In This Life, I Will Be Your Dog - Chapter 106

Urged by Caelus to rest longer, Bellona had slept in until the afternoon and now blinked her heavy eyelids.

Perhaps thanks to the deep sleep, the dizziness had somewhat subsided.

Still, as she slowly gathered her groggy thoughts, she instinctively rubbed her lower belly.

‘The ears probably haven’t formed yet.’

The cruel words she’d used yesterday to threaten the soothsayers now weighed on her.

She worried the child might have heard them. As if to cleanse the baby’s ears, she kept gently stroking her stomach—when suddenly, loud voices rang out from outside.

“I’ll deliver it.”

“Why are you stepping in when I brought it?”

“Because anything meant for Her Grace must go through me.”

“And who are you supposed to be?”

Listening closely, she realized the voices belonged to Net and Lycaon.

What were they trying to deliver that had them squabbling like that?

“I’m the knight personally selected by Her Grace, and I’ve even been appointed as her private guard. She also promised to make me happy. That means I’m the man she trusts and relies on the most. Isn’t that enough?”

Bellona frowned at Net’s proud declaration. While it wasn’t entirely false, it was certainly misleading.

‘The man’…?

Technically accurate in terms of gender, but paired with the rest of the sentence, it sounded like they had an inappropriate relationship.

‘Why would he say something like that…’

The fault partly lay with her for saying such things before, but it was still best to correct it now.

Apparently left speechless, Lycaon’s voice didn’t follow.

She was about to tune out the pointless argument when Lycaon spoke again.

“Positions can always change. I’ve just resolved one of Her Grace’s biggest concerns. So I wouldn’t be too confident if I were you.”

“If that’s the case, I relieve Her Grace’s worries every single day.”

As their bickering turned increasingly childish, Bellona clicked her tongue—just as another unexpected voice cut in.

“Akon, didn’t your mother used to say something to your siblings?”

“Huh? What…”

“You know, when you and your brothers said nonsense—what would she say?”

“Ah…! ‘Madness is an illness.’ That’s what she said.”

Bellona blinked wide in surprise at the unexpected phrase, then burst into laughter.

It really did fit the situation perfectly.

As she was just barely stifling her laughter, a sharp voice rang out.

“You must have a lot of free time, chatting outside Her Grace’s room while she rests.”

“My apologies.”

Net bowed his head, while Lycaon, sounding wronged, defended himself.

“I came to deliver something to Her Grace, but he kept blocking me—”

“Hand it over.”

“Pardon?”

“I said I’ll deliver it. Give it to me.”

And just like that, Caelus claimed victory in this childish spat.

Who could challenge a royal suppressing with status?

Especially a man with a vengeful streak—he wouldn’t let the two off easy.

“And since it seems the two of you still have things to say, I’ll give you the opportunity. Knights should speak with swords, not words. Head to the training grounds and spar immediately. And the loser better be prepared.”

“Pardon?”

“When you’re sick with madness, sometimes a beating is the best medicine.”

Bellona burst out laughing again at the uncharacteristically casual remark.

She had expected Caelus wouldn’t let them go easily, especially since he didn’t particularly like Net or Lycaon.

Her prediction had been spot-on—she really felt like there was nothing she didn’t know about him now.

Had they grown that close?

Soon after, the door opened quietly.

Bellona quickly turned her head and pretended to be asleep. The way the man tiptoed around, careful not to wake her, was both amusing and endearing.

She sensed him pull up a chair and sit beside her.

She decided to pretend to wake up after a little while—but it was hard to keep the corners of her mouth from twitching.

Trying to erase the earlier scene from her mind, she shut her eyes tightly. As she waited for the right moment to stir, she realized the stillness around her felt strangely peaceful.

It was a very different feeling from when she’d been alone earlier.

Maybe that meant she had grown more comfortable with him.

A faint wry smile formed on her lips.

