Episode 94
Finally, we entered the room and I could talk with Helena alone.
“You anticipated that the Empress would hold you responsible?” I asked.
Helena nodded in response to my question.
“Since it just so happened that I revealed my ability on the day the First Prince passed away.”
“So, did you purify the First Prince on purpose to provoke Her Majesty the Empress?”
Helena replied bitterly.
“I cannot say it wasn’t. But when I saw him, I felt an impulse to purify him, as intensely as when I first saw His Highness Rurik. It also felt like something I absolutely had to do.”
“You did well,” I said, relieved.
“Thanks to you, the First Prince found peace, and I heard he was able to say goodbye to his children before leaving this world. I don’t know how or to what extent the Empress will act, but this will surely be of help to Brother Rurik as well.”
“That’s right, Your Highness,” Helena agreed.
“We’ve also gathered some support on our side to make it easier for Her Majesty the Empress to act. You should hear news soon.”
Wow, our female lead is the best.
‘I really couldn’t feel more secure!’
I happily hugged Helena, though my protruding belly made a proper embrace difficult.
Helena let out a cheerful laugh.
Then, in a slightly brighter voice, she added,
“Actually, I was planning to return to Caesarea, but His Highness Rurik suggested I come to Edessa and stay by your side. After hearing him out, it seemed better, so I’ve shamelessly imposed myself.”
“Imposed? Helena,” I said, treasuring her rough hands.
“Thank you for coming. And for protecting my brother at the Imperial Castle all this time. I owe you a debt so great I can never repay it.”
Helena smiled gently.
“If Your Highness had not summoned me to the Imperial Castle, I might have committed the impiety of ignoring the future I saw and continuing my pilgrimage peacefully. Since Your Highness recognized me, it is I who should repay the debt.”
As the original author, it was an embarrassing story to hear.
‘Everyone is suffering in the world I created.’
And here I was, having become a side character with no real skills, just lounging around.
Then Helena, her green eyes sparkling, asked,
“When can I meet the baby?”
“There’s a little over two months left now.”
To be honest, I’m a bit scared, but since Ren is here, it should be okay, right?
Didn’t he firmly promise?
“There will be no pain of any kind.”
Now I trust Len much more than I did then, and because of that, I’m not exactly afraid of the day I meet the baby.
So, stroking my belly over my dress, I said,
“I want to meet the baby soon.”
“By the way, I hear you were the first to recognize the Saint?” Ernst asked me after Helena had left and he came to see me again.
“Huh? Uh, well, it just happened…”
There was no reason to hide it from him, so when I told him how she had detected my pregnancy, Ernst’s golden eyes widened.
“Wow, she realized it just by holding your hand? And she’s not even a doctor?”
“Yeah, I was surprised too.”
Ernst asked in a cautious tone,
“So, you called her to the Imperial Castle to prevent the accident that happened there?”
“Huh?”
My friend, beautiful as a porcelain doll, truly possessed a brilliant mind.
He was wondering why, after recognizing the Saint’s existence, I had summoned her to the Imperial Castle.
I deliberately acted nonchalant in my reply.
“Prevent what? I didn’t know such an accident would happen either. But it was true that my brother had a demon sword, so I called her just in case. We were just lucky, I guess.”
Fortunately, Ernst seemed satisfied with that explanation for now.
He looked me over with renewed eyes and said,
“Your belly seems even bigger since I last saw you. Right?”
“I guess so. I feel the baby move quite often too.”
When I answered proudly, Ernst asked,
“If it moves, will you let me feel it too?”
“Of course.”
At that, he smiled brightly, his eyes curving into crescent moons.
“Want to see the nursery? It’s almost ready.”
I followed Ernst to the nursery.
The room looked quite different from when I had left.
The room, which had only contained a lone bed, was now filled with a wardrobe, drawers, toys, and decorations.
The mobile of the moon and stars made in the Magic Tower was already hanging from the ceiling, spinning round and round.
In one corner was the organ that Ren had once promised to make.
“Wow.”
The organ automatically played a few tunes when a button was pressed.
I looked around curiously at everything and asked,
“You must have been busy with affairs at the Imperial Castle all this time; when did Ren find time to make this?”
Ernst let out a puff of air, laughing.
“Him? Make it? Some mage from the Magic Tower probably sacrificed themselves for it.”
He pointed to the mobile and asked,
“He says he’s going to start a business with that decoration too?”
“That’s right, Erni,” I answered proudly, looking around the nursery filled with items.
‘Now, all this room needs is the baby and the baby’s father.’
It seemed there were just over two months left to complete that final task.
News of my return to Edessa brought the craftsmen in charge of the nursery interior rushing over.
Among them, the craftsman Mesh, with whom I had agreed to start the rocking chair business, even greeted me with teary eyes.
“I, I thought you weren’t coming back…”
In a word, he thought I had taken the down payment and run.
“I just went to the Babenberg Ice Festival?”
I was speechless. He quickly nodded his head.
“Y-yes, I know. But if you hadn’t returned, I couldn’t have proceeded with the business I prepared at all…”
“Good grief…” I clicked my tongue and said.
“Didn’t the Master of the Magic Tower himself give you a copy of the signed contract? Since the prototype is already out, if I really didn’t return, you could have contacted the Magic Tower directly.”
“Eeek!” Mesh made a strange sound and inhaled sharply.
“B-but the Master of the Magic Tower is too scary…”
I burst out laughing.
“I can’t possibly tell you he’s a gentle man. But he wouldn’t turn an innocent person like you into a frog for no reason.”
The craftsman’s eyes went wide, and he gulped.
“If… if I had sins, would he turn me into a frog?”
“…Do you have sins?”
At that, Mesh began to confess all the sins he had committed.
He hid emergency funds on his workshop floor without his wife’s knowledge, or he snatched and ate the fruit she was saving for the children and then lied saying it was gone, things like that.
“Then make sure the Magic Tower Master doesn’t find out about those things.”
I said it as a joke, but Mesh nodded his head frantically.
“Yes! I’ll definitely do that!”
Helena seemed to find it problematic that I was, in a way, scamming an innocent commoner, but a smile played on her lips as if she found it amusing.
“Anyway, how many of the products to be sent to the Magic Tower have you made?”
“I made ten, just as you instructed!”
It had only been about a month since I told Mesh to start the work.
I smiled faintly and replied,
“Good. Then I’ll help you send them to the Magic Tower. Have them all brought to the hotel lobby.”
“Understood, Madam!”
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Castle.
Several days had passed since Hart’s funeral, but the Empress was still dressed in black.
Early in the morning, her face haggard as if she hadn’t slept a wink, she went to the audience chamber and said,
“I asked you to find the Saint. Or at least hold the monastery accountable. Have you forgotten?”
The Emperor clicked his tongue and looked back at the Empress.
“Do you not know how far it is from Caesarea to here? The fact that the Saint arrived in time to ease Hart’s final journey is something we should be grateful for!”
The Empress’s eyes, lined with blood vessels, widened.
“Is that Your Majesty’s true heart? Or is the pain of your dead son no longer important, just so you don’t upset the feelings of your remaining son?”
