ERTHMB Chapter 126

Arrogant Lips

The smoke that Flam exhaled brushed against Gelda’s face. It was truly an unfamiliar sight.

For a moment, the rough texture of the beard that had touched her cheek and chin seemed to linger still. Gelda remained dumbfounded for a while.

“……What, what the…….”

She could neither understand nor believe what that damned bear had just done. Even brazenly, after committing such an act, he had nothing more to say.

If you spill water, you should clean it up yourself. In any case, he had a talent for making things awkward, whether it was metal or the atmosphere.

His blue eyes reflecting her bewildered face barely brought Gelda back to reality. Given her nature of not being able to just take things lying down, she had to pay him back.

Gelda, still holding a cigarette between her fingers, stretched out her free hand and placed it on the back of Flam’s neck. Then she pulled him toward her.

“Check once more. That wasn’t something I wrote, but something the current situation wrote.”

It was a provocatively pulled trigger. Even if the first time was done while intoxicated by boldness, he wouldn’t be able to handle it a second time.

That was because Flam was someone who had only worked with metal his entire life. Even with his eyes closed, he could forge swords, but he wouldn’t know how to press lips together.

He said he liked her, but he was clearly confusing it with affection or stability that comes from spending long years together. She thought he had never even contemplated or desired such romantic affairs with the opposite sex.

However, at this moment, the man Gelda had underestimated turned his head without backing down.

They were already at a distance where their breaths mingled. Just before completely closing that brief gap, Flam smiled softly.

“Medicine is always bitter.”

Bewilderment first pierced through Gelda’s mind, and then, contrary to expectations, a soft and moist sensation rushed in. Gelda could taste it completely. The breath that collided again was indeed bitter, as he had said. Frustratingly so.

Frustratingly, she felt a sensation similar to when Helena had brought the will. It was thrilling. Gelda had no choice but to acknowledge that this too was the beginning of something.

****

Garta surprisingly readily accepted the private audience that Partren’s messenger stubbornly demanded.

Originally, the psychology of destroying a carefully made snowman was like that. Rather than the pleasure gained from the act of destruction, one would want to enjoy the faces of despair when confronting downfall.

It had been a week since Partren was brought down. Having caused such chaos, they would probably be coming now to present a compromise. 

In any case, Helena was grateful that she could reduce the time she had to delay. That’s why she had brought such gratitude with her. The weight of the scroll she felt in her bosom was heavier than gold.

‘She trusted me and entrusted this to me.’

Helena strode across the wide hall with fierce momentum and stood before Garta. Instead of the desperate face he would have hoped for, she lifted her head confidently and declared firmly.

“I demand that the sanctions imposed on Partren Guild be withdrawn and the confiscated funds be returned.”

Her concentrated voice rang out clearly. Normally, she would have been driven out without even a reply. However, Garta ended up taking the bait at such an absurd demand.

“Do you truly think the words you just uttered are comprehensible? When you should be prostrating yourself and begging, what kind of tyranny is this? I have merely dealt with the illegal wrongdoings that Partren has been committing all along. Are you questioning this legitimate procedure?”

“The illegal one would be you.”

Helena snorted without any further response. Garta’s brow furrowed sharply at her roughened speech. A bug should at least pretend to be dead when stepped on, but this one kept wriggling, which was extremely irritating.

He was about to open his mouth to issue an order of expulsion. However, Helena’s declaration was faster.

“In accordance with the will of the late Baron Spencer, I announce the establishment of a legitimate successor under strict and transparent procedures.”

Helena took out the will from her bosom and displayed it. It was a valid will bearing the seal of the Spencer house along with the signature of the former Baron Spencer.

At the appearance of the unexpected object, Garta’s jaw dropped. No sound came from his mouth, only stammering.

He stared with bulging eyes, frozen, then barely managed to move his finger to point at the will.

“How, how is that in your hands…….”

“Trust doesn’t always follow time.”

“Does that audacious Gelda truly intend to risk a match with me?”

The voice of Garta, who had regained his senses, gradually thickened. The fierce aura of someone who had trampled on others’ lives and livelihoods was emanating. However, Helena exhaled evenly without wavering and continued to mock.

“If you know, why don’t you come down now. Before I drag you down myself.”

Helena’s calm tone rather strengthened her resolve. Red anger rushed to the top of Garta’s head in an instant.

“What are you saying……! This seat is my seat, and the place for someone like you who doesn’t know their station is the dirty and squalid dirt floor! I, this Garta, am Spencer!”

“So you want to show your ugly form to the whole world.”

“By what authority do you dare! Even if we follow the will, to replace a lord requires the guarantee of a noble with at least the rank of count!”

