn’t get drunk no matter how much he drank.

The man knew this all too well. It was partly because he had become accustomed to strong alcohol in his remote living, but there was another reason.

“Ha……”

Calix picked up the glass once more, chuckled at the sight of his skin showing through the rolledup sleeve, and saw his face reflected in the glass seemed distorted and crumpled.

Calix stared at that sight and eventually supported his forehead.

The glance of the woman who hid her inner thoughts and smiled, that one time.

The eyes of the woman he saw that day, when he heard about Meriel’s accident, he hadn’t forgotten until now.

Because the woman who held back tears and looked at him with reddened eyes was filled with intense resentment.

As if she was not the one who betrayed, but the one who was betrayed.