[CHAPTER 50]
“Was there a particular reason you chose this place?”
That was Viterion’s first question.
A little flustered, Mayna fiddled with her coffee cup.
“I wanted to meet you as soon as possible.”
“Since I cannot open a portal, I thought it would be best to choose a place as close as possible.”
She had departed from the Agency building, so Gillingham Square was technically closer than here, Zivrei Square.
“I thought it would be better to meet somewhere with fewer people.”
“Were you being considerate of me?”
Viterion asked.
Facing his gentle smile, Mayna felt it strangely difficult to answer.
The action itself felt too small and trivial to define with such a grand word as consideration.
“Well…”
Seeing her hesitate, Viterion slowly nodded.
He looked as though he already understood, even without her saying anything.
Just looking at that expression made emotions she couldn’t explain surge up.
Is that something possible?
To be understood without speaking.
“It must have felt a little awkward.”
Viterion shifted the topic.
Mayna quickly realized what he meant and blinked in surprise.
“So you really were a Prince…!”
“I thought it was strange how everyone disappeared all at once, like it was planned.”
“Hahaha.”
With his head lowered, Viterion smiled softly and brushed back his drooping hair.
Under the sunlight, his platinum hair gleamed so brightly it was almost blinding.
“I waited for the guests to leave naturally.”
“They were all here for their own reasons, enjoying a peaceful time.”
“……”
“But an hour passed while I was waiting.”
“Ah, so that’s why…”
Had she kept him waiting an entire hour?
“I couldnât keep you waiting anymore, so I made some arrangements.”
“……”
“Ah, please donât worry.”
“They’re all having a pleasant time somewhere else.”
Mayna was left speechless.
She had never encountered someone so considerate in her entire life.
After a short silence, she finally spoke with a decided tone.
“Your Highness.”
“Yes, Lady?”
“There is something I have been curious about for a while.”
“May I ask?”
“Of course.”
“Your Highness is a Holy Knight, not a Mage, correct?”
“Yes.”
Viterion nodded with a smile.
“But you seem to use magic quite often.”
“Not only today but also a few days ago when I was hospitalized.”
“I heard you contacted Duchess Motenson through a letter instantly.”
“……”
“It feels as though you are watching me at all times.”
The smile that had remained on Viterionâs face slowly wavered.
He stayed silent for a moment, choosing his words with great care.
“Your assumption is not entirely wrong.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I do not watch you, but I do see you.”
“……”
“Does that not explain enough?”
Mayna pouted slightly and nodded.
Viterion chuckled quietly and looked at her with the warmth of a patient teacher.
“It started the very first day we met at Bonsel Knights Hospital.”
He explained that at first, he saw her only once or twice a month.
Scenes of Mayna walking hurriedly down a night street.
Shopping with servants who looked like maids or cooks.
Cleaning her room diligently.
Those scenes appeared in front of his eyes without warning and vanished like smoke.
“Then it became more frequent.”
“Once a week, then twice.”
“Then once every other day.”
“Then every day.”
“And eventually, several times a day…”
He trailed off.
He was always precise with his words, but now his voice carried something he couldn’t define.
“I was shocked at first.”
“I had never experienced anything like it.”
He paused, then laughed lightly.
“I even wondered if this was how a man falls for a woman he’s never met before.”
“……”
“You know how in books, there are scenes where someone’s face lingers in the mind all day.”
Mayna missed her chance to respond, her cheeks burning.
Realizing it, Viterion quickly added:
“I was joking, Lady.”
With an apologetic face, he bowed his head slightly.
“I had no intention of making you uncomfortable.”
“My apologies.”
“No, not at all.”
Mayna shook both hands in a flustered gesture at his excessive apology.
“I understood it was a joke.”
“I simply needed a second to think of an appropriate response.”
“Is that so?”
“I am not a particularly funny person, but I’ve learned how to respond to jokes quite well.”
She had learned it not from high society lessons like other noble ladies, but from surviving the real world as the only daughter of the Winslet household.
“You underestimate yourself, Lady.”
“Pardon?”
“You are entertaining.”
“……”
“You, Lady.”
Mayna lowered her eyes again, her cheeks growing even redder.
Prince Viterion had an unexpected ability to disarm someone with words.
After fiddling with her lips again, Mayna lifted her head.
“If we return to the topic, does that mean the figures you saw were not illusions but my real self?”
“You truly are perceptive.”
He said he simply knew.
They were not illusions nor signs of romantic obsession.
He was seeing the real Mayna appearing and disappearing in real time.
Mayna listened quietly, then drifted into thought.
He said it began the day we first met, but he didnât mention it back then.
Back at the secret mansion.
If he is revealing it now, does that mean something changed?
No, donât get ahead of yourself.
She forced down the hope rising quietly inside her.
“I also saw the moment you collapsed from stomach pain.”
“I see.”
As she nodded, something suddenly clicked in her mind.
“Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“Before I collapsed, you told me to go to the hospital.”
Viterion nodded as if he already expected that question.
“This is a power I have possessed since I was a child.”
“When I observe living beings, whether people, animals, or plants, I can sense where they are weak or hurt.”
Mayna finally found the answer she had long wondered about since her hospitalization.
She nodded slowly.
It was a power that suited him oddly well.
“Right now, it feels different from then.”
Viterion spoke in a quiet voice, looking serious and slightly worried.
“Could you explain more?”
“How much do you know about Awakening Pain, Lady?”
“Awakening Pain…?”
“Yes.”
Awakening Pain was literally the pain one experienced during awakening.
Its duration and intensity varied for each person, ranging from mild discomfort to near-death agony.
“I do not know much.”
With her usual humility, she answered, and Viterion smiled faintly.
He simply nodded, offering no further explanation.
This only made Mayna more curious.
“Your Highness, may I ask why you brought that up?”
“You were born with a weak uterus.”
“Next are your bones and joints.”
“Then your stomach.”
It was a sudden answer, but Mayna nodded anyway.
“I see.”
“When under stress or poor health, people deteriorate starting from their weakest areas.”
“That is the same for everyone.”
His gaze paused on Maynaâs face as if debating whether to continue.
“I donât recall you having a habit of touching your lips.”
“Ah…!”
Realizing she was biting her lips without noticing, Mayna lowered her hand.
“My lips have been dry all day, so I…”
“No.”
“What…?”
His unusually firm tone followed.
“Your lips are bleeding.”
“Today, it seems neither your lips nor your womb are the weakest part.”
“Something else appears far more fragile.”
“Your heart, perhaps.”
Mayna’s pupils trembled.
She bit her lips again.
Caliph.
The memory she tried to avoid struck her like lightning.
The moment he stole her lips.
