Chapter 23
The moment they looked into each other’s bewildered eyes, they realized it.
Their misunderstandings were tangled up, as complex as a knotted string.
Helena, in an unexpected twist, found herself cast as the unfortunate duchess who supposedly hurled herself off a cliff to rescue a lost traveler.
“What? Why would I throw myself off a cliff? That’s insane!”
She had merely come to pick strawberries, but the entire army had shown up to greet her.
“Joshua, I clearly told you I was going for a walk.”
“So, you met Joshua before leaving the estate?”
“Hey, Joshua! Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
Jeremy, now back on Helena’s back, flailed in protest.
“A walk? In the winter mountains?”
“This is what I consider a walk. Besides, I’m pretty good at hiking and came fully prepared.”
Caligo, looking at the ribbons tied around the area, sighed in disbelief.
One glance at her boots and the rope hanging from her waist was enough to see how thoroughly prepared she had been.
“And I thought I might as well pick some strawberries while I was at it.”
“Strawberries?”
“Didn’t Jeremy tell you? I came out because he said he wanted strawberries.”
“Jeremy!”
This time, Joshua shouted angrily at Jeremy.
“I’m sorry! I thought she had gotten lost while stupidly picking strawberries.”
Overwhelmed by the situation, Jeremy burst into tears again.
“I won’t eat strawberries anymore.”
“Why? I picked them for you. You should enjoy them.”
Helena, patting him on the back, turned to Caligo with an exasperated expression.
“Why on earth did you summon the entire army?”
Though she wasn’t in high favor, Helena had lived as a noble long enough to understand the gravity of such an order.
It was rare to summon the entire army unless there was a disaster-level crisis.
And this was Frantor, of all places.
“There are still soldiers left at the estate, right? Please tell me there are.”
The unfamiliarity of the situation was not lost on Helena alone.
Even Caligo, who had given the order, felt the same.
“You’re not one to do such things. Why now?”
Mobilizing the entire army to find one woman was an incredibly reckless act.
It was an irrational decision, especially with enemies potentially at their backs.
Had he ordered this purely out of guilt?
When Joshua said she had headed toward the cliff, his mind went blank.
The only thought he could muster was that he had to find her immediately.
“Your Grace?”
Helena cautiously asked, seeing him lost in thought for a long time.
“Are you all right?”
It was almost laughable that she was worried about him even in this situation.
In a way, it was just like her.
“You…”
Caligo finally spoke, his voice half-broken from exhaustion and relief.
“I thought you were dead.”
Rather than feeling anger over the wasted time and effort, relief washed over him first.
Seeing Helena standing safely before him was enough.
That’s why he hadn’t waited for news from the search party.
He had come himself to confirm with his own eyes that she was alive and well.
“Why?”
Helena was just as shocked by his response.
After all, it was Caligo himself who had first told her not to expect trust from him.
So she had resolved not to expect anything from him either.
“Do I have a reason why I shouldn’t die?”
To him, their year-long marriage meant nothing. She had believed he wouldn’t even blink if she died.
Yet now, when he said such words, he seemed almost shaken.
“Could it be that Your Grace actually cares about me— Ah!”
Helena, with a trembling heart, had been trying to finish her sentence when it happened.
As she stepped forward with her right foot, her strength gave out, and she stumbled forward.
“Hey! What’s wrong with you?”
Jeremy, who was still perched on her back and listening intently to their conversation, shouted in surprise.
“Oh, uh, I guess I suddenly lost strength for a moment.”
Right. There were other people here too.
She had completely forgotten about that.
The embarrassment of the situation outweighed the pain in her ankle, and Helena bit her lip in frustration.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
It was Caligo, not Helena, who first noticed that something was wrong.
He knelt down and removed her boot.
Her ankle was swollen badly.
“It looks like you twisted your ankle.”
“What? You’re hurt? Where?!” Jeremy exclaimed.
“Oh, uh, while carrying you and running earlier, I must’ve twisted it. I forgot about it,” Helena admitted sheepishly.
“Of all the things to forget!”
Even with a twisted ankle, Helena had kept running as hard as she could.
Jeremy felt both guilty and deeply moved by her effort.
