TISND Chapter 69

Chapter 69

The next morning, Aiden headed to the garden as usual. He hurried his steps, expecting Helena to be there basking in the sunlight as always.

“What the…?”

But what greeted him was Helena wrapped in bandages from head to toe, her expression grim as she carefully wrapped a bandage around her leg.

Did she get hurt? As a doctor, Aiden couldn’t just stand by and watch. He rushed over to her in one swift motion.

“Why are you covered in bandages? Did you get hurt? Let me take a look.”

“Oh, you came at the right time, Senior.”

“What?”

“I was just practicing how to wrap bandages. Could I borrow your arm for a moment?”

With a calm face, she naturally grabbed Aiden’s arm and began wrapping it in a bandage.

Though her movements were a bit clumsy, she managed to wrap the bandage quite skillfully.

Aiden had a lot of questions but held back, not wanting to break her concentration. After what felt like a long time, Helena finally looked at her handiwork and asked,

“Did I do it right like this?”

“Well… more or less. But why are you wrapping bandages? Did someone get hurt?”

“The Duke asked me to change his bandages. I thought I’d practice while I had the chance.”

At first, Aiden had been worried it might have been one of the young lords who had gotten hurt. Despite their troublesome behavior, they were still just kids.

But Caligo? Aiden’s face soured at the mention of that name from Helena’s lips.

“A man with his own personal physician specifically asked ‘you’ to change his bandages? Did his doctor go on strike or something?”

“It’s just that I have work to report to him anyway. Besides, he said it’s inconvenient to keep calling the physician, so he asked me to do it.”

“Hah!”

Aiden let out a dry laugh.

“And you believe that? That’s a load of…”

He stopped mid-sentence.

The Duke’s wariness and sharp hostility.

Because Aiden himself harbored similar feelings, he had always been quick to notice Caligo’s emotions.

But Helena wasn’t the same. She didn’t know anything. And Aiden hesitated, wondering if he should warn her about the Duke’s motives.

“A load of what?”

Helena asked with her usual calm expression.

Cowardly, Aiden found he no longer wanted to tell her about the Duke’s feelings. Let her figure it out on her own.

Why should he bother pointing out the feelings of someone who constantly confused her?

Besides, Caligo only served to unsettle Helena’s heart. Whenever he was near, she was the one who always ended up hurt.

A man so arrogant as to spout talk of revenge without knowing what kind of treatment Helena endured in Eskel could never be her match.

In that case, it was better for her to remain oblivious.

“It’s nothing.”

“Really?”

“What I mean is, do you really need to practice this much just to change bandages? You already know how to wrap them.”

“I just want to do it perfectly.”

Helena’s current demeanor seemed unusually anxious and uneasy, not like her usual self.

“If I’m going to do it, I might as well make sure it’s flawless.”

Oddly enough, ever since Rosalith arrived, Helena seemed to have become more subdued.

Though she was energetically practicing how to wrap bandages, her attitude felt different. She seemed quieter, more reserved than ever before.

“Did you put on makeup?”

“…Ah.”

Helena’s face turned slightly red.

“Well, I just thought… I’ve been walking around looking too plain.”

“Suddenly you think you’ve been looking plain?”

At his sharp question, she fell silent for a moment.

“It’s true I’ve been dressing pretty simply so far.”

Her expression darkened noticeably before she finally spoke again.

“I just thought I’d put in a little effort now that I’m in the capital. No particular reason.”

As if there could be no reason.

In the past, she used to share her worries with me now and then.

Yes, back then, on the day I thought we might become something more, she did.

After classes, we would share food, talk about the future, and confide in each other.

But now, I must not inspire the same trust in her as I did then.

Since the day we were forced apart by the circumstances around us, it feels like a wall has stood between us.

Even now, I wish we could go back to that time.

If I were given another chance, would I make a different choice now?

“I was so cowardly back then.”

The accusations I faced simply because I was associated with Eskel.

The firm disapproval of my mother and sister, who insisted that any house but Eskel’s would do.

If not for the responsibility of protecting the family my late father left behind, perhaps I could have done things differently.

“What? Cowardly? What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing.”

Aiden shook his head.

