TISND Chapter 155

Chapter 155

After that day, Helena acted as usual. She took care of the children who came to her house, feeding them, playing hide-and-seek, and looking after them. She wiped away the tears of a child who had fallen while walking and read books to them.

The only unusual thing was the twins. The twins made it so Helena couldn’t move a finger. It was almost inevitable. After all, they had seen Helena lying there as if dead. Now they knew that her time was running out, so how could they just sit still?

“If you fall down the stairs, what are you going to do? Hold my hand right now.”

“…I can go down the stairs by myself.”

Jeremy was always by Helena’s side, following her wherever she went.

“No. Just in case, hold my hand.”

“…”

“Hurry up!”

He didn’t allow Helena to lift a plate either. When the children came over, she would try to carry the dishes, but Jeremy would rush over and snatch them away.

“Hey, you’re the ones eating, not me! Hurry up and move quickly!”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

“Right. Helena’s not even eating, so we should carry it.”

At Jeremy’s shout, the children nodded and moved the dishes. They seemed to have noticed that Helena was sick.

Additionally, Jeremy was always quick to chase away the children who asked Helena for a hug. Most of the kids who visited Helena’s house were around Jeremy and Joshua’s age. But sometimes, younger children came as well. These were cases where the adults couldn’t take care of them for various reasons.

The children who came, holding on tightly to their older siblings’ hands, were about five years old, and they were irresistibly cute.

Helena, who loved children regardless of their age, especially enjoyed spending time with the younger ones. However, when Jeremy stood nearby with a grim expression, some of the children would start crying out of fear.

“Helena, just stay there. I’ll clean up.”

Joshua, too, wasn’t one to sit idly by. He, who liked cleanliness, didn’t mind getting dirty and quickly stopped Helena when she tried to tidy up the backyard.

“I can handle sweeping.”

“It’s not hard; I can do it too.”

Joshua took the broom from Helena and began sweeping skillfully. In fact, Joshua was one of the children who didn’t approve of Helena cooking herself. Although her food was amazing, he would ask, “Why do you do it yourself, Helena?” and often suggested that if she wanted to cook, she should just give the recipe to the chef.

Now, the boy who used to say such things was sweeping the floor himself, which made it hard for Helena to not feel burdened. She didn’t want to cause any concern for Caligo or the children.

“There’s dust flying around, so just sit back and relax.”

“Jeremy, Joshua.”

Helena, who had always smiled at the twins, spoke in a lowered voice for the first time.

“Stop it.”

She sighed as she spoke.

“I appreciate that you want to help, but I’m not so weak that I need you to do this for me.”

“…”

“Doing all this doesn’t even make me happy.”

Her face, as she said this, looked a little sad.

“So from now on, don’t try to help me like this.”

“…”

“But…”

“I don’t want you to see me as a sick person.”

Helena, who had spoken in a slightly hoarse voice as if she had a cold, took the broom and left without saying another word.

The children, left behind in silence, became gloomy.

“She doesn’t want to be treated like a sick person…”

Jeremy pouted his lips.

“She is sick, though. Protecting a sick person is only natural, I don’t understand why she doesn’t want us to do it.”

“Helena probably wants to forget about the day she collapsed, as if it never happened.”

“How can this be? She collapsed! And they say she’s going to die soon—how can we just ignore that!”

The children, despite their best efforts, had limits when it came to helping her. So Jeremy and Joshua also wanted to do whatever they could to help Helena. But Helena kept rejecting their help…

In any case, since Helena had declared she didn’t want help anymore, they could no longer assist her directly. But how could they just stand by, knowing she was sick? It was hard to simply watch, especially when it made their hearts race with worry.

As a result, the children couldn’t help but notice that Helena was keeping more distance from them. They realized that her decision to go down to Horion wasn’t because she was afraid of people’s eyes, but because she truly wanted to be alone.

At first, they were upset. Who wouldn’t feel hurt when someone they considered family started pulling away? But Jeremy and Joshua had made up their minds not to run away from her anymore.

“But… what are we supposed to do now?”

“Pedro said there’s no antidote for Asehimmo.”

“So are we just supposed to sit here until the day we have to leave?”

Helena had asked them to stay only until the end of this month, and once the promised date passed, the children would have no choice but to leave. At first, they thought leaving her behind wouldn’t be such a big deal—they could always visit her often! But after learning that her time was running out, they began to hesitate about leaving. They felt that if they left, they would soon hear the news of her death.

“There’s no antidote, and Helena said we don’t need to help her…”

Jeremy mumbled gloomily, and Joshua murmured back.

“Father’s been struggling a lot lately too.”

Since Helena collapsed, Caligo had been struggling so much that he couldn’t even go through his daily routine properly. He couldn’t even respond to the letters from the Crown Prince of the capital. Joshua had seen his father cry for the first time in his life. He had never seen him look so defeated.

It seemed like Caligo had tried to talk to Helena, but he must have failed in reconciling with her. And he felt guilty about her being in so much pain.

The most shocking thing was that even Helena was distancing herself from her father. Joshua remembered her crush on Caligo, how she would blush whenever she saw him. But now, even when she happened to run into him, she would coldly turn away, as though she had cut off all feelings and ties toward him…

“Is this the end?”

Joshua was feeling just as gloomy. As Helena’s time slowly came to an end, was there nothing they could do but watch helplessly? And would they never be able to reconcile with her? Was their family bond really going to fall apart like this?

“I miss the old days.”

“Me too.”

Jeremy, who had his head buried in his knees, spoke up.

“Joshua, you should go back to the capital, even if it’s just you.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll stay by Helena’s side no matter what.”

“What if she gets mad at you?”

“I’ve already done enough to make her mad at me.”

Jeremy said,
“I’ve done so much to make her hate me, asking for forgiveness wouldn’t even be enough. I’ve done everything to deserve her anger.”

“Is that something to be proud of?”

Joshua murmured.

“I’m saying, since I’ve already made her hate me, I’ll just stay by her side.”

“…”

“I’ll keep telling her to get treatment, asking her to come back to the capital with us, and insisting that we be a family, no matter how persistent I have to be.”

“And what if that makes things worse?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if it drives a wedge between us?”

Joshua, quick to notice, already understood that Helena had resigned herself to her fate. She had accepted death.

Moreover, Caligo had tried to apologize and seek treatment, but it only worsened his relationship with her. Joshua understood Jeremy’s feelings, but he worried that by intervening, their relationship with Helena might get permanently ruined.

“I’m worried that if I try to persuade Helena, we’ll never be able to fix things,”
Joshua confessed.

Because the thought of Helena hating him was unbearable. She was too precious to him. He always wanted to protect her. Should he just follow her wishes, even if it meant leaving or giving up on treatment? It was an impossible decision for a thirteen-year-old to make.

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