<Chapter 45>
#5. Be Assertive in Your Advances (7)
Bain’s arm, which had been thrust forcefully toward Calix, couldn’t come down. His arm remained stiffly extended, frozen at a point in mid-air as it began to convulse. And in an instant, the convulsion spread throughout his entire body.
“Hurgh!”
With a scream, Bain stared at Calix with wide, bulging eyes. Calix, who had firmly wrapped his arms around Melty to protect him and pulled him into his embrace, sneered at the convulsing man who still held up his knife, and mouthed the words:
‘Stupid fool.’
Bain’s eyes widened as if he understood what Calix had said. His trembling lips quickly turned blue. Unable to hold himself up any longer, his body fell backward with a thud.
“Hic!”
“It’s okay. I’ve taken care of it, so you don’t need to look.”
Calix held Melty’s cheek as he jerked violently and tried to turn his head. Even as he wrapped his hand around Melty’s damp cheek and wiped it, Calix’s expression remained stern.
Hiss-
Quickly recognizing the faint familiar sound, Calix’s gaze turned to the floor. A snake that had crawled out from near Bain’s feet looked up at Calix, flicking its tongue. Though its look clearly sought praise, Calix shooed it away with a light jerk of his chin. Dejected, the snake dropped its raised head and sadly settled in a corner.
After following the snake’s movement with his eyes, Calix looked back at the person in his arms. As he examined the scratched body from different angles, the furrow between his brows deepened.
“Can you walk?”
Calix was a rational person. He knew very well that the wet hamster before him was not the target for his boiling rage. At his gentle question, Melty, whose crying had finally subsided, shook his head from side to side.
Due to his legs that had given out at some point, he could only cling to Calix. At Melty’s head shake, Calix lowered his posture as if he had expected this and firmly lifted him into his arms. Melty wrapped his arms tightly around Calix’s neck and buried his face in the crook of his neck. Calix firmly supported Melty’s bottom with one hand while soothing him by stroking the back of his head with the other, then frowned at the employees who had finally appeared.
“Master Calix. What happened?”
Jenny, who had somehow made her way to Calix’s side, asked with a startled look. She had come looking for Calix, who had smoothly escaped from the banquet hall. Calix glanced sidelong at Jenny and the two servants behind her. Then he nodded toward the person sprawled on the ground.
“It seems we need to reorganize the mansion.”
At the annoyance in his calm voice, Jenny surveyed the surroundings instead of asking for the exact situation. As a housekeeper who had worked at Padrian for a long time, she easily grasped the situation from seeing Bain lying paralyzed on the ground with a knife in hand and Melty’s disheveled clothing.
Calix made sure Melty completely buried his head in his shoulder so he wouldn’t see anything else, then stomped on Bain’s face with all his might. Of course, merely stepping on him once wasn’t enough to satisfy his anger.
The snake that had been watching him from the corner intelligently moved quickly toward Calix’s ankle. Then it quietly concealed itself inside his pant leg.
“Put this away as usual. Until I deal with it myself.”
At Calix’s brightly smiling expression, Jenny kept her mouth firmly closed and lowered her head slightly. Though Calix was clearly smiling, his eyes were burning with fury. If she hadn’t known the situation, she might have felt differently, but having grasped what had happened, she had no intention of sympathizing with the person lying on the ground. Since Calix had mentioned he would handle it himself, it was obvious that the culprit would not remain in a human-like state.
“Ah. And don’t forget to prepare the others as well.”
At his evenly-toned words, Jenny nodded obediently. Though the Exchange Meeting was a time when security was more relaxed due to many outside visitors, that didn’t mean infiltration was easily possible. Determined to catch everyone who had helped him, even in the smallest way, Jenny worriedly looked at Melty’s back as he clung tightly to Calix.
Calix turned around, gently stroking Melty’s hair, and headed toward his room, taking care that the person in his arms was not jostled. Under the gentle touch caressing his hair and back, Melty’s eyes slowly closed. As he ran his fingers through Melty’s hair, which was nestling deeply into his embrace, Calix whispered in a soft, measured voice:
“You can sleep. By the time you wake up, I’ll make sure there’s nothing for you to worry about.”
Melty, who had been nuzzling his face against Calix’s shoulder, turned his head to the side. The golden eyes that met his gaze felt strangely warm. Under the warm touch stroking his back and the affectionate gaze meeting his, his eyelids slowly drooped. Soon, the sound of steady breathing slowly spread around them.
***
“What about that guy?”