Facing Garta who was desperately protesting, Helena remained unchanged. She had the same peaceful face she had never lost since arriving at the castle.

It was a face that required a certain conviction to possess, beyond what could simply be called exceptional spirit.

Helena finally unleashed that conviction.

“In the name of Helena Evergale.”

‘Eugene. If you want me so much, I’ll let you use me just once. Since this is something you caused, I should at least borrow your name so I won’t feel so wronged.’

As soon as her answer fell, Garta pointed accusingly as if dumbfounded. No matter how insane the people of Partren were, how dare she impersonate someone’s name.

Moreover, it was a situation where the Grand Duke was directly present here. She didn’t seem to fear the consequences.

“This, this crazy woman, drag her out! Throw her outside the castle gates!”

At Garta’s command, two soldiers guarding both sides of the corridor moved. Four hands in iron gauntlets stretched roughly toward Helena.

Without even flinching, Helena asked one last time.

“Can you really handle it? Keep in mind that I am offering a tremendously benevolent opportunity, Baron.”

“What are you doing! Drag her out quickly!”

Garta, unable to contain his fury, stood up abruptly from his seat and directed them. The knights who had briefly stopped at Helena’s extraordinary presence began to close the distance again. However, their hands never managed to grab Helena.

“……Madam?”

A knight in a neatly arranged uniform appeared from the far end of the corridor. He crossed the corridor with a fierce shout, stopping everything.

“Do you know who you are daring to lay hands on!”

The voice that struck like lightning in the wide hall left a long wave echoing.

Garta’s mind was no different. Walter, the escort knight who guards the Grand Duke and whom the Grand Duke trusts most. Before his shout, there was a word he had uttered. It circled Garta’s brain like an echo.

‘Madam. The Grand Duke’s knight just called that woman Madam.’

No one insane enough to attach such a title to just any woman could ever become an Evergale knight.

Walter, who had already come close, did not retract his words. Given that, it couldn’t have been a misjudgment of mistaking someone else.

Garta suddenly remembered Baron Spencer’s sighing and tongue-clicking. The Baron had lamented that the Grand Duke’s taste had become strange from only roaming battlefields, and he had been quite sorry that he was marrying a woman from a humble family.

Around that time, Garta had been fed up with his father’s nagging, constantly comparing him to Eugene. Therefore, he had no interest in Eugene’s wedding.

However, since it was a scandal that had caused quite a stir in society, he had heard that the bride had vivid red hair, befitting her nickname as a witch.

Just like the woman right in front of him.

Having reached a simple and clear conclusion, Garta’s face began to turn pale. The woman he had looked down upon and intimidated was the Grand Duchess of Evergale.

Helena Evergale.

The realization poured down like cold water with tremendous weight. As if stamping a seal on it, Eugene also appeared behind Walter.

“A guarantee of count rank or higher…….”

He approached with unhurried steps and finally drove a definitive stake into Garta’s heart.

“Then I shall guarantee it.”

Garta’s complexion now turned blue as if he might stop breathing. He jumped down from his seat in a panic and cried out desperately.

“Grand, Grand Duke! Didn’t you promise! No matter what problems arise, you would definitely stand behind me, you would protect this position!”

It was a cry that scraped his vocal cords as if blood might come out. Eugene gazed at such Garta for a long time. When the raw golden eyes met his, Garta gasped for breath.

He kept heaving his chest greatly as if the air he breathed had turned to lead. A sharp tension began to thicken.

Helena also barely accepted Eugene. The presence that filled the vast space and more was heavy.

And when a silent awakening faintly passed over Garta’s complexion.

“I did?”

Eugene asked back with just one word, and Garta completely collapsed.

Looking down at him who had sunk to both knees, Eugene delivered the ultimatum.

“I don’t remember.”

****

Eugene declared that he would rectify everything in the name of Evergale, along with sanctions against the illegally conducted succession of titles.

During all this, Garta could not rise from where he had collapsed. He seemed unable to even recognize Eugene’s voice falling like a blade as human speech.

And throughout all these declarations, Eugene’s lips were curved upward. At the same time, they were dry, rough, and merciless.

Looking at those arrogant lips, Helena came to realize the same as Garta.

That this was just him sparing her once. That as long as she remained here, Eugene would destroy and crush those around her.

So Helena too had to make a decision. If Gelda would protect Dairon to the end, she too had to protect such Gelda, the things she loved.

“There don’t seem to be any more problems to worry about.”

Eugene left Garta alone and approached Helena. Helena slowly lifted her head.

“I said before that I would only stay until this month. I’ve already passed the date I originally planned, so I should go back now. This will be the last time we see each other here.”