TMLOH 70

Chapter : 70

The unexpected arrival of someone threw the hall into a deep silence.

Amidst the occasional hiccups of those who had been too timid to speak and the muffled whispers scattered throughout, the sound of clear footsteps echoed.

When the man walking through the center of the hall ran his hand through his hair, exclamations of admiration erupted from all directions.

In this vast hall, only the presence of a single man was vividly imprinted.

Valer Sirun Halbern.

A long-time friend of the royal family and a guardian of secrets, Duke Halbern.

“Why… why only now…”

“I received the invitation late,” Halbern Duke muttered calmly, surveying the hall with a glance.

Even from afar, his appearance was striking, but up close, the pupils of those who saw him in person quivered in disbelief.

I had thought that the praises of Halbern Duke were somewhat exaggerated—but I was wrong.

He was truly an exceptional beauty.

What was most remarkable was the aura surrounding him.

Fierce yet refined, shadowed yet impeccable. Even now, wearing a uniform stained with blood, he exuded the elegance of a gentleman in full regalia.

With an immaculate posture, he scanned the crowd, then tilted his lips in a crooked smile.

“Am I disturbing something? Why is it so quiet?”

Those facing Halbern Duke could barely breathe.

Overwhelmed by an enormous pressure that seemed ready to consume them if they spoke, everyone froze and trembled faintly.

“Perhaps you should calm yourself first,” the Duke of Muvisk stepped forward, sighing deeply.

“Long time no see, Queien,” Halbern Duke said, softening his expression upon recognizing a familiar face.

“It has been a while,” Queien replied.

“Looks like you’ve grown stronger since then. Quite impressive,” Halbern Duke said.

“Only you,” the Duke of Muvisk shrugged.

Halbern Duke’s gaze then shifted behind him.

“Valer,” he addressed Mehen with a complex, displeased expression, folding his eyes in a smile.

At once, the intimidating aura that had dominated the hall vanished.

“Hello, my friend,” he said with a smile that could melt steel, instantly easing the tension in the room.

The first impression upon seeing the father whose existence had been only rumor was: “He’s really handsome.”

Wow, he’s seriously handsome.

This was the first time I felt such pure admiration since seeing Pashion.

How could someone like that exist in reality?

I didn’t know what Halbern Duke looked like in the novel, because he never appeared alive.

Who would see that face and think he’s a father?

Even the Dukes of Muvisk and Sperom, who were handsome in their own right, paled in comparison.

No, how can such beauty even exist?

Pashion might turn out like him too, even among the twins with Harun.

Well, he’s in his late twenties, so it’s not unusual for his beauty to be fully in play.

Still, this was extreme.

Long eyelashes, deep and decadent eyes, subtly reddish eyelids that carried a strange allure—it was hypnotizing just to look at him.

No wonder, even after six years away from the capital, interest in Halbern Duke hadn’t waned.

Who could ever forget that face?

“Ah.”

Perhaps I was staring too intently. Our eyes met.

Halbern Duke, who had just been greeting the Duke of Sperom and exchanging a few words with Mehen, made a curious face upon seeing me.

“Hello, young lady,” he said.

I instinctively gripped Mehen’s sleeve, caught off guard by his piercing gaze that seemed to probe my very soul.

Halbern Duke didn’t seem to mind that I hadn’t responded. He simply looked at me with amusement.

What could he find so interesting?

The intensity of his gaze made me shrink back.

“Valer,” Mehen muttered, hiding the internal struggle between wanting to seize Halbern by the collar and knowing that rebellion in front of the Duke wouldn’t be appropriate.

“Reunions between father and daughter can wait. First, go greet Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Hmm, right,” Halbern Duke said with a faintly gentle smile.

“My friend goes straight to nagging upon reunion. Fine, I’ll go.”

“Don’t cause trouble,” Mehen warned.

“Yes, yes,” Halbern Duke replied.

After sending him off, Mehen looked at me.

“He’s not a bad person, you know.”

“…Hmm.”

There was a heavy sense of trust in those words. I could feel the depth of the bond between them, one I had never known.

So Mehen likes Duke Halbern.

Even to my eyes, Halbern Duke didn’t seem bad. Not exactly bad…

I feel like I’ve seen this kind of aura somewhere before.

“Did you expect your father to come, Mehen?”

“…No,” he said with a complicated expression.

He truly hadn’t anticipated it. Neither had I.

I thought I’d never see him in my lifetime.

According to the original novel, Arellyn never even saw Duke Halbern’s shadow before she died.

I had purchased a fake item, yet here it was, delivered in reality, giving me this strange, intricate feeling.

Why did things change?

And the main heroine hasn’t even appeared yet. Did I change, or did Pashion change?

But… the novel hasn’t even started yet.

What is this?

Even if I recognized this world as a fully complete one before it became a novel, it was hard to comprehend.

Can a person truly change that easily? Their habits, mindset, personality…?

Even for me, without the singularity of regaining memories from a past life, I couldn’t have changed like this.

Even small changes seem heavy to the person experiencing them.

I still find it hard to show my true self.

I don’t know.

Was it because I saw someone I thought I’d never see, or because unexpected things kept happening?

A strange unease gripped me.

I thought that once the heroine appeared, something would definitely change.

This belief, separate from my trust in Pashion, was ingrained like faith.

Whether the story followed the novel or diverged because of my presence, I firmly believed that the world revolved around the heroine.

But if the world can function without her, then what was the novel I read?

In the near future, everything I thought I knew disappeared, leaving the road ahead dark.

Does this mean the heroine might never appear?

My feelings became complicated.

If the heroine doesn’t appear, what happens to me, and what happens to Pashion?

The thought that Pashion might like the child when she does appear brought both anxiety and comfort.

After all, I am destined to die.

But if things don’t go according to the novel, what happens to Pashion?

I hoped he would continue to like me, but I had prepared myself mentally in case he didn’t, reminding myself, “It was destined anyway.”

Feeling as if a mighty current would sweep me away, I gripped my sleeve tighter.

“Mom.”

It’s okay.

“You’ll… keep liking me, right?”

I had Mehen.

Not everything was disappearing completely.

Seeing the subtle worry in my whispered voice, Mehen’s expression twisted.

“Miss, what…?”

I liked the way his green eyes trembled, reflecting me fully.

So kind, so gentle… how could I not be attached?

As I felt comforted by Mehen’s complex gaze, a clear voice cut through my anxiety.

“Arellyn!”

A voice even clearer than the unease sweeping over me.

“Are you okay?!”

The kindest, gentlest voice anchored me.

“Pashion…?”

“Arellyn, your face is pale.”

Am I dreaming?

Blinking my eyes, I felt the warmth on my cheek.

Ah, it really is Pashion.

“Where’s your… seat?”

“Are you okay?”

“How did you… come…?”

“Does that matter now?!”

The voice calling me, steady and unwavering, made me silently sigh in relief.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

Pashion checked me quickly, with skill as familiar as Mehen’s.

It was a strange feeling.

Griam, who followed Pashion, looked resigned, as if giving up. He acted like he had tried to stop it but to no avail.

I also felt familiar gazes of curiosity, jealousy, and envy from behind.

Yet Pashion was focused solely on me.

As if he saw no one else.

“If you’re hurt, you must ask my permission before you feel pain. Understood?”

He said this seriously, without a hint of humor. The combination of caution and intensity left no room for laughter.

Looking into those red eyes that seemed to see only me, I suddenly realized:

Ah. I’m really doomed.