ESL Chapter 18

“Have you been well, Ken?”

She draped her robe over her arm and greeted him, then turned her gaze to Helen, who was sitting on the sofa staring blankly out the window. Normally, when a stranger appeared, one would instinctively turn to look, but the woman sitting on the sofa didn’t move even slightly. It was as if she couldn’t see or hear anything.

“What are you going to do? A normal life will be difficult for her like this.”

At Ken’s words, Lea let out a “Hmm~” and glanced at Helen for a moment before silently sitting on the sofa across from her. As she moved, Ken also followed her and stood beside the sofa, looking down at the two of them. Helen didn’t move even slightly despite Lea watching her. Her lifeless eyes were only wandering to distant places. However, when Lea’s mouth opened, Helen’s head whipped around toward her.

“The people who killed your father and made you into this state are living well and eating well, but you don’t seem to be.”

Ken was impressed by Lea’s skill in capturing Helen’s attention with just a single sentence. Even if he had been in Helen’s state, he was certain he would have reacted the same way—her words were extremely aggressive. Moreover, they were even somewhat irritating. With no thought of comforting the pitiful noble young lady, Lea leaned back comfortably on the sofa with her arms crossed and launched her second attack.

“If those people saw you in that state, even if they didn’t kill you, they wouldn’t have any regrets. You’re broken enough to satisfy them.”

At Lea’s words—soft yet devoid of emotion, or perhaps even mocking—Helen’s face gradually reddened and anger began to well up in her eyes.

“I wonder if Count Roman can even rest in peace. He lost both his title as count and his fortune, and his only daughter is so broken she can’t even take care of herself.”

The third time’s the charm, they say. After Lea spoke exactly three times, Helen, whose face had turned completely red, finally exploded.

“Do you think I wanted to become like this?!!! Why should I have to suffer like this!!! Every time I close my eyes, I can’t get the image of those people who locked me in my room so I couldn’t even say goodbye to my father out of my head!! Every time I close my eyes, the voices of the men muttering that my father was poisoned ring in my ears!!!! Every time I close my eyes, the demonic face of that bastard who grabbed my hair and violated me comes to mind and I’m on the verge of going insane!!!! So what am I supposed to do!!! I have no power for revenge and no way to do it, so what am I supposed to do!!!! Even this last remaining body of mine has been defiled…!!!”

It was a cry close to a scream. Ken felt pity and compassion at that heart-rending wail that made even the listener feel desolate. He hadn’t imagined that Count Roman had been poisoned. Only then did he feel two of his earlier questions being resolved.

Lea quietly watched Helen crying desperately with her face covered by both hands. It wasn’t that she didn’t pity Helen. However, this was something that had to be experienced in order to rise again. Doesn’t new flesh grow only after squeezing out the pus from a wound and applying medicine? Right now, she was squeezing out the pus from Helen’s body in the form of screams and tears.

After some time, when Helen’s crying had somewhat subsided, Lea quietly opened her mouth. Now it was time to apply the ointment.

“So are you going to give up because you have no power?”

“……”

“With Count Roman’s unjust death and your honor trampled by one man left behind?”

“……”

“Don’t you want to restore it all?”

At Lea’s question asking if she didn’t want to restore it all, Helen stiffened and slowly lowered her hands that had been covering her face. Her green eyes were still full of tears and her face was a mess from crying, but unlike before, her gaze was definitely fixed on Lea.

“……How…?”

Her lips slowly parted and a thin, trembling voice flowed out. To her, Lea spoke without any softening.

“The people who made the House of Roman like that also played a very nasty trick on people I cherish.”

At the words “nasty trick,” Helen’s eyes wavered. As if knowing the change in her heart, Lea’s words continued.

“So I’m planning to interfere with everything they’re trying to do, one by one. That’s why, as my first step, I want to help you take revenge on your father and reclaim the House of Roman.”

You’ll help me? Only then did Helen blankly examine the beautiful girl sitting across from her. She was an incredibly beautiful and attractive girl even though she wasn’t adorned at all. She didn’t seem to have been seen in high society, but strangely, she felt very familiar. She looked a bit younger than her, but the look in the captivating pair of red eyes that stared directly at her was deep and calm like a deep sea, giving the feeling of being pulled in when looking at them.

“……Really… can you really help me…?”

Still frail but at Helen’s question, which was a bit louder than before, Lea nodded.

“Yes. I don’t fight battles I can’t win, so I can make you win. However.”

When Lea paused, Helen looked at her with the expression of grasping at straws. Looking directly at her, Lea said coldly.

“You have to take the lead. If you’re not confident, don’t start. Right now, I don’t have enough time to invest in a losing battle.”

