ERTHMB Chapter 173

I Will Find You

“If the sea route was blocked, you should have opened an air route to complete the mission. All you had to do was transport it. Was my order really that difficult? Hm? Was it?”

“P-p-please spare me! If you just spare me, I’ll do whatever…!”

“Begging like that only works when you still have limbs left to clasp together.”

“Ahhhhh!”

“Making outrageous promises only works when you still have a mouth attached.”

The man screamed louder than before, convulsing before passing out. Beelzebuth yawned like a child who had lost interest in the game of crushing ants. He soon threw down his sword dismissively and buried himself in the sofa.

“I hate things that carelessly spout promises they can’t keep. You know that, right?”

Before his eyes, the screen of the connected communication device emitted a faint light.

In the bloody scene of the room, the only clean person—Natasha—bowed her head within the screen.

“I have no excuse.”

“It’s fine. You always have a plan. You’re the one I trust most, my person.”

The affectionate voice was sweet enough to carry even through the screen. Though she knew it didn’t mean what she wished it did, Natasha still helplessly flushed both cheeks.

It was truly an insane love, but even that was love to me.

Confusing admiration, adoration, and love was the easiest thing for me to do.

“I won’t disappoint you, Beelze.”

Beelzebuth’s lips stretched long like a satisfied cat.

“The finish line is right before us, Natasha. We need to decorate the finale.”

****

[Helena. With just one word from you, I’ll gladly become a barking dog. If you tell me to bark, I’ll bark; if you tell me to bite, I’ll bite. I’ll readily place the leash in your hands.]

[So please, don’t let go.]

[I beg you. Please don’t let that day come.]

Recalling Eugene’s words from the previous day, Helena gradually slowed the horse’s pace.

Contrary to his pitiful pleading, his bright yellow eyes that had pierced into her had been intensely fierce. Just ruminating on that moment gave her chills, making her rub her arms.

‘…It should be fine.’

He looked precarious, as if he might do something drastic at any moment. But so far, there had been no problems. Rather, what Helena worried about was Eugene himself.

That when she had no choice but to let go of the leash, he might take his own life.

‘Because that’s what I did.’

Unless one was being dragged along, no relationship maintained by only one person holding on could exist. The moment either one let go, the string would be severed.

That’s why Helena could feel it. That the string between her and Ian was still intact.

The fate bound with him was pulling at her. No matter how coldly he had left, he hadn’t been able to let her go. Helena had followed that tension, and now the Imperial Palace was right before her.

When she raised her head, she could see the top of the Imperial Palace beyond the dense coniferous forest. Helena paused for a moment to gaze at that spire before changing direction.

‘The preparations must go smoothly.’

Before visiting him, she had to check the merchant guild’s goods first. To enter the Imperial Palace, she needed to blend in with other merchant guilds.

Helena headed toward the cabin she had temporarily rented to store the crates she had brought. White footprints from the horse’s hooves marked the path with crunching sounds.

Winter in Rihalt had arrived unusually early. As if sensing her impatient heart wanting to reach Ian even a day sooner, snow fell without fail every single day.

Helena stared blankly at the long breath escaping her lips. Then her eyes widened.

‘Huh?’

Smoke was rising from her cabin’s chimney.

Eugene had remained at a city hotel with Flam, and Flam, who had come out with her, had parted ways midway to finish the remaining tasks. She hadn’t given any separate orders, so there was no reason for smoke to be rising.

Having thought that far, Helena’s heart suddenly began to race.

‘Ian.’

She had already made her presence known to him by blocking Beelzebuth’s funding route.

So what if he had come out looking for her first?

What if he was waiting for her there?

Helena urgently spurred her horse and arrived at the cabin. Hurriedly dismounting and throwing open the door, she spotted a man sitting in front of the lit fireplace.

Dull silver hair reflected in the flickering flames.

“…Ian?”

When she unconsciously called out his name, the man turned around.

Helena let out the breath that had risen in her chest. It wasn’t Ian.

“I apologize. It snowed all night and I had nowhere to go… so I stopped by for a moment.”

Standing up with a slightly startled expression, he soon bowed his head in apology.

“I’ll just warm myself and leave right away.”

Helena told him it was fine and to make himself comfortable, then shook the snow off her clothes at the entrance. While he poked at the fireplace with kindling, Helena approached him with half of the bread she had brought from her bag.

Rather than declining the bread, he accepted it and told her his story. As she had guessed from his attire, he was a wandering knight.

“If you’ve been a mercenary for so long, you must have traveled to many places.”

“That would be the case. I also never had a particular place I wanted to settle down.”

Helena took out Ian’s portrait from her bosom with a small hope.

“Then have you happened to see this man nearby? Or anywhere you’ve been?”

His reaction was peculiar. He made a somewhat uncomfortable expression, then shook his head with a reluctant air.

“I’ve been coming down slowly from the capital, but I haven’t seen him. I’m sorry.”

Helena thanked him anyway and went up to the second floor. Opening the bedroom window revealed the Imperial Palace in a more open landscape.

‘If I go there, I can meet you, right? You’re not at some other battlefield, are you?’

By the time she had finished her work, setting aside her longing, the sun was gradually setting. When she came down to the first floor, the man was dozing off in front of the diminished fire.

