TISND Chapter 160

Chapter 160

Had she ever raised her voice like this in Horion before? Even Mrs. Holly, who came running in alarm, was taken aback by the way Helena was acting.

But Helena had lost her composure so completely, she couldn’t be bothered to notice.

“Instead of blindly accusing someone of stealing, shouldn’t you at least double-check the money or see if you miscalculated? Isn’t that what a responsible adult does?”

She was furious—genuinely, thoroughly angry for the first time in a long while.

Thinking back, there had been a similar situation once. Not long after she first arrived in Frantor. Wasn’t it Mrs. Kenderville? She remembered standing up to the woman who had been speaking ill of her in front of a child.

Back then, too, she’d felt a strong urge to protect the child. She’d been just as angry.

But this… This time, for reasons she couldn’t explain, she was even angrier.

“Who do you think you are to call our child a thief? What gives you the right to judge Jeremy like that? You don’t even know him.”

Jeremy was the kind of kid who made her smile just by looking at him—so precious, so lovable. And to think that someone who didn’t even know him would hurt him like this… it made her blood boil.

“W-What?”

“I said move! Don’t just flap your mouth—check the register!”

Even though she looked meek on the outside, Helena’s eyes blazed red with fury as she shouted, and the shop owner was left stammering in shock. Her presence was so intense, even the owner instinctively shrank back.

“I saw the boy give you the money.”

A woman who had been watching the commotion finally spoke up.

“There were too many people around, so you probably didn’t see it, but he definitely paid.”

“And how would you know?”

“Because that boy gave an apple to my daughter. He saw her looking at the apples and handed her one before going to pay.”

Sure enough, just as the woman said, a little girl around five years old stood beside her, munching on an apple.

The crowd’s attention shifted toward the shopkeeper. Under the weight of their stares, her face turned bright red.

“This is always the busiest time of day. With so many customers, I must’ve made a mistake.”

She seemed to want to sweep the incident under the rug and tried to leave.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

“Ahem… Like I said, I’m a busy person. I’ve got work to do. Is there a problem?”

“You’re not even going to apologize to the child?”

“I told you, it was just a misunderstanding because I was busy—”

Helena cut in coldly,
“If you wrongly accuse a child of stealing, the least you can do is apologize. Don’t try to brush it off.”

She threw the shopkeeper’s own words right back at her, and the woman’s face went beyond red—it looked like it might explode. But with so many people watching, and Helena standing her ground so firmly, she had no way to escape.

The shopkeeper, clearly uncomfortable, looked over at Jeremy. Jeremy, holding Helena’s hand tightly, stared back with teary eyes.

“S-Sorry, kid.”

“…It’s okay.”

To be honest, Helena still wasn’t satisfied with that apology. But since Jeremy had forgiven her, she decided to let it go.

Helena was never the type to pick fights. If the same thing had happened to her, she probably would’ve reacted like Joshua—paid the money just to smooth things over, no matter how unfair it felt. She was used to those kinds of misunderstandings.

But this… this happened to a child. There was no way she could ignore it.

‘Let it go. Let it go,’ Helena told herself, turning her eyes away from the shopkeeper she still wanted to glare at.

Just as she turned—

“…Oh?”

She found herself facing the teary-eyed Jeremy and Joshua… and Mrs. Holly, who looked just as moved.

“Young lady! You’re incredible. I thought you were just sweet and shy, but you’ve got real fire in you. I totally misjudged you. That was amazing—really impressive.”

Mrs. Holly spoke. Up to that point, everything was fine.

“…Helena.”

When Jeremy looked at her and said her name, it felt like a jolt of shock hit her head. ‘What am I doing right now?’
She had promised herself to stay quiet until the children left. She had vowed to endure.

But in this situation, she had no choice. If you thought about it, it was an act of God. How could she possibly turn away when Jeremy was in danger? Forget the end—this needed to be resolved. She had to protect Jeremy and stand by him.

“I didn’t help you just because of you two,” Helena said, trying to recover the situation.

“If someone’s being wronged, you should help them. Isn’t that right?”

