Shadowless Night

Violent glances filled the air. Calyx ate a bite-sized piece of food with a sour expression and watched people’s eyes sharpen. It was as if the crowd thought it was a waste of spit to have the Radwiell name in their mouth.

Calyx turned his head towards the young aristocrat with the most persistent gaze. Their eyes met. It was the third or fourth son of Count Sihorge. The man flinched, but realizing that most people around him were on his side, he puffed out his chest.

Calyx chewed the food in his mouth and looked at him without blinking. Seeing that fierce and persistent gaze, the man hurriedly turned his head.

I don’t have any patience.

Calyx grabbed a drink from the tray of a passing attendant. It was cold. The attendants showed meticulousness in keeping even the glass cold. Countless people reflected on the unblemished surface. The frowning men’s faces melted together on the chilled crystal. Calyx calmly passed it against his throat.

These were the problems he had to deal with from the moment he set foot on Moonstone Castle. Since it was a Cimmaron and Golgarten event, 98% of the guests were from the 2nd Prince’s faction. Some neutral parties popped up occasionally, but he was the only noble in the 1st Prince’s faction.

“Our Rosaline…” The little woman beside him pretended to cry. “Does she know that her brother has no friends?”

“I thought you wouldn’t pick a fight today?”

With pretty dark brown hair, Macaron opened her eyes wide and blinked, “But that wasn’t me picking a fight. Wasn’t it…a fact?”

It was clear that she had no intention of keeping her promise. Calyx sighed into his wine.

This morning, Calyx had to busily prepare to go to the wedding because of the sudden invitation he received from Raymond.

He had wanted to ignore the invitation because he thought it must’ve been a courtesy invite. However, the sentence [I sincerely invite Sir Calyx, the brother of Rosaline, who was once my apprentice…] appeared.

Such long sentences filled the addressee column. At the time, Macaron was rolling around on the opposite sofa, and when she read the contents of the invitation, she’d suddenly uttered a threatening remark that she would attend. Calyx had thrown the letter to the floor with a look of astonishment.

[You can’t.]

Of course, his protest did nothing.

[Don’t pick a fight with anyone, use honorifics, etc.]

He’d made her promise various things and brought her there, but they were in this situation less than ten minutes later. He would be more comfortable if she took the form of a mouse or an eagle, but she didn’t want to do that. He guessed it was for the same random reason that Macaron frequently appeared in human form these days.

[Why do you go around in human form so often recently?]

At Calyx’s question, Macaron had smiled strangely.

[Who knows?] She’d said.

Her eyebrows had furrowed, and only the corners of her mouth raised, giving her a human expression that made it difficult to tell whether she was in a good or bad mood.

His recollection was brief. Calyx swallowed the dregs of wine at the bottom of his glass. Macaron tilted her head, placing a slender hand on her round cheek.

“Does Rosaline know that her brother fills his empty heart with alcohol alone?”

How annoying. Calyx’s sulky face made people’s gaze even worse.

“Hey, hey! Look at that expression on this happy day!”

The surrounding noise didn’t drown out the whispering, leaving its transmission into his ears intact. It was loud. Perhaps the speakers wanted him to hear. When Calyx had smiled slightly earlier, that person was also the one who had asked with a straight face, “Why is he laughing?” What the hell did he want him to do?

Some people sometimes did nonsensical pranks like conventional bullies, such as shoulder bumps and spilling wine. But most were failed attempts.

Many men only passed by Calyx after seeing his face. His features were sharper than Count Radwiell’s, who had a countenance carved of thick lines, but their skittishness came from his expression.

His looks were so fierce that they turned a carefree midday wedding into a battleground in the setting sun. His tightly closed lips and cold expression made him unapproachable. Calyx was well aware of the usefulness of this appearance, so he went around leisurely in the face of numerous enemies.

Hoo… Macaron inwardly admired.

She saw him as an idiot because he was Rosaline’s younger brother and had a mushy attitude toward his sister, but he was tough on others. Macaron picked up some food and licked the sauce off her hand. Calyx took out his handkerchief and wiped her hands.

“Calyx, I’m going.”

“H-huh? Where!?”

His voice was urgent. It was the tone he used to dissuade Rosaline from causing an accident.

Why was this kid looking at her?Macaron was a little speechless.

“To visit to the castle.”

“Is there anything new? You see it every day.”

“But it’ll be my first time in human form.”