“Go on, practice all you want.”

“Even if you hadn’t said so, I was planning to turn your arm into a bundle of bandages.”

Watching her diligently work on the bandages, Aiden couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“This reminds me of the old days.”

“The old days? What about them?”

“Do you remember when I put a splint on your leg?”

“How could I forget, Senior?”

Helena smiled for the first time in a while.

“Don’t you remember how much trouble you caused me by putting a splint on a perfectly fine leg?”

In those days, I had forgotten about her illness, her family, the gazes of others, and even the weight of my own responsibilities.

The time I spent with her, free of everything else, is something I miss deeply.

“Not to mention the way you poked holes all over my perfectly fine arm.”

“I was giving you injections.”

“It’s the same thing!”

“Cut me some slack. Thanks to that, I got accepted into medical school.”

Completely shameless. Helena burst into laughter.

—

“It suits her well, doesn’t it?”

At that moment, Caligo was strolling around the mansion with Rosalith. She had begged to tour the estate, leaving him no choice but to accompany her.

But what they stumbled upon was Aiden and Helena in the garden, enjoying each other’s company.

“I’ve never seen my sister smile like that before,” Rosalith remarked.

“They’ve been quite famous for their relationship since long ago.”

“From the academy she attended?”

“You’re well-informed, Your Grace. Yes, my sister met that doctor at the academy.”

Dressed up and smiling in front of Aiden, she looked so beautiful, even more so than she ever had in Frantor without any makeup.

And that made it all the more infuriating.

“They say they were always together at the academy. Even during vacations, when they returned to their respective homes, they exchanged letters constantly.”

Though Caligo’s reason was rapidly succumbing to his rising anger, he forced himself to remain composed.

Instead, a sharp, sarcastic tone escaped his lips.

“They must have been very close. If they were such a good match, they should have just gotten married. Why didn’t they?”

“I heard his family was against it.”

Hearing Caligo casually mention marriage between Helena and Aiden made Rosalith silently rejoice. It confirmed her suspicion that Caligo wasn’t keen on the idea of marrying her sister.

Of course, if marriage were to happen, it should burn like fire. There was no way anyone could be happy beside her icy sister.

Rosalith, excited, chattered away.

“I heard she sent him a letter, telling him to keep his distance. That’s why she couldn’t even talk properly with that doctor.”

She glanced sideways at the elegant man standing beside her, her cheeks flushing slightly.

“My sister went through a tough time. I think she really liked that man. She’s smiling so happily now because she still does.”

The dark-haired man was so perfect and captivating that no other man in the empire could compare to him.

“Still, I suppose fate is fate. Two people who thought they’d never meet again are reunited.”

“…”

“Isn’t fate strange? Even when it seems like two people have drifted apart, they somehow come together again in the end.”

She wondered if there might still be a chance for her with this man. She didn’t know the full story, but Caligo had chosen to marry Helena.

She’d heard it was an unavoidable decision, one commanded directly by His Majesty the Emperor. If he’d met her before her sister, he might have made a different choice.

Surely, she would have been the rightful lady of Frantor. She could have lived a dream-like life, happy with a man as flawless as this one in this magnificent estate.

Unable to hide her lingering regret, Rosalith finally voiced what she had been wanting to say all along.

“Perhaps that’s what fate is. Two people who seemed to have missed each other ultimately coming together.”

“…Fate.”

Caligo repeated the word in a flat tone, as if reciting poetry. The elegance of his voice was captivating, and without realizing it, Rosalith’s face reddened.

She had met countless men in her life, but in front of this man, she couldn’t seem to control her emotions.

“If such a thing exists, I’d like to see it for myself.”

In the end, Rosalith looked up at Caligo with a dreamy expression.

He, who had been quietly staring at her sister, smirked coldly and murmured,

“To see if this so-called great ‘fate’ truly exists.”

Hey Guys you can read advanced chapters on Patreon
If you liked my work and want to support me then you can visit my page for tips. As I can’t create Kofi because of the unavailability of Paypal in my country, I’ve made this tier which is being updated every week so that you won’t be charged again till you want to donate again by yourself or you can exit the tier after donating 🙂.

Happy Reading 🩷