Angel, lost for words at Calix’s ominous gaze, silently moved his hand to point to someone huddled in a corner. The thought ‘What in the world is happening?’ floated through his mind. But even he wasn’t bold enough to openly ask questions in front of Calix, having only heard a brief explanation of the situation.
“The others?”
“Since we couldn’t bring them all here at once, they’ve been imprisoned for now.”
Angel calmly answered Calix’s question as he glanced at the huddled figure. Though his tone was as matter-of-fact as usual, Angel, who had served him for a long time, quickly noticed that Calix was in a terrible mood.
“There must be collaborators among those attending the Exchange Meeting.”
“We’re looking for them.”
“Bring them in.”
Angel moistened his dry mouth with his tongue as Calix spoke with his eyes curved into a smile. After giving a calm nod to Angel, Calix shifted his gaze and walked toward a desk against one wall.
It was around that time that Bain, who had been lying face down on the floor, regained consciousness with a groan. As he looked around with dazed eyes, trying to understand the situation, he spotted Calix fiddling with glass vials containing an unidentifiable liquid and screamed.
“Calix!!”
“Huh? There’s no need to shout so eagerly—everyone here knows I’m Calix Kuse Padrian.”
Bain trembled at the sight of Calix’s obvious sneer and sarcastic tone. He had considered the possibility of being caught by Calix, but he hadn’t anticipated this kind of situation. As he tried to move his body, which felt unbearably heavy, he shrank back at the clanking sound from his wrist. Looking behind him, he discovered that iron shackles restraining his wrists were connected to the wall.
“Wh-where is this?!”
“Where? It’s the secret space in the Padrian mansion that you were so eager to visit.”
After finishing his cheerful response, Calix skillfully mixed the liquid he was holding. The bubbling liquid, which was producing bizarre bubbles, turned a deep pink color. Bain’s complexion turned white as he watched the transformation with wide eyes.
Clank, clank.
No matter how hard he tried to move, the chains firmly restraining his hands showed no sign of loosening.
“…Calix. I’m family, aren’t I?”
“Family? I don’t know when a distant branch started to consider themselves Padrian, but…”
Bain trembled at Calix’s crookedly upturned lip corner. Though Calix had not yet officially obtained the position of successor, everyone knew he was the ruler of the Padrian family. Since he began leading the family in earnest, Padrian had grown exponentially.
Calix’s excellent judgment had been instrumental in the family’s growth, but even more influential was his skill in compounding medications. The increased volume of medicinal herbs and poisonous plants sold by Padrian was entirely due to his discovery of new crop properties. Quite naturally, many studies and experiments were needed for new discoveries.
“I, I just… I just needed the Tonka!!”
“Ohhh.”
Calix let out a brief exclamation at his terrified cry. Unlike the exclamation he released, there was no change in his expression. Desperate at this artificially produced response, Bain frantically looked around.
The cramped space with lingering dampness resembled a research or experimental laboratory. It was true that he had infiltrated the garden to find the hidden garden that Padrian kept secret, but he didn’t want to become Calix’s test subject.
“It’s true!! This is all because you refused my requests so many times…!”
“No. It’s because of your unnecessary greed. Why blame me?”
With a grin, Calix grabbed his chin and lifted it. Unable to speak further, Bain fluttered his eyelids, trying to convey his unjust treatment through his eyes alone. Cheerfully ignoring such looks, Calix poured the entire contents of the vial into Bain’s mouth.
Though Bain struggled with all his might to avoid swallowing the unknown liquid, he couldn’t escape Calix’s grasp. The liquid poured down his throat as Calix firmly held his jaw tilted upward.
“Don’t worry. You won’t die.”
At Calix’s calm tone, Bain’s trembling eyes met his. Awareness slowly returned to eyes that had been filled with terror about the unknown liquid he had swallowed. Directly facing the relief that appeared in his eyes, Calix’s smile deepened.
“Shouldn’t you abandon the confidence that you could easily die after recklessly laying hands on someone I’m carefully watching over because they’re precious to me?”
Though Calix was still smiling, his voice contained enough killing intent to freeze the surrounding air.
“Hu-hurgh…! I, I didn’t do this… alone. I’ll, I’ll tell you everything. I’ll tell you everything, why, why I tried to buy Tonka…!”
Bain felt something hot writhing in his stomach. His terrified, wailing gaze fell on Calix and Angel, who was shaking his head behind Calix. Looking at Bain’s tear-streaked face with an expressionless face, Calix smiled.
“I don’t need a bug’s testimony. There are many others who will talk besides you.”
