ERTHMB Chapter 54

Love of the Deceased Helena raised one eyebrow as she realized what it meant.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t take it?”

“I’ll be taking it faithfully from now on. If you’re even a day late, I’ll double the interest.”

“……Wicked swindler.”

“What did you just say?”

Helena shook her head side to side, claiming innocence. At the same time, when she tried to pull her caught wrist free, Ian playfully pulled her slightly toward him.

“You must have said something.”

“You must have heard wrong.”

“Now you even know how to tease others.”

“Now you’re not just anyone to me.”

The answer seemed to please him. Ian burst into clear laughter and let her go.

In his grasp that had left Helena’s wrist was a money pouch that had somehow been taken from her.

“Since you’ll have to come find me every time you repay from now on, we’ll be seeing each other’s faces often.”

Helena frantically searched her empty bosom. Soon a sigh of resignation escaped. She threw the wet towel at Ian’s abdomen, which was exposed because his shirt wasn’t buttoned.

Then she turned around and walked toward the door. As Helena placed her hand on the doorknob, a soft voice mixed with laughter saw her off.

“Sweet dreams.”

****

Helena Evergale had died.

Eugene only came to recognize this fact a month later. The death of Grand Duchess Evergale no longer appeared even in the corners of newspapers.

Eugene also thought he could cut it away so cleanly. He believed he had never harbored such feelings in the first place.

However, the days he believed would flow away like grains of sand clung stubbornly and became a living hell.

[I lived my whole life in darkness and saw just one ray of light. Of course I would grab it, wouldn’t I? Even if there was a cliff beneath it. Even if what I held onto was nothing but a rotten rope, an illusion.]

Once.

[My love that has stagnated and pooled gives off a rotten smell, Eugene. So I, who have been carrying it all this time, must smell terrible too. That’s why you abandoned me too.]

Twice.

[If this was our destined fate, I wouldn’t have started it in the first place.]

Three times.

The guillotine blade fell each time, and the woman who only knew how to throw herself away until the very end disappeared like that.

Along with the dark clouds that had hazily covered his mind.

Only then did Eugene see what was on his hands. It was dark red, sticky blood. Helena Evergale’s blood.

“Don’t go, Eugene!”

Thud!

The sharp cry of a woman cut through the scene like a falling blade.

“Gasp, huff……!”

Eugene inhaled and exhaled roughly as he bolted upright in bed.

Sweat that had grown even colder in the dawn air clung to the nape of his neck. He rubbed the back of his neck and then hastily checked his palms.

There was no trace of the sticky bloodstains, as if they had been washed away.

It was a dream.

A dream that seemed to repeat the same past over and over.

Though it was only a few hours, he never wanted to experience it again. It was horrible and utterly unpleasant.

‘What nonsense……’

He usually thought he was the type not to be affected by dreams. Ever since he had seen that strange hallucination some time ago, he occasionally experienced nights like this.

Vivid scenes that were indistinguishable from reality, and Helena within them. It made him feel quite dirty.

Eugene roughly kicked off the blankets and got up. He went to the shower, turned on the water without thought, and stood under it. He hoped the disturbing scenes would flow away with the pouring water.

However, Helena’s afterimage seemed to flow away but then stubbornly remained.

[You said you would love only me.]

In the dream, Helena died endlessly due to her own misunderstandings, and though what she said each time was different, the meaning was the same.

Resentment for why he had left her. Betrayal for not believing in her.

‘No, was it resignation?’

Whatever emotion was contained in her words and face, Eugene could not understand it.

‘You were the one who left me first. So why, why……’

No matter how much dreams were manifestations of the unconscious, Eugene wanted to control everything. Whether it was something he loved dearly or something he hated, it had to play within his grasp.

There must be a reason for the unconscious that appeared out of nowhere. He swept back his wet hair and retraced his recent actions.

Suddenly, one fact flashed through his mind. A fact he had considered perfectly concealed and hadn’t even kept at home.

‘Did she know about Natasha’s existence?’

From the moment he began to realize it, his skin started to tingle. The water he had poured to wash away his idle thoughts became daggers that stabbed at him instead.

What was mere water current hurt as if it were reproaching the casually spilled sins of the past.

He couldn’t tell exactly whether it was his skin or his heart that was heavily constricting.

‘I, to you, you……’

Water droplets on his eyelashes dripped to the floor. Eugene couldn’t close his open eyes or even blink. He remained motionless like that for a long while.

Helena’s retreating figure as she left the Evergale estate without looking back flickered before him.

Eugene didn’t want to regret until the very end. But Helena had made it so anyway.

‘I should have caught you. I shouldn’t have let you go like that then.’

