Episode 73
“Can’t you stay and play for just one more day?”
I held onto Helena under the pretext of being bored.
In truth, I had a lot I wanted to discuss with her privately.
“I told His Highness the Prince I would just greet the monks and return quickly…”
As she hesitated, I pouted slightly and looked at Ren.
“Ren, can’t you go back and deliver a message to my brother for me?”
“…And I’m not being asked to stay?”
Len retorted sulkily, but he must have realized I genuinely wanted to talk with Helena.
“Please, Ren.”
I clasped my hands together in plea, and finding that insufficient, even kissed both his cheeks.
Only then did Ren withdraw, satisfied.
‘Although he did worry I might get a stomachache from the persimmons and searched frantically for digestives and stomach medicine.’
Regardless, he agreed to return to the imperial capital without another word, leaving Helena behind.
“I will come to fetch you tomorrow.”
Helena bowed her head respectfully to the bluntly speaking Len.
“Thank you, Lord Ren.”
After he disappeared, Helena lowered her voice and whispered quietly.
“I had my suspicions since the monastery, but as I thought, Lord Ren was Your Highness’s lover.”
Just then, Ernst suddenly appeared—who knows when he arrived from the palace—and scowled.
“Preposterous! Who are you to harbor such a grave misunderstanding?”
The look of utter bewilderment on Helena’s face then…
I quickly shooed Ernst out of the room and then pleaded with Helena.
“You absolutely must not tell my brother. Understood?”
But Helena tilted her head and asked in return.
“That person just now… could he be His Highness the Crown Prince of Flavi?”
“…How did you know that?”
To my knowledge, Helena had never encountered Ernst before.
Helena opened her mouth hesitantly with a troubled expression.
“Actually, His Highness Rurik has been hoping for the Flavi royal family as a marriage prospect for Your Highness. He often says, almost like a habit, that the Crown Prince is exceptionally handsome and takes devoted care of Your Highness here in Edessa…”
Startled, I covered Helena’s mouth.
“Don’t say that, Helena. Absolutely not. Anyway, you know nothing, Helena. Understood?”
Helena nodded, her eyes wide.
The innocent monk couldn’t even bring herself to ask which of the two was the baby’s father and merely blushed unnecessarily.
“Yes, Your Highness. Don’t worry.”
“Actually, on the night Your Highness collapsed at the monastery, I had a very long dream.”
Only after we were truly alone did Helena speak about the future she had seen.
It perfectly matched the dream she had in the novel I wrote.
“At first, I didn’t think it was the future. There were several points that differed greatly from reality. So I recklessly left the monastery.”
The difference, of course, was my existence.
Since I was alive and Rurik was maintaining his sanity, Helena couldn’t bring herself to consider that ominous dream as the future.
“But now you do consider it the future?”
When I asked for confirmation, she nodded.
“Seeing the imperial situation, I’m sure now. What I saw was the future. So, in my opinion…”
Helena chose her words carefully for a while but eventually spoke.
“…His Imperial Majesty will soon depose His Highness the Crown Prince and bestow the Crown Prince position upon His Highness Rurik.”
But in the end, that didn’t happen in the novel.
Or more precisely, Rurik didn’t allow it.
“Is that so? Will it happen peacefully?”
When I feigned ignorance and asked, Helena shook her head.
“No.”
She continued calmly.
“His Highness Rurik is deeply hurt by this recent event. It must feel as if his entire life has been negated.”
That’s why the novel’s Rurik answered the Emperor thus:
“If you offer me the throne, I will accept it.”
But the Emperor wouldn’t simply hand over the throne so easily, leaving only forcible seizure as the remaining option.
Thus, the Emperor learns the hard way that Rurik’s past victories were not solely due to the demon sword.
I continued pretending not to know.
“I suppose so… If he were to inherit the throne immediately, that might be different, but my brother has no reason to be satisfied with just the Crown Prince position and step back. That would actually be His Majesty’s wish. After all, His Majesty only has my brother left as a son now.”
Helena covered her face with her hands in anguish.
“If only Your Highness had seen my dream instead. I am an outsider to imperial culture and politics. I can’t read this rapidly unfolding situation like you can…”
No, Helena.
‘I’ve already taught you everything I know that’s best.’
I held my protagonist’s hand.
“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”
In truth, Helena would probably manage to figure things out even if she struggled on her own.
I have full faith in my female lead, but considering the variable at the monastery, I decided to help her.
It wasn’t difficult; I just needed to recite the contents of the already-written novel to her.
“Helena, by the way…”
Before Helena left, I decided to set one last device in place.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
So, looking straight into the innocently shining eyes of the female protagonist, I asked.
“It’s a bit embarrassing to say this about my own brother, but… My brother Rurik, isn’t he really wonderful?”
Helena blushed under her eyes shyly and gave no answer.
‘Could they have already progressed to being lovers?’
It had already been a month since Helena stayed at the imperial palace.
In the novel, it was right after Rurik’s rampage, so it took some time for them to become lovers, but now there were no major obstacles.
‘Of course, I did set up the wall of status difference between them.’
But since I’ve entered the novel as Rurik’s sister, there’s no reason to stand by and watch Helena suffer because of her lowly origins as a maid.
So I pretended to be hurt and asked again.
“No? Is he different from your ideal type?”
Helena, startled, waved her hands in denial.
“Different from my ideal type? It’s not that kind of problem… I-I mean, of course His Highness Rurik is wonderful, but…”
“But your heart doesn’t flutter? Is it because you find my brother intimidating?”
Helena vehemently denied it.
“N-No! My heart d-does flutter, but…!”
In the novel, Helena couldn’t take her eyes off Rurik from the very moment their fingertips touched.
‘Because I wrote it that way.’
It means she couldn’t stop loving him even while knowing he was a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any moment.
‘She should still be attracted to him now…’
She doesn’t know how to lie, so she could only fluster and babble.
I feigned disappointment and sighed.
“Sigh, I’m really worried because my brother acts so eccentric. I’d feel relieved if I could see him meet a good woman and marry soon.”
Then Helena answered with a visibly gloomy expression.
“He will… meet a good person. He has many scars, but… His Highness Rurik is an excellent person…”
“So you mean he’s an excellent person, but you dislike him as a man?”
When I asked directly, Helena jumped.
“Someone might misunderstand if they heard! How can you ask me such a thing… How could I dare… like or dislike him…”
What, so they aren’t lovers yet?
‘Brother, what have you been doing all this time?’
I was greatly disappointed, but I had no choice. I spoke as if confiding naturally.
“My god, Helena…”
Then I firmly grasped her hand.
“Be kind to my brother. He’s lonely.”
“M-Me?”
“You are his savior. You’re the only woman my brother can trust and rely on.”
Helena asked cautiously.
“Does… His Highness say that?”
“Of course. My brother spent half his life on the battlefield. He hasn’t had many conversations with women. If you say something pushing him away, he’ll take it at face value.”
I was so frustrated I wanted to beat my chest, but for the baby’s sake, I held back and said.
“Moreover, my brother believes he would be a detriment to someone as pure and clean as you.”
In reality, Rurik felt sorry for Helena until the very end of the novel for that same reason.
“That’s absurd! He had no will in that matter! And yet he always regrets it!”
Helena flared up belatedly.
I stroked the back of her hand with a serious expression.
“I’m on your side. I want you to stay by my brother’s side… and be happy.”
“Your Highness…”
Judging by how Helena shyly reddened at my words, it seems something good will happen to Rurik soon.
