I Want a Happy Ending Even as a Villainess

Chapter 23

‘He came to the banquet to drive a wedge between me and Tain, but why is he doing this all the way until we go home?’

Calix stood in front of the open carriage, extending his hand toward me. His audacity left me speechless.

“Do you hate me, or are you worried about me? Pick one.”

“Can’t I worry while hating you?”

I had no retort for that.

‘Ugh, I give up.’

I took his hand and climbed into the carriage. Calix sat across from me, exchanged a few words with the guards, and soon the carriage began to move.

Watching the scenery pass by quietly outside, I sighed. What I wanted to gain from this banquet was friendship with the young ladies, not this. It was obvious what would be in tomorrow’s gossip headlines.

People would keep asking about my relationship with Calix wherever I went. Many would be curious whether I’d turned my back on Leschel. And even more people would hover around, trying to benefit from this supposed connection. Just thinking about it made me dizzy.

As my thoughts spiraled, the man sitting in front of me, acting as if nothing was wrong, began to irritate me.

“The more I think about it, the angrier I get.”

“What?”

“Be sure to check tomorrow’s paper… It’ll be front-page news. The crown prince who never shows up at banquets suddenly arrives, only to disappear holding hands with a lady. We even go home in the same carriage. What a scandal, huh? Oh, your precious little brother is going to see it too. Are you crazy? What are you going to do about this?”

Once I started talking, the words poured out nonstop.

Calix, who had been listening quietly, suddenly smiled, looking pleased.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“What? That you’re insane?”

“I meant the scandal.”

“You’ve really lost it.”

“By the way, that’s insulting to the royal family.”

“Ha. Go ahead, arrest me.”

Our conversation was utterly pointless.

The Calix I knew wasn’t particularly close to Lilith. So why was he doing this? It seemed too much just to misunderstand my relationship with Tain.

Would understanding his behavior make more sense if I knew Lilith’s past better?

But as soon as that thought crossed my mind, another followed quickly: ‘Even if I understood, so what?’

‘Calix is destined to fall in love with Olivia anyway, right?’

He was supposed to meet Olivia at the royal ball during the founding festival.

After that, Calix’s attitude toward Lilith would only grow more hostile. This relationship didn’t have much time left.

“We’re not that close, are we?”

The words slipped out sharper than I intended.

“If this is out of pity, then just stop.”

Remembering that his current kindness would soon turn to hatred only made me more irritated.

“I told you, I’m not involved with Tain like that. Are you even listening?”

Maybe it was because I had always been surrounded by people like Leschel and Lake, who would quietly listen to what I said, that Calix’s impulsive actions felt suffocating.

“Then.”

Calix moved closer, leaning an arm against the backrest as he narrowed the space between us.

“Should I act like I usually do?”

His voice was low as he stared directly into me, his eyes the color of blood, exuding a dark emotion.

“Which is better?”

Our eyes locked in a cold gaze. His stare felt binding, as if the behavior he had shown until now was just a façade, the coldness of his gaze revealing the truth. The illusion of a shadowy snake flickered before me.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

I pushed against his shoulder. Well, not pushed—he didn’t budge an inch, so “pushed” wasn’t the right word.

The brief tension between us was broken by the sudden stop of the carriage. I could sense the guards outside stirring.

Just as I started to feel uneasy, a chill ran down my arm. I turned quickly to Calix. He too had noticed something, his sharp gaze fixed on the empty air.

“W-what’s going on?”

“Shh.”

Calix pressed his finger to his lips, whispering softly.

After a brief silence—BANG!—a loud crash rang out, and the carriage tilted violently, throwing my body sideways.

In an instant, Calix grabbed my waist, pulling me into his arms. His Estella magic burst forth. Just before the side of the carriage shattered against the ground, his magic enveloped us, allowing us to escape unharmed.

The night was deep, and aside from a few lanterns lighting the path, the forest around us was pitch-black. The attack had come, yet there was no visible enemy. It was a formless assault. The guards were disoriented, panicking.

‘What the hell is this, an ambush?’

My breath was heavy with fear. The impact from the crash still rattled my senses, making the world spin.

I clung tightly to Calix’s clothes. Feeling his grip tighten around me brought some comfort, reminding me that as long as he was protecting me, I wouldn’t die.

