ERTHMB SS 2

The End of Unrequited Love

The second moon of Rihalt, the moment when Heidi Ravendeim Sor Fevernheim fell for Dion Cedrick was truly trivial.

“I’ll finish it by the end of this week and report to my lord. Is there anything else you command?”

“I never commanded you, and it wasn’t even your work to begin with, Dion.”

“My work is to assist Your Highness and my lord.”

Before Heidi, who looked up with bloodshot eyes, Dion set down a cup of warm hibiscus tea. Then he turned around and left the room, carrying an armful of documents piled like a mountain.

Heidi watched Dion’s back, occasionally tilting under the weight of the documents, until he completely disappeared. The fragrance of her favorite tea tickled her nose and heart.

After that, Heidi experienced countless such moments. Though each moment was trivial, the result was enormous.

Because Dion Cedrick’s consideration was always so meticulous and created massive ripples without him even realizing it.

“What’s there to like about him?”

Even to Ian’s sharp question that dropped out of nowhere one day, Heidi was honest.

“He’s cute when he whines.”

It had been five years since she sat by the window observing Dion as if watering a flower bed. And half a year since their relationship became neither this nor that, dragging out the confession she had blurted out.

Heidi couldn’t tell what she meant to him.

Dion was the same as usual, and Heidi also pretended to be composed as usual.

Heidi sat in her place like a portrait hung on the wall, watching the conversation between Ian and the knights who had just returned. No matter how much she tried to look away, her gaze kept fixing on that fresh sprout-like green hair.

Dion tucked his helmet under his arm and lamented to Ian, who was leisurely sitting in front of him with crossed legs.

“It was truly the worst dispatch. If it was going to be such a hot country, couldn’t you have given me some hint beforehand?”

“Then you wouldn’t have gone.”

“Of course not! Don’t you think it’s too harsh for a northerner?”

“Now you’re my person before you’re a northerner.”

“……Should I be happy about this?”

Instead of answering, Ian pressed down hard on Dion’s shoulder and stood up. Following him, the knights also left one by one. Dion looked around and discovered he was the only one left.

When Heidi, who had been sitting motionless, finally moved, Dion exaggeratedly complained for no reason.

“I must have wasted my life. How can there not be a single person to welcome me?”

“Now that you know, I hope you live the other half properly.”

“What does living properly mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

“……?”

To Dion, who stopped speaking in confusion, Heidi casually asked.

“Don’t you see what’s missing from your life?”

If he missed the mark this time too, it would be time to put an end to her long unrequited love. Without hesitation, Heidi shot her last arrow.

“It’s me.”

****

An outdoor garden on a languid afternoon with soft sunlight lingering in the air.

Sakin and Odyssey, enjoying a rare moment of leisure, soon felt bored and racked their brains for a fresh game.

After muttering with their foreheads pressed together for a while, they gathered people around them along with several neatly folded paper notes.

Helena and Elai gladly participated in the game, bringing along Dion and Samte, who were reluctant. Odyssey excitedly explained the rules of the game.

Elai, sitting in a row of chairs, glanced at Heidi, who was attending specially, and responded.

“So, we say the person that comes to mind after seeing the note Her Highness personally wrote, and then we guess the words that describe that person?”

“Exactly!”

As a demonstration, Sakin unfolded the first note and designated Elai as the person who came to mind. Answers like cunning person, split personality, personality disorder, fraud, demon flew from all directions.

Then, just before the time limit, Samte raised his hand for the first time.

“A person who knows the most delicious bread at the bakery.”

“Correct!”

Odyssey, who threw the most wrong answers, got a knock on the head, and Elai promised to gift Samte a one-week unlimited bakery pass as a prize.

After three or four more rounds, it was Helena’s turn. As soon as Helena picked a note from the box and unfolded it, she unhesitatingly said Ian’s name. Then Dion’s barrage of wrong answers followed.

“Correct! A person so insufferable they make your stomach churn!”

“Wrong!”

“Correct! A person who makes you feel you’d have to pay with your life if you accidentally hit them!”

“Wrong!”

“A person so maddeningly detestable you can’t bear to look at them with your eyes open!”

“You’re not using the game as an excuse to say what you want, are you?”

Dion raised his hand without breathing, as if releasing pent-up resentment.

“Correct! A person whose breath probably smells in the morning!”

Helena, who had been quietly watching Dion’s antics, gave Heidi a meaningful look. Heidi let out a soft sigh and flicked her finger.

“Corr…… Ahhh!”

Dion, who was about to continue his seventh wrong answer streak, was cut off mid-sentence and fell into a hole that opened beneath his feet.

However, even after the noise was removed, the correct answer didn’t come out, and eventually time ran out. Odyssey raised his hand with a disappointed face.

