Caine’s life remained largely the same over the next few days.
He felt drowsy every morning due to his failed all-night stakeouts. In the late morning, he would head to the room Altina provided to catch up on sleep. After waking up around 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM and confirming he hadn’t been attacked, he was either dragged around by Vita to play or consulted by Edwina on various matters.
After dinner, Corellia would update him on the investigation of the palace staff, seemingly to put his mind at ease. They would also chat briefly about government affairs before moving on to a large number of private topics, such as personal preferences and future plans.
At 8:00 PM, Caine would take a short nap. He would wake up around 11:00 PM, confirm he was safe, and then resume his stakeout.
Then, he would repeat the process.
It could be described as a fulfilling life, and Caine might have wanted to stay in the Royal Palace forever if it weren’t for two things.
The first thing, of course, was that the identity of his attacker remained unknown, which kept his sleep schedule in shambles.
While he could have arranged for someone to stand guard in his place, Caine really didn’t want to trouble anyone else… and he had a faint feeling that an ordinary person would be useless. The attacker was definitely not an ordinary person.
Even if it wasn’t the Queen herself, it was someone highly skilled in magic and combat.
He could have asked Altina, who was equally skilled, to serve as his night guard, but that would be far too much trouble for her.
In short, that was his first worry.
As for the second thing, he realized that he wasn’t just being targeted by that one attacker. Someone was also watching him during the day.
Specifically, Altina and Vita.
Even though the two of them weren’t being very obvious—one could even say they were quite subtle—Caine could still feel the fact that they were trying to win him over.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to seek him out whenever they were idle, nor would they constantly “seduce” him so quietly.
Vita would use her status as his “sister” to casually give him fan service, while Altina, beneath her seemingly cold exterior, cared for his physical and mental well-being at every turn.
On one side was Princess Vita, cheerful, flighty, and seemingly scatterbrained, but surprisingly reliable.
On the other side was Altina, the daughter of a duke, serious, cold, and seemingly inflexible, but actually very meticulous.
Both were impeccable in terms of appearance and background. If they allowed Caine to be a kept man, he would likely agree immediately.
The problem was that no matter how Caine looked at it, neither of them seemed like the type who would allow him to be a kept man.
In the end, both Altina and Vita still saw him as another Corellia.
Caine didn’t exactly feel guilty or think that they actually liked Corellia instead of him.
He was already prepared to be a kept man; why would he care if he was a substitute?
The real problem was that even if these two truly liked Caine, they definitely liked a version of Caine who worked hard or fulfilled his duties just like Corellia.
The issue was that Caine didn’t want to work hard; he only wanted to put in a reasonable amount of effort and then live a comfortable, leisurely life.
‘If I couldn’t live a comfortable life before I transmigrated, and I still can’t afterward, didn’t I transmigrate for nothing?’
Therefore, no matter how much they tried to win him over, Caine only felt troubled.
Ultimately, their values were different. Even if they stayed together, things wouldn’t end well in the long run.
Not just for his own sake, but for theirs as well, it was probably best if they didn’t end up together.
If the two of them had no intention of pursuing him, Caine would have no problem staying in the Royal Palace.
But since it was so obvious, Caine felt it was better to leave early before he ruined their relationship.
Vita and Altina were childhood friends. He didn’t want their years of friendship to be ruined because of a man of unknown origin like himself.
As for Edwina and Vanessa?
Caine wasn’t worried about them at all.
Edwina was just a well-behaved princess who lacked motherly love. She didn’t have any romantic feelings for him; she simply saw him as Corellia and sought motherly affection.
Staying in the Royal Palace to continue being her cheap male mom wouldn’t cause him much trouble.
Vanessa was even less of a concern. Corellia herself had guaranteed that if Vanessa did anything out of line, he could step in and educate her.
In the end, he was being asked to be a male mom again, though this time he was the kind who would make his daughter feel awe.
In the days following that “conflict,” Caine had indeed run into Vanessa a few times.
However, the Vanessa who used to greet him now completely ignored his existence.
According to Altina, Vanessa, who didn’t believe Caine had appeared out of thin air, was spending a lot of energy trying to find evidence to prove he was a fraud.
Of course, she couldn’t find anything at all.