I looked around in a panic that hadn’t yet subsided, and on a hill in the distance, I made eye contact with something unknown.

—Our eyes met.

A bone-chilling dread ran through me. I felt as though I had seen something I should never have encountered.

As soon as I locked eyes with it, the figure vanished. The menacing energy that had filled the air dissipated along with it. Calix’s Estella retreated back into his shadow.

“Allen!”

Calix called out, and a man in a different uniform than the guards approached us.

“Search the area thoroughly.”

“As ordered.”

Allen swiftly disappeared into the forest.

It was clear that something had tried to attack us. But we had no idea what it was. Since there hadn’t been any further attacks after the first one, I couldn’t even be sure who among us was the target.

“Are you okay?”

I blinked a few times at his question, then barely managed to nod.

Calix seemed to think that the assassin had been after him. It made sense, given that he had faced threats of assassination not just in his childhood, but even as he grew older. But…

The strange card I had received the day before was oddly on my mind.

“Can you walk?”

I nodded twice in response to his repeated question. Without needing a mirror, I knew my face was probably pale as a sheet.

Since the carriage we were riding had been destroyed, broken shards were scattered all over the ground. Calix pulled me closer to his side, where there were no shards. As the warmth from his uniform, which had felt so cold earlier, reached me, I finally let out a sigh of relief.

Afterward, I returned to the estate, gulped down the calming tea Calix had given me, and lay down on my bed. But my heart was still pounding, showing no signs of calming down.

“I should’ve known that with how tangled up I’ve been, it wouldn’t end without incident.”

My head throbbed painfully, almost excessively.

“If Calix hadn’t saved me, I’d be dead… right?”

If that attack had been aimed at me. If I had been in the duke’s carriage, returning alone instead of riding with Calix.

“Ugh…”

Unable to bear the mounting anxiety, I pulled the blanket over my head.

Even after experiencing death four times, including in my previous life, I still hadn’t gotten used to the fear of dying.

“Should I really just run away?”

The thought of choosing an escape route kept creeping into my mind.

These blasted main characters seemed to have some sort of rebellious streak, as no matter how much I tried to push them away, they stubbornly clung on. Shouldn’t I just run away at this point?

“I hope I don’t have any nightmares…”

I’d only recently been plagued by nightmares, so the fear was worse. But that worry didn’t last long, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

“Your Highness.”

Calix stopped looking out the window when Allen called him.

“I think you should come down.”

The cautious tone of his words carried a hint of unease.

Calix had captured the assassin from the previous night’s attack and locked them in the underground prison. From the assassin’s immediate outburst of blind hatred upon seeing him, it had been easy to figure out who the target was. But the assassin didn’t seem to care about revealing who was behind it.

Whatever had happened there, it was obvious without needing to check.

Descending the spiral staircase several flights, the smell of blood became stronger from the entrance. They stopped in the far depths of the underground prison where the assassin had been confined.

It looked as though some kind of severe torture had taken place, with blood splattered all over the place. The body, presumed to be the assassin’s, was so mangled that it was impossible to recognize.

“Was this to silence him?”

Allen’s question hung in the air as Calix quietly surveyed the scene before responding.

“No.”

His voice was lower and more somber than usual, but resolute.

“In that case…”

Allen’s eyes trembled slightly at his answer.

The culprit had slipped past security that was several times tighter than normal and killed the assassin in an instant. They didn’t seem to fear being caught and hadn’t bothered to clean up after themselves. The wounds on the mutilated body were eerily familiar.

“Who else could it be? It’s my bloody brother.”

Calix turned away as if he didn’t need to see any more.

“It’s not like he’d have been worried about me.”

The marks of the attack on the assassin were filled with unmistakable rage. A powerful fury capable of tearing another human being to shreds.

“So, he must’ve heard that Lilith was with me in the carriage?”

Calix let out a dry laugh in disbelief.

Suddenly, Lilith’s words echoed in his mind—her claim that Leschel wouldn’t do something like that anymore. She knew less about him than his enemy did.

“What a reckless guy.”

No sense of direction, no boundaries. Calix clamped his mouth shut, feeling that if he spoke any more, he would only continue bad-mouthing his brother.