“…”

“So this was just the right thing to do. You both need to grow up to be good adults.”

“Are you saying… it was just natural to help Jeremy like you did just now?” Joshua asked.

“Huh? Uh… yeah,” Helena nodded hesitantly.

“No, this wasn’t natural. Even I didn’t believe in Jeremy right away—I just wanted to settle things quickly,” Joshua replied.

“Uh… huh?”

“Oh no… how can I go back to the capital, leaving someone like Helena behind?” Joshua murmured, eyes glistening with tears.

“I’ve made up my mind!”

Jeremy, who had been silent until now, suddenly shouted.

“Made up your mind about what…?”

“I really can’t give up!”

“Give up on what?”

“How can I give up on you? I’d been wondering whether I should stay in Horion, but now I don’t think I need to worry anymore!”

“You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not joking.”

“But you’re supposed to leave tomorrow.”

“I’m not going.”

“You’re not going?”

“Nope.”

With a determined look in his eyes, Jeremy nodded firmly.

“Oh, I don’t know what’s going on, but…”

Mrs. Holly clapped her hands with a wide smile.

“This is wonderful news, isn’t it?”

…No. No, it’s not.

***

Finally, it was the day Caligo and the children were supposed to leave. Normally, the backyard should have been bustling with preparations for the return to the capital. Knights in casual clothes instead of armor would be scouting the area, and servants from the capital would be packing up luggage.

But when Helena opened her eyes that morning, the yard was unusually quiet. As if everyone had forgotten they were supposed to leave today.

Instead, the noise was coming from the first floor.

‘Did they bring all the knights and servants inside because the weather turned cold?’
Feeling uneasy, Helena cautiously made her way downstairs.

The commotion was coming from the kitchen.

“Hey, Jeremy! I told you not to take your eyes off the stove while I’m cooking!”

“You’re the one who said to stir the pasta so it wouldn’t stick to the bottom of the pot!”

“Can’t you multitask? You should’ve stirred the pasta and kept an eye on the bread! Look at this! The bread’s completely burnt!”

The children, who should’ve been dressed neatly and ready to leave for the capital early in the morning, were instead busy cooking in the kitchen. To be precise—they didn’t seem like they had any intention of returning to the capital at all.

“Jane! You said you’d supervise us while we cook!”

“My duty is simply to provide the recipe and make sure the young masters don’t get hurt,” Jane replied with a smile.

“You wanted to serve her food you made yourselves, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Oh! Helena!” Joshua called, running toward her.

“We’re preparing breakfast. We made sure everything is easy to eat, so please wait just a little longer.”

“Um…”

‘Am I dreaming or something?’ Helena forced herself to speak.

“Didn’t you say you were leaving this morning?”

“We’re not going.”

“But I’m sure… it was supposed to be today.”

“I told you, we’re not going,” Joshua replied bluntly, followed by Jeremy in the same tone.

“We already sent away the servants and knights. We even sent a message to Father.”

“B-But His Grace must be very busy…”

“No need to worry about that! All messenger birds from Frantor and the capital have been redirected to Horion, and the trial and matters with the Kingdom of Kelimban have all wrapped up, so he’s not as busy as before.”

“Who gave those orders…?”

“Father did.”

“….”

‘They sorted everything out in just one day?’

Helena blinked in disbelief. It felt like everything was slipping out of her control, like she was being swept along by the children’s whims. But they were so adamant about staying, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them to leave.

“Come on, let’s eat!”

“Huh?”

Joshua pulled out a chair and gently seated Helena.

“You’ve always taken care of meals for us, but we’ve never done the same for you. We really wanted to return the favor.”

“I told you, you don’t have to…”

“Well, it’s something we want to do. So just let us!”

With a shameless smile, Joshua cheerfully insisted. Helena, already pale, turned even whiter.

“Jane… don’t you think the boys should return to the capital…?”

Jane was her last hope. Helena quickly turned to her.

“Young Master made this breakfast especially for you, so please enjoy every bite!”

Even Jane wasn’t on Helena’s side.

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