ERTHMB Chapter 165

The Peeling Truth

A soldier kneeling nearby sobbed.

“S-Sir Eden was protecting us at the front lines…!”

“Be quiet… Don’t make a fuss.”

Eden coughed and spoke in fragments.

Ian told him to spare himself, but Eden slowly shook his head. He was the only one smiling while everyone else’s eyes reddened.

“It wasn’t a life to regret. Who would have known that the connection I gained in my later years would become the most precious memory of my life?”

“How dare you. Who gave you permission? Don’t presume to decide your own end. You’re not ready to leave yet.”

“Then this will be my first and last act of disobedience.”

“Eden.”

Despite Ian’s choked reprimand, Eden slowly curved his lips.

“So please, my lord, don’t regret it either. You, my lord, you are…”

Eden’s words stuck like molten metal and ultimately remained incomplete, cut off.

His lifeless eyes slowly closed, and his swollen chest deflated and sank.

From the body drained of life came the unbearable stench that always accompanies death. Just like that day 13 years ago, it pierced his lungs painfully and agonizingly.

Boooom—

The smell of gunpowder intensified, and the sound of the enemy’s horn signaling retreat rang out. Ian gripped his sword again and stood.

“My lord?”

Odyssey, who had followed him, wiped away tears and called to Ian.

Without looking back, Ian tightened his grip on the sword blade.

“Block their retreat. Don’t let a single one live. The only ones leaving this place today will be us.”

Leaving the hesitant Odyssey behind, Ian ran.

He cut and slashed and cleaved without rest. With each swing of his sword, heavy masses fell one after another, rolling at his feet. Ian crossed the path carved in blood without hesitation.

His place, the path he had walked and must walk.

He thrust his sword into the neck of the last soldier desperately fleeing. Then Beelzebuth’s voice rang in his head.

[You won’t be able to protect anything.]

As he twisted and pulled out the sword, instead of the soldier’s death throes, Beelzebuth spoke.

[Everything by your side will die, little brother. Because of you.]

Strength naturally drained from his grip. The sword hilt fell to the ground.

Ian looked around in the slowly flowing time. The only one standing was himself. Everyone else lay sprawled, dyed in red masses.

‘Because of me, if only I hadn’t been here…’

Ian tilted his head back to look at the sky. Even that swirled entirely in red.

Ian wasn’t confident he wouldn’t regret it.

****

Helena paced anxiously back and forth in the same space.

The sky scattered with sunset was so beautiful, yet her heart churned with inexplicable anxiety.

Unable to stay still, she had rushed out of the villa two hours ago despite Dion’s attempts to stop her.

Helena was finally able to meet Ian at the edge of the forest.

“Why are you outside? It’s cold—you should have waited inside.”

Ian reached out and easily pulled Helena up onto the saddle.

Sitting sideways with her legs together, Helena unconsciously frowned.

Ian smelled of blood. There were scratches on his face and hands that she hadn’t seen before, but the smell was too strong to have come from those wounds alone.

Helena brought her hand to Ian’s face.

“I kept having a bad feeling…”

Because she raised her arm, her sleeve rolled up slightly. White bandages showed beneath the velvet fabric.

Ian yanked the sleeve, rolling it up completely.

“What happened to your arm?”

His grip was so strong that Helena’s brow furrowed deeply.

Of course, he usually paid particular attention to her safety. However, his current reaction was excessive for a mere injury.

He looked strangely unstable.

“I was sparring when an arrow suddenly flew in… Fortunately, I deflected its trajectory with my sword, so it only grazed my arm. It doesn’t affect my movement at all.”

In truth, it throbbed quite a bit. But Helena deliberately waved her arm pretending to be fine.

“What about you? Why are you so anxious—”

“Helena.”

Ian’s heavy tone cut through, demanding an explanation. It meant she should confess the circumstances of her injury immediately.

Helena had no choice but to speak first as he guided the horse toward the villa.

According to Dion and Samte, who had searched the area where the arrow came from, it seemed poachers’ arrows had missed their game.

As soon as they arrived at the villa and dismounted, Dion brought the arrow he’d pulled from a tree to Ian. It was an arrow with a distinctive purple feather decoration on its tail.

The moment he received the arrow, Ian’s expression changed. He pressed his lips tightly together and clenched his jaw like someone who had received a threatening warning.

Helena asked with a worried face.

“Ian, are you okay?”

“…I’m okay.”

Veins bulged on the back of Ian’s hand. The arrow shaft snapped.

Ian repeated.

“I’m okay.”

He threw away the arrow and pulled Helena into an embrace. His breath-filled answer, which seemed to sweep deeply through his chest, moistened Helena’s ear. For an expression of relief, there was still unresolved anxiety dwelling in it.

