ERTHMB Chapter 136

Enduring Love

Helena moistened her lips with her half-filled glass and only then looked ahead. Lady Jenia, whose eyes met hers, flinched.

“The lady prepared today’s luncheon, I heard. The taste wasn’t bad, but considering this is a charity event wishing for the end of famine, it would have been better to arrange something more modest. Ah, were you perhaps so absorbed in news of your cousin who shares my name that you had no time to attend to the basics? If so, well, I suppose I should be satisfied that your little head serves its role as decoration.”

Helena turned her head to the side and added:

“Isn’t that right, Mother? It would be a shame if I weren’t worthy of bearing the Evergale name, being broken by such trivial matters.”

Though her voice maintained its cheerfulness, the gaze fixed on Christine had considerably dimmed in intensity.

Helena set down her glass after tilting it once more, then slowly approached Christine. The crowd that had been standing around her seemed pressed back by an invisible force, retreating behind her.

In the quietly created space, Helena leaned forward slightly and whispered:

“With such clumsy resolve to kill, how do you intend to erase me?”

At this, Christine’s complexion, which had maintained its composure until now, began to turn pale.

Helena recalled Christine’s face she had glimpsed the moment the wyvern appeared in the sky. An unnaturally stiff face that seemed to be acting out fear. A moment when joy had spilled out, impossible to suppress despite her efforts to contain it.

Even after that, Christine had been strangely calm. While everyone else was crushed by terror and in chaos, she looked exactly like someone waiting for something.

Soon Helena was able to learn firsthand what she was waiting for.

The wyvern, responding to sound, suddenly changed course during its descent and charged straight at her. Moreover, when she retrieved her knife earlier, she noticed rope marks on the wyvern’s ankle.

‘And my wet dress carried a familiar scent.’

It was the same smell as the drug Gelda used to spray throughout the forest during every monster subjugation at the guild. A compound mixed to lure magical beasts for faster hunting.

Among the servants preparing the dining area, several of Christine’s people were mixed in, so it wouldn’t have been difficult to prepare in advance.

Whether the thrust had hit home properly, Christine trembled all over.

That too was likely a reaction from frustration at the plan’s failure rather than from knowing shame. Helena also felt her teeth chatter and had to clench her fists briefly to control her breathing.

As expected, Christine instead flew into a rage.

“If you bear the Evergale name, you should act accordingly! What is this nonsense you’re spouting to Lady Jenia, Helena!”

“Is it proper duty then to let her babble about me as some woman who only warms beds?”

“Your mouth is far too vulgar! You keep failing to abandon the habits from your days of begging on the streets, so no matter how much I want to cherish you, I simply cannot! Where on earth did you learn such manners!”

It was truly an answer and reaction that didn’t deviate one bit from calculation. Helena didn’t suppress the bitter laughter boiling in her throat and let it out.

“Really, who might I have learned from? I’m curious too, Madam.”

At the gaze clearly pointing to herself, Christine drew in air until her chest swelled greatly, then let it out with a shudder. She pressed Helena’s chest with the fan she was holding and drew closer.

“You must not defy me like this. Do you know what I hold in my hands?”

“I don’t know. But even if I did, well… would anything change? I’m no longer afraid of whatever Madam might be holding.”

Helena seemed about to swat the fan away but instead grabbed and pulled it. Christine’s angry face came even closer. Looking directly into those fierce eyes that even years couldn’t cover, Helena murmured:

“Whatever happens from now on, please don’t apologize to me. I will never accept it. I will absolutely never forgive you.”

“How dare someone like you—”

“Even so, if there’s still a corner of shame left in you, if you truly want to remain someone’s mother. Do it to Eugene. Apologize as a mother for standing by while his life was ruined like this.”

As if saying you only have the right to listen, Helena gave no pause and continued urgently:

“Then I’ll reconsider too. Whether to forgive you or not.”

Buuuu—

Just as the quiet declaration ended, the sound of a horn trumpet rang from afar. It was the sound announcing the end of the hunt.

Helena released Christine’s fan and left the tent. One of the posted escort knights hurriedly followed behind her.

Those left in the luncheon area also gradually came to their senses and headed toward the hunting ground entrance. The desolate clearing gradually became bustling with men beginning to return.

“Can you see my exploits? I’m not sure how today will turn out.”

“You dream big. To covet victory with Evergale here.”

“You all speak from full bellies. I couldn’t even break even.”

“What you’re carrying on your shoulder isn’t breaking even? I’m the one who came up completely empty-handed. Is northern winter always like this? My joints were so stiff I could barely run.”

