CBH 09

Chapter 09 …

Knock, knock, knock.

Somewhere, something was tapping.

The sound was so sharp that Helena thought someone was pounding on her forehead.

“I won’t let this slide…”

She swung her fists at the air, but there was nothing to hit. The tapping sound only grew louder.

Finally, she forced her eyes open.

“Ugh…”

As she opened them, sunlight poured through the window, bathing the quiet room in a golden hue.

“…What is that?”

Looking around, Helena realized that someone’s shadow was reflected on the closed window.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Hmm…?”

She quickly went to the mirror, plucked the sleep from her eyes, smoothed down her messy hair with her fingers, and approached the window.

Her room’s window had a tiny balcony, barely enough for one or two people to stand on—and someone was perched there.

At this early hour, there was only one man who could possibly come to see her.

‘…It’s too late to apologize now, Benjamin Eisfern.’

Helena took a deep breath and opened the window.

The person sitting on the balcony immediately sprang to his feet and called out.

“Helena…!”

“…What are you doing here?”

“I-I’m sorry…! I never imagined things would turn out like this…!”

The man trembling on the balcony was the root of all this chaos: the Crown Prince of the Empire, Rufus Arpend.

Helena felt a sudden urge to shove this damned crown prince off the balcony.

But he was the Empire’s crown prince.

Instead of pushing him, she jabbed him sharply in the chest with her finger.

“Explain yourself.”

“W-What should I explain? I meant it…!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You seriously liked me? Fine, let’s say you did. Was that really your best option? Confessing in front of your fiancée and Her Majesty the Empress? I wouldn’t even do that to the enemy of my parents!”

“B-But I’m apologizing right now! I came all the way here!”

“Oh my, of all the days, you chose the morning of the wedding, with your collar on and being dragged to the ceremony, to apologize? That’s awfully fast. If you were any faster, we’d meet in the afterlife.”

“I-I was under surveillance too!”

Rufus shouted indignantly.

“I’m the crown prince! Do you know how hard it was to sneak out like a little rat?”

Helena glared at Rufus with eyes full of irritation.

The Rufus she once considered a dear friend now irritated her beyond measure.

“So? Why are you here?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“You said it was hard sneaking out. You’re not just here to say a worthless little ‘sorry,’ are you?”

“A worthless…! Hah…”

Rufus clenched his anger but had no time to vent.

“Of course, I didn’t come just to apologize.”

“Then?”

“Helena, there’s something you don’t know.”

He swallowed dryly before speaking.

“About Count Benjamin Eisfern… Right now, in the capital, people think he’s a handsome and wealthy count, but actually…!”

“Ah, so he’s all flashy on the outside but rotten inside, like a spoiled squid, and actually penniless?”

“…Huh? H-H-how did you know…?”

Helena pounded his chest repeatedly with her fists.

“I know, I know! You fool! Is that why the Empress got so angry with me, and now she’s making me marry some young, rich, tall, handsome man?”

“Ouch, ouch! S-Stop…!”

Rufus, barely holding her fists, sighed deeply and spoke again.

“Let’s run away.”

Helena, staring at him, pulled her fists back only to start pounding his stomach instead.

“Go! Go! Please! Stop ruining my life and just disappear!”

“Ah! Ah! Ack! Y-You… your hands are so violent! H-Helena! Listen to me! I’m not just saying we should run away…!”

Rufus dodged her hands while shouting.

“There’s land inherited from the late Duke in Tisseria. He secretly passed it to me. It’ll take a while for anyone to find us there. We can run away there and come back once everything has settled.”

“That’s ridiculous…!”

Ridiculous as it was, it strangely intrigued her.

“Can you imagine how shocked Their Majesties and our parents would be…?”

And if she surprised the Empress, trying to use her as a spy, or the count and his wife, who were completely unsuspecting and probably relieved like someone losing a tooth, it… would feel strangely satisfying.

“Besides, it’ll tarnish the reputations of the Eisfern counts and the Byard dukes…!”

That was a stretch.

Especially if she found out that the dowry she thought was secured had vanished, the penniless Count Eisfern would probably collapse like a limp squid and scream right there.

Imagining that made her feel a strange thrill.

But she couldn’t ruin her life just to feel satisfied.

Helena clung to her reason.

‘No. The one running away with me is Rufus? Seriously, if you’re grabbing a rotten vine, at least pick a decently rotten one.’

The rotten vine in front of her spoke.

“Helena. We’ll throw off all the chains and restraints of this world and go find freedom!”

Freedom.

That word froze Helena.

She knew it was absurd, but freedom…

It had the power to justify everything.

Suddenly, it felt as if a gust of wind blew up her back.

She felt herself floating, as if she could soar anywhere if she just jumped off the floor.

Then Rufus’s sharp scream popped her daydream like a balloon.

“Argh!”

With his scream, Rufus, sitting on the narrow balcony railing, wobbled violently and fell backward.

‘This is the worst.’

Benjamin Eisfern was in a foul mood.

There’s a saying that even if a rich family falls, it lasts three generations. But that didn’t apply to the Eisfern family.

When he became a count, there was no wealth to be found anywhere in the family.

It didn’t matter if the family fell, but he had things to do—and those things required money.

So he had been squeezing funds out of the family like wringing water from sand.

But now, he was at his limit.

Then came this marriage arrangement.

He couldn’t let go of the dowry Helena carried. He could enter the ceremony with a smile, even if she were an orc.

But once he arrived in the capital, the truth he discovered was more pungent than an orc’s breath.

‘You mean Miss Helena Winston? There’s no one in the capital who doesn’t know. She was caught with the Crown Prince by the Prince’s fiancée, Miss Byard, and Her Majesty the Empress.’

This was what the clerk at the tailor’s who lent him the formal wear had said.

Of course, he wasn’t a fool who believed every rumor he heard.

But what he saw with his own eyes—Helena Winston—was someone deserving of criticism.

She certainly had a beautiful appearance.

If he didn’t know her true nature, he too might have been spellbound, like her foolish followers.

But he knew that all her glossy exterior was just skin. Above all, he knew this because he himself was the same.

His exterior might look strong and beautiful, but inside, it was decayed, crumbling into dirt.

He assumed Helena Winston was the same.

Helena Winston, smiling enchantingly before him, was undoubtedly beautiful.

But knowing that she had seduced the crown prince and left indelible wounds on his fiancée, her beauty no longer looked innocent to him.

‘A ruthless woman.’

Her ruthless followers were ruthless too.

It was obvious they wanted to exhaust him completely—forcing him to drink all night and keeping him from sleeping a wink.

But they did not know him.

He had served in the most notorious mercenary group in the south. The alcohol he had consumed in his life could form a lake.

Moreover, he had more sleepless nights than restful ones.

He looked at Helena’s crawling followers and said,

“Are you satisfied now? I’m going to prepare for the wedding.”

Benjamin, more mentally exhausted than physically, headed to the stables—but then witnessed a strange sight.

‘What the hell is that guy doing now?’