Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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The mysterious man turned his head, perhaps because he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him.
He didn’t turn back completely, therefore she could only see a little bit of his side profile, but Helen immediately realized it.
He was really the man from the library!
“Excuse me!”
Helen hurriedly rushed toward the man.
She grasped the dress up to her knees with both hands and ran quickly.
The man, who she thought would recognize her and happy to see her, somehow hid behind the tree.
‘Is he avoiding me because he thought I abandoned him?’
Helen became cold, as if her heart was frozen at that moment. The sense of regret and guilt were entangled together and her heart ached as if it was stabbed by a sharp nail.
She had to apologize!
Without wasting any time to think, Helen ran behind the tree and confronted the man over it.
He was behind this tree!
She reached out to the tree and let out a deep breath.
Although she could barely pick up her breath, she stuck her head out slightly and wondered just in case if the man ran away from her at this moment.
She saw the man leaning against the tree.
“I-It’s true….”
Helen looked up at the man with eyes widened in surprise.
Helen grabbed the man’s arm and turned him around. She kept the man standing upright and checked on him.
The man was dragged along without any words and stood beside her.
“I mean it.”
Looking at the man in broad daylight felt like a dream.
Helen’s eyes slid over the man’s body.
“…….’’
He didn’t say anything. He only looked down at her while staring blankly at her.
The reason why she felt that gaze was colder than usual might be because she had done something terrible to him.
“…How did you get out of the library?”
Helen asked, trying to read him through his expression.
She probably would have teared up if she didn’t get any answer again this time.
However, the man smiled with the corner of his lips raised slightly.
It was not a starry smile as beautiful as usual.
It was a scary smile which had a slight sense of coldness and her heart nearly fell to the ground at that.
“I-Is it my fault? I-I’m sorry.”
Helen whined and apologized in front of him.
The man, who would have clung and hugged her almost immediately, showed no response at Helen whose face was wet with tears.
She was so embarrassed that she even put her face in both hands.
He must have been really mad at her!
Honestly, he had the right to be mad.
She said she would help him, but she ended up not going there for days.
Helen has yet to forget the warm energy she felt while exchanging light codes with a man.
‘I have to apologize. If I apologize sincerely, I’m sure he will accept it.’
Helen looked up at him.
She meant that she was about to look at him.
“Where did he go…?”
Her face was messy and wet because of tears as she looked around.
Surely, the man who was there just now had disappeared.
It felt like it was just a dream.
She looked around hastily, but it was obvious that the man had gone no matter how hard she looked for him, as if he just disappeared to the ground.
‘…Was… Was I dreaming? I really wanted to meet him….’
She was really frustrated. Even if she only touched and smelled him, it didn’t feel like an illusion to her.
However, the man who disappeared didn’t come back.
“W-What is happening….”
It was really confusing that she even slid down onto the ground while leaning against the tree.
Helen had to accept it when she had been crouching down for a while and buried her face between her knees.
“I miss the man so badly….”
She missed the man so badly despite the fact that she didn’t even know his name.
The way he smiled sweetly and comforted her not to cry anymore.
The way he treated her hands as if they were treasures.
Even the way he came to her side and said that he wanted to cling to her.
“I miss him so badly….”
Perhaps because she thought there was no one around, she was able to express her feelings easily.
She wanted to scream, but then the Emperor might hear and approached her.
‘Why is he locked up by the Emperor?’
He was a scary person. In fact, he looked scarier to see in person.
His shoulders were wide and his build was bigger than most knights, and it seemed like he would kill someone if he was really determined in doing it.
Moreover, Helen got goosebumps on the back of her neck and arms when she talked to the Emperor because of her cold voice and arrogant tone.
She was sweating profusely to the point that her body felt uncomfortable.
She was nervous even when she just imagined it, so she clenched her hand tightly until her vein protruded. She could feel her pulse fluctuating.
He was so different from the man.
The man was big, but wasn’t as scary as him.
It was obvious that the Emperor considered himself useless just like his father. Because she could tell that he was sarcastic even from the way he spoke.
She wondered how such a pathetic thing like her could become his concubine.
Now Helen felt even more down as she wanted to see the man.
Then she heard rustling behind the bushes. The thumping sound that sounded a little loud was similar to the sound of footsteps.
Did the man return? Did he become concerned about leaving her alone?
Helen quickly jumped up from her spot with a delighted face.
The man obviously would feel sad as well if she said that she was crying because of him.
“I’m alright…!”
Helen hurriedly spread out the bushes on her own accord.
It was because she feared that he would walk away again.
However, it was not him who appeared from behind the bushes.
A terrifying bear, which was also said to tear people apart, drooled while looking for food and turned its head in the direction of the sound.
The bear’s eyes flashed when it encountered the terrified Helen.
“AKH!”
Helen gasped in surprise as she tumbled backward.
She had to run away!
That thought dominated her head, but her frail body did not budge. Her legs were stiff as if they were immobilized.
She could barely take a step back with the support of her hands, but the bear was quicker to squeeze its head through the bushes than her who headed back in that way.
O-Of course the knights were going to protect her!
It was said there were knights standing over the fence, but they must’ve already left the fence to look for the man.
Helen saw the bear’s mouth drooling. The saliva that dripped down its legs was sticky and cold.
