“Please, sit, Your Grace.”

She resembled a witch as she took her place at a nearby tea table and gestured for Ruben to sit. Her cold smile, poised hand lifting the teacup, and serene expression as she sipped made it seem like she existed in an entirely separate world from the turmoil just moments before.

“Go inside.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

At Ruben’s command, the servants assisted the fallen maid and disappeared into the mansion.

Watching their retreating figures, Ruben moved slowly and sat opposite Helia. Fatigue settled over his handsome face like a thin layer of dust.

“You’re late.”

“I was delayed by work.”

Helia looked at Ruben intently, her gaze unreadable. Guessing she saw his response as an excuse, Ruben spoke in a low voice.

“Believe me or not, it doesn’t matter.”

“I believe you. You don’t lie.”

Helia lifted her teacup to her lips as she spoke, so graceful that her earlier cruelty toward the servants seemed staged. She was a woman whose behavior changed at her own whim, always centered around herself. This was a hellish time, and Ruben felt daunted at how to endure the remaining hours.

“Drink.”

Steam still rose from the teacup, and desserts lay neatly before him. But he had neither thirst nor appetite; the scene from moments before had drained his interest completely.

As Helia observed his refusal to eat or drink, she spoke again.

“Don’t worry, there’s no poison in it.”

It was a cutting invitation, indeed. Ruben, who had narrowed his eyes slightly at her words, finally reached for the teacup.

Helia watched with satisfaction as he took a sip, a faintly pleased look on her face as though he were her entertainment. Ruben felt an unpleasant sensation as though he were some spectacle for her amusement.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I’m pleased.”

“Pleased about what?”

“That a day would come when we could share tea alone in your home.”

Ruben found her sentiment absurd. After all, she had made him her fiancé and forced him to stay here, achieving everything she desired. And yet here she was, pretending she never thought this moment possible. It made her seem almost pitiable.

“I’ve always wondered.”

“…”

“How you lived, where you spent your days.”

Her voice was wistful, as though recounting a distant, cherished memory. Though he found the notion repellent, her words made him feel oddly cautious, like one handling a fragile heirloom. It was ridiculous.

“So, this is where you lived.”

Even if only for a single day, she had sensed keenly—the affection, respect, and love his household felt for him.

He was adored like a god descended from the sun. She felt an inexplicable pang of jealousy.

To think he had lived surrounded by people who cherished and admired him suddenly seemed natural. He hadn’t come back to her after coldly turning away. The place she had remained had only grown more desolate each day. For one shining like him, such a place wouldn’t be fitting. It was only logical.

Only now did she realize how foolish it had been to drag him into her world and struggle to keep him close in her barren domain—how pointless her efforts had been.

Perhaps he already knew this—maybe that was why he left. No one, not even him, would want to be pulled into that darkness.

“Ruben.”

“……”

Ruben remained silent as if he had forgotten his own name.

He wished Helia wouldn’t call him like that. He didn’t want her to speak his name so tenderly, not with that voice, those gestures that reminded him of a distant past—one that instantly rose before him, blocking out everything else. He didn’t want her to summon those memories with her tone and movements.

Being around Helia tormented him in countless ways. These were relentless, bitter thoughts. Ruben continued to drink his tea repeatedly as if emptying his cup might finally allow him to leave.

“Aren’t you going to answer me?”

“I’m listening.”

“With all the time we have left, silence won’t do. Though I’m sure that’s unfortunate for you.”

Is that so? Ruben scoffed inwardly.

All the time in the world, she says? That couldn’t be further from the truth. He had no intention of letting this engagement progress to marriage, nor did he plan to keep it up for long. This wretched play would soon end, concluding with the only fitting resolution. His acceptance of the engagement and her arrival at his home were parts of the setup leading to that finale.

Ruben steeled himself, finding it the only way to quell his impulse to immediately storm out.

“Why don’t we have a little conversation?”

It sounded as casual as an invitation to a meal or a walk. But Ruben knew all too well that this would be the most challenging thing in the world.

“I really have nothing to say.”

“Is that so? I would think there’d be much.”

“……”

“For instance, why did you propose an engagement in the first place?”

Ruben let out a dry laugh.

“And if I told you I was curious, would you answer me?”

“Well, that depends on the question.”

Helia evaded smoothly, as expected. Ruben lapsed into silence once more.

“I have a lot I’m curious about with you.”

“……”

“For example, how do you feel about me being here?”

Does she not already know? Ruben found it absurd. Saying it felt like his sanctuary had been trampled upon.

