ERTHMB Chapter 108

Pathetic Destiny

Gelda, holding a cake, urged the woman who was standing blankly.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and blow out the candles.”

Then Flam, who was standing beside her, blocked the wind in front of the candles with his large build and replied.

“Why are you being so impatient? She needs to make a wish first.”

Ian gently pushed Helena’s back forward. Helena suddenly lifted her head.

A wish, a wish. Was she supposed to pray to the god above?

It was a god who had never once granted her peace. There was no way he would grant her earnest wishes. He might even send her greater trials, saying such things were a luxury in her life.

So Helena decided to be selfish just this once. Since he wouldn’t grant it anyway, wanting something wasn’t a sin.

Helena looked at each of the people standing before her in turn, then closed her eyes. And she prayed.

‘I want to be happy. Please grant me this just once. Not moderately, but completely happy.’

She prayed so earnestly in front of a single birthday candle.

‘Please let me be perfectly happy with the people I love.’

***

The cake that Sakin had put all his skill into was truly at the level of a work of art. The mysterious lavender-colored cream, tinted with blueberry juice, looked like the skirt of a dress spread wide.

Helena felt it was a pity that she had to put it in her mouth. However, the moment she put the fluffy sponge cake in her mouth, her thoughts changed.

The cake was much more delicious than it looked. It boasted such deep flavor that it would be a waste to just look at it. This was already her third slice, but she wasn’t getting tired of it.

Helena diligently worked her fork at a quiet but steady pace. As she concentrated on chewing, Ian suddenly tapped the corner of his own mouth.

“Helen. You have some here.”

It seemed she had messily gotten cream on herself while being too absorbed in savoring the taste. Helena looked at him and roughly guessed the location to wipe it off.

“Is it gone now?”

“No, not yet.”

But perhaps she kept missing it, as Ian’s eyes curved into thin crescents.

It was a graceful curve that could capture the hearts of many women.

However, Helena swallowed nervously. No matter how wonderful the smile before her eyes was, to her, Ian only looked like a wicked rascal with some scheme in mind.

Helena quickly followed the danger signal and pulled her upper body back. Naturally, it was a step too late.

Ian gently grasped Helena’s chin.

“Wait…!”

It wasn’t particularly strong force. Nevertheless, Helena couldn’t escape from that infinitely light restraint.

Then his face came close, and she could see his mischievous tongue peeking out between his lips. Facing the unavoidable disaster, Helena squeezed her eyes shut.

Soon his soft tongue licked up the cream that had gotten on Helena’s lips. Ian didn’t stop there and naturally moved his tongue to the side.

As he tilted his head at an angle, their lips met. The cream he had just licked melted, mixing with their breath.

Helena could taste it. Her stomach tingled. Her reddened mind rang an alarm.

Something suddenly occurred to her. No matter how much they were alone, they were still outdoors. Helena opened her eyes again to check their surroundings.

But at that moment, Ian pushed forward even more forcefully.

“Focus only on me.”

Helena began to be conquered without being able to let out even a fragment of breath. Her chaotic, tangled breathing became even denser.

Her toes curled involuntarily from the boiling sensations. There was no time to look away. Every sensation she felt was him.

Helena received him as if swept away by waves. Her body gradually leaned backward. The hand she had placed on Ian’s chest to push him away was now only gripping his shirt as if trying to tear it off.

Ian removed Helena’s tensed hand and made it wrap around his neck, then embraced her waist supportively. Helena, who had been falling back under Ian’s force, was pressed close again with not even a sliver of space between them.

Helena was swept away by the rushing heat and sensation and pulled the arm wrapped around Ian’s nape closer.

Ian continued attacking from various angles for quite a while before finally separating their lips. By the time Helena’s head had become quite hazy from lack of breath, Helena blinked her blurry eyes and heaved her chest greatly.

Meanwhile, he looked no different than before. The only difference was that his breathing in and out had become a bit longer.

For a man who had just pounced on her like an angry beast, he had a terribly ascetic appearance. Helena was newly shocked.

Ian smiled with satisfaction, looking at Helena who had turned red as a beet.

“It’s cleanly wiped off now.”

Of course it would be. Helena became a little displeased with him showing off his leisure. She couldn’t let him remain the victor. Helena glared at him while still panting.

“Did you do this before too?”

“Which time before do you mean?”

“Did you coat your face with diamonds or something? When the storm came and I was sick with high fever.”

“…!”

Finally, a flustered expression spread across Ian’s face. He opened his mouth to make some excuse, but Helena didn’t allow it.

“Pervert. Shameless. Libertine.”

