“……You don’t really know what a joke is, do you?”

Helena asked with a crinkled brow, but Ian casually resumed walking. He appeared nonchalant, even after making such a cheesy joke.

Well, it takes a certain level of shamelessness to say such blatantly nonsensical things. Helena, gripping her bag strap tightly, followed behind him.

“So, where are we going?”

“Just walking.”

“Without a destination?”

“Isn’t it boring to walk only when you have somewhere to go?”

“What a thing to say.”

Helena frowned again, but Ian seemed unperturbed. After almost resigning herself to the situation, she followed him as they walked along the coastline, eventually sitting on a bench overlooking the sea.

He tied her arm to the bench armrest with a complex knot and briefly left. It was a precaution to prevent Helena from jumping into the sea again.

Returning a few minutes later, he held two steaming cups of coffee.

Helena awkwardly accepted the coffee he offered. Ian didn’t miss her expression.

“Do you not like coffee? I can get you something else.”

“No, it’s not that. Just… it’s been a long time since I’ve had it.”

Helena wasn’t sure if she liked coffee or not. There was no coffee in Evergail.

Eugene, suffering from insomnia, would import all sorts of teas but never touched coffee. Conforming to his tastes, Helena naturally avoided coffee.

She even stayed away from it at social gatherings or parties, as if drinking coffee would make Eugene disdain her.

Helena tilted the cup to smell the coffee before taking a sip. Considering it was from a street vendor, it was surprisingly sweet.

Coffee wasn’t just bitter, after all. Recalling Eugene’s scowling face, Helena took another sip.

Ian sat silently beside her, enjoying the sound of the afternoon waves. They maintained a comfortable distance, simply existing together.

As the waves began to mix with hues of crimson, Ian stood up.

“Shall we buy dinner and eat at the inn? Is that okay?”

“Why ask if you’re not going to do what I want anyway?”

“I can do anything as long as you don’t try to run away.”

“Then I want nothing.”

“Then I can’t offer anything.”

Helena’s brow furrowed noticeably, but if Ian were the type to care about such things, he wouldn’t have stayed by her side.

No matter how much she insisted on being alone, someone needed to be with her.

Leaving someone standing on the edge of a cliff alone meant they might fall. Ian knew this from the moment he first saw Helena.

Taking Helena back to the shopping district, Ian scanned the surroundings. He soon spotted an old woman guarding a street stall and left Helena with her, going into a shop to order food.

Helena sat next to the old woman with a displeased expression.

‘I’m being treated like a child left by the water.’

She didn’t feel like pushing the old woman aside and running away, so she sat quietly.

While resting her chin in her hands, watching the sunset-streaked streets, she noticed a box full of quinces.

The box was right next to her, so Helena, following her impulse, picked up a quince.

‘……Eugene also liked quinces preserved in honey.’

The thought of that man naturally came to her mind, perhaps due to the sweetness of the coffee.
Helena realized every moment that saying goodbye didn’t mean it was over.

After all, if a single phrase could erase 20 years of marriage, she wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.

She looked intently at the quince and then put it back in its place.

At that moment, a man roughly grabbed her wrist.

“You ruin the fruit and now you’re trying to run away? Either pay up or don’t touch them in the first place!”

The man, seemingly the fruit vendor, was rough. Helena rummaged through her bag, but there was no chance she had any change.

The man’s lips twisted into a cruel smile as he watched her.

“What, no money? What will you do now, miss? But if you just talk with me for a bit, I can let you have it for free.”

His thumb slid disturbingly over her wrist. The feel of his coarse skin was repulsive, like bugs crawling on her.

Helena jerked her arm away in a sudden move. Unfortunately, in doing so, she accidentally struck the man’s jaw.

His face flushed with anger. A nearby old woman, restless with concern, pleaded with Helena.

“Miss, it’s no good to provoke a man like him. Just apologize and get out of here.”

However, Helena remained unmoved, her expression questioning.

Why should I? Apologize for what? Why bother trying to defuse this situation?

Because.

“Why be afraid… It’s unfair, isn’t it?”

Her murmured defiance made the man explode in rage. He lunged at her and grabbed her throat.

“You’re mocking me? You want to die?!”

Pressed against the wall, her face reddened from the chokehold.

One might have expected her to cough or struggle, but her blue eyes remained unchanged.

They were numb, like a deep, still ocean where everything has sunk.

“Can you kill me?”

“What?”

“Do you want me to die? So, can you, kill me?”

Helena managed to gasp out the words despite her lack of air.