This was the Effenberg Ducal Estate, a grand mansion in the capital gifted by the founding king, Arphon. It was also the only place untouched by his connection with Helia, which held childhood memories.

As a child, he lived in the capital, where he met Helia nearly daily. Except for those hours with her, he’d spent his days entirely within this estate. Visiting his lands only became part of his life after he and Helia had grown distant.

So this was the one place containing memories of his childhood that belonged to him alone. Apart from that, his entire youth was tied to Helia. Damn it all.

“I don’t understand why you’d be curious.”

“Why’s that?”

“Even if I am uncomfortable, it’s not as if you’d leave.”

After the words left his mouth, Ruben wondered if he’d gone too far. Yet, instead of a sharp retort, she only looked at him, her golden eyes gleaming in a way that unnerved him as though they saw right through him.

Helia chuckled softly, a low, unkind laugh.

“True. You’re right—I won’t leave.”

“……”

“I like it here.”

Her words were tossed out lightly as if she were mentioning something trivial she enjoyed.

A breeze swept by. Her red hair fluttered before his eyes, its color vivid against the blue sky, framing her faint smile. Although Ruben was sitting right before her, he felt she was in a place he could never reach.

“I’m not going back, Ruben.”

“……”

“So if you’re thinking of breaking off this engagement, you’d better let go of that thought. Once I set my mind on something, I see it through.”

Of course, he thought. Once she desired something, she would never let it go. Like a predator sinking its teeth into its prey, she’d never release her grip, regardless of whether the other was wounded or dying. He knew all too well of her insatiable greed.

A surge of resistance rose within Ruben.

“Are you so certain that nothing could ever break this engagement?”

At that, her golden eyes, which had been languid, suddenly sharpened, locking onto him with a look of astonishment as though she hadn’t expected him to challenge her.

“Yes. After all, I am Helia Bailey.”

“Don’t be so sure. Nothing is absolute.”

Helia scoffed, a wry laugh escaping her lips. Then she abruptly rose and looked down at him, her gaze more piercing than ever.

“Oh, but there is one thing that’s absolute—you’ll never be able to defy me.”

“……”

“Go ahead, try and rage against me. Let’s see if you can really drive me out of here.”

Ruben also stood abruptly. There was no reason to stay seated when she made it clear she wouldn’t budge.

“I’ll keep your words in mind.”

Ruben spat out his words as if he were grinding them between his teeth. The usually relaxed, clean-cut line of his jaw was now tightly clenched. His green eyes were filled with icy disdain, staring down at her. That contempt drove Helia mad.

*Smack.*

In an instant, Helia folded the fan in her hand and struck Ruben’s cheek.

Although the blow didn’t hurt—coming from a frail woman’s hand—the fact that a knight had been slapped with a fan, the emblem of a lady’s grace, was an insult of the highest degree. Even when disciplining a servant, one would never be so brazen. And indeed, it was even less appropriate for a woman to strike a grown man of dukedom. Helia, however, had an unmatched talent for humiliating others.

“How rude of you to look down on royalty.”

Ruben slowly turned his head forward, meeting her gaze. Her golden eyes, bright as the sun, shone with arrogance.

Helia lifted her chin and, with a flourish, unfolded the fan she’d used to strike him.

“What are you doing? Show some respect.”

She commanded him, lightly waving her fan.

Ruben considered the stiffness creeping into his shoulders, the rigidity in his posture that grew by the day, and what it all signified.

Without a word, he knelt before her, taking a flawless knight’s posture, his face as expressionless and unreadable as ever.

“I overstepped,” he admitted calmly, accepting his fault without resistance.

But even this displeased Helia. To her, it felt as if he were merely playing along, reciting words he didn’t mean. And that feeling was likely accurate.

“You lack sincerity.”

Ruben wanted to ask her when she’d ever valued sincerity. If she’d cared about genuine feelings, she wouldn’t have chosen as her fiancé the man who despised her most in the world. His feelings were never of interest to her. Like a child collecting dolls, she was set on possessing him. He was sick of it. Rightly so.

“It seems I’ve upset you. I’ll take my leave now.”

“Ruben Effenberg.”

Helia spoke his name in a low, warning tone. But Ruben didn’t stop.

“Rest well.”

Before she could give permission, Ruben rose and left without a glance back, as he always did.

Helia glared after him, fists clenched and trembling. In the empty room, only a hollow wind drifted through.

“I will never…”

Her voice, too faint for anyone to hear, trembled.

“I will never return to that place.”

Helia muttered quietly to herself, her voice resolute and low as if sealing an unbreakable promise.

For a long time, she stood there, staring at the spot where Ruben had vanished. The cool evening breeze brushed past her.