Why him again?

Bake frowned, halting his descent from the carriage.

While it wasn’t a big deal for Duke Pieren, who belonged to the Emperor’s relatives, to be parading in the imperial palace, the problem was that Riviana was in the palace today.

“Did you come to see His Majesty, Duke Pieren?”

“That’s the excuse.”

“An excuse?”

Although it was polite to answer when asked a question, the arrogant Duke Pieren only said what he wanted and turned away swiftly.

Bake, watching his behavior, pushed the innocent coachman aside and hurried down from the carriage.

“What excuse are you referring to?”

“I don’t have to answer. And even if I don’t bother to answer, you already know my answer, don’t you?”

“Duke Pieren.”

“Haven’t you anticipated this from the moment you heard of my return? Riviana”

“Who do you think you are, calling out someone’s name so casually?”

Bake quickly cut off Calix’s words. He could no longer tolerate a man who would so casually call out the name of his wife.

“If I can’t call her by name, I do have other terms of endearment.”

Lynn.

He seemed to spit it out carelessly, but the eyes of the man who spat it out were sunk deep, as if sediment had layered over them.

Bake clenched his teeth at the sight of those impenetrable, black eyes.

Terms of endearment were for longtime lovers, and it was an expression that even Bake, her actual husband, did not use.

To be more precise, it was an expression he couldn’t use.

Because there was already a man who used to call her by a term of endearment. To call her by a term of endearment would only remind her of another man’s memory.

“You are rude, Duke Pieren.”

“That’s what makes it fun.”

“Fun?”

“How insecure must you be to tremble every time you see me?”

“……”

“Or perhaps, there’s something wrong with my feet?”

Bake’s lips trembled as Calix, with his chin raised, looked down at him.

Though he was welldressed to compensate for his lean physique, the effort seemed meaningless when standing next to a wellbuilt man like Calix.

No matter how many layers of fine clothing he wore, he could not help appearing smaller in comparison.

Naturally, the more he mulled over this fact, the more his feelings would ride on a skewed path.

“It seems Duke Pieren is not recalling past memories.”

Shaky. Bake noticed the subtle tremor in Calix’s pupils and quickly resumed speaking. Calix could never escape the past.

“Surely the Duke is not ignorant of the rumors everyone knows.”

“I know. It’s just that what I know is not limited to that.”

“……”

It wasn’t just Bake who could observe.

Calix slowly tilted his head back as he watched Bake take a reflexive step backward.

The sight of him shivering at the mere hint of movement was irritating as a splinter in his eye.

“There must have been a reason.”

And that was why he kept mulling over those words.

The man was looking for the meaning behind the gaze the woman had given him back then.

“I’ve lost everything.”

“……”

“So I’m not afraid. I’ve already been through the worst, what more is there to be afraid of?”

“……”

“So if you’ve done me wrong, you’d better hide it as best you can. I’ve been getting more and more annoyed recently.”

It was too late to trust Riviana now.

One thought led to another, and he couldn’t stop them.

What if? Just what if, by any chance, there had been a reason?

Despite knowing it was an absurd thought, he couldn’t help himself. Unless he checked the doubt that had protruded like a spike in his pocket, he would keep thinking about those eyes.

Calix slowly bared his teeth at Bake, who was shaking like a cornered rabbit.

Whether that had been his nature from the beginning, or if the life he had lived on the fringe had made him this way, he couldn’t tell.

What was certain was that from the time he had grown accustomed to life on the fringe, the man had never failed to achieve what he wanted.

Even if he had to wrench and gnaw at it, he never let go of what was in his grasp.

“Why, of all people, was it you?”

“Watch your words here, just.”

“Why, of all the men in the world, did you become her husband?”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“She said it wasn’t your child.”

There was no point in trying to break free. The difference in strength was clear. His hand, tightly clutching his shoulder, felt as hard as stone.

Bake swallowed dryly in the face of Calix, who was showing his ferocious intent to devour him.

Calix, in spite of the many watchful eyes in the royal palace, was relentless.

He was a man who had nothing to lose. He could stake it all, and that’s why he always won. He was a breed of man that the writer, who would count his gold coins at his desk, couldn’t comprehend.

“Of course, one would naturally wonder. Who were that child’s parents?”

“……”

“And, who could the father, who might have lost his own bloodline, turn out to be?”

“There’s a limit to rudeness.”

“I don’t know who that child’s father is, but if it was me, I would have gotten revenge.”

“……”