ERTHMB Chapter 96

A Dream-like Love

 

“I shall enter, Your Grace.”

 

Walter stopped in front of the double doors. He waited for a response, but the inside was quiet. A small, familiar sigh escaped through Walter’s teeth.

 

He opened both doors simultaneously and stepped inside. Immediately, thick cigarette smoke wafted toward him.

 

“Cough, cough.”

 

As he reflexively covered his mouth, something caught his foot. Empty wine bottles were rolling around here and there. Through the cigarette smoke, the sharp smell of alcohol stung his nose.

 

Walter let out a deeper sigh and picked up the bottles and clothes scattered about, placing them on the table. The clothes were heavily stained with beast blood and bodily fluids. Today’s search must have been no easy task either.

 

The one responsible for all this chaos lay on the sofa like a corpse. Walter approached him.

 

“Did you get some sleep?”

 

“……”

 

“I heard you sent the doctor away as well. But you should have your wounds treated.”

 

“……”

 

Whether he didn’t want to answer or had no strength left to respond, Eugene lay motionless with his forearm covering his eyes.

 

He had spent several consecutive nights searching without sleep. In a way, this scene was only natural.

 

It was only after several more minutes of oppressive silence that clung to their skin that he finally moved his lips.

 

“……Any new information?”

 

Eugene asked while maintaining his position. It was a voice where the heavy, stagnant air was forcibly squeezing through his vocal cords. Walter bowed his head even though Eugene wasn’t looking at him.

 

“……My apologies.”

 

The lack of progress in the search operation wasn’t Walter’s fault. However, as the one delivering information, Walter felt guilty. The man before him was in such a wretched state that it warranted such feelings.

 

“I’ll head out as soon as the sun rises, so prepare everything. Make sure everyone keeps their mouths shut – no word gets out.”

 

Eugene, who had groggily sat up, naturally reached for a bottle of alcohol. Walter took the liberty of intercepting the whiskey bottle that had been within Eugene’s reach.

 

“Any more would be too much for your body, Your Grace.”

 

Instead of getting angry, Eugene raised his pale gaze. They were empty, hollow eyes that reflected nothing.

 

He was almost compulsively poisoning himself. Only this way could he endure this maddening anxiety. Only this way could he withstand the fear.

 

The great Grand Duke Evergale succumbing to fear. Eugene himself found it absurd, but it was the truth. He was now terribly afraid.

 

Afraid that he might never see you again.

 

‘Is this how you’re getting your revenge on me, Helena?’

 

If so, it would be the most successful revenge of your life. Congratulations. A mad, hollow laugh burst out for no reason. Eugene wordlessly withdrew his empty hand.

 

Walter placed the whiskey bottle far from him and approached the window. He drew back the thick wool curtains and opened the window.

 

Fresh air flowed into the hazy interior. Returning to Eugene, he poured water from a pitcher onto the ashtray that was still emitting smoke.

 

His head forcibly cleared, Eugene buried his forehead in his palms and muttered.

 

“Walter. I feel like I’ve been… dreaming these past few days.”

 

Walter filled a clean glass with water and placed it in front of him. Eugene grabbed it without looking at it.

 

“Dreams so vivid that I can’t even distinguish whether they’re dreams or reality… Such nightmares.”

 

Water dripped along the surface of the carelessly tilted glass. Despite his stationary posture, Eugene swayed as he drank the water and continued speaking with unclear pronunciation.

 

“Whether Helena loving me was a dream, or my loving her was a dream. Or maybe both were dreams. What was reality? Do you know?”

 

“……”

 

“I… don’t know.”

 

The glass fell carelessly onto the carpet floor. Just when it seemed Eugene would lie back down again, he staggered to his feet. He intended to polish his sword in preparation for the search he would undertake as soon as dawn broke.

 

It was a back that barely maintained its precarious balance. Walter watched it quietly. The back that had always seemed like an unshakeable wall looked fragile for the first time.

 

Of course, come morning, it would return to being an iron fortress. Even in the eyes of mere soldiers, he had to remain the Grand Duke Evergale.

 

Walter turned his head away as if it were rude to continue watching such a back. And he offered the best comfort he could provide.

 

“Madam will be fine.”

 

To Eugene, who was silently wiping away beast blood, Walter spoke of the Helena he knew.

 

“She is much… stronger than you think, Your Grace.”

 

****

 

Helena readjusted her grip on the sword. It kept slipping due to sweat, so she had to re-grip it every few seconds.

 

Behind her was a cave, in front of her was an enraged beast.

 

If she couldn’t stop it here and now, he would die.

 

That man.

 

There was no one to help. Only herself.

 

Kill or be killed. There were no other options.

 

‘Then there’s only one choice.’

 

Helena ignored the trembling in her legs and stepped forward.

 

“Don’t you dare touch him.”

 

Cerberus’s protruding eyes tracked every joint of her movement. Helena maintained the induced gaze while slowly moving sideways.

 

“No one will die here.”

 

Now she had at least avoided the angle where Cerberus could roll into the cave. Her breathing had become even more labored. Its body, arched as if ready to pounce at any moment, swelled even more.

 

Helena prayed that her final resolution would not become her last words.

 

“Not me, not that person. I will protect him.”

 

Graaah—!