She tried to push aside the growing warmth in her heart and pretended she was about to wake up.

“Why on earth did Impes have this gem?”

She clearly heard the man murmur under his breath—and her body froze as her ears pricked up.

“You’ve returned again too, have you? Then why weren’t you with your master—why were you with that bastard? It’s not like he went to Kellicus and retrieved you.”

Returned again? What does that mean?

Bellona furrowed her brow at the cryptic words, but Caelus kept murmuring.

“Could this blood be yours…? To think you went through something so horrific—it makes me angrier the more I think about it.”

A strange feeling crept in.

Returned gem, and Kellicus…

Bellona’s eyes widened in shock.

‘The bloodstained gem?’

Before Caelus died in Kellicus, the gem he gave her had been stained with his blood. And at the moment of her death, she had carried that gem in her jacket.

‘And now it’s returned too?’

Unable to keep up the act, she abruptly sat up.

Caelus, caught off guard by her sudden movement, frowned awkwardly. Bellona stared at the gem in his hand.

It was real. The very same gem. But now, different blood had soaked into it.

“How…”

His expression turned bitter.

“Why is that here? And what do you mean it was with Impes?”

“……”

“Wait—how long have you had it? Did you keep this from me?”

Her voice rising, her speech shifting, Caelus quickly grasped her hand.

“Calm down. I’ll explain everything.”

Realizing how agitated she’d gotten, Bellona took a deep breath to settle herself.

Since he hadn’t planned to hide it much longer anyway, Caelus calmly placed the gem in her hand.

Then he began to share what had been troubling him.

“I think… this is the reason.”

“Reason for what?”

“For the regression. Why we came back.”

Her eyes widened as if they might pop out.

“Did you have it with you before the execution?”

Her pupils trembled with unease, a furrow forming on her smooth brow as she dug through her memories.

“Ah… that’s right! I brought it with me before seeing His Majesty. I was going to offer it to him as your keepsake…”

“I thought so.”

Seeing him nod, it felt like he already knew something.

“Tell me more. What does this gem have to do with our return?”

After a pause, Caelus clasped her hand tightly, then with a slightly apologetic look, told her something she’d never known.

“This is… a royal treasure of the Kellicus Kingdom. It’s the gem you were ordered to find by the Empress.”

“……!”

“Of course, I got to it first.”

“Ah…”

She let out a faint sigh, momentarily speechless. But then her eyes lit up as if a thought struck her.

“So… is that why you killed that king back then? Afraid he’d mention the gem in front of me?”

“Well, that was part of it—but honestly, it was also because he insulted you.”

“Liar. You did that for me? Even though you wanted to kill me more than anyone?”

He frowned, clearly exasperated. “Let’s get the facts straight. I wanted you more than anyone. You were the one desperate to kill me.”

“……”

“I held out my hand until the very end. You were the one who coldly rejected me. If not for that poison, I would’ve won and taken you as my prisoner.”

Her face darkened rapidly.

More than the new revelations, the lingering resentment in his words stabbed at her.

Suddenly, Caelus let out a long sigh, even laughing bitterly like he’d realized something.

“So it started back then.”

“What did?”

“The reason I so desperately wanted Bellona Riknis.”

Curious, yet feeling she shouldn’t ask, Bellona kept her lips shut.

He gazed at her for a moment, then pressed a kiss to the back of her hand and murmured sweetly:

“I must’ve already fallen for you. Maybe even before then.”

Her heart squeezed painfully. She definitely shouldn’t have heard that.

Yet… it made her wonder.

Even before then…?

“Anyway, this gives us one more reason to go to the Kingdom of Kellicus.”

As he quickly changed the subject, Bellona didn’t bother asking more.

They had to focus on the present, not regrets from the past.

“But how do you plan to go? It’s not like before—you can’t start a war. And there’s no way they’d open their gates to a foreign royal so easily.”

“We’ll make them open.”

He grinned slyly, as if he already had a plan.