“I won’t be coming to this place anymore. Workers will empty the warehouse the day after tomorrow, so if you can’t find a place to stay, feel free to remain here.”

Leaving those words to him as he drowsily stood up, Helena mounted the path back again.

The white forest was as quiet as when she had arrived. However, Helena kept feeling a gaze fixed on her. Of course, when she turned around, no one was there.

With the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, Helena kicked the horse’s flank.

****

The horse Helena was riding quickly galloped away from the forest.

When even the fluttering tail was no longer visible, one tree that had been standing upright shook and dropped the accumulated snow.

A figure in a deeply pulled robe jumped down from above. He watched the path where Helena had disappeared for a bit longer, then turned and headed toward the cabin.

By the hearth, the knight was still sitting. The knight yawned and stretched, then noticed the newly appeared figure and stood up.

The knight approached him as he roughly shook off the snow on his robe.

“Are you really not going to see her till the end? You said you wouldn’t have any reason to come here anymore.”

“…….”

No answer came from inside the dark robe.

After a long silence, he briefly spoke and went up to the second floor.

“Next is Gezel Canyon. Prepare.”

Dazzling silver hair fell beneath the roughly pushed-back hood.

That night, Ian lay on the bed where Helena had stayed and thought.

Why had she grown so thin in that time, was she sleeping well? He resented Gelda and Flam a bit for not properly taking care of such things, then stopped when he realized he was the cause of it all.

‘What should I do, Helena? What’s the right answer?’

He had a premonition that Beelzebuth was preparing something big.

Ian didn’t know whether it was right to keep Helena by his side even if it meant dragging her into the blood-soaked battlefield, or whether it was correct to push her away by declaring their separation.

He was simply enduring with patience that gnawed at his brain, afraid that if he met Helena, he would stop everything and come to a halt.

‘Until everything that threatens me is dead, I cannot stand before you.’

Ian simply hoped for forgiveness.

She had to forgive and forget his cowardly self.

****

‘It’s not here. Where did I drop it?’

Though she searched through her coat pockets and bag thoroughly, the hawthorn brooch didn’t appear. Helena retraced her steps from this morning.

First, she secretly entered Eugene’s room to hear occasional voices. He was busy dealing with Evergale matters, communicating with Gordon through the communication device.

Helena also checked the sofa and table before quietly leaving. In the end, she had no choice but to search the forest and cabin.

Helena left the city and slowly retraced her steps through the forest path. The path had turned white again like new due to the snow that had fallen overnight.

Though hope gradually diminished, Helena stubbornly combed through the path and arrived at the cabin. In front of the door was a horse she hadn’t seen yesterday.

It was the same on the second floor bedroom, past the cold fireplace. There was a different silver-haired man from the one she’d seen yesterday. He spoke in a somewhat tired voice while facing away from her, fastening a sword to his belt.

“I said let’s meet in the capital, so why are you here already?”

Helena couldn’t believe the voice she heard.

“Ian?”

The man hesitated.

“Ian!”

Helena called out again with certainty. Then the man suddenly threw himself out the open window.

Helena gasped in alarm and gripped the window frame to look outside. Making her worry seem foolish, the man had landed on his horse and was vigorously kicking its flanks.

Helena tumbled down the stairs in a daze, as if she might fall, and recklessly chased after him.

But someone suddenly blocked her path. Along with a thick cigar scent came pressure that embraced her so tightly she couldn’t breathe.

“What’s wrong, Helen? Why are you suddenly like this?”

“Move, Eugene. I have to go. That person came!”

Though she struggled, Eugene didn’t release his hold, completely blocking her view.

“Calm down. You’re seeing things right now.”

“No, it was definitely him. Let go!”

“Snap out of it! That bastard is a traitor who abandoned you to save his own life. What right does he have to appear before you!”

“Eugene…!”

Helena sobbed. Eugene reached toward her cheek to wipe away her tears.

“I saw him on my way here. He was just a passing vagrant.”

Eugene’s hold loosened slightly as he embraced her with one arm. Helena dampened his chest with tears as if suppressing her overwhelming emotions, then pushed him away with all her strength.

“Helena!”

Breaking free from Eugene’s attempt to grab her again, she saw the horse he had ridden. Without hesitation, Helena mounted the horse and seized the reins.

Clear hoofprints from the one who had gone ahead were distinctly imprinted in the white snowy path. Helena began to chase after him.

Objects around her passed by quickly and only the sound of wind beat against her ears. She galloped without time to breathe.

At the end of her vision, another fluttering horse’s tail finally came into view. Nearby was a fork in the road.

Helena immediately turned the horse’s head to the side and rode up a steep slope. She lowered her body and glanced sideways. Through the trees that left only black afterimages, she could see the distance between them gradually closing.

She increased her speed. Even if she tripped on a rock at this rate, her body would be crushed, but she kept increasing it.

And so, when she finally overtook him.

Helena leaped from the slope in front of him, using a large rock as a foothold.

The man who had been galloping urgently pulled the reins to stop his horse. After the horse’s rough cry passed, beneath the man’s fine silver hair, violet eyes opened wide.

Ah. Finally.

Helena laughed, gasping for breath.

“I told you, didn’t I? This time, I would find you.”