 

Cerberus bared its teeth and began charging. Helena immediately took a counterattack stance.

 

A mouth gaped so wide that she could see its throat like a pit approached her. In that split second, only one thought filled her mind.

 

‘If only I can protect you……’

 

I feel like I could do anything.

 

Helena, who had put strength into her heels, swung her sword as she stood.

 

****

 

It felt like a large insect had crawled into her ear canal and was gnawing at her eardrum. Perhaps she was bleeding from every orifice in her body.

 

“Huff, gasp……“

 

Helena stood supported by her sword planted in the ground. She couldn’t kneel before her enemy in front of her fell.

 

But her vision was blurring. Not from tears or sweat, but because her consciousness was fading.

 

‘What should I do, I need to hold on longer. I can’t collapse here……’

 

She spat out some liquid—whether bile, dry saliva, or blood, she couldn’t tell—and looked back. If she fell, Cerberus’s target would shift to that place.

 

‘I can’t let that happen.’

 

Helena painfully pulled out her sword. Her swaying upper body wanted to collapse immediately, but she gritted her teeth and gripped the sword tightly.

 

“Come at me, you bastard.”

 

It might be called a magical beast, but it looked like nothing more than a dog. She had to hypnotize herself that it was just an insignificant mutt. In the midst of this, the raw words she spat out without elegant wrapping felt somewhat refreshing.

 

That gave her a strange courage. Helena prepared to deliver her final strike.

 

And at that moment.

 

Thud—.

 

The massive body collapsed. A thick cloud of dust rose, the bristling fur settled down, and the red eyes slowly closed. Finally.

 

‘I, I… did it.’

 

All strength drained from her legs. She wondered if there was any more strength left to drain, but now she was so exhausted that she couldn’t move even a finger. She was so dizzy.

 

The sound of her dropped sword hitting the ground reached her faintly. However, the vibration felt more clearly, and she realized shortly after that it was because her head had similarly fallen to the ground.

 

Helena closed her eyes while looking at the vertically tilted cave entrance.

 

‘I protected… you.’

 

****

 

It was three days later when Dion saw Eugene again.

 

He was sitting in the exact same spot at the tavern where they had first met in Dairon. Dion hesitated about whether to acknowledge him or not, then pulled out the chair next to him and sat down.

 

The thought that came to mind as soon as he saw him was somewhat peculiar.

 

‘Time is… truly relative.’

 

The time that had been merely three days for him seemed to have been four years for Eugene. He had become a completely different person.

 

The man who had already been so dark now seemed to have become darkness itself.

 

The shadows under his eyes, the sunken aura and wounds that surrounded his entire body, the breath he exhaled with each sip of alcohol. The only other color that could be found on him was the amber hue of whiskey.

 

“Um……”

 

Just as Dion had ordered a drink and was struggling to speak.

 

“Don’t you consider the possibility that he’s dead?”

 

Eugene suddenly asked. Since he wasn’t even looking sideways, Dion had thought he was lost in his own trance. He had just been ignoring him.

 

Moreover, Dion furrowed his brow, wondering what thoughts had led to such a question. Even without asking back, the subject was obvious.

 

“That sounds like you’re hoping it were so.”

 

“Then that’s probably what it is.”

 

“Hah, really. He’s not the type to die in a place like this.”

 

“Isn’t not knowing what lies even one step ahead what makes life human?”

 

No, why do you keep trying to kill our perfectly fine lord? Dion downed the on-the-rocks glass that had just arrived and set it down with a loud thunk.

 

“I misspoke. Not just ‘not in a place like this,’ but he’s not someone who would die anywhere. That person is. If he dies because he’s human, I could definitively say he’s not human.”

 

For the first time since Dion appeared, Eugene’s gaze lifted.

 

Eugene looked at Dion’s face with half-closed eyes. The expression that didn’t contain even a fragment of doubt grated on his nerves.

 

What the hell had that damn man given them, what had he promised them? What made them all have such blind faith?

 

Dion continued speaking while maintaining that same expression.

 

“Most importantly, he’s not someone who would let his own people die either. Especially if it’s a woman he likes… I could say there’s no safer place than by his side. He would protect her even at the cost of his own life.”

 

Dion’s hand moved toward Eugene’s back. It was a hand that was about to offer an awkward pat without thinking. However, blocked by Eugene’s deadly gaze, Dion withdrew his hand and instead refilled the empty glass.

 

“That’s what I meant when I said not to worry too much.”

 

Eugene turned his head away from him again. And as he brought the glass to his lips, he muttered.

 

“That’s the most unpleasant and pathetic comfort I’ve ever heard.”

 

“Wasn’t it comforting?”

 

“Not at all.”

 

“You’re too harsh. Why not?”

 

A half-melted ice cube entered his mouth. After crunching and swallowing it, Eugene answered.

 

“Because Helena is that kind of woman too.”

 

It was something he had been cutting up and devouring so well all along.

 

Blind love, selfless devotion, eyes that looked only at him.

 

When he was monopolizing it all, he didn’t even bother to assess its worth, but now that all of it was directed toward another man, it felt precious.

 

So precious that bile rose to his throat. So pathetic was he, who never knew how to cherish it. Eugene poured whiskey down his esophagus in rapid succession.