Chapter Twenty-Three
Beside Me, Not Behind Me
“I have a gift for you. Two, actually.”
I peered over at Kalon as he pulled out two cases that looked remarkably like jewellery boxes. “What are those?”
“Here.” He slid them across the coffee table. “Open them. This one first.”
I took the blue box engraved with ‘Chaumers’ in an elegant gold and opened it. Inside, there were two things—one small, silver brooch set with a gorgeous emerald-green stone, and next to it was an emerald bracelet that matched it perfectly, with one of the stones being larger than the others.
“Are these… communication stones?” I asked. “I think I can feel a little mana coming off them.”
Kalon raised his eyebrows. “I’m impressed.
Yes, they are. Aerwyna brought them with her when she came to see me a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it might be easier for you to use if they were both set into jewellery.
Ark finds a brooch convenient, so I did that for Bella, but I thought you’d prefer a bracelet. ”
“Thank you,” I said, running my finger along the bracelet. “It’s beautiful.”
His small smile shone in his eyes. “I’m glad you think so. This one is also for you.”
This box was bigger than the other one, and as I opened it, it was instantly clear why.
It was a set of diamond drop earrings and a diamond fringe necklace. The intricate design had many different sizes of diamonds, and I couldn’t even begin to guess how many carats I was holding in this box right now.
I was sure I’d never seen anything this expensive, this luxurious, and this downright beautiful in either of my lives so far.
“Wow,” I whispered, staring at the sparkling stones. “I… I can’t accept this.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too expensive!”
“And? You’re going to be my wife. You deserve to wear expensive things, Alicia.”
My mouth was dry as I met his eyes, and any argument I had died on my tongue at the sincerity in his gaze. “I… Uh… It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
He smiled. “That’s the response I was looking for.”
“When did you do this?”
“The necklace? I had the set commissioned before I left for the Baldor expedition, once I’d received the acceptance of my proposal from your father. I hoped it would be done in time for the hunt.”
“Did you design this? And wait, is that why the designer at the boutique insisted on a sweetheart neckline for my gown?”
“Yes, I designed it.”
Was there anything this man couldn’t do? It was criminally unfair to all other men.
“And yes, that’s the reason. She’d already seen the design of the necklace, and by the time we visited, I’d been told it would be ready. I had them collected this morning.”
“Wow.” I stared back down at the necklace again. “Again, thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever been given something this beautiful.”
“Get used to it. I plan to give you many more just like this.”
I blushed.
Damn it.
“I’m slightly scared to touch it.” I closed the box and tentatively put it back on the table. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything.” The warmth of Kalon’s smile reached his eyes, and my stomach did a loop-the-loop at the sight of it.
Oh.
He was dangerous to my health.
No wonder Alicia Vermillion fell in love with him in every lifetime. Even when he was a bastard, I’d bet he was a charming one.
“Are you ready to leave tomorrow?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I was, but now I’ll have to have Bella pack this.” I touched the box. “When are we leaving?”
“Early morning. It’ll take us around five hours to get to the palace from the magic circle site. I also found out this morning that my father would like to have dinner with us tomorrow night, so we’re in for a long day.”
Dinner with the Emperor?
“Will the Empress be there?” I asked hesitantly.
“No, and neither will the Crown Prince. If it makes a difference at all, I think he wishes to meet with us as my father, not the Emperor.” Kalon sat back and reached one arm along the back of the sofa. “He’s a bit of a romantic, so I’m sure he just wants to be nosy.”
“Romantic men don’t entertain having more than one wife at the same time.”
“That’s what I’ve told him, but he once insisted it was because he had too much romance for one woman.” He shook his head. “If it makes you feel better, I have no intention of taking another wife.”
“What about a mistress? Doesn’t the Emperor have those?”
“Three.” Kalon tilted his head to the side. “But what makes you ask if I would take a mistress? Didn’t I make myself clear the other day?”
“Oh, I see. You’re a one-woman man because otherwise, you’d have no room for the heads of all the enemies you’d have to slay.”
His lips pulled up on one side. “I see you have me all figured out.”
“It wasn’t terribly difficult.” I reached for my teacup. “So, tell me, Mr. Faithful, how many marriage proposals did you turn down before me?”
“I have no idea. You’d have to ask Hayes. I paid no attention to such trivial things.”
“How can you pay marriage proposals no attention?”
“Because,” he said, meeting my eyes. “If I were interested in any of those women, I’d have pursued them myself.”
“That… makes quite a lot of sense,” I acquiesced. “Should I be honoured you pursued me, Your Highness?”
His eyes darkened. “You should be honoured I don’t chop off one of your fingers every time you call me that.”
“Thank you for your graciousness.”
“Even now, you don’t use my name.”
“Why should I? You’re not going to cut off my fingers either way.” I gently set down the cup and met his gaze. “Contrary to the rumours swirling in society about you, you’re not actually a cruel person.”
“Really,” he replied flatly. “What makes you so sure?”
