ERTHMB Chapter 143

My Daughter

Helena didn’t know what to say and remained frozen with her lips parted.

Eugene had said the very last thing she had expected to hear from him.

Even during their marriage, he rarely told her she was pretty. As if the words would wear out his affection, he saved and saved them again.

Eugene also seemed somewhat surprised, as if the words had slipped out unexpectedly. He covered his mouth with his hand and leaned back slightly.

Watching him, Helena thought dispassionately: Perhaps that moment just now was their true feelings, only visible after tearing off masks until they bled.

Meanwhile, Eugene leaned forward again, as if determined to peel back another layer. Uncharacteristically, he seemed hesitant.

“Will you… dance with me?”

Helena stared down at the hand Eugene extended. Then she looked at him again.

The end with him was right before her eyes. With the conclusion so clearly in sight, she couldn’t do anything that would leave room for ambiguity.

Instead of answering, Helena quietly shook her head. Eugene withdrew his hand with a bitter smile.

“Right, of course.”

Helena thought it was truly fortunate that the after-party was a ball. Unlike conversations where one could only be hit unilaterally, dancing was impossible to do alone.

Unless one’s partner agreed, no matter how forcefully one tried to lead, a dance could not be completed.

Knowing this, Eugene wouldn’t press her further.

“Still, make sure you dance with Sir Agyle. Mother isn’t here, but someone should be holding your hand.”

Eugene nodded to Walter and went up to the second floor. There was a terrace on the second floor, so he was probably going to get some fresh air.

Helena followed his retreating figure with her eyes, then swept her gaze across the hall. Come to think of it, as Eugene had said, Christine was nowhere to be seen.

‘She was always so busy leading her people to peck at me whenever she got the chance. Given the attitude she showed throughout the competition, it didn’t seem like she’d just back down… Is she plotting something else?’

Walter guided her with a gentle touch as she wondered and pondered.

She suddenly looked up to find the music announcing the next dance about to begin. Helena moved to the space prepared for dancing, following Walter’s lead.

Walter carefully wrapped his arm around Helena’s waist and assumed position. Helena also lightly took his hand and prepared her steps.

She wasn’t particularly nervous. It was thanks to the etiquette ingrained under Christine’s relentless training. Her dancing skills were such that they moved automatically without needing to pay attention.

Soon a gentle minuet echoed through the hall. Walter gracefully took his first step and began.

“How have you been?”

Helena realized it had been quite a while since she’d seen Walter’s face this close. In the time since she’d last seen him, his intelligent brown eyes had deepened even more.

“Your face has become quite haggard, sir.”

“I must have missed you terribly, my lady.”

Walter answered with a soft smile and changed his step. As the music passed the variation point, he continued with a sentimental expression.

“On days when the weather was unsettled and we couldn’t go out, I would dance like this with my daughter on the floor. The sound of our tapping feet matching my hummed tune was so pleasant to hear.”

Helena’s small feet occasionally peeked out from beneath her dress hem. Walter couldn’t take his eyes off them for a moment.

“I know it’s presumptuous, but… it reminds me of those times. Today feels just like that day. I think I’ll remember today from time to time even after years have passed.”

After spinning once under his raised arm, Helena replied.

“Me too. I also feel that you’re like… like a father to me. Quite presumptuous, isn’t it?”

Walter, who had been dancing in a flowing rhythm, faltered for an instant. Helena felt his body stiffen, but she added again.

“If you had been my family, I don’t think I would have grown up to be such a worthless person.”

“Why do you say such painful things? You are the strongest person I know, my lady.”

Helena was about to respond with words of thanks when—

A loud noise burst from one corner of the hall.

Crash!

The music stopped abruptly, and everyone’s eyes turned there. Helena was no exception. In fact, Helena showed the most interest.

“Wine! Bring more wine here!”

The face of the person sitting on the floor shouting was all too familiar.

“…Father?”

Behind Viscount Owen, who was clutching a wine bottle and making a drunken scene, Matilda and Eric could also be seen. Matilda, who had been shoving food into her mouth indiscriminately until it was about to burst, spotted Helena and came rushing over frantically.

“My daughter! My proud and beloved daughter Helena!”

Helena’s complexion turned deathly pale. She instinctively stepped back but was firmly caught by Matilda’s hand.

“How I’ve searched for you, goodness, I’m so glad to meet you like this, truly glad!”

They seemed to have suffered some hardship, as the Owen family looked noticeably more haggard than when she’d last seen them. For the first time in her life, Helena could see the protruding bones in Matilda’s hand that gripped her.

Yet the strength was so fierce that her arm seemed about to be pulled out. However, Helena didn’t show it. Walter seemed unable to act rashly simply because these wretched people were Eugene’s wife’s family.

