***

Knock knock knock.

A tapping sound came from somewhere.

It was so sharp that Helena felt as if someone were knocking directly on her forehead.

“I’m not gonna let this slide…”

She swung her fist aimlessly through the air, but there was nothing to hit—only the persistent tapping that grew louder.

In the end, she was forced to open her eyes.

“Ugh…”

Opening her eyes, she saw the morning sun streaming through the window, painting the quiet room gold.

“What is this?”

Looking around, Helena noticed a shadow on the closed window.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Hmm…?”

She quickly went to the mirror, wiped the sleep from her eyes and smoothed her dishevelled hair with her fingers before approaching the window.

Her window opened onto a tiny balcony – just enough room for one or two people to stand.

Someone was sitting on the edge.

At this early hour, there was only one man who would come looking for her.

‘Even if you apologise now, it’s too late, Benjamin Ishpern.’

Helena took a deep breath and opened the window.

The figure on the balcony jumped up and called to her.

“Helena…!”

“What? Why is it you?”

“I’m sorry…! I never thought it would come to this…!”

The man trembling on the balcony was none other than the source of all this chaos – Crown Prince Rufus Arpend of the Empire.

For a fleeting moment, Helena was overcome with the urge to push the wretched Crown Prince off the balcony.

But alas, he was still the heir to the Empire.

Instead of pushing him, she jabbed a finger hard into his chest and snapped.

“Explain.”

“E-Explain what? I was being honest…!”

“Don’t make me laugh. Did you really like me? All right, let’s say you did. But was that the best you could do? Confessing in front of your fiancée and Her Majesty the Empress? I wouldn’t even do that to my parents’ worst enemy!”

“Th-That’s why I’m apologising now! I came all this way!”

“Oh wow, you chose this morning – the day I’m being dragged to the altar with a leash around my neck – to apologise? How prompt of you. If you’d been any quicker, I’d be seeing you in the afterlife.”

“I-I was being watched too, you know!”

Rufus shouted, clearly indignant.

“I’m the Crown Prince! Do you know how hard it was to sneak out like a rat?”

Helena glared at Rufus, her eyes filled with annoyance.

There had been a time when she had considered him a dear friend – now she couldn’t bear to look at him.

She demanded.

“So? Why did you come?”

“Huh?”

“You said it was difficult to sneak out. Don’t tell me you went through all that just to spit out some worthless excuse that isn’t even worth a coin?”

“A coin…! Ha…”

Rufus looked like he was going to burst, but he forced himself to hold back.

He didn’t have time to argue.

“Of course I haven’t come to apologise.”

“What then?”

“Helena, there’s something you don’t know.”

He swallowed hard, then finally spoke –

“Count Benjamin Ishpern. Everyone in the capital thinks he’s this incredibly handsome and wealthy nobleman, but the truth is…”

“On the outside he’s all flash and on the inside he’s worse than a spoiled squid – all rotten and broken?”

“Huh? Wha-wait… how did you know…?”

Helena started to pound his chest with her fists.

“I know, I know, you idiot! Do you think Her Majesty would have been so angry with us if it was just the two of us? Of course she wouldn’t marry me off to some young, rich, tall, handsome guy as punishment!”

“Ow, ow! Hey, stop-stop…!”

Rufus finally caught her fists in his hands and sighed heavily before speaking again.

“Let’s run away.”

Helena stared at Rufus for a long moment – then pulled her fists out of his grasp and began to punch his solar plexus instead.

“Go! Go! Just get out of my sight and stop making my life worse!”

“Ack! Ow! Gahh! Wh-why are your fists so brutal, Helena?! L-Listen to me! I’m not saying we should just run away – there’s a plan!”

Rufus shouted, dodging her blows and twisting to avoid her hands.

“There is land in Tiserie that I inherited from the late Archduke. It was a secret inheritance – no one knows about it. It’ll take them a long time to find it. We can run there, just the two of us, stay hidden until everything dies down, and then come back!”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard -!”

“What utter nonsense…!”

It was nonsense. And yet, strangely… it was tempting.

“Just imagine how shocked Their Majesties and my parents would be…”

But the idea of surprising them – especially the Empress, who clearly saw this as the perfect opportunity to use her as a pawn, and her parents, who didn’t question anything and simply acted as if a bad tooth had finally been pulled – felt… strangely satisfying.

“Not to mention that it would completely disgrace both House Ishpern and the Duchy of Bayard!”

Okay, that part was a bit much.

Especially Count Ishpern – if he found out that the dowry he thought was securely his had slipped away, the broke little count would probably go limp like a squid, collapse on the spot and scream.