If she remained like this, she would be eaten up in no time!
Helen’s breath grew rougher as her jaw and lips trembled.
She was so terrified that she couldn’t even blink.
O-Oh, no!
When Helen didn’t move an inch, the bear approached her side easily like a predator who had already won in the hunt. Helen, who was going to be bitten on the head, almost fainted right away.
She got so panicked. Also, her breath was caught up in her throat again on that day.
Helen grabbed her chest with her hand as her eyesight turned hazy because she was unable to breathe properly.
If you lose your mind, you’ll really die. If she didn’t get a hold of herself, she would really die this time.
With a wry smile on her face, Helen quickly grabbed a handful of sand on the ground with her hands and sprayed it toward the eyes of the bear.
-Boom boom!
The bear made a loud noise while throwing a fit.
She almost died right after being stepped on by the huge foot of the bear, but fortunately, she was able to escape from it. It was because she hurriedly took a step backward.
In a rush to get out of the bear’s menace, she held on her troublesome dress and began to run without looking back.
-Boom boom.
Helen’s heart beat erratically as the bear’s footsteps that followed behind her shook the ground.
-Boom boom boom boom!
Helen ran like her life depended on it, but then she saw the bear’s shadow overlapped the shadow of her body.
Ah, she was going to die like this.
There was nothing she could do with the bear, the beast of the mountain.
Sensing that she was going to be dead at that moment, Helen closed her eyes tightly. The lantern flashed across Helen whose eyes had been closed.
The first day she met Ellie, the days when Ellie cried because of her as she looked cute just like a rabbit, and the days when she met the man in the library and being comforted by him.
She just missed Ellie and the man so badly.
‘Come to think of it, I don’t even know his name.’
At the moment of her death, that truth was really unfair to her.
Boom!
It fell on the ground with a loud noise.
Helen, who was sure that the bear would attack her, couldn’t even think of opening her eyes. If she opened her eyes while it fell on the ground, she was afraid there would be a bear with big teeth revealed over her head.
Her body might be ripped apart into pieces with its sharp claws.
Helen couldn’t open her eyes as her body trembled at the chilling imagination.
“How long are you going to be like that?”
Then she heard a certain voice.
‘Is it already dead?’
Did the bear also kill her in a gentle way?
While she was thinking so, she heard that irritating voice once again.
“Were you really thinking about dying? Surely, you’re going to die after provoking the anger of a quiet bear.”
Only then did Helen open her eyes out of surprise.
He said that it was a quiet bear despite it obviously licking its lips while looking at her. Helen was slightly offended because she did try her best to get away from it.
However, the opponent was ferocious, but he was the savior who had saved her.
Helen expressed her gratitude while trying to bow down.
“Thank…….”
If the person she saw as soon as she got up wasn’t the Emperor who was dressed in his uniform and veil that covered his face.
As soon as she looked at the Emperor, Helen stiffened just like that.
Her heart began to beat faster. Now she couldn’t even breathe because she felt sick.
“!”
And just like that, Helen swiftly toppled forward.
The Emperor, who caught Helen as she accidentally fell into his arms, spit out a short ‘Huh?’.
No one could tell that she was like that because of him, right?
Carmun parted the veil that blocked his view with his long finger and watched Helen who collapsed toward him with a pale face.
His face was darker than when he saw the bear.
When she encountered him while seeing a bear and thought about how to run away, she toppled forward as if she was meeting a grim reaper.
What was he supposed to think in this situation?
Until earlier, he was pleased when she was able to recognize him as the man. He smiled in delight.
She seemed so bewildered that he burst out laughing.
‘I definitely enjoy this so much.’
He guessed she didn’t know the true nature of the person who she liked until now.
Though it was understandable because he had never shown his face publicly.
The Emperor held Helen in his arms with one hand and pulled out the sword stuck from the bear with his other hand.
The woman was so light that he didn’t even think that she ate well. He had expected it because she seemed short and small, but he didn’t expect she would be this light.
The bear’s blood splattered all over the place as well as the sword.
He couldn’t even wipe off his sword. He couldn’t abandon Concubine Edith, so he just gave up halfway and put the sword back in the sheath.
‘His skills have definitely improved.’
He didn’t even train that much, but his skills kept getting sharp, perhaps because of him who practiced it at night.
That was his one and only advantage.
The knights came as they were late in recognizing the commotion.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
An emperor covered with a lot of bear’s blood all the while holding a woman in his arms.
Even in my opinion, Carmoon frowned at the strange painting. Even when he thought about it, Carmun scowled at the bizarre situation.
He was annoyed at the way they made useless excuses.
“I saved a concubine because she was being chased by a bear.”
The knights’ eyes moved briskly.
This was because it was entirely the knights’ responsibilities to set up fences and protect the outside.
Moreover, they were late to notice that a commotion had occurred, and had no idea that the concubine had passed over it.
Their fault was caught directly by the most powerful individual within the Empire.
‘I-I f**ked up!’
The knights, who had just been knighted, felt like hearing the sound of a firm twist in their path.
In fact, the Emperor looked like he was in a bad mood.
The Emperor stood up before the knight who was one head smaller from him and kicked him in the shin.
The beaten knight wasn’t able to scream and bit his lips with a muffled groan.
Carmun’s ferocious swept through the knights.