Some passed through the entrance with multiple high-grade magical beasts hanging and smiling faces, while others barely dragged in just one low-grade monster.

Among them, several could be seen arriving empty-handed, shivering in the cold so markedly different from the central and southern regions, let alone with any prey.

“I’m back, dear.”

“You worked hard.”

The men presented their day’s achievements to their lovers, showing off their affection. Lady Jenia, who had been sulking while covering her torn dress bodice with a shawl, also smiled brightly upon receiving a large Cerberus from her fiancé.

The surroundings quickly became noisy with a mixture of subtle scolding and encouraging words promising next time. Helena stood maintaining a detached posture, showing no interest in any of it.

As time passed, the procession through the entrance gradually dwindled, and the sky began to turn red.

But Eugene’s figure was nowhere to be seen until now. Count Rocton, Lady Jenia’s fiancé, leaned against the Cerberus he had caught, acting leisurely.

Lady Jenia’s face, once the commotion had subsided, was filled with anger. Though she had initially been flustered by Helena’s changed attitude, Eugene’s continued absence seemed to have given her strength again.

She slipped close to Helena’s side and, covering her mouth with a fully opened fan, muttered:

“I once heard that in the North, there are those who abandon the laws that women and wives should rightfully observe and choose to become savages. I never thought I’d see it with my own eyes.”

Helena didn’t spare her a glance, but the thin voice continued undaunted.

“Now I understand why His Grace took a mistress. When the noble Grand Duchess, who should quietly flutter her fan, wildly brandishes a sword and causes such commotion, naturally he would grow tired and then some.”

Helena’s head finally turned to the side. With an expressionless face that hadn’t changed even the slightest muscle around her mouth, she spoke:

“The world is changing, my lady. If you persist in such narrow views, you might end up forever stagnant like the filth you spewed in the tent.”

“What…!”

At the openly exposed shame, Lady Jenia flushed red before barely clearing her throat and saying:

“Isn’t Madam the one displaying unnecessary stubbornness? Humans are animals too, and the more cornered they become, the more shamelessly they struggle to hide their wretchedness. It would be fortunate if His Grace caught even a deer for Madam.”

“I don’t need it.”

“—!”

“Do I look like someone who would be satisfied with a few magical beasts? The lady must have seen and realized it too. That my own hands are sufficient. So don’t test my mercy any further. My patience isn’t what it used to be lately.”

“…….”

Helena thought she could somewhat understand Eugene’s consistently cold attitude. Those who used to attack endlessly when treated gently finally shut their mouths.

This place wasn’t somewhere like Partren. It was a society where one had to step forward and seek warmth within ugliness hidden behind smiling faces.

Helena knew what form that warmth took, what it tasted like, what fragrance it carried, so she could now find it without confusion. Even in such a society, she could proudly acknowledge her existence.

“Finally, it’s somewhat quiet. Please continue to do so. Though I say all I have is Eugene’s invisible love, the position that love has granted me can wield more power than you might think.”

Lady Jenia didn’t try to continue the conversation. She just kept pursing her lips for no reason, then suddenly opened her eyes wide.

At the same time, Helena felt the atmosphere become unsettled. The air was stirring ominously. The noisy venue had also grown quiet.

This stage created out of nowhere seemed perfectly arranged for someone’s entrance.

“Helen.”

Finally, as if a curtain was lifted, Eugene’s voice flew from behind as always. His voice, already clearly audible, dug even deeper into her ears riding on the settled air.

Helena turned around like a tightly stretched thread returning to its original tension.

“—!”

The reason Lady Jenia’s pupils swelled as if about to spill out was right there. Eugene had indeed caught a deer.

However, the fact that it was large enough to require ten adult men to drag it was why everyone held their breath.

It was a rare species of magical beast Helena had never seen even in Dairon, so she couldn’t hide her surprise either. Count Rocton, who had been full of vigor just moments before, let out a long sigh.

“This year’s victory goes to Evergale again.”

“Didn’t we say we’d be satisfied with just participating?”

The Count’s friend patted his shoulder and looked around.

“Anyone who bet on Count Rocton? You can give it to me.”

The betting money wagered before the hunt started flew back and forth in the air. The men muttered while organizing their purses, having lost gold coins over nothing.

“Who on earth spread such rumors……”

“Exactly. It’s even worse than previous years.”

The hunting ground was a place where intuition worked, unlike ballrooms where all sorts of flowery words floated about vainly. A place where what you see is what you get, where the size of prey equals the size of affection.

Bringing prey of that size so conspicuously in such a place carried far too clear a meaning.

Grand Duke Evergale loves Helena Evergale. Still.