Just thinking about it gave her a rush of cathartic pleasure.

But no matter how satisfying the mental image, she couldn’t ruin her life just to get revenge.

Helena forced herself to hold on to sanity.

Helena clung to sanity with all her might.

‘No. A runaway? With Rufus of all people? Honestly, if you’re going to hang on to a rotten rope, at least pick one that’s only slightly rotten.’

And yet this very rotten rope was now standing in front of her, saying.

“Helena, let’s throw off every chain and shackle this world has put on us and run away together in search of freedom!”

‘Freedom.’

At this word, Helena froze.

She knew it was ridiculous. Completely absurd.

But freedom.

That word had a way of making anything seem justifiable.

Suddenly it felt as if a great gust of wind had come from behind her.

As if, riding that wind, her body could just float up – as light as air. With just a push from the ground, she could fly anywhere.

Just once, if she closed her eyes and jumped, she felt she could go as far as she wanted.

And then –

“Aaaagh!”

Rufus’ piercing cry broke through her swelling daydream like a needle.

His body, perched precariously on the narrow balcony railing, swayed wildly with the scream.

And then, just like that, he fell backwards.

***

‘This is the worst.’

Benjamin Ishpern thought, his mood thoroughly foul.

There’s a saying that even when the rich fall, their fortunes last for three generations.

But that didn’t apply to the House of Ishpern.

When he inherited the title of Count, there wasn’t a shred of wealth left – nothing that could even generously be called wealth.

He didn’t care if the family name crumbled. But there was something he had to do – and he needed money to do it.

So he had squeezed water out of a stone, done everything he could to squeeze what little money and influence remained out of the title.

But even that had reached its limit.

Then came the proposal.

He couldn’t let go of Helena’s dowry. Even if his bride had been an Orc, he would have gone to the ceremony with a smile on his face.

But the truth he learned when he arrived in the capital… was more sickening than an orc’s breath.

“Lady Helena Winston? There’s hardly anyone in the capital who hasn’t heard the story. They say she was caught with His Highness the Crown Prince by both his fiancée, Lady Bayard, and Her Majesty the Empress.”

That was what the tailor had said when he had lent him his formal clothes.

Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to take every street rumour at face value.

But the Helena Winston he had seen with his own eyes was the kind of person who deserved to be condemned.

There was no denying that she possessed a striking beauty.

Had he not seen her true nature, he too might have ended up like those dazed fools who called themselves her admirers – completely captivated.

But he was someone who knew only too well that a dazzling exterior was nothing more than a thin layer of skin.

He knew this because he was the same.

His outer shell might appear strong and beautiful – but underneath he was rotten, crumbling into nothing but dust and dirt.

He believed Helena Winston was the same.

Helena Winston, smiling at him with that rapturous expression, was undeniably beautiful.

But when he thought of how that same beautiful face had been used to seduce the Crown Prince—and leave an irreparable wound on the prince’s fiancée—he could no longer see it as simply beautiful.

‘A cruel woman.’

And the followers of that cruel woman were just as ruthless.

It was obvious – they hadn’t been content with pouring alcohol down his throat all night. Now they were trying to wear him down completely by not letting him sleep even a wink.

But that only showed how little they knew him.

He was a man who had trained with the most notorious mercenary corps in the south. The total amount of alcohol he’d consumed in his life could probably fill a lake.

And he’d spent more nights awake than asleep.

Looking around at Helena’s followers crawling on all fours, Benjamin said calmly.

“Are you satisfied now? I’m going to prepare for the wedding.”

Drained more mentally than physically, he turned towards the stables to return his horse – only to see something strange.

‘What the hell was that?’

Some madman was climbing the walls of Winston’s estate.

After stabling his horse, Benjamin folded his arms and stood back to watch the situation unfold.

The strange man stopped in front of a window, fidgeting nervously as he tapped on the glass.

And a moment later, the one who opened that window—was Helena Winston.

Benjamin sighed.
‘This is the worst.’

The wedding was only a few hours away, yet here she was, openly entertaining a man.

And from the looks of it, they weren’t just acquaintances.

When he saw Helena lightly tapping the man’s chest in a mocking gesture, something like molten fire surged through him.

He had no reason to hold back any longer.

Benjamin immediately drew an arrow from his bow – and fired.

“Aaagh!”

With a scream, the man’s body jerked violently and fell backwards.

But it seemed the arrow hadn’t inflicted a fatal wound – he somehow managed to throw his arms out and grab hold of the railing, dangling precariously.

‘I’m not letting you go that easily.’

Benjamin drew in sharp, heated breaths as he walked towards the source of the trouble – where Helena Winston was.