By Zephyria 
She was just a very strange woman in every way, from her appearance to her way of speaking and acting. Since it was said that she might not be human, it was strangely convincing.
“But what is that other race? Is it like a monster?”
At my question, Mahir shook his head.
“I don’t know. They say it’s an extinct race now. They disappeared more than a thousand years ago.”
“Hmm.”
Well, if races that looked like that had survived until now, they would have been incredibly famous worldwide.
As I was nodding, Mahir, still thinking I was worried, began to explain in detail.
“As I said, the blood is so diluted that even if a person with particularly prominent traits appears, they’re only a little stronger than the average person, or their pupils are a bit unusual. So it’s inaccurate to say they’re not human.”
A little stronger?
Aegis’s pupils weren’t particularly unusual, but he was incredibly strong. I had wondered if it was disproportionate to his physique, but hearing this, it made sense.
“I wondered…”
“Why? Was there anything unusual?”
Mahir asked as I muttered to myself. I nodded and recalled what had happened yesterday.
“He was really, really strong.”
“Strong? How strong?”
“He was pressing down on me, and I couldn’t move at all… No, never mind, I should go ask him.”
As I jumped up from my seat, Mahir stood up with me and said,
“Don’t act rashly. This is a sensitive issue even in Calderia. I said it like it’s nothing, but only a very few people know this fact.”
“Can’t I even ask?”
“No, just know it for now.”
At those words, I pursed my lips and reluctantly nodded.
More than that, I married someone who isn’t human… I’ve really lived a long life to see this.
“But do you think Your Majesty knew about this?”
At my question, worry clouded Mahir’s eyes. He thought for a moment and then muttered,
“Well… He seems to be having a hard time these days.”
He drinks so much alcohol and sucks down so much medicine, how could he not be having a hard time? If he’s okay after all that, then Khalifa, not Aegis, is the other race.
I knew Mahir would only scold me if I said what was on my mind, so I just nodded.
“Anyway, I’m going to go.”
“Okay, I’ll look into it more, so don’t worry too much. And your injuries… Wait, where are you, Kyle!”
I ignored Mahir’s scream-like shout and threw myself out the open window. Stepping on the railing, grabbing onto a tree, and landing on the ground, I immediately heard Mahir cursing from above.
“You little rascal! I told you not to jump out of the window!”
I looked up and saw his pale face. I wondered how he could be so surprised every time, considering how many times I’d jumped out of the window.
I waved lightly and then ran across the garden to the shortcut to Talim. When I finally arrived, running at full speed, I looked completely different than before.
My hair and clothes were covered in grass, scratched by branches, and stained with dirt. Still, I liked the feeling of running without thinking sometimes, it made me feel refreshed.
Seeing a maid who spotted me from afar quickly approaching, I started walking again.
“Where is Aegis now…”
“Kyle! Kyle!”
I was about to ask where Aegis was when the voice calling me was so desperate that I couldn’t help but be puzzled. I stopped and looked at the maid who had come up to me and asked,
“What is it?”
“T-the young lord… I mean, Duke Amir’s son came, and the young lord, well…”
I frowned at her rushed and incoherent words.
“A guest came?”
“Yes? Yes! Yes! That’s right, a guest came!”
If it was Duke Amir’s son, I had seen him a few times. I couldn’t remember his name, and I only remembered that he didn’t leave a good impression.
“Tell him I’m busy and to come back later.”
Whoever came, that wasn’t the issue right now. I had to see Aegis quickly. Mahir told me not to act rashly, but I was too curious to resist.
“Kyle!”
As I was about to start walking again, the maid called out to me. I turned to look at her with a slightly annoyed expression.
“T-that’s… the young lord said he wanted to see Aegis…”
“What?”
“He said he came to see Aegis! He said he came to pay his respects separately because there was no celebration…”
“What are you talking about? Do they know each other?”
I asked with wide eyes, and the maid closed her mouth and shook her head as if she didn’t know, and continued.
