Chapter 30
“Your Excellency, are you alright?”
“……”
Hogg let out a hearty laugh as he spoke.
“There’s no need to worry. This sort of thing happens all the time, doesn’t it?”
“……And that being a regular occurrence is exactly the problem. I think there’s still a monster nest somewhere nearby that we haven’t discovered yet.”
“We’ll find it soon enough.”
Benjamin did not respond to Hogg’s words. Instead, he rubbed his forehead roughly with one hand.
Isabella’s letter kept resurfacing in his mind.
[As always, my answer remains the same. We cannot meet again.]
He could not understand.
Why was Isabella refusing to see him?
[I want you to forget me and live your own life.
You need to find your own happiness.]
‘How could I possibly do that? Knowing that you endure misery day after day…….’
He was cursed. Corrupted. A man like him was never allowed to live for himself or seek happiness.
If that was the case, then at the very least, he wanted Isabella to have that chance. The only person in his entire life who had ever treated him with warmth.
But—
From within the smoke blanketing the clearing, a voice rang out once again.
‘Benjamin, you are a monster. Who could ever consider someone like you family?’
The voice belonged to the former Count Ishpern, Damon Ishpern.
Perhaps they had been right all along.
He had been born under an ill omen. Perhaps enduring misfortune was better than enduring him.
Maybe that was why even Isabella no longer wished to see him again.
It felt as though the ground beneath his feet had collapsed away.
Watching him silently, Hogg lowered his head and slowly stepped back.
By the time Benjamin returned to the castle, Helena was standing with the gardener in front of a massive fragrant olive tree.
“If the weather gets a little colder, the camellias will bloom, but at this season, this is the only tree where we can still see flowers.”
“Then please make sure this one at least is properly maintained.”
“Of course, my lady.”
Truthfully, Helena disliked fragrant olive trees. Their scent was too strong and always gave her headaches.
But that was only her personal issue. Most people loved the sweet fragrance drifting on the wind.
And besides, in this desolate jungle, it was the only tree left that still bore flowers and fragrance, so at the very least, it had to be kept looking presentable.
Letting out a soft sigh, Helena turned her head—and her eyes met Benjamin’s as he walked down the path between the gardens.
“……!”
Helena was startled.
‘What in the world did he roll through to end up looking like that?’
Benjamin looked absolutely wretched. His face was smeared with soot, and the cloak tucked under his arm reeked of smoke.
On top of that, patches of some unidentified black liquid, thick and sticky like tar, were splattered across his armor.
He looked exactly like this castle had when she first saw it.
‘Is ruining everything his hobby or something?’
The moment that thought crossed her mind, the anger she had momentarily forgotten amidst all the chaos came bubbling back to the surface.
‘What exactly is wrong with this man? Why does he make me this furious?’
When she thought about it, everything was Benjamin’s fault.
It was Benjamin who had turned the castle into something too shameful to show anyone.
And it was also because of Benjamin that she had been humiliated in front of the southern noblewomen, including the Duchess of Lucel, earlier that day.
[The castle is quite disorderly. What do you think will happen if guests arrive?]
She had never imagined that the question Benjamin had casually dropped a few days ago would result in this.
‘Did he seriously create this entire situation just to screw me over?’
Benjamin was the one who had wrecked the castle. Benjamin was the one who had concocted this ridiculous scheme.
Yet she was the one running herself ragged trying to clean up the aftermath.
Inside her chest, something more than mere frustration from overwork began to pile up—an intense disgust directed at Benjamin Ishpern himself.
The answer to why he had done this was painfully obvious.
‘He said he’d get revenge, so this must be his revenge.’
A few days ago, Helena had gone to the trade city of Goha with Aaron alone to meet Wesley.
She had never intended for Benjamin to worry, nor had she even imagined he was capable of it.
Who could have predicted that he would come charging all the way to Goha foaming at the mouth like a dog whose bone had been stolen?
And after storming into Goha like that, he had apparently been so offended that he declared he would get revenge.
But she never imagined this was what he meant by revenge.
Grinding her teeth, Helena spoke in a low voice.
“……Are you actually insane?”
Benjamin silently stared at her.
‘That look again.’
That gaze of his, as though he were looking at the most pathetic person in existence.
‘Maybe I should just gouge those eyes out.’
Helena stepped toward him and spoke again.
“So this is your revenge for your wife going out for one day to look for the former butler while trying to make this castle at least somewhat livable.”
Perhaps it was the scent of the fragrant olive tree.
Her head throbbed, she was exhausted, and at that moment she hated Benjamin—truly, deeply hated him.
“Thanks to you, the entire castle has been thrown into chaos. Benjamin Ishpern, how does it feel to humiliate the people trying so hard to rebuild this castle and this family?”
Benjamin quietly looked down at her, then furrowed his brow and closed his eyes.
“……What exactly are you talking about?”
“The guests!”
Though caught off guard, Benjamin immediately had a vague idea what she meant.
Ever since becoming Count, prominent figures of southern high society had occasionally sent him letters requesting social relations. Naturally, Benjamin had ignored every single one.
But a few days ago, while Helena was ranting about wanting to punch him, he had impulsively replied to one of those letters in a moment of irritation.
His response had consisted of only a single curt phrase: “As you wish.”
He had assumed any sane person would take the hint and ignore it.
Yet apparently some utterly insane people had actually shown up with that letter in hand and thoroughly aggravated Helena.
There was no excuse for it.
“……I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Oh, I’m sorry too, but this isn’t something that ends with a simple apology.”
Helena blocked his path and smiled coldly.
“This was the scene you wanted, wasn’t it? You wanted me to embarrass myself in front of the southern ladies, maybe even cry or run away in front of the Duchess.”
She scoffed.
“And then you probably hoped I’d think, ‘No matter how hard I try, it’s useless,’ and lock myself away in that annex crying my eyes out. Right?”
“……”
No.
He had been irritated by Helena for hating him and wanted to make her miserable in return.
But not to that extent.
Still, even he knew that saying so now would sound pitiful.
As Benjamin remained silent, Helena erased even the cold smile from her face and glared at him.
“Please, just stop already. Even if you don’t do this…….”
I’m going to leave you someday anyway.
She nearly said it aloud.
But she still could not reveal that yet.
‘Benjamin Ishpern, I’m not planning some petty revenge. I’m going to uncover your most fatal secret someday and drag you into ruin. Leaving you comes after that.’
Helena took a heated breath before speaking again, her mind now colder than ice.
“……I already hate you enough as it is.”
Compared to the truth she kept hidden inside, those words were almost gentle.
Yet once again, Benjamin Ishpern’s reaction exceeded all her expectations.
Benjamin lowered the hand covering his eyes.
The wounded look in his red eyes seemed so utterly empty that even Helena felt her heart drop at the sight.