Since it was entirely her burden to bear, Helena stopped backing away and asked.

“How did you come here?”

“Your reaction… is quite disappointing. Aren’t you glad to see us?”

“After parting like that, did you think I would greet you with a smile?”

Helena coldly growled and shook off Matilda’s hand.

Then Matilda instantly changed her expression and snapped sharply.

“You abandoned the Grand Duke and us to cling to some other man, and now you plan to ignore us forever! Did you think I wouldn’t know you’re in league with that silver-haired man!”

Matilda’s resounding voice replaced the hall’s music. People who had gathered upon hearing the commotion began to surround the two.

“Silver hair… could it be that man from yesterday…?”

“Is that why she hasn’t been seen in society all this time? Was she playing around with that man?”

“I can’t believe the Grand Duchess’s conduct. Truly, she’s the only stain on Evergale. To still act so improperly, unable to break old habits.”

Behind opened fans, beyond hands covering mouths, or from lips openly revealed—one and all whispered as if they’d been waiting for this.

Helena Evergale had become prey more intriguing than any fine dish or music at the ball.

But Helena had no intention of being quietly devoured.

“How strange. I’m hearing the same words as when he brought in a mistress.”

Helena turned her eyes from Matilda and surveyed the crowd.

“Even then, you all wagged your tongues well, saying it was my fault as a wife for not properly receiving my husband’s love. Is it my fault now too? Not Eugene’s fault for not properly fulfilling his desirable duties as a husband, leaving me to drift apart?”

At this unfamiliar side of Helena, the crowd fell silent as if cold water had been poured on them. Despite the countless gazes pinned on her like targets, Helena spoke unflinchingly.

“Above all, it would only be an improper relationship if we weren’t strangers.”

The casually dropped sentence immediately caused a stir.

“What? So they really did divorce?”

“Which rumor is actually true?”

“But the Grand Duke clearly…”

As if she didn’t want to hear more, Helena cut off one noble’s words and spoke out.

“It’s ridiculously unpleasant. When even Eugene can’t give me meaning, why would I invite them? They’re people I don’t even know.”

At this clear dismissal, Matilda waved both arms wildly and wheezed.

“What are you saying, Helena! You would have died long before you could suck your fingers if we hadn’t raised you all this time. No matter how cold-hearted you are, if you can’t repay the debt, is this humiliation what you give?”

Helena turned her attention back to Matilda. Looking at her, Viscount Owen, and Eric making a spectacle behind them, she had been noticing something since a moment ago.

They used strangely excessive theatrical tones and exaggerated gestures. There was also a subtle unnaturalness, as if they were reciting memorized lines.

Helena carefully examined her family’s appearance. Despite their shabby state, their attire was more than adequate.

It was clothing far beyond what the Owen family’s financial situation, as she remembered it, could afford. Matilda wore an expensive dress that even Helena herself would hesitate to reach for, and Viscount Owen and Eric were the same.

It was also questionable how they had entered this place, which required an invitation.

Helena was about to ask the reason when her gaze was caught by something Matilda was holding. It was a familiar object.

A fancy fan densely decorated with pink feathers.

A fan that Christine often carried around.

Helena finally realized whose doing this was. Suppressing her desire to deny reality, she opened her trembling lips.

“You all, did you really take orders from the Dowager’s? Did she tell you to cause a scene like this and drag me down to the bottom? To drive the stake in that I’m a vulgar person in league with you?”

“…….”

As soon as Christine’s name came up, the Owen family clamped their mouths shut like chewing wax.

Of course, that was answer enough. Helena felt her vision blur. Her whole body trembled like an aspen tree.

“How, how could you…!”

Her eyeballs hurt as if they would pop out from the rush of blood. Her bones rang and her teeth chattered.

To listen to Christine of all people. To receive orders from that devil of a woman under the name of family.

“If you were human, you should have at least refused that money!”

Her thoughts couldn’t flow in one direction but tangled wildly. Helena vomited out the knotted mass as it rose in her throat.

“How could you. How could you, wearing human skin. If I’m really your child, if you knew at all what a child is! You shouldn’t have listened to the person who made me lose my baby! Even if you couldn’t be on my side, you shouldn’t have taken that woman’s side!”

But Viscount Owen instead burst into anger.

“You ungrateful thing! You’re being punished by heaven for trying to deny the bond God has given! If you’re not my daughter, whose daughter are you!”

The wine bottle swung in drunkenness threateningly cut before Helena’s eyes. The sound of wind came repeatedly, but Helena didn’t move from her spot.

At that moment, Walter stepped forward and roughly shoved Viscount Owen away.

“My daughter.”