Vanessa’s situation was actually easy to handle. As long as Corellia explained it personally, Caine felt that even if this mother-obsessed princess was unwilling to acknowledge him, she would eventually have no choice but to accept him.
Since Corellia clearly could solve the problem with a single sentence but chose not to, she obviously intended for Caine to be one of the lessons for Vanessa’s growth, letting her deal with Caine’s existence on her own.
Caine certainly didn’t agree with Corellia’s views on education, but he figured she wouldn’t change even if he spoke up, so he didn’t bother saying anything.
Because his “cheap daughters” were only seeking validation. Whether it was validation for themselves or through Caine, it was essentially the same.
So, Caine didn’t think their presence would affect his stay in the Royal Palace.
His decision was mainly influenced by the mysterious woman attacking him and the romantic complications brought by Vita and Altina.
As it stood, there was no solution. Therefore, Caine decided to leave the Royal Palace and see the wider world after dealing with the mysterious woman.
In other words, the only reason Caine was staying in the Royal Palace now was to resolve the matter of the attacker.
Frustratingly, since that one attack, Caine hadn’t found any more ice-blue lip marks on his body.
However, this could entirely be because the other party realized Caine’s guard was up recently and was intentionally staying away.
It was highly likely that once Caine relaxed, the other party would strike again.
The person in the shadows held the initiative, while Caine, out in the open, could only remain passive.
It was somewhat of an ordeal.
The physical exhaustion was secondary—in fact, there was very little of it—it was mainly the mental strain.
One day, shortly after 1:00 PM, Caine woke up in bed again after catching up on sleep.
After also being attacked while sleeping at the inn previously, Caine had wanted to rest in a more private place.
Altina, not knowing that Caine had actually been attacked, thought this was an opportunity. She specifically lent Caine a house she owned in the Royal Capital for him to rest.
Altina, busy with official duties, had only accompanied him the first time; after that, Caine came on his own.
It was a very standard detached house for a three-person family. Although the area wasn’t large, the privacy was much better than an inn.
As long as he locked the doors and windows before sleeping, he really didn’t have to worry about an attacker getting in. In fact, Caine hadn’t been attacked again over the last few days.
After a simple cleanup upon waking, Caine prepared to leave his daytime sleeping quarters.
However, to Caine’s surprise, when he pushed open the door this time, he didn’t see the streets of the Royal Capital as usual.
Instead, he saw Vita and Edwina in casual wear.
The two, who had been waiting in front of the door for Caine to wake up, turned toward him almost simultaneously when they heard the door open.
“Aha~ Good afternoon, dear Sister. Your lovely sister and daughter have come to play with you~”
The black-haired beauty, wearing a simple black gown and coat, flashed a bright, cheerful smile and greeted Caine warmly.
Although Vita’s outfit today was quite low-key, she had deliberately styled her hair into twin braids over her shoulders and wore a pair of non-prescription black-rimmed glasses. Indeed, she looked like one of those common, “unremarkable plain janes.”
This kind of “plain jane” character wasn’t actually plain at all; they often dressed quite boldly where people couldn’t see. In fact, Vita was wearing black silk stockings with lace garter straps today, though they weren’t visible from the outside.
“Good day, Mother. I heard Aunt intended to look for you, so I decided to come along. I hope I’m not disturbing you…”
On the other side, the white-haired girl with light purple inner highlights greeted Caine politely, sounding slightly apologetic and uneasy.
Today, Edwina was wearing a dress as usual, but unlike the elaborate gowns she wore in the palace, this outfit for going out had less solemnity and more cuteness. In addition, she wore a Gothic-style hair accessory on her head.
The lavender-themed dress revealed a pair of beautiful legs clad in white stockings and platform high-heeled boots, making the wearer look as exquisite and lovely as a doll.
This wasn’t the first time Caine had seen this pair.
But it was the first time they had dressed like this. Seeing an “unremarkable” older sister in black silk and a Gothic Lolita girl in white silk appearing before him together truly soothed Caine’s heart, which had been weary from the attacker.
‘It’s good to have a daughter and a sister; they know how to provide some eye candy for their mother and sister.’
Though, strictly speaking, Caine was neither a mother nor a sister—and that particular sister seemed to be aiming for something much more scandalous.