ERTHMB Chapter 128

Audaciously Attached Forgiveness

Though Natasha continued to stroke her swollen belly, Eugene was resolute.

As if the week he had left her alone immediately after returning wasn’t out of consideration but merely because he had forgotten her existence entirely, he spoke in the tone of someone reporting an already decided matter.

Natasha responded in a pleading voice.

“You said you wanted an heir.”

“Between Helena and myself.”

“I thought my role wasn’t merely to warm Your Grace’s bed.”

“It’s good that you finally understand properly. Only desire what you can handle, Natasha.”

“……At first…….”

“What?”

“You weren’t like this at first.”

The last murmur was too quiet to reach Eugene’s ears. However, Eugene dismissed it as unimportant and ordered Gordon to help Natasha out.

Then Natasha opened her mouth again, louder this time.

“I know my place well, Your Grace. Now that the master has returned, the house-guarding dog must bow its head.”

From her expression and tone, Eugene realized that the master Natasha was referring to was not himself, but Helena.

This made him listen more to what Natasha had to say. Natasha removed her hands from her swollen belly and pulled out a small cloth pouch from her bosom.

“So please accept just this. With this, Madam’s body should be able to recover.”

“Recover?”

When Eugene untied the cloth knot, a plant with thin, long roots emerged. Natasha nodded and explained the herb’s effects.

“So that Your Grace can have the ‘true heir’ you desire. Please allow me to nurse Madam by her side until then.”

“You, why?”

“I have no other intentions. It’s just that I too have become a mother now, so as one who carries life, this is my request.”

“…….”

Eugene tossed the cloth pouch onto the table and commanded Gordon.

“Bring Doctor Hector.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“There’s no harm in checking.”

Now he doesn’t even try to hide his suspicion. Natasha inwardly scoffed but said nothing more, sitting quietly to wait. Before long, the estate’s physician returned with Gordon.

Eugene pointed to the table with his chin.

“Do you know what kind of herb this is?”

The physician carefully picked up and examined the herb, then immediately widened his eyes. He pushed up his glasses and brought the herb close to his face. Soon the physician, having finished his assessment, reported urgently.

“This is an herb with excellent efficacy for treating infertility. It appears to be a very rare variety that grows mainly in Rihalt, and only in localized regions at that.”

“You mean the Empire of Rihalt located on the western continent?”

“Yes. While the effects are good, since the regions where the herb can be obtained are limited, the refining techniques are also not accurately known. Therefore, there would be some difficulty in manufacturing medicine without going through trial and error. It’s also doubtful whether this amount would be sufficient until we can create medicine that properly brings out the herb’s efficacy—”

“Here’s the medicine.”

As if directly refuting the physician’s words, Natasha placed a small glass bottle on the table. Everyone in the office turned their gaze to her. Eugene asked, keeping his raised eyebrow fixed in place.

“I heard your hometown was the destroyed Kingdom of Hern. How do you possess an herb that’s rare even in Rihalt?”

Even to this sharp question, Natasha answered calmly.

“When people are cornered, there’s nowhere they can’t go, Your Grace. You should know since our first meeting was in Berat Forest. Even then, I was hiding and living while wandering deep in the mountains. That’s when I discovered it.”

“How did you know what you discovered was medicinal herbs? And how did you manufacture the medicine?”

“My mother was an apothecary, so I had the eye to distinguish medicinal herbs from the beginning. I learned the manufacturing method during the period I was in hiding. There were many of these herbs on that cliff, so even after numerous trials and errors, plenty remained.”

Eugene stared at Natasha for a long moment. And just as he was about to speak again, a loud knock interrupted.

When Eugene nodded, Gordon opened the door and checked who had come. The head butler, who usually moved about the estate with a dignified attitude, stood there with quite an urgent face. He immediately conveyed the news he had brought to Gordon.

Gordon nodded a couple of times, then became somewhat anxious like the head butler. He returned to Eugene and reported what he had heard.

“Your Grace. Madam has arrived.”

****

Helena stopped for a moment right in front of her bedroom. The space that had once seemed like the world’s largest prison looked strangely small. A room quiet and filled only with fragrance, without rough earth smells or noisy commotion.

It was exactly as she remembered. Nothing had changed from when she left this place. As if it were a space rooted in this grand mansion, it was quiet and still.

Even the dress I had carelessly left behind was still there on the bed. Madam Tara would surely have tidied it up neatly.

‘Was it Eugene’s order?’

In the spotlessly clean space, the only disheveled form felt awkward.

Helena swallowed the awkwardness that tickled her skin and slowly crossed the threshold into the room. Rather than feeling like she had returned home, she first felt like an intruder who had stepped into an unfamiliar space.

