TTMLPTWW ~ Chapter 179

Masera looked at Cynthia with worry in his heart.

Sure enough, she was pouting like a duck.

Of course, he would do anything Cynthia wanted.

But apart from unconditionally following her wishes, his feelings were quite complicated.

‘What should I say to this…’

Didn’t he make the grave mistake of saying, “Nothing will change even if we have a child,” in the past?

He swallowed hard, seeing her serious expression that seemed to say, ‘Answer carefully.’

He didn’t just want pleasure, but he didn’t know how to express that he wasn’t ready to be a parent.

“I… I don’t know.”

Cynthia’s expression became quite serious at Masera’s answer.

‘Is this a run-away-from-pregnancy development?’

The one where the male lead misunderstands that the female lead doesn’t want the child, and the female lead runs away?

The one where he frantically searches for the female lead, belatedly finds out she’s pregnant, and rolls down the hill of regret, sobbing?

Sounds fun. I should definitely try it next time if I get the chance.

Unlike Masera’s worries, Cynthia, excited at the thought of enjoying a romance fantasy cliché, smiled and looked at him.

“But I agree with you. I don’t know either.”

She was curious, but not to the point of being passionate, like, ‘I’m curious about the color of the baby’s hair, so let’s make one right now!’

She also understood Masera’s heart, who had grown up experiencing a harsh world from a young age.

“…I don’t think I’m ready to be a parent yet either.”

Masera’s eyes widened slightly at Cynthia’s words. It was as if she had read his mind exactly.

Cynthia hugged Masera and gently patted him.

“So, let’s leave it to fate.”

Masera, embraced by Cynthia, who was much smaller than him, estimated the difference in size between her hand and his.

‘Will the day come when I hold an even smaller hand than this?’

Helene’s house.

“Still not doing it? Still?”

Helene looked at Cynthia, who was bothering her to the point of annoyance, presenting a business item that looked like it was going to fail to anyone who saw it.

Frankly, considering the sins she had committed in the past, it wouldn’t be easy to forgive her.

Still, she seemed to know why Cynthia was going this far.

“Cynthia. Are you worried that I’ll lose my will to live?”

Those who extended a warm hand to anyone, regardless of who they were, were mostly people who had experienced sadness and loneliness.

At Helene’s question, Cynthia dropped her smile and looked at her.

“So, that’s why you asked the imperial princesses? To be on my side at the social party.”

Cynthia made an awkward expression. She had asked them, ‘Helene is coming to the social party, so please react nicely!’

“But… the princesses did acknowledge your abilities.”

Helene smiled faintly and put down the documents she was holding.

“It’s so you.”

Helene recalled her last conversation with Makia.

She had offered him kind words instead of resentment.

Thanks to Cynthia, she had come to realize that kindness could break a person.

Kindness, rather than blame, intensified the deep sense of guilt, making it even more painful and agonizing.

To the point where she would rather be on the execution stand, paying for her sins.

Lady Valeria’s forgiveness was the same.

Even though she had been cleared of murder charges due to the gunshot wound Makia had left behind, the sins she had committed did not disappear.

The leniency given to her made her remember that fact over and over again.

“Lady Valeria, Carlos was actually killed because of me. I’m really sorry. I wanted to receive a fair punishment, but…”

At Helene’s confession, Valeria looked at her with a calm gaze.

“I have no intention of easing your guilt by hating you. Guilt is your share to bear, and I hope you decide for yourself what kind of price to pay.”

Then Valeria bit her lip and added.

“How can I resent you any more? His last words became a request not to hate my sister.”

The light shone by kind people made her face an even darker shadow.

Helene, who had been lost in reminiscence, staring into the air, looked at Cynthia again.

“You know, Cynthia.”

“Yeah.”

“Even if you commit a crime and are socially criticized, it will be forgotten over time. The perpetrator receives legal punishment, and that’s the end of it, and they live as if nothing happened. In the end, the wound is only for the victim. I was on the receiving end of such injustice.”