“So what was the answer, Your Highness?”

Instead of answering, Helena put down the note and stood up.

“I’m sorry, but I think I need to go now. Ian said I can’t be late for tonight’s dinner.”

The sky had ripened. Helena left the garden with a somewhat hurried air.

Elai approached the table and unfolded the note she had left. A giggle escaped from the corner of Elai’s mouth.

The rest of the knights also gathered around Elai with faces full of curiosity.

“What on earth was it?”

“Huff, huff, I should check it first!”

Dion, who had barely climbed out of the hole, pushed aside Sakin’s hand and snatched the note first. But as soon as he checked the content, he trembled as if he had burned his hand.

“Ahhh!”

Sakin, who caught the note that fell like an ember in mid-air, immediately read the content.

“Hmm…… The person with the prettiest smile?”

A few seconds later, Sakin, who understood the content, also grimaced and crumpled his hand. Samte, who was standing behind Sakin like a wall watching, also rarely frowned.

“Who the hell wrote this kind of……!”

Dion roughly rubbed his forearm as if he still had goosebumps. Then he met eyes with Heidi and trailed off.

Heidi stood up and approached, maintaining eye contact with Dion. Dion stepped back, but Heidi was faster.

She pulled the note from Sakin’s hand and shoved it into Dion’s grip.

“Tell me. What’s your answer?”

Dion stood in place for a long while even after Heidi’s lips brushed past his cheek.

****

The evening air after pushing away the sunset was quite chilly. Nevertheless, the garden behind the imperial palace was in full bloom with yellow marigolds, thanks to Helena’s year-round attention.

Today too, Helena visited the garden like the closing of her daily routine. Walking slowly along the manicured path, she shrank at the cold breeze that brushed her shoulders.

At that moment, as if waiting, a wide presence covered Helena’s back.

Helena turned to look at him while clutching Ian’s coat.

“It’s heavy.”

When she spoke with a slightly playful complaint, Ian took back the coat. While unhesitatingly putting her arms through the sleeves, she ignored Helena’s clinging gaze and spread his arms wide to embrace Helena from behind.

Helena groaned again.

“It’s heavier.”

“Bear with this one.”

Helena adjusted her body to fit perfectly in his arms and reluctantly answered.

“Fine.”

Ian rested his chin on top of Helena’s head and asked while inhaling the marigold fragrance.

“What were you thinking about? You could have saved some thoughts about me.”

Helena lightly stepped on his foot and said like a sigh.

“I was thinking about your sister, not you.”

“Heidi?”

Helena lifted her head to meet his eyes.

“Haven’t you noticed Heidi’s been quite heartbroken lately? Especially since the last tea party.”

Ian gave her a short kiss on the forehead and replied without being too serious.

“It’s a time when she needs some time. The moment you pull the knot is always the hardest.”

“You look like you have some plan in mind.”

Ian whispered his scheme while maintaining a smile that looked somewhat mischievous. After hearing his plan, Helena completely escaped from Ian’s arms and faced him.

“Heidi, not Dion? Will that be okay?”

“It’s fine. The first thing that follows in defining love is longing.”

Ian, who muttered as if it were his own story, changed his gaze in an instant.

“And…… though it’s not pleasant, he’s still my blood. Considering the price for making her suffer, it’s quite generous.”

Helena could read wickedness on the face of Emperor Rihalt for the first time in a long while.

****

At a time when the morning dew was still falling, Helena approached from behind Heidi.

“Is this your first solo dispatch?”

Since they were the only ones at the cemetery, Heidi greeted Helena, skipping formalities.

“I don’t know why brother allowed a solo dispatch for once, but yes.”

“Are you nervous?”

“I wish I were.”

“You’re leaving soon?”

“Yes. It’ll probably take about three months.”

Heidi’s gaze, turning her head forward again, rested on the white tombstone erected solemnly. Eden Levittus’s name carved at the top shone in the morning sunlight.

Helena bent down and placed the flowers she had brought in front of the tombstone. Very carefully, as if he hadn’t died but had just fallen into a deep sleep, lest she wake him.

Helena straightened up again and spoke while keeping her eyes fixed on the tombstone.

“Eden said this. People are like poetry, they change depending on how you read them. If you meet someone who reads with the same meaning, that’s fate.”

“……Is that so?”

“That’s what he said. In my case, it really was.”

Heidi didn’t answer further. Helena saw Heidi’s stallion Helios being led by an attendant and concluded the conversation.

“Have a safe trip.”

TL/N:

The rest of the SS might take a while, I’ll see where I can get them aside from Naver, as I don’t have a Naver account, I’ll ask some friends as well, of course if my dear readers have a way or can rip me the last 3 side stories then I’ll be really grateful, just dm me on discord SylverScythe. Thank you.