His soft facial features have all disappeared, and in its place sharp lines replaced. His deep, cold eyes, especially his straight eyebrows, made him feel like a whole different person.
“Come and sit down,” Calrad offered her a seat.
Apparently, the quality of his voice changed too.
In the past, Seira used to instantly recognize how he felt with just a few words uttered, but now it was completely impossible. The only thing that she could feel from his cold voice was that he had turned into a complete stranger over the years.
The two of them sat opposite each other, with refreshments on the table between them. Before she could even reach out a hand, he first raised the teapot and filled two glasses. Seira stared at the scarlet-colored tea and various kinds of snacks she enjoyed a long time ago, and then her eyes slowly raised back towards him.
His eyes met hers as if he deliberately waited, and then his mouth opened, “I’ve heard the news, but it really has appeared, hasn’t it?”
“Yes,” came her short reply.
His long and scrutinizing gaze looked at her carefully, seemingly trying to find traces of the past as much as she did with him.
The last place where his gaze stopped was by the scruff of her slender neck, and then he said, “You’re still small and delicate.”
“…do you really see it like that?”
“I used to leave marks on your skin even when I held you so lightly back then. It doesn’t look any different now.”
With neither a positive or negative answer, Seira picked up her cup and sipped her tea.
She looked more relaxed and elegant than in her memory. Her wrist, which was peeking in between her sleeves, seemed too thin to even hold a cup. Calrad couldn’t believe how incredible her performance was on the battlefield with such a body.
“How long are you going to wander around the battlefield?”
Seira hid a sarcastic smile as she heard what she expected him to ask. She looked him dead straight in the eyes and replied, “Until the situation needs me.”
She meant that she’d throw herself into battle as long as her need to earn money continued. Her reality was that she’d take advantage of her master-class slayer status and remove beast nests to finance Askan.
Upon hearing her adamant reply, his blue eyes turned dead cold.
“Stop being stubborn, Seira!”
“Stubborn? Me?” she asked as if totally shocked by his interjection.
Seira tilted her head and widened her purple eyes, seemingly conveying an innocent yet seductive look.
“I’m just living my life to the fullest every day.”
The corners of her red lips soaked in tea rose evenly as she continued, “The Emperor put his faith in me and entrusted Askan in my care. Shouldn’t I repay him?”
Calrad looked at her with a smirk on his face.
“Seira, it’s very easy to get you out of that insignificant place. Just don’t test my patience, please.”
Seira laughed at the words that sounded like a threat.
“Your Majesty is still the same. I thought you had changed,” she whispered.
Calrad’s brows scrunched in the middle as he heard Seira’s words. He knew too well what she meant when she said he was still the same.
As the silence continued, Seira took another sip of her tea and put it down. She hasn’t touched any of the carefully prepared snacks. It’s been a long time since she had a taste of them, and her preference has changed over the past seven years – they were too sweet for her now.
“Hair… Why did you cut it?” he asked her in a soft voice.
“Well… I don’t know.”
He hated seeing her neck being exposed. If the maids braided it, it was often left untied irregardless if it was messy or not.
As she grew older, Seira came to fully understand the reasons for his past behavior. Born and raised as the Crown Prince, the greed of a pure-blooded Alpha naturally monopolized whatever he wanted. In the end, Calrad turned out to be Seira’s enemy.
“Perhaps you sold it because someone wanted to buy it at a high price?” he asked.
Of course it was not true. She was just too lazy to manage her long hair, so she asked Aven to cut it short.
“What?!”
Seira burst out laughing at the sight of Calrad’s reaction. The Emperor couldn’t fathom if her real intention was to provoke, because if she’d confirmed his guess then he’d probably believe her word for it. Funny how the naive person now was Calrad, and not her.
“I can sell anything now, Your Majesty. The enlightened power, the power of the master-class slayer, and the bloodline that everyone covets.”
Her hand, which had rested at the middle of her chest, slowly slipped downwards. The meaning of the gesture was explicit, inching closer towards her lower abdomen.
Seira looked at Calrad and smiled as she muttered under her voice, “It doesn’t belong to anyone anymore.”
At that exact moment, the Alpha’s pheromone suddenly exploded with anger. Calrad rose from his seat and trampled over the table. He stood in front of her, and the shadow of a man much bigger than seven years ago looming over Seira.
Seira continued to smile like it was a permanent painting on her lips. She stared at him in silence, not trembling or shrinking even though she turned pale because she couldn’t breathe.
“How dare you…” Calrad’s voice boomed around the room. He reached out and grabbed the nape of her neck as he continued hissing. “How dare you speak to me like that!”
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