“…Of course I can’t deny all of that, but back then it was to take your aura—”

“Cunning. Sly. Deceitful.”

Helena cut him off again. Ian’s face became even more dejected. He had been a starving beast, then an ascetic priest, and now he had become a timid chestnut.

Helena inwardly delighted in watching that appearance and finally burst out laughing.

“Every time you kiss me, it always tastes different.”

It was another way of forgiving the kiss that had happened while she was unconscious. A smile returned to Ian’s face. With a much lighter expression, he took the bait.

“What kind of taste do you mean?”

“Well… when I was sick, it tasted like mint.”

“…Mint?”

“Yes. It was so cool that I didn’t want to let it go. Then in the cave, it was bitter because of the herbs. And this time…”

Helena lowered her gaze briefly. Just then, she could see Ian’s Adam’s apple bobbing greatly.

What was that small curve that made Helena feel even better? So with that good feeling intact, she spoke the taste that still lingered on her tongue.

“It’s sweet.”

****

The birthday continued to spread such sweetness throughout the afternoon. Helena’s room was piled high with all kinds of gift boxes.

Helena carefully organized them one by one. After placing the last box wrapped with crooked ribbon on the shelf, she looked out the window. The guild entrance was deserted.

Eugene hadn’t come.

[…See you tomorrow, Helena.]

He had said it like it was the last oath left in the world. He had acted like he would come even if he were to die tomorrow. He had made another promise he couldn’t keep.

‘The obvious thing is that I shouldn’t have expected anything from the beginning… I know that. Let’s forget, forget.’

Helena finally shook off Eugene’s voice and went outside again. She was carrying the scarf she had knitted all day until last night.

Helena stroked the red scarf one last time before putting it back in the box. It was a scarf she had knitted to untie knots.

‘Don’t turn away, and don’t run away.’

With such resolve, Helena hurriedly walked toward the area where Ian was. The person she was looking for was having a conversation with him at just the right time. The red hair was vivid.

There were still about ten steps left to reach their vicinity. Nevertheless, Helena realized the topic of conversation was herself and gradually slowed her pace. It was because of Ian’s expression as he frantically gestured with his eyes.

Ian hoped the young knight before him would understand his non-verbal gestures. But Odyssey lowered his head deeply at just the right timing. He was absorbed in his own melancholy and only kept letting out deep sighs.

“Lady Helena doesn’t seem to like me very much. She’s been pale since our first meeting, and even after that, she avoids me whenever we meet. I don’t even know why… It’s really frustrating.”

By the time Odyssey was expressing his troubles, Helena had already arrived nearby. Ian cleared his throat to cut off Odyssey’s words that were about to continue.

Then Odyssey innocently began worrying about Ian’s throat health. Since the early winter of the Eastern Empire was colder than the deep winter of his homeland, he rubbed his hands together, telling him to please be careful.

Watching the rising breath, Helena’s steps paused briefly.

‘The trading company he belongs to is also based on the Western Continent… And seeing how easily he understands Instantia’s rules and systems, is he someone from the Empire? If so… Rihalt?’

Helena tried to recall what she knew about the monarch of Rihalt. It wasn’t as difficult as she thought.

‘The previous Emperor of Rihalt was like that, but I heard this emperor is also formidably brutal. He mercilessly beheaded his brothers and ascended to the throne.’

When she was having her wedding ceremony, an enthronement ceremony was being held across the sea on the Western Continent.

He cut out the tongues and feet of political enemies, leaving only hands to applaud for him, so he was rumored to be an iron-blooded monarch – Ian Kamel Aksen Fevernheim.

However, it seemed his brutal nature didn’t align with governing the country. Rihalt was a nation showing quite steep growth in the Western Continent.

She remembered that the new Fevernheim had steadily resolved the chaos his predecessor had created and elevated Rihalt to the ranks of great empires.

Of course, what Helena knew was only up to seven years after the new emperor’s enthronement. After that, she was executed and couldn’t hear more news. But even if she had lived longer, she wouldn’t have known.

‘Ian Fevernheim died on the same day I was executed.’

She had heard the guards talking in the damp prison cell. That the Emperor of the Western Empire had failed to suppress the rebels and would soon be put on the execution block.

If that noble person was also miserably losing his head, what reason did she, crawling on the ground, have not to die? She had taken it as a strand of comfort.

A wedding ceremony, enthronement ceremony, and execution all held on the same day. What kind of pathetic destiny was this? As she was thinking, Helena suddenly realized that his name was within the name of the Rihalt Emperor.

‘…Kamel.’