Joshua, watching his twin brother’s face grow tearful again, asked Helena,
“Why did you try so hard?”
“I told you, I thought we were being attacked. I thought someone was coming to kill Jeremy, so I ran like crazy.”
“…You’re so foolish.”
Her casual response left Joshua momentarily speechless.
How could she talk about sacrifice so nonchalantly?
“Either way, you can’t move with that ankle. Should I fetch a stretcher?”
“By the time the stretcher arrives, the sun will have set.”
Exhaling shortly, Caligo approached Helena.
As he came closer, her heart began to pound uncontrollably again.
Helena, clutching her overly eager heart, peeked up at him.
“Why are you coming closer?”
“I’ll carry you myself. Jeremy, you can ride in the arms of the captain of the guard.”
Caligo’s matter-of-fact declaration stunned both of them.
“Y-Your Grace, carry me? That’s unnecessary! I’m fine! It’s just a twisted ankle, not a broken bone—I can walk if I try!”
“No way! I’m staying here! I won’t leave her back! Not even for you, Father!” Jeremy stubbornly protested.
“What kind of nonsense is that, Jeremy?”
The two of them started arguing. Jeremy’s unreasonable stubbornness even made Joshua click his tongue.
“I’ll carry you, then! Stop being so difficult!”
“No! Why should you carry me? I’m staying right where I am!”
When even Jeremy refused to back down, Caligo had no choice but to intervene.
“Fine, then.”
Without further discussion, Caligo picked up both Helena and Jeremy at the same time.
“Let’s do it this way.”
“F-Father!”
“This is amazing!” Jeremy cheered.
Even Helena couldn’t help but be flustered by the situation.
After all, she was now being held in the arms of the man she secretly loved.
Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest.
His large hands rested on her thigh and arm, sending tingling sensations like electricity through her skin.
Was she even breathing properly right now?
“Hey, can you sit still?”
Jeremy, still excited, grumbled as Helena kept fidgeting.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Even with both of them in his arms, he held them effortlessly, without a single tremor.
This man was driving her crazy.
—
After returning to the estate, Jeremy was immediately examined by the physician.
Once cleared with a clean bill of health, he ran off with Joshua as if nothing had happened.
“Sorry for causing such a fuss.”
Left alone with Caligo, Helena nervously broke the silence.
“I should’ve told you I was going to pick strawberries beforehand.”
“Why do you keep apologizing when you’ve done nothing wrong?”
“…It’s become a habit, I guess,” Helena replied.
“And because there might’ve been even a little fault on my part.”
Eskel, a man who would sell his own country for wealth and power, was someone who cherished his daughters deeply.
Helena had grown up on the land he gained by trampling others.
Everyone knew how much Count Eskel loved his children.
Yet Helena, despite being his daughter, seemed strangely diminished.
More than that, she seemed to chip away at her own worth.
“There’s no fault of yours at all.”
“….”
“So you don’t need to apologize to me.”
No matter how much he tried to ignore it, her timid gaze lingered in his mind.
A fragment of her that even the children hadn’t noticed was shaking his reason.
He had to push it away.
“But this must never happen again.”
“…Understood.”
“For the duration of our one-year contract, you’re tied to me. So always, you must…”
Even as he tried to deliver the cold instruction, his voice wavered.
“…stay where I can see you.”
“I will.”
Helena answered innocently, unaware of the emotions behind his words.
“And still… I was happy.”
She even smiled.
“That the entire army came to greet me.”
“It wasn’t exactly a greeting.”
“Well, close enough.”
Helena chuckled as she continued.
“No one’s ever come to greet me before. And for it to be the entire army—it’s quite a grand first, don’t you think?”
Her smile was pure, but there was a faint trace of sadness in it.
Seeing that smile, his mind went blank once again.
The vows he had made to dedicate his life to his people wavered as if they were nothing.
“Did you… worry about me?”
“…Ha.”
And once again, she made him speak honestly.
For once, he wanted to act entirely on his emotions rather than reason.
“Yes.”
Helena’s eyes widened, as though her question had only been half-serious.
But Caligo didn’t stop there.
In a low voice, he added,
“So don’t get hurt again.”
