TISND Chapter 114

Chapter 114

Helena knew the Count well.

She was already aware that he had suffered quite a headache due to her sister Laviel’s fight for the heirship.

Laviel didn’t trust Salizar, who was set to inherit all the wealth and the title.

But in the end, all she got was a small dowry and a forced marriage.

To avoid arousing the Count’s suspicion, it was best not to show any desire for the heirship.

Besides, Helena wasn’t lying.

She truly had no need for the heirship or wealth.

After all, she would be dead in a few months.

And this was a family she had come back to destroy.

There was no need for petty struggles over succession.

“This annex feels quite empty now that I see it.”

“These are things my mother picked for me. I like them.”

“They may be expensive, but they’re all old.”

The Count remarked.

“From now on, throw out anything old and fill this place with nothing but brand-new, valuable items.”

‘Good.’

It seemed she had managed to gain some of the Count’s trust.

“You were here!”

A moment later, the Countess entered the annex.

Upon seeing the Count and Helena engaged in casual conversation, her face turned pale.

The annex had been built to confine her.

And yet, now people were willingly walking into it.

Helena smirked coldly.

“What brings you here?”

“Do I need a reason to spend time with my daughter?”

“…I suppose not.”

The Countess seemed to notice the drastic change in the Count’s attitude.

Perhaps that was why she looked so anxious and uneasy.

Was she worried that her poisoning of Helena would be discovered?

The Count still didn’t know that Helena was suffering from Asehimmo poisoning.

So maybe the Countess was desperately hoping that Helena would die soon before anyone found out.

Unfortunately for her, Helena had no intention of dying quietly as she wished.

“You’re here, Mother?”

Both of them were enemies she had to bring down.

But to make things easier, it was best to drive a wedge between them first.

Helena smiled at the anxious-looking Countess.

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

At her offer, the Countess’s face turned even paler.

—

After Helena left, Caligo found that all his past worries had been meaningless.

More accurately, he immersed himself in work.

Normally, Caligo didn’t spend much time in the capital.

So whenever he was there, he tried to take care of as much as possible.

His days were overwhelmingly busy.

He was constantly occupied following the unpredictable Crown Prince—his friend and liege.

He spent entire days attending various meetings.

Life had returned to normal.

Frantor was quiet, and no troubling thoughts lingered in his mind.

‘I should’ve let her go sooner,’ Caligo thought.

If he had sent her away earlier, it would have been easy.

Instead, he had kept her in the mansion and tormented himself with meaningless turmoil.

Now, there was no need for such pointless agonizing.

Helena had left the mansion, and their relationship was over.

Just like before he had proposed to her.

No, like before he had ever met her in the forest.

Life had returned to the way it used to be.

Now that their relationship was over, he felt oddly refreshed.

Everything in the mansion that reminded him of her was gone.

He had even sent word to Frantor, ensuring that all of her belongings would be removed from the estate as well.

As if Helena Eskel had never existed.

As if he had returned to his old life.

At least, that’s what he thought.

A late Afternoon.

While the capital bustled with lively parties, the Frantor estate remained as quiet as a dense mountain range.

Caligo, having finished work early for the day, stood by the window and absentmindedly asked his butler,

“It’s unusually quiet today. Did something happen?”

He immediately regretted his words and shut his mouth.

Frantor had always been a silent place.

But since last winter, things had been slightly different.

The once-empty garden had been filled with the laughter of Joshua and Jeremy.

While working in his study, he would overhear their chatter and giggles.

Conversations about how delicious breakfast was that morning.

Or lengthy discussions about how perfectly cooked the carrots they had harvested themselves were.

They would laugh and play for hours, handling soil and the crops they had gathered.

And when they grew tired from playing, they would fall asleep, leaning against the trees.

It was Helena—that woman—who had brought the sleeping children inside the mansion.

As soon as the memory surfaced, Caligo turned his head away, as if to reject it.

“I wouldn’t know, My Lord. The estate has always been a quiet place. But one thing is certain—someone’s absence is being felt.”

There was a hint of protest in the butler’s voice.

Ever since the day Helena left, the butler had seemed sulky.

Caligo looked at him in disbelief.

“Are you staging some kind of protest?”

“How could someone as lowly as me dare to do such a thing in front of Your Grace?”

‘As if I would even dare…’ The butler muttered under his breath.

He had served the ducal family for many years but had never acted this way before.

Yet Caligo, who had a good idea of why the butler was behaving like this, sighed and said,

“She’s already gone.”

“Just because someone leaves doesn’t mean they disappear from your mind so easily.”

The butler’s voice still carried discontent.

“Well, it’s different for me.”

Caligo replied.

“I should have made her leave sooner. Looking back, she stayed in the mansion far too long. Even though she caused nothing but trouble.”

“Your Grace, how can you be so cold? Do you truly feel nothing?”

“There’s nothing of hers left in this house. With time, even the memories will fade. We were never meant to cross paths in the first place.”

“How can you say something so harsh…!”

“I don’t understand why you’ve grown so attached to Eskel.”

The butler sighed and answered,

“It’s not about Eskel. I liked *her* as a person. She was a kind and warm-hearted woman.”

“I can understand why you’d see her that way. But don’t forget—her being *an Eskel* is the most important part.”

“But—”

“There is no ‘but.’ That’s all there is to it.”

Caligo was content with the present. He was certain she would no longer cross his mind.

There was no point in holding onto someone who had already left.

There was no reason to.

“This is just life returning to normal.”

Yes.

Just like before the woman came.

“Indeed,” the butler muttered. “Young Master Jeremy is skipping meals again, and Young Master Joshua has left the capital entirely.”

“…….”

“Life has gone back to normal, I suppose. But I had hoped this was one part of our routine that would change.”

The butler sighed.

—

Caligo loved the children.

In the past and in the distant future, that would never change.

But their sudden father-child relationship still felt awkward.

The three of them, true to their Frantor nature, were terrible at expressing their emotions.

They didn’t know how to show love, how to argue, or how to make up properly.

Caligo had lived as a perfect lord, but he had never lived as a perfect father.

Above all, he had too little time to spend with them.

He left the mansion before dawn and returned only when they were already asleep.

Even on the rare days he stayed home, an overwhelming pile of work demanded his attention.

All he could do was ensure that when the children grew up and stepped into the world, no one would dare look down on or target them.

Strangely, though, last winter, they had seemed to grow a little closer.

All they had done was eat together, fight a little, and have a few honest conversations.

And yet…

Was this another trace of her influence?

Then, one day, an incident occurred.

“Damn it! I said I’ll handle it myself, so what’s it to you?! Get that face out of my sight!”

Caligo had been worried about Jeremy skipping meals.

No matter how much he tried to get him to eat, the boy’s condition only seemed to worsen.

The servants had also grown increasingly concerned, and then—one day—one of them made the mistake of urging Jeremy to eat.

And everything exploded.

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