“The Head Maid told me to bring Kyle quickly.”
“…Are they meeting right now?”
“Yes, it’s been about 30 minutes since they went into the drawing room.”
“…”
I had a bad feeling. I had a good sense, so if I had a bad feeling, it was usually right. As expected, the maid added, watching my expression.
“A-and… Aegis dismissed everyone, so only the two of them are in the drawing room.”
“Why did he dismiss people?”
“The young lord asked him to…”
“Why? But you guys just left when he told you to?”
As I frowned, the maid shrank back and repeatedly bowed her head, saying,
“Aegis told us not to question what he says, so we couldn’t help it. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Come to think of it, I told them to do that. I sighed and quickly walked down the hallway. And when I arrived in front of the tightly closed drawing room door, I saw a few maids and a man I had never seen before standing there.
Before they could say anything to me, I grabbed the doorknob and burst in.
“Aegis…”
Before I could even finish calling his name, I was frozen stiff by the sight before my eyes.
The young lord of the Amir family, whose name I couldn’t even remember, was staring up at Aegis with wide eyes. And Aegis was standing there holding a copper vase.
As soon as I saw that, my mind went blank. Why I came here, what I was going to say, everything just turned into white powder and flew away somewhere.
No way.
No way.
It can’t be.
It won’t be.
Ah, it…
Clang!
As the copper vase slammed into the boy’s head, a dull thud echoed all around. Soon, his body slowly tilted and collapsed to the floor with a thud.
“…”
I watched the dreamlike scene in a daze, then slowly turned my head to look behind me. All I could see were maids frozen like stones and a blonde man covering his face with his hands.
I forced the corners of my mouth up into a smile and carefully closed the door. After making sure the door was securely locked with the latch, I took a deep breath and turned to approach Aegis.
“Hey.”
“What.”
When I called out through gritted teeth, Aegis answered with his chin raised as if he was so confident. Seeing that, anger began to boil inside me.
“Are you doing this on purpose to screw me over?”
“I don’t need to go to all this trouble to screw you over.”
At his scoffing words, I couldn’t help but shout.
“Hey! Are you crazy?! Are you a gangster!”
“If I were a gangster, this bastard would be dead by now.”
I couldn’t hit Aegis, so I clenched my fists and hit my chest.
“I told you not to use violence!”
“You said to only watch out for the Emperor.”
“What?”
“You’re the one who said to only watch out for the Emperor.”
I wondered what this meant, blinking my eyes, when suddenly I remembered what I had said yesterday.
‘A-and I’m an Imperial Prince, and you’re my consort because you married me. So, other than the Emperor and my brother, no one can treat you carelessly, right? But my brother isn’t someone who would treat you carelessly, so if you just watch out for the Emperor, there’s nothing particularly dangerous for you.’
“Ugh…”
As I remembered what I had said, I suddenly started to feel suffocated. My stomach felt stuffy, my neck ached, and my throat was constricted. Even as I clutched my chest and groaned at the absurdity that was rising to the top of my head, Aegis didn’t even bat an eye.
“Are you brain-dead?”
I asked, gasping for breath as if blood was flowing backward, and Aegis frowned. I was personally experiencing what a vase was.
“I told you to watch out for the Emperor, not to beat up other people?!”
At my roar, Aegis, who had been glaring at me with his eyes raised, threw the copper vase he was holding into the corner and said,
“That bastard touched me first.”
I was startled by the sound of the vase flying and hitting something, and I flinched, but I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded by Aegis’s words.
“So, because he touched your nerves, you hit his head with a… vase…”
I was so dumbfounded that I trailed off. I stared blankly at Aegis, then looked at the man lying unconscious on the floor. And then, looking back at Aegis, I stammered and asked,
“Um… I’m just asking in case, but that… when you say he touched you… you mean he touched your nerves, right?”
“…”
“O-or…”
“…”
Aegis didn’t say anything in response to my question. I wanted him to say something, but no matter how long I waited, his tightly closed lips didn’t seem to want to open.