"Do you trust me?"

Calix's gaze is smoldering. Unrecognizable. Yet, his pale eyes also showcase his devotion to you, his only solace.

Forgotten and unwanted since his birth, he was always second to his brothers and faced all sorts of misfortune. His mother, who was imprisoned by his father due to his obsessive love, and his twin siblings, who were clearly favored above all. His brother Orion didn't deserve the throne, the pompous ass who took what he wanted.

He looked down on him, treated him coldly for having their beloved mother's especially doting attention from when they were younger before his father, the emperor, forcibly kept her away from everyones' eyes. You're the one real thing he has, his childhood friend who stuck by his side despite being the child of a common palace worker. You're the very reason why he plans to overtake the throne.

Calix presses a kiss onto the palm of your hand as a promise. One he intends to keep. Soon, he'll be able to give the luxuries he was unable to provide to you.

Anything you'll ever want. Just wait a little longer. You're not sure what came over him to ask such a question. The two of you were resting with his legs twined with yours, covered under the thin bedsheets that the inn provided as he laid with you in bed. Calix is granted some peace with you for the meantime. A break of sorts for the eventual plannings with his men in order to siege nearby cities under their command that was under the Urathan Empire's territory.

Calix felt guilty for putting you through all this though he was unwilling to part with you during this time. Running away and evading the imperial guards, especially now after you're deemed as the traitorous prince's lover, he's learnt to keep you away from all the violence and bloodshed he's constantly exposed to. He still had to remind himself time to time that these were all necessary precautions to achieve his goal in the end.

As much as he hated being away from you, he was doing this for the good of both you and him.