Helene was once again at a crossroads.

Whether to be remembered as a successful businesswoman who succeeded in making a comeback by taking advantage of people’s forgetfulness, or to live as a sinner who killed her own brother.

Cynthia quietly listened to her.

“Cynthia. I saw a different world, as you said. I shared my heart with someone, and I did what I liked. As a result, I was recognized for my own value…”

Helene, who closed her eyes and bit her lip as if she was choking up, smiled again.

“I realized that the world has both ugliness and beauty.”

“Helene. Take this opportunity to escape from prison and see another world.”

“I have to pay for my sins, no more, no less.”

Helene, who realized that no matter how harsh the world is to the good, it is ultimately goodness that gives her a chance to live again, said.

“It’s time for me to pay for my sins. Even if everyone shows me mercy and says they forgive me, I will never forgive myself for killing my brother.”

At her decision to not forget her mistakes and pay for all possible sins, Cynthia reached out to Helene with a lonely expression.

In fact, she had been greedy, projecting her previous life’s sister onto Helene. She wondered if she might become a real sister.

“Okay. I respect your decision, sister.”

Helene took Cynthia’s hand.

“In his last moment, Carlos apologized to me.”

Tears welled up in her shimmering eyes and flowed down her cheeks.

“…I’m really sorry for not being a good sister to you, Cynthia.”

She chose the path of an upright adult, taking responsibility for her actions.

Afterwards, Helene voluntarily underwent a reinvestigation, and her murder was recognized by the testimony of surviving members of the Organization, and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“Make sure to put in food regularly. And don’t ever do that frequency thing, or whatever it is. I don’t want to see you trying to break me out of prison. After you played that reunion frequency, my ex-husband came and got all clingy. It’s a fatal side effect.”

Helene, wearing a blue prison uniform, threw out a cheerful joke.

It couldn’t have been easy for her to give up the life she had barely found and the kind people around her and make the decision to go to prison.

Still, Helene is strong, so she’ll become the General of the prison and beat everyone up, right?

“…Should I make a frequency to get rid of clingy ex-husbands?”

I muttered to myself as I walked out of the correctional facility.

But I’m not confident that my business won’t fail? Helene is really going to break out of prison.

“For those who can’t have dreams and are frustrated, set up a vocational school in my place. I’ve finished all the preparations.”

I have to do this well, though.

Sitting in the dining room, I stared blankly at the plate.

“Is there not enough meat?”

Count Queensguard, who had cut a steak and handed it to me, asked.

As per his request, I was having dinner with him at the Queensguard Count’s mansion in the capital.

As soon as I accepted the dinner invitation, he asked more questions than a psychological test, asking what kind of food I liked, if I had any allergies, if I ate salty or bland, which was exhausting.

“No. I’m full. My blood sugar is at its maximum right now.”

I’m really full, so stop giving me food! I’ve eaten more than three servings!

“Ah, that blood sugar strike or whatever you said?”

The Count, who was sitting elegantly and savoring a green drink, added.

“You said you didn’t need a building before, so you must have accepted the dinner invitation because you wanted something else, right? You can say anything.”

When I shook my head, putting a cherry tomato in my mouth, his eyes widened slightly as he picked out the cherry tomatoes in the salad bowl one by one and put them on my plate.

“Well, I think I know what you’re curious about.”

The Count wiped his mouth with a napkin and got up from his seat.

“Let’s talk while touring the house. It’s a house built in a place your mother liked.”

Is this… the Count’s favorite memorial hall or something?

As I followed him out, I stopped abruptly in front of a portrait hanging on the wall.

It was because I had found a portrait of an incredibly handsome man in a knight’s uniform.

“???”

I blinked, looking back and forth between the portrait and the Count.

“This incredibly handsome man is you, Mister?”

Your beauty was as great as my husband’s? You could have been the first love of not only the princess but the entire kingdom?

“I’ve told you many times not to call me Mister.”

He, who had haughtily raised his chin, looked at the portrait of his younger self.