“Cruel people don’t forgive their fiancée for failing to greet them on their return from a dangerous mission where, by doing so, they reject the customary gift,” I answered, heat flooding my cheeks with the bit of shame I felt over that whole thing.
“Nor do they wait for them to wake up to greet them. Cruel people don’t give gifts just because.
” I motioned at the boxes on the table in front of me.
“Quite honestly, I didn’t want to come here, and I objected heavily to my father accepting your proposal. I’m sure you knew that.”
He nodded sharply.
“But ever since I arrived, the servants, knights, and you have been nothing but considerate to me. You let me barge into your office, order your aide around, steamroll my way into the creation of a governmental policy, choose my own knight, and just generally do as I please. You also accepted my slightly unreasonable request for a longer engagement, even though such a thing could hurt your position. Through it, all you’ve asked of me is that we have dinner together every night and faithfully act the part of your fiancée in public. ”
Kalon scratched one finger slowly across his jaw. “When you put it that way, I’ve been far too nice to you.”
I held up my hand. “Don’t forget about offering up the heads of my enemies.”
“That seems to be my greatest selling point in your eyes—the fact that I will dispose of all the people who do you wrong and gift you their heads. I had no idea you were so morbid, darling.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t like it if I told you I’d behead all your enemies for you.”
“I don’t need you to behead my enemies. I’m quite capable of doing it myself.”
“You’re entirely missing the point. What if I said I’d silence all the people gossiping about you?”
He shrugged. “I’ve already told you that I don’t pay any attention to such needless things as gossip.”
I sagged back onto the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. “Forget it.”
“Don’t worry.” He got up and walked to me, then leant over, planting his hands either side of my head. “If you ever bring me the head of one of my enemies, I will be sure to mark it as a National Day of Celebration in Stein.”
“Are you sure you should be incentivising murder like that?” I blinked up at him, and holy crap, he was so close to me.
“I’d only do such a thing for you. Darling.” He quickly lowered his head and touched his lips to my forehead.
W—what?
“You should think about sleeping early,” Kalon said, straightening up. “We have a long day tomorrow.”
I touched my fingertips to where he’d just kissed me. “What about you?”
“It’s almost as if you’re concerned about me.”
“Do you think me heartless, Your Highness?”
He leant back over me again, pulling my hand away from my forehead. His face drew dangerously close to mine as he linked our fingers together in a tight grip on my hand, and my heart thumped emphatically at our closeness.
“Yes.” The purple of his eyes seemed to deepen with the word, but the golden part glowed. “You keep calling me Your Highness even though I’ve asked you to use my name.”
“Is that enough to label one heartless?”
“It is when I’ve asked you nicely so many times,” he murmured. “Do you realise how few people are permitted to address me by name?”
“How would I know that?”
“You’re one of five, and four of those are my family.
” He tilted his head so that our noses almost brushed.
“The title of ‘Your Highness’ puts me on a pedestal. It’s one that’s used by people who must walk one step behind me.
You will be my wife, Alicia. The only place you will walk is beside me, never behind me. ”
Oh.
I thought he was just being a stickler, and honestly, I was kind of teasing him by addressing him in a such a way.
I never thought he put so much weight behind his name.
“Okay,” I said softly, reaching my free hand up and laying my palm against his cheek. “I’ll stop teasing you, Kalon.”
He turned his face into my hand and kissed my palm. “Go to bed now.”
“I will. Make sure you don’t stay up too late yourself.”
“As you wish.” Kalon paused in the doorway, looking back. “By the way, I’m looking forward to seeing your handkerchief.”
Oh.
Oh, bugger.
I smiled. “As you should be.”
“Goodnight, Alicia.”
“Goodnight, Kalon.” I watched him go, and when I was sure he was completely out of earshot, I grabbed the nearest throw pillow and shoved my face into it so I could scream.
How could I have forgotten something so important? I couldn’t even blame it on a gap in Alicia’s knowledge, because this was something I knew from my past life.
The Imperial Family hosted two hunts every year—one in the spring and one in autumn during the harvest festival celebrations.
At each hunt, it was customary for ladies to offer an embroidered handkerchief to their partners or young lords they were interested in as a symbol of good luck.
It was an act that sparked many couples each year, and many of the hunters returned and offered their catch to the person who’d given their handkerchief if their interest was reciprocated.
During the autumn hunt in the book, Alicia had offered Kalon her handkerchief, but he’d rejected it.
Instead, he’d accepted a mere ribbon from Lillia because that was all she’d had at the time.
It’d been a huge blow to both Alicia’s pride and heart, having been utterly humiliated and publicly rejected by her husband.
For a married man to accept a handkerchief from a woman who was not his wife or his immediate family, such as his sister, was a great insult.
But now, in this timeline of the book that I was living in, Kalon had all but asked for a handkerchief from me, and he was affectionate and touchy with me in a way that contradicted everything I thought I knew about him.
Never mind going to bed early.
I would be staying up all night embroidering a bloody handkerchief.