ERTHMB Chapter 84

An Easy Man

 

Helena struggled and pushed against his thick forearms, even though she knew she couldn’t break free from his restraints on her own.

 

“I might have screamed… Gelda might have woken up. She could be worried and looking for me right now…”

 

“That’s why the person who worries about you most came out. Don’t worry.”

 

“…Sometimes I hate you.”

 

“That’s because my harsh words are the right words. And you know it too.”

 

Those perfectly accurate words sealed Helena’s lips shut. But she also had some accurate words she could say.

 

Helena continued to push against Ian’s arms without giving up as she spoke.

 

“Do you know why similar people should meet? Because when you have nothing lacking, you don’t make comparisons, and when you don’t make comparisons, there’s nothing to be anxious about.”

 

In front of him, there was no way to survive unless she was always honest. So she had to endure tearing up her own foundation herself.

 

“Whether I’m loving too desperately, whether I’m being too greedy for someone like me. I wouldn’t need to keep doubting. I wouldn’t have to get hurt and cry alone. So—”

 

“Am I still not giving you certainty?”

 

“…Can you be certain of your own feelings? Don’t you think it might just be pathetically weak sympathy? Is falling in love really that easy?”

 

“You make it easy.”

 

But he was always one step ahead of her. When she showed her bottom, he willingly exposed his even deeper depths.

 

“You make me an easy guy, enough to make me blame myself for being so pathetic. I’m too easy and you’re too difficult.”

 

“That doesn’t make any sense at all…”

 

“I’m being truly brave right now. I’m being incredibly brave right now.”

 

Helena became even more dissatisfied with her current position. She wanted to see his face but couldn’t. The warmth touching her back wasn’t enough.

 

What expression he had when he was being incredibly brave, what he looked like as a man who had become easy. She wanted to know. She wanted to treasure it preciously, like the marigold bouquet he had given her.

 

“At first… I liked being by your side because it wasn’t uncomfortable. It felt like breathing like a normal person, and I thought it would be okay to allow myself this much comfort. But now…”

 

“That level isn’t satisfying anymore?”

 

Helena curled up her cringing toes by bending her knees. Because he had let out a soft laugh above her head. That one clear sound did it to her.

 

It made blood flow absurdly through her heart, which she had thought was just a dried shell, and made only spring breezes blow gently in the space she shared with him, regardless of the outside temperature.

 

He really was a man who kept his word like an unwavering oath once spoken. He gave until it was truly suffocating. He gave himself to her enough that no matter how greedy she was, it wouldn’t be lacking.

 

So Helena inevitably became afraid.

 

“Now I want to become warmer. I want that warmth to stay by my side forever. I’m scared that I’ll end up wanting endlessly without knowing when to stop.”

 

In truth, from the moment she couldn’t coldly push him away in Futuo, this day was probably destined. She was someone who was endlessly thirsty even for the smallest affection.

 

She had no way to handle a man who declared he would thoroughly drench such a person. Perhaps she had wanted to enjoy reality while deliberately denying what she knew about him. Just a little more, just a little more, since it was still okay.

 

And this man had deliberately extended that little bit into eternity.

 

“You know what, Helen. I’m scared too. I’m scared every moment.”

 

Helena became aware of the appropriate weight falling on her shoulder. Ian buried his head there and murmured.

 

“Look, even now I’m imprisoning you like this because I’m afraid you’ll run away.”

 

Contrary to his words about imprisoning her, the strength left the arms that had been constricting Helena. Still, they remained firm enough to embrace her, so Helena could barely free just her left arm.

 

The arm that finally regained freedom quietly stroked the silver crown of his head that had spilled onto her shoulder. When it paused briefly in the middle, Ian rubbed his head against her hand as if urging her touch to continue.

 

He also rubbed his lips pecking-like against the area around her nape that had been scratched by the nightmare earlier.

 

“Stop hurting, Helena.”

 

“Then why are you making sounds of being in more pain?”

 

“Because it hurts.”

 

His muffled voice brushed against her earlobe.

 

Helena didn’t refuse him and continued moving her stroking hand. It was a fact that had already reached her uncontrollably.

 

This enormous man, the man who had stood like a giant pillar for her. All this time, he hadn’t been grasping her but clinging to her. He had been pleading with her not to leave.

 

But… just how long did he intend to keep up this role of a furry animal? Helena twisted her body slightly.

 

“That’s all fine, but you’re not hoping I’ll do this until dawn, are you?”

 

“…I wouldn’t refuse if you did.”

 

Ian pleaded in an even more muffled voice than before. Finally, Helena dug her nails into his scalp.

 

At the tickling scratching sensation, Ian let out a small moan. He reluctantly lifted his head while completely releasing his restraints.

