Chapter 9
Tap, tap, tap.
Somewhere, there was the sound of something knocking.
It was so sharp that Helena thought someone was repeatedly tapping her forehead.
“Leave me alone…”
She swung her fist into the air, but hit nothing. The knocking only grew louder.
Eventually, she had to force her eyes open.
“Ugh…”
As she opened them, sunlight streaming through the window painted the quiet room gold.
“…What?”
Looking around, Helena realized there was someone’s shadow cast against the closed window.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Hm…?”
She hurried to the mirror, wiped the sleep from her eyes, smoothed her messy hair with her fingers, then walked toward the window.
Outside her bedroom window was a tiny balcony—barely large enough for one or two people to stand on—and someone was sitting on its railing.
At this early hour, there was only one man who would come looking for her.
…Even if you came to apologize now, it’s too late, Benjamin Ishpern.
Helena took a quiet breath and opened the window.
The person on the balcony sprang to his feet.
“Helena…!”
“…What? Why is it you?”
“M-my apologies…! I never thought things would turn out like this…!”
The trembling figure on the balcony was the cause of this entire disaster—
The Empire’s Crown Prince, Rufus Arpend.
For a brief moment, Helena was overwhelmed by the urge to shove the damned crown prince right off the balcony.
But he was the crown prince.
Instead of pushing him, she jabbed a finger hard into his chest.
“Explain.”
“W-what do you mean explain? I was sincere…!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You seriously liked me? Fine, let’s say you did. Was that the best way? Confessing in front of your fiancée and Her Majesty the Empress? I wouldn’t do that even to my worst enemy!”
“T-that’s why I’m apologizing now! I came all the way here!”
“Oh wow. Out of all days, you choose the morning I’m being dragged to my wedding with a leash around my neck? How prompt. If you’d been any earlier, I’d have met you in the afterlife.”
“I was under surveillance too!”
Rufus shouted indignantly.
“I’m the crown prince! Do you know how hard it was sneaking out like a rat?”
Helena glared at him with obvious irritation.
Once, she had considered Rufus a precious friend.
Now she couldn’t stand looking at him.
“So? Why did you come?”
“Huh?”
“You said it was difficult sneaking out. Don’t tell me you came all this way just to offer a worthless apology.”
“Worthless…! Ah…”
Rufus swallowed back his irritation.
There wasn’t time for this.
“Of course I didn’t come just to apologize.”
“Then?”
“Helena… there’s something you don’t know.”
He swallowed nervously.
“About Count Benjamin Ishpern. In the capital, everyone thinks he’s a wealthy noble and unbelievably handsome, but the truth is—”
“That he’s all appearance, rotten inside, and actually a penniless pauper?”
“…Huh? H-how did you know…?”
Helena started pounding his chest with her fists.
“I KNOW! I know, idiot! After what happened between us, after Her Majesty got that angry—did you think she’d marry me off to some young, rich, tall, handsome man?”
“Ow, ow! S-stop…!”
Rufus finally caught her wrists and sighed heavily.
Then he spoke again.
“Run away with me.”
Helena stared blankly at him for a moment before freeing her hand and punching him in the stomach instead.
“Go away! Please! Stop ruining my life even more and disappear!”
“Gah! Ack! Helena! Listen to me! I’m not saying we should just run blindly…!”
Dodging her attacks, Rufus hurriedly explained.
“I inherited land in Tisserie from the former Grand Duke. It was left to me secretly—finding it will take people a long time. We hide there together, then return after everything settles down.”
“What nonsense…!”
It was nonsense.
Yet strangely tempting.
Wouldn’t Their Majesties and our parents be shocked…?
And if she startled the Empress—who clearly intended to use her as a pawn—or the count couple, who seemed delighted to get rid of her…
Well.
That sounded oddly satisfying.
And it’d smear the reputations of both the Ishpern family and the Byard ducal house…!
That part was especially appealing.
When Count Ishpern realized the dowry he thought he’d secured had vanished, he’d probably collapse screaming like a dried squid.
Imagining it felt incredibly cathartic.
Still—
She couldn’t ruin her life just for revenge.
Helena desperately clung to reason.
No. Running away for love—with Rufus? If you’re grabbing a rotten rope, at least choose one that isn’t completely decayed.
The rotten rope in front of her declared:
“Helena. Let’s throw away all the shackles and restraints of this world and search for freedom together!”
Freedom.
At that word, Helena froze.
She knew it was absurd.
But freedom.
The word possessed the power to justify everything.
Suddenly, it felt as though a great wind blew behind her.
As if she could close her eyes, leap once, and fly anywhere.
Then—
Rufus’s shrill scream burst her swelling fantasy.
“AAAH!”
With the cry, his body—perched precariously on the balcony railing—lurched violently.
And then—
He toppled backward.
* * *
This is the worst.
Benjamin Ishpern was in a foul mood.
People said that even when a wealthy family falls, its fortune lasts three generations.
That certainly didn’t apply to House Ishpern.
When Benjamin inherited the title, there was nothing left—no wealth worth mentioning.
He didn’t care whether the family collapsed.
But there were things he needed to do.
And for those things, he needed money.
So he’d squeezed resources from the estate as though drawing water from sand.
But even that had reached its limit.
Then this marriage proposal appeared.
He couldn’t afford to lose Helena’s dowry.
Even if the bride had been a female orc, he would have walked into the ceremony smiling.
Yet after arriving in the capital, the truth he learned was worse than an orc’s breath.
“Lady Winston? There’s no one in the capital who doesn’t know the story. She was caught with His Highness the Crown Prince by Lady Byard—his fiancée—and Her Majesty the Empress.”
Those were the words of the tailor’s assistant who rented him formalwear.
Of course, Benjamin wasn’t foolish enough to believe every rumor floating around the marketplace.
But the Helena Winston he witnessed with his own eyes…
She seemed exactly the sort of person deserving condemnation.
There was no denying her beauty.
Had he not known anything else, perhaps he too would have become one of those fools enchanted by her.
But Benjamin knew well that outward beauty was only skin deep.
More than anyone—
because he himself was proof of it.
His exterior might appear handsome and strong.
Inside, however, he had long since rotted, crumbling into dust.
He assumed Helena Winston was the same.
The Helena smiling radiantly at him was beautiful.
Yet remembering that same face supposedly seducing the crown prince and hurting his fiancée…
Her beauty no longer seemed beautiful.
Vile woman.
Her admirers were vile too.
As if forcing alcohol down his throat all night wasn’t enough, they’d intentionally kept him awake to wear him down.
But they underestimated him.
He had served with one of the most infamous mercenary groups in the South.
The amount of alcohol he’d consumed in his lifetime could fill a lake.
And he’d spent more days sleepless than sleeping.
Looking around at Helena’s admirers practically crawling on all fours, Benjamin said:
“Are you satisfied now? I’m going to prepare for the wedding.”
Exhausted more mentally than physically, he turned toward the stables—
Then he noticed something strange.
…What the hell is that guy doing now?
