“Well, I am quite pretty, aren’t I?”

“Not quite pretty. Extremely pretty.”

“That’s right, that’s right. My beauty is as much an objective fact as Helix being the most handsome.”

Helix was taken aback at suddenly being publicly acknowledged as the most handsome. In that moment, the men waiting behind Louise stepped forward.

“My lady, you’ve arrived.”

Lord Dylan bowed politely at the waist. His complexion looked good.

“Ah, Lord Dylan. Is the work manageable? Are you getting along well?”

“Thanks to your grace, I’m living comfortably. Miss Louise is very kind, and the villagers are cooperative.”

“That’s good. But who’s that person?”

The young man standing a bit apart from Lord Dylan bowed in greeting.

“Pleased to meet you, Lady Piert. I’m Keil, an herbalist working for the Ducal Family. I specialize in herbology.”

So they sent an herb expert from home as requested. Leah nodded happily.

“You must have had a hard journey coming here. What do you think? Are Louise’s herbs useful in your opinion?”

“Louise’s herbs are truly remarkable. They have warming properties while also boosting vitality, so I think they can be developed into medicinal ingredients for various purposes.”

Leah smiled with satisfaction at his words.

“It was worth calling in an expert then.”

“I too am finding it very rewarding.”

As he said this with a smile, Keil’s gaze turned toward Louise.

‘Huh? If it’s rewarding, why is he looking at Louise?’

Leah turned toward Louise in confusion. She caught sight of Lord Dylan’s stiff expression at the edge of her vision.

‘Why is Lord Dylan making that face? Why is he subtly moving closer to Louise’s side with that expression?’

As she tilted her head in confusion, she saw Keil frowning at Lord Dylan.

‘Oh?’

What was this subtle tension between the two men?

“Miss Louise, I’ll escort you. Please give Jo to me.”

“Miss Louise, are you ready to look around the herb garden? Let me help you.”

Lord Dylan and Keil rushed to speak to Louise at the same time.

Come to think of it, since Louise had been married before, they could have called her ‘Madam’, but neither of them addressed her as such.

Leah covered her mouth.

‘Could this be… a love triangle?’

Leah poked Helix in the side and quickly moved away from the scene.

“Leah, weren’t we going to look more at the herb garden at Louise’s house?”

“That can wait until tomorrow. Right now…”

She told him that it seemed both Lord Dylan and Keil liked Louise. Helix seemed a bit surprised.

“How did you know that?”

“They say everyone knows about other people’s romances except the people involved. It was obvious watching how they acted.”

Helix still seemed unsure and stayed quiet for a moment before suddenly speaking.

“I think you noticed because of your insight.”

“Wow, is this compliment time? Are you complimenting me first, Helix?”

Helix’s expression softened as he watched Leah laugh brightly at this unusual occurrence.

“I’m just stating what I observed.”

“I still like it. Do it more often.”

“…I’ll try. But Leah, what does their love triangle have to do with not looking at the herb garden?”

“It seemed like they were having a power struggle over Louise right now. On a festival day like this, they’ll want to appeal more and score points over their rival, so how annoying would it be to have their employer… I mean, their lady standing right there?”

Leah shook her head and looked up at Helix.

“While we’re at it, let’s go have fun by ourselves.”

“Just the two of us? At the festival?”

“Yeah. Don’t you want to?”

How could he not want to?

The words that were about to burst out at light speed suddenly retreated.

He had caught sight of young people dancing in the village square. It was a mixed dance with men and women paired together.

“…I think I don’t want to.”

“Lady! And the knight beside her!”

“Come dance with us!”

When people spotted them and called out loudly, Leah waved. In a completely different atmosphere from when the witch hunt occurred last time, she smiled and shouted back.

“Of course!”

After responding, Leah turned to Helix.

“Helix, what did you say just now?”

“…I said I would dance too.”

***

The festival dance involved men and women alternating in a circle, holding hands and spinning around. Leah’s eyes sparkled as she watched the village chief’s son demonstrate the moves.

‘This is different from noble society dances!’

She who couldn’t even dance at her debutante ball because of her glass body.

Having no experience and being uncoordinated on top of that, she had given up, but this dance looked a bit easier.

‘It seems like a circle dance. If it’s this simple, even I can do it.’

But there was a reason she was uncoordinated.

Once the dance actually started, Leah began to stumble.

‘Whaa? Whaaaa?’