When Helena picked up the dress, she heard movement behind her. Without turning around, Helena murmured.

“This was the dress you gave me as a wedding anniversary present.”

“……You remember?”

“I couldn’t forget. Christine and the relatives mocked me so much.”

The miserable scene from that time flashed through her mind. A faint sigh escaped involuntarily. Helena turned around to face Eugene.

“Do you even properly know what I like?”

Eugene unconsciously unclenched his grinding teeth and muttered.

“I really wanted to give you a present.”

“It would have been a present thought of from your perspective, as always.”

“Then why did you accept it so happily?”

“Because the person giving it was precious to me.”

Eugene swallowed back the breath he was about to exhale. He grabbed onto the matter with a somewhat distorted tone.

“Not anymore? Really, really truly, Helen?”

“You would know that better. When you left me with your mother, did you really think I’d leisurely come back from enjoying tea parties? Did you really think they would treat me as the mistress of Evergale? Really, truly?”

The air in the room grew more barbed. Though Eugene’s lips moved, Helena’s words came faster.

“You’re the one who knew but pretended not to, and I can’t do that anymore. I’m going to think only of myself now too. I’m going to live like you have all this time.”

“You…… just want to believe that I was selfish enough to destroy you.”

“Don’t you think so? Even now you brought me here because you only think of yourself. You made me return to this damned place.”

“Only say what you can take responsibility for. If I only thought of myself like you said, I wouldn’t have waited like this.”

“Waited? For what? For a beast caught in a trap with its leg cut off to limp back? Well, you always did like the smell of blood.”

The words that gouged at wounds, so unlike her, were painful. Finally Eugene burst out angrily.

“Damn it, Helena! Don’t you know what I’m saying right now? I’m asking for forgiveness!”

“Should I know that?”

However, unlike him who was emotionally disheveled, Helena was composed. She shoved the dress into his arms as if pushing against Eugene’s chest. Though it wasn’t much force, Eugene stumbled backward.

“I don’t need to know, but I understand even less, Eugene. What kind of forgiveness is so stiff. What kind of forgiveness is so arrogant. Why is it so light, and how dare you attach the word forgiveness to something that can’t even abandon a shred of pride.”

“……!”

A person bound by pride as stiff, arrogant, and lofty as the power he wielded. That was ultimately who Eugene was.

Through this incident in Partren, Helena realized once again. Though he might have wavered momentarily and clung to her, his essence had not changed. She shouldn’t have thought it could be changed.

Helena shook off Eugene’s hand and passed by him.

“I’ll sleep in another room. This room belongs to the Duchess of Evergale, not to me.”

Light footsteps gradually grew distant. Eugene was left alone in the room of the Grand Duchess of Evergale. In the quiet room, he heard his own breathing.

“……Ha.”

Eugene rubbed his face as if brushing away his complicated feelings. His body, heavy with layers of accumulated emotions, sank down onto Helena’s bed.

The dress she had entrusted to him was cumbersome in his grip. The dress, chaotically adorned with flashy ribbons and jeweled decorations, was as heavy as his own body.

Eugene suddenly recalled the moment he bought the dress.

It was a day when he had gone to the capital on business. Though it was an incredibly busy schedule, he made time to call a designer. It was a designer whose reservations were completely booked despite the ceiling-high, vicious prices.

The clothing atelier bearing that person’s name was said to be visited by renowned nobles only after waiting several weeks.

It was perfect as a wedding anniversary gift for Helena. She needed to recognize and become sufficiently accustomed to her own worth.

The designer who came to the hotel where Eugene was staying displayed the prepared garments without reservation.

They were all equally splendid and lavish. Designs that could rarely be seen in Helena’s wardrobe stood out.

Eugene stroked his chin, pondering. It was his first time being troubled by such a frivolous choice, making it all the more confusing.

“It seems too excessive. My wife seems to prefer cleaner, simpler colors. Don’t you have anything like that?”

At his dubious reaction, the designer good-naturedly grabbed the hem of the dress and lifted it up.

“Your Grace, this style is all the rage these days. Look at the women walking around. They’re all wearing voluminous pleats with puffy, layered frills. Moreover, this is something I specially crafted because Your Grace called for me. It’s a dress that only the mistress of Evergale can have, the only one of its kind in the entire empire. Madam will surely love it.”

“……Is that so.”

“Of course, Your Grace. To think so much of Madam like this, the Duchess of Evergale must be the happiest woman in the empire.”

Though he knew it was a tongue slathered with honey in earnest, it wasn’t unpleasant to hear. Still, Eugene turned his head to look for something better while thinking of Helena’s usual style.

And at that moment.

Beep—

From somewhere, a ringing sound like a boiling kettle echoed.