And the next day, Helena once again faced a cold empty space beside her. This time, the entire villa was empty.

Ian had disappeared, taking all the knights with him.

****

Late at night, Natasha stood in front of Eugene’s drawing room.

It had been quite a while since she’d set foot in his space. This might even be the first time he’d summoned her directly. It should have been welcome news, but considering Eugene’s recent attitude, it was suspicious.

Sure enough, Eugene threw a rather thick sack at Natasha as she cautiously entered. From the sack that fell onto the soft carpet came the sound of glass bottles clinking and rustling.

He tilted his head downward as if wanting Natasha to kneel on the floor.

“Open it.”

When Natasha didn’t move readily, Eugene strode forward. His long strides brought him right in front of Natasha in just a few leisurely steps.

“What, can’t you do it?”

Eugene suddenly stepped on the sack and crushed it. The contents were smashed, staining the reddish-brown cloth in patches.

“This way, you won’t need to open it to know.”

His words were accurate. Only then could Natasha finally smell a scent she recognized.

Eugene’s voice continued amid the pungent amber fragrance.

“It was hard to bear every moment I breathed. Having to admit that I had succumbed to drugs and abandoned Helena.”

Looking down coldly at Natasha, Eugene declared.

“Leave, Natasha.”

“Grand Duke… Eugene. I was wrong.”

Natasha dropped to her knees with a thud. Eugene scoffed at her pleading, clinging touch.

“It’s truly amazing the more I see. You even have the nerve to put my name in that mouth in this situation.”

He roughly shook off Natasha’s hand from his knee. A murderous gaze fell upon her as she tumbled.

“The reason I’m not tearing your limbs apart and throwing them to wild dogs is because I’d be more pathetic than you for falling for such a shallow trick. Unless I want to desperately shift my guilt and anger onto you, leave.”

Eugene exhaled a trembling breath of rage.

“Before I accidentally strangle you.”

Natasha struggled to push herself up from the floor. Though no part of Eugene was touching her, she already felt as if her throat was being strangled.

Soon Natasha’s body began to tremble slightly. Her draped hair covered her face so he couldn’t see her expression, but Eugene knew she was smiling.

“I really don’t understand… But Grand Duke. Eugene. At least once, well, maybe more than that? I think I loved you.”

Natasha looked up at Eugene as she spoke self-mockingly.

“…I loved you as if pushed to a cliff’s edge. Sincerely.”

Without averting her eyes from him as she stood, Natasha confessed. She bowed deeply, then turned and headed toward the door.

Walking slowly away, Natasha suddenly stopped with her hand on the doorknob.

Whether she had something more to say or had gained the shameless courage to plead again, as Eugene watched with angry eyes, Natasha turned back at an angle.

But contrary to Eugene’s expectations, she wasn’t crying. She, who always reddened her eyes first whenever anything happened, smiled at Eugene one last time.

“Oh, the Madam already knows.”

Then she left the room completely.

Eugene knew what her parting words meant.

‘Even knowing, she didn’t come to you.’

****

The second day after Ian disappeared without notice.

Helena received a pair of servants, a man and woman who had come as hired help. It was clearly Ian’s doing, so she went straight down to the village employment office to track him, but he wasn’t there.

Five days after Ian’s disappearance, Helena reorganized the Partren Guild while investigating Ian’s merchant company again.

She must have made a mistake by not searching the entire continent before, or perhaps she had been mistaken. Though she doubted and comforted herself, the result was the same.

Ian existed in no records. Helena found it hard to believe that Ian was truly the man she knew.

She was finally able to see him again on the tenth day.

On a pitch-black night with not a single lamp lit, Helena felt a tender hand stroking her cheek in her sleep.

When her consciousness slowly surfaced, her body reflexively stiffened, but she soon recognized the hand’s owner and relaxed.

When she opened her eyes, as expected, she saw him.

“…Ian?”

He smelled of blood far more strongly than ten days ago. Helena sat up and lit a match to the lantern on the nightstand. The surroundings brightened slightly. Helena covered her mouth.

“…!”

He was covered entirely in blood. However, his breathing was calm and regular. Helena instinctively realized that the blood staining Ian was not his own but someone else’s.

“What on earth have you been doing, Ian?”

“……”

He had no answer. Blocking his hand that tried to touch her cheek again, Helena shot him a resolute look.

“While establishing the Partren Guild, I looked into your merchant company too. They said there’s no company by that name, and no one with your name either.”

“……”

“That’s all I knew about you, and even that was a lie. Who is the man I knew? Was there any truth in anything you’ve told me?”

“……”

“Please, just say something!”