It was a clear line being drawn. I’ll help you with your revenge, but I won’t do it for you. And once you start, you have to fight until you reclaim the count’s house. If you’re going to give up halfway, don’t even start. That’s what the beautiful girl sitting in front of Helen was saying. Helen wasn’t stupid either, so she understood exactly what she meant. 

Helen slowly closed her eyes. The peaceful days before they came, her father who loved her… the precious days she spent as the daughter of a count came to mind one by one.

‘Why should I have to lose it? It was originally mine. I was born with it. Why?!’

Suddenly, Helen felt everything was unjust. And she thought she didn’t want to be victimized anymore. Then the space occupied by sadness and despair gradually began to fill with the desire and determination to reclaim what was hers.

“……Fine. I’ll do it… Give me anything to do.”

Lea had been watching her eyes change. And when the words she wanted came out of Helen’s mouth, she showed a satisfied smile.

“Then first, eat well and recover your strength.”

When Lea clapped once lightly, a maid quickly came out of the kitchen and took Helen away. Watching her head toward the dining room, Lea turned her gaze at Ken’s voice. Ken was sitting in the spot where Helen had just been sitting, looking at her.

“Are you really planning to reclaim the count’s house? It won’t be easy.”

“Nothing in this world is easy. And even if there were, easy things are no fun. As I told her earlier, I’m only going to help… Rather, I’m looking forward to your performance, Ken.”

As the corners of Lea’s eyes lifted slightly and she smiled sweetly, Ken stiffened and pulled back slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

At her puzzled question, he sighed and answered. The tips of his ears were tinged red.

“That smile just now. How should I put it—I definitely feel something wicked in it, but it strangely seems to bewitch people. I suddenly want to find a priest.”

“What nonsense? You must be bored from being home all the time. Don’t worry, you’ll be running around until your feet sweat from now on.”

As that smile from before deepened, Ken’s ears turned completely red. His feeling about her smile was sincere. A bewitching smile that makes you unable to refuse even while knowing she’s trying to make you do something difficult. Even he, who had been through thick and thin, was shaken by it.

‘How many men could refuse a request with that kind of smile?’

Ken suddenly became curious.

****

Before leaving the palace, Duke Kaien received a secret letter from MacLean. The secret letter, as always, was mixed among the letters on his office desk. At first glance it looked like an ordinary letter, but the recipient and sender were written in a code that only MacLean and he knew. Duke Kaien opened the envelope with a knife without hesitation and took out the letter. The palace was guarded by shadow escort knights, so the shadows they sent couldn’t be directly monitored. So they mainly used planted spies like maids and servants to monitor, but it was useless while he was in his office.

“……”

The duke’s face hardened as he read the letter. The letter contained the following:

[Someone who says they can obtain the tea leaves you’ve been looking for has appeared. However, there’s a problem and they say they can’t meet right now. They say they’ll come to see you with the tea leaves when the time comes.

P.S. But I heard that among the tea leaves you currently have, Duke, there’s one that has the exact same taste and aroma as the tea leaves you want, but only a different color. I recommend you try to find it.]

The duke read the letter once more, then tore it into two pieces. Then the torn letter gradually shrank as if burning in invisible fire and disappeared. It was a magic letter paper that the duke had commissioned from the Mage Tower. It was designed to disappear immediately if even slightly damaged. Though difficult to handle, it was optimal for maintaining security.

After disposing of the letter, the duke approached the window and looked at the distant sky with sunken eyes. Through the letter, MacLean was saying this:

‘That child came on their own. However, there’s something that needs to be resolved, so they can’t show themselves right now. Please wait, as they’ll appear when the time comes.’

It meant he had met that child. The duke couldn’t feel the fact that his daughter was alive as reality. It felt like he was dreaming. If she came to MacLean on her own, it also meant she had escaped from their hands.

‘My child whom I’ve never held even once since birth….’

The duke’s always-calm red eyes wavered with longing and sadness. After standing blankly for a moment, he returned to his office desk and sat down. He had endured for 17 years. For that long time, he hadn’t abandoned the thread-thin hope that he could meet his wife and daughter again. There was no reason why he, who had done that, couldn’t wait until his daughter revealed herself.

“……Huh…”

Duke Kaien, who had let out a heavy sigh and was about to pick up his pen, suddenly remembered the postscript. He had been so moved by the fact that his daughter was alive that he hadn’t paid attention, but MacLean never wrote meaningless postscripts. In fact, he tended to write facts more important than the main text in the postscript.

“The content is…..”

The duke’s red eyes suddenly blazed up as if fire had erupted as he recalled the content of the postscript. He stood up abruptly as if something urgent had occurred and left the office. The postscript MacLean had added was saying this:

[The young lady is already beside Your Grace the Duke. Though the color is different, the essence is the same]