Three steps right, let go of hands and lift left foot, join hands again and three steps left, let go and lift right foot.

The dance was simple in itself, but it was too advanced for her.

‘My feet are getting tangled!’

Leah’s eyes spun wildly.

“Leah, don’t worry about the rhythm.”

“I can’t even think about that right now!”

As Leah became more flustered as the dance went on, Helix couldn’t take his eyes off her as he led, but whenever he let go of her hand, she would fall back into confusion with “Oh, left? Right?”

The village chief’s son standing on Leah’s right was also in a state of panic.

The heavenly lady was floundering, and the icy stare from Helix standing on her left was terrifyingly suffocating.

‘What, what should I do? Is it okay to hold her hand?’

If he gripped too tightly, it seemed like Helix would kill him with his glare. While he hesitated, Leah finally stumbled and fell sideways.

“My lady…!”

In that instant, Helix caught her waist like lightning.

“My lady, it seems you’re still not feeling well after all.”

Leah blinked at Helix’s voice, which suddenly became loud enough for others to hear. She quickly caught on.

‘He’s trying to save my face right now!’

This thoughtful man. Leah was touched anew and played along, dropping her head weakly. Helix said.

“You need to rest.”

“I-I’ll escort her.”

The village chief’s son stepped forward offering to take her to his house, but Helix slightly shook his head and supported Leah. He wanted to carry her right away but held back thinking of her reputation.

“Um…”

As they were about to leave, a young woman called out to him.

“Would you come back here in the evening? We dance different dances then.”

Other young women chimed in.

“Please do come. In the evening, we dance in pairs of one man and one woman.”

“It won’t be chaotic like now.”

As Helix withdrew with Leah without answering, one of the young women grabbed his arm. She was said to be the prettiest woman in the village after Louise.

“If you can’t come in the evening, please dance with me just once now.”

The maiden gave him a gentle, flirtatious look.

Leah almost lost control of her expression for a moment.

‘Open your eyes properly! Let go!’

Her brow twitched as she suppressed the roaring in her head while pretending to be unwell. Fortunately, Helix refused firmly.

“I must attend to my lady.”

Leah felt somehow relieved and all strength left her body. Helix, who was supporting her, checked on her in alarm.

“Are you not feeling well?”

“Mmm…”

Leah unconsciously let out a groan pretending to be in more pain. Helix quickly lifted her onto his back.

The voices of the seemingly disappointed village maidens quickly faded away.

“Leah, are you alright?”

“Yeah.”

She wasn’t alright.

Her heart was complicated, and she was angry.

‘Why am I angry?’

When she was angry at Helix because of the Master, it was because she felt hurt.

It was because Helix seemed closer to the Master than to her, and even though her life depended on Helix, she wondered if she wasn’t as special to him as she thought.

But now why was she angry about people asking Helix to dance?

‘Obviously I’m closer to Helix than that maiden who just met him, and I’m Helix’s priority…’

So there was no reason to feel hurt or angry, but her heart felt completely different.

Just thinking about that village maiden grabbing Helix’s arm made her blood boil.

Sensing her troubled state, he asked.

“Leah, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

As she answered, she buried her face in his shoulder.

The fresh scent.

The familiar warmth.

“If your feet hurt, don’t hold it in, tell me.”

The quiet, gentle voice.

Her angry feelings subsided instantly, but when she remembered the village maidens smiling sweetly at Helix, her heart felt tight again.

‘I wish he would only carry me like this, only worry about me like this.’

Helix walked steadily until they reached under a large maple tree overlooking the village square. He set Leah down against the tree trunk and sat beside her.

“You can watch the whole festival from here.”

Whoosh…

The wind blew, making their long hair flutter.

Through the red-tinged leaves, autumn sunlight poured down making Helix’s silver hair shine like frost-covered reeds. As he turned his head toward her staring blankly, he smiled.

‘I wish he would only make expressions like this for me.’

Suddenly the faces of Lord Dylan and Keil came to mind.

The way their relaxed, smiling expressions toward Louise would instantly sharpen when they saw each other. The jealous looks of displeasure when the other got close to the person they liked.

‘Ah.’

She drew in a breath.

This was it. This was what it was.

‘I think I like Helix.’

That’s why I care so much.

It became suddenly difficult to breathe, as if she’d forgotten how. Her heart was beating so hard her ears felt muffled.

She needed Helix by her side to live, and now she liked him too. Lightning struck in Leah’s mind.

‘I have to catch him!’