His hand pressed against the wall turned bone-white with the force he applied. The sound of water didn’t stop all night. Water kept pooling at his feet.

Ironically, Eugene Evergale had become stagnant from the moment Helena Evergale began to move.

****

Though there was time before the next subjugation battle, Helena’s daily routine remained unchanged.

Like an addict who would show withdrawal symptoms if she skipped training even for a day, she headed to the training ground today as well without fail.

“Ugh……!”

Of course, her body that had been strained during the subjugation battle hadn’t recovered yet. The aftermath of swinging her sword while lost in a trance was quite significant and was lasting quite a while.

Therefore, even the small movement of bending and straightening her waist to choose a wooden sword made various parts of her body scream.

Helena stubbornly ignored this. She just gritted her teeth and endured the groans. Already breaking out in beads of sweat, she sat on a pile of stones and tightened her boot laces even more.

However, the laces wrapped around her index finger and pulled tight soon loosened again. Someone had grabbed Helena’s hand.

“……Mr. Flam.”

“I told you it’s fine to just call me Mister comfortably.”

Flam sat cross-legged in front of Helena with a plop. Dust rose up, and Helena leaned her upper body back slightly.

In the meantime, Flam had let go of Helena’s hand. Instead, he completely undid the boot laces that were half-tied.

When the somewhat surprised Helena tried to pull her foot back, she was no match for Flam’s strength. Eventually, Helena had her boots taken away as well.

To her who was watching with wary eyes, Flam showed a genial smile.

“Your muscles are all torn up right now and it’s no joke. Sometimes resting properly is what makes you improve.”

His rough, bumpy right hand grasped Helena’s ankle. He carefully unwound the bandages wrapped up to above her ankle bone and clicked his tongue.

“You are eating well, aren’t you? It’s amazing that you can walk around on these legs.”

Helena was about to answer that Mr. Flam’s hands were just big when she flinched and trembled. His fingertips had pressed on a slightly swollen area along with a dark bruise.

Sensing this, Flam lessened the force in his grip on her ankle. Helena’s face grew hot as if her weakness had been exposed. She struggled once more to pull her ankle away. Of course, it was useless.

Flam persistently turned her bony ankle this way and that, clicking his tongue softly.

“I expected it from when I first saw you, but you’re really stubborn. How could you think of training again in this condition?”

“It only looks bad, but the pain isn’t really- Ah!”

When Flam pressed firmly on the affected area, Helena let out a pained cry. Flam’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

“Sure, you’re perfectly fine.”

“……You have a rather mischievous side.”

He ignored her complaint and rummaged through the bundle he had carried on his shoulder. Soon new bandages and ointment fell in front of Helena.

“I understand what your specialty is well enough, but sometimes enduring isn’t always the answer.”

Flam gripped her foot with his palm against her sole so Helena couldn’t escape.

Maintaining appropriate pressure, he first spread ointment on the affected area. Then he pulled the bandage about arm’s width and bit it off.

Next, after fixing one end of the bandage in place, his hands moving up to her calf were unhesitating. Fast but delicate.

Helena bent her upper body slightly and quietly watched what he was doing.

‘The movements themselves are certainly unnatural……but there’s no hindrance.’

Today as well, his left hand was tightly wrapped under black leather gloves. Unlike his bare right hand, which moved much more naturally.

Helena couldn’t take her eyes off Flam’s left arm for a moment.

There was no hindrance to his movements, but it didn’t feel like the smooth movement of joints. It was more like thick gears meshing together one by one, closer to mechanical movements that occasionally clicked and stuttered.

“All done.”

Even so, the treated ankle was perfect.

Helena blinked and remained quietly still until Flam put her foot into her boot. The entire process took only one minute to complete.

‘Well…… with such dexterity, it’s no wonder he satisfies even the picky Gelda.’

Flam placed his hand on one bent knee, shifted his center of gravity, and stood up with a grunt.

Helena also rose following him.

“Thank you.”

As Flam put the bandages and ointment Helena handed back into his bundle, he said:

“Knowing how to take care of yourself is also a virtue. No one’s going to say anything if you rest a bit, so live while taking a breather sometimes.”

He brought his hand up as if to pat Helena’s head, then withdrew it. Since he always did this with Lily, his hand had moved out of habit, but it barely came back to stroke his own beard.

Soon, as if remembering something, Flam grinned.

“I happened to run out of materials, so…… if you’re grateful, why don’t you go to the central district with that woof-woof guy?”

“Woof-woof……?”

At that moment, Sakin suddenly appeared from behind and interjected.

“I’m ready, Mister! Oh, miss, you were here too!”

His blue hair swayed like a puppy’s tail.