Calyx furrowed his straight eyebrows. What did that mean? But he didn’t let the question leave his mouth.

“Hold on a second.”

“What?”

“Take this with you.”

Calyx took the ring from his hand. On it was engraved the Radwiell crest.

“This is important. Isn’t that the heir’s ring?”

“If you ever get into an accident or hit someone, just show them this.”

“Oh, will you take care of everything?”

“Before you hit someone, look at this and remember my troubles.”

“What would be the point?”

“Can’t you even pretend to agree out of politeness?”

Macaron smiled and accepted the ring from Calyx’s hand. What a cute guy.

“If anyone bothers you, come to this older sister crying. I’ll split them in half.”

“… Just go…”

“I can do it horizontally or vertically.”

“Oh, please just go.”

How dare you, you kid? Macaron stomped on Calyx’s foot hard. Calyx had to kneel and cradle his foot while Macaron disappeared with a light step.

***

Macaron moved off the road and through the grass. When she had looked around the Imperial castle as an eagle, she understood its structure to some extent.

The overgrown grass caught on her dress. She grabbed the hem of her dress with a rough flick, tearing the lace. Within a few steps, her hair got caught in a branch. Macaron felt her face heat up. However, it was a problem she had to endure as long as she was in human form.

Her pigtails had long since come undone, and bits of grass spotted the hem of her dress. It was the kind of appearance that would make Calyx speechless.

She decided to get out of the grass. If she kept going like this, she would look like a beggar when she finally reached the temple. After walking for some time, she saw an orderly street. She went through the overgrown leaves and set one foot on a neatly arranged path.

“…”

Then, the moment she raised her head, her eyes met with someone. It happened to be a man riding a horse.

A man with burning red hair and scars all over his hands, which still never made him look hideous!

A middle-aged man whom Mimi the cat favored. He was Starz, the leader of the Knights of the White Night.

After a brief appearance at Raymond’s wedding, he still had to attend to many things. He had urgent business, but that was no reason to ignore such a suspicious woman. Starz stared intently at the haggard woman who had just emerged from the grass.

Macaron smiled awkwardly. Starz’s eyebrows rose. The woman was very suspicious.

Damn it, if it were Mimi the cat, even if she tore up his paperwork, she could turn this situation over with just one act of charm. Sadly, Knight Commander Starz was merciless toward humans. Macaron still had one leg ambiguously placed above the grass to cross over onto the road.

Starz’s gaze didn’t let up even as she smoothed her dress and removed the blades of grass from her hair with a careless hand. Oh, how persistent. She should’ve known when he insisted on kissing Mimi the cat.

Macaron smiled, grabbed the hem of her dress, and slightly bent her knees to greet him.

“Are you the leader of the Knights of the White Night? I saw you from afar at the wedding earlier.”

“Did you attend Sir Raymond’s wedding?”

To put it mildly, he was only Mimi’s butler. Macaron snorted inwardly.

“Oh, excuse me. Mister Calyx Radwiell had me attend as his partner.”

“…You were with Sir Calyx?”

“I’m helping Young Master Calyx in the Radwiell territory.”

She meant she helped him as a maid. It was uncommon to have a maid as one’s event partner. However, since Calyx wasn’t close to any women, Starz thought it wasn’t all that strange. Come to think of it, I didn’t see it, but I heard that Calyx Radwiell came to the wedding with a female partner. When Starz showed signs of agreement, Macaron quickly took something out of her pocket.

“If you’ll excuse me, Young Master Calyx told me to show you this.”

It was a ring with the pattern of the Radwiell family inscribed onto it. It was something that only immediate family members deserved to have. They wouldn’t hand it over to just anyone. He hadn’t expected her to be a favored maid.

“As I get older, my suspicions only increase. My apologies.”

“It’s all right. I’m sorry to bother you.”

“But why are you in the grass…?”

Macaron laughed as if embarrassed.

“It’s my first time at the Imperial Castle, so I tried to go to the Great Temple, but I don’t know the way because everything’s so big…”

Starz nodded.

Is she an ardent believer in Idelavhim…?

Macaron frowned and glared at Starz while he looked like he was pondering about something. That’s a very inquisitive question… Now that your doubt has cleared, you should go ahead. Shoo.

“I see.”

“That’s what happened, so I’m going to…”

“Since you don’t know the way, I’ll take you there.”

Macaron broke out in a cold sweat.