 

Her body, warmed by their shared body heat, finally escaped from the bars made of human flesh. Helena twisted her upper body to face Ian. He immediately tried to pull his face back.

 

Running away so unfairly. Helena caught his cheeks in her hands, one in each palm.

 

“You’ve seen all my pathetic sides, but you can’t show me just one face?”

 

“…You’re not pathetic.”

 

The really pathetic one is me right now. Ian, who barely hid his face by pulling his chin in, shook his head slightly.

 

In truth, that damn face—there was nothing he couldn’t show her. Rather, it was the opposite. He didn’t have the courage to face Helena’s face. The position he had been maintaining all along had other intentions.

 

Not only was complete restraint possible, but most importantly, it was possible without having to face each other. That was the most important point.

 

If he saw her face, he wasn’t confident he could end it at just being an easy man.

 

Even now he said he was scared, but he didn’t want to be wary of being treated as a dangerous person again by moving too hastily.

 

The time when she had avoided him was an event that should never happen again in his life.

 

But Helena ultimately lifted his face up. It was a grip strength he could have shaken off easily, but of course he couldn’t refuse.

 

“You really are an easy man.”

 

Helena, who had finally made eye contact, smiled softly.

 

With her eyes still moist from tears that hadn’t completely dried, she folded her beautiful eye shape gently, flushed her cheeks rosy as if sunset light had been cut and pasted there, and smiled so innocently with such a face.

 

If he cut open his head and spread it out for her to see, she would run away immediately.

 

His throat rolled like a beast cub with prey in front of it after finishing a hunt. Ian squeezed his eyes shut and suppressed his impure desires.

 

And he lightly kissed her forehead. It was a feather-light kiss that barely managed to disguise purity.

 

Fortunately, no other emotions seemed to leak out, as Helena just pursed her lips shyly.

 

Of course, even that was enough of a trigger for him right now. Ian hurriedly separated her from him.

 

“Let’s go now. Everyone will be worried.”

 

The area between his thighs was itching. Holding her was always satisfying, but he couldn’t share things she didn’t need to feel.

 

It was his last pride, if it could be called pride. He could remain an easy man, but he couldn’t become a pathetic man.

 

While Ian was organizing his emotions, Helena got up from her spot. The movement of brushing her forehead with the back of her hand was bashful.

 

‘It was just barely a graze.’

 

But still, why was it so burning hot?

 

Even though it was just barely a graze, the warmth of her skin rose frighteningly as if a spark had been lit. It felt as if he was burning her completely. With this kind of heat, it seemed like it would be fine even if she turned to ash.

 

Helena, who had gotten up first, extended her hand to Ian and began.

 

“You know…”

 

Ian took her hand but got up on his own without putting weight on it. Following his gaze that rose with his now much higher eye level, Helena continued.

 

“Your warmth is destruction to me.”

 

Ian visibly stiffened and froze. Helena dropped her next words without pause.

 

“It fills me too completely and breaks me.”

 

At those words, Ian’s thick eyebrows that had been standing on end drooped downward. Helena joyfully watched them change angles multiple times in just a few seconds.

 

Ah. That face again. The face that keeps becoming an easy man.

 

Helena couldn’t help but love this moment right now. She loved the man who made such a face in front of her.

 

It really was a series of strange days. Yesterday she had been excited touring the clock tower with him after maintaining a cold war, then on the way back they met Eugene. As soon as that happened, her excited heart rolled on the ground.

 

When Eugene brought nightmares, she just wanted to die.

 

But now, like a lie, her mood had become clear.

 

….

 

Ian wiped away the tear traces remaining on Helena’s cleared cheeks and headed to the guild together. When they reached the middle area, they sensed a presence from a side path.

 

A large human silhouette standing alone in the secluded forest.

 

Flam was standing there holding a fox fur blanket.

 

“My hearing is sharp.”

 

He clumsily wrapped the blanket around Helena with fumbling hands, then quickly walked away.

 

However, Flam wasn’t the only one Ian and Helena met on their short journey home. Another tall silhouette was standing at the guild’s back gate.

 

“Your taste is quite unique. Did you enjoy your night walk?”

 

Gelda lifted her back from leaning against the doorframe and yawned loudly for show. She stretched her arms up high and stretched once, then casually threw out what sounded like an offhand suggestion and returned to her room.

 

“I’ve drawn hot water, so take a bath or something.”

 

Before going in, Helena looked up at the sky for a moment. The new moon was faintly visible, barely there. The morning sun was rising above the horizon, bringing dawn with it.

 

Whether it was because of the body heat Ian had planted in her all night, or because of the fox fur blanket Flam had covered her with, or because she was looking forward to the hot bath Gelda had prepared—her chest felt warm.

 

So overwhelmingly so.