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

Helena frowned and questioned, but Ian leisurely started walking again. He seemed unfazed after casually uttering such an embarrassing joke.

Well, one would have to be that shameless to say such nonsense. Helena tightly gripped her bag strap as she followed behind him.

“So where are you going?”

“Just walking.”

“Without a destination?”

“Isn’t it boring to only walk for the sake of going somewhere?”

“What nonsense.”

Helena frowned again, but Ian paid no mind. He led the almost resigned Helena along the coastline and sat on a bench overlooking the sea.

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

A few minutes later, he returned with two steaming cups of coffee in his hands.

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

“Do you perhaps not like coffee? I can go change it for something else.”

“No. It’s not that, just… It’s been so long since I’ve had it.”

Helena couldn’t tell if she liked coffee or not. There was no coffee in Evergale.

Eugene, who had insomnia, would import all kinds of tea but never touched coffee. Naturally, as Helena adjusted to his preferences, she also came to avoid coffee.

She stayed away from it even at social gatherings or parties outside the Grand Duke’s residence. As if drinking coffee would make Eugene dislike her too.

Helena tilted the cup and sniffed it briefly before taking a sip. Considering it was from a street vendor, it was sweet enough to be palatable.

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

Ian also sat down silently beside her, enjoying the afternoon sound of waves. They just remained like that, maintaining an appropriate distance.

Eventually, as crimson began to mix into the waves, Ian stood up.

“I was thinking we could buy dinner and eat at the inn. Is that alright?”

“Why do you ask when you won’t do what I say anyway?”

“I can accommodate everything except your desire to run away.”

“Then I have no requests.”

“Then I can’t grant anything either.”

Helena’s brows noticeably furrowed, but if Ian was the type to care about that, he wouldn’t have stayed by her side until now.

No matter how much she insisted on being alone, someone had to be beside her.

A person standing on the edge of a cliff would fall if left alone. That much he could tell from the moment he first saw Helena.

Taking Helena back into the shopping district, Ian looked around. Eventually, his eyes fell on an old woman sitting and guarding a street stall.

He entrusted Helena to the old woman and entered a shop to order food.

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

‘He’s treating me completely like an abandoned child.’

But she didn’t feel like pushing the old woman away and running, so she stayed put obediently.

As she rested her chin on her hand, watching the scenery of the street as the sun set, she saw a box full of quinces.

Since it was the box right next to her, Helena absent-mindedly picked up a quince.

‘… Eugene liked honey-preserved quince too.’

Perhaps due to the coffee from earlier, thoughts of that man came naturally.

Helena realized every moment that saying goodbye doesn’t mean it becomes a goodbye.

Well, if twenty years of time could be erased with just one word about divorce, things wouldn’t have come to this point.

Helena stared blankly at the quince before putting it back in its place.

At that moment, a man roughly grabbed Helena’s wrist.

“Are you trying to sneak away after ruining the fruit? Either pay for it or don’t touch it in the first place!”

The man, who appeared to be the fruit shop owner, was rough. Helena, forcibly pulled up, rummaged through her bag, but there was no way she had any change.

Seeing this, a mischievous smile spread across the man’s face as he watched Helena silently.

“What, no money? What are you going to do, miss? But if you just have a little chat with me… I could give it to you for free.”

The man’s thumb subtly rubbed Helena’s wrist. The feeling of the rough skin friction was horrible.

It felt like an insect crawling, and Helena suddenly pulled her arm away. But her luck was bad.

In the process of just shaking him off, she ended up striking the man’s chin.

The rugged face immediately flushed red and blue. Fearing he might explode in anger, the old woman nearby anxiously pleaded with Helena.

“Miss, there’s nothing good in provoking that person. It might be unfair, but just apologize roughly and get out of here.”

But Helena didn’t budge. Rather, only the old woman turned pale and clung to her. Helena only felt confused.

Why should I? What’s the point of apologizing? Is there any need to try to smooth over this situation?

Because.

“What is there to be afraid of… You must feel wronged.”

At the softly dropped murmur, the man finally exploded. He rushed forward without warning and grabbed Helena’s neck.

“Are you mocking me now? Do you want to die?!”

Helena’s face turned red as she was pinned against the wall and her neck was squeezed.

Normally, one would at least cough, but in contrast, her blue eyes remained unchanged.

They were as numb as a dark blue sea where everything had sunk.

“Can you kill me?”

“… What?”

“You asked if I want to die. So, I’m asking, can you, kill me?”

Even as she gasped for breath, Helena forced out words.

The eyes desperately holding death when she should be begging for her life were quite out of place.

The man hesitated at the strangely twisted atmosphere. It was not an energy he could handle.

“W-what, what a crazy…”

The strength in the arm squeezing Helena began to fade. If left alone, it would have fallen by itself, but Helena didn’t let go.

“I’ll stand still right here. Please, kill me.”

Helena grabbed the man’s arm and pressed it even harder against her neck. Terrified as the situation took an unexpected turn, the man tried to step back.

But before he could even twist his body.

Bang!

The man’s upper body was suddenly slammed onto the stall beside him.

“Aagh!”

The man let out a groan and flailed his arms wildly. All the fruit boxes were smashed, and the fruits that spilled out rolled everywhere, getting crushed.

Ian was pressing down on his neck just as the man had done to Helena moments ago.

Every time the man stupidly resisted, he applied more force to his pressing hand. The groans grew louder with each press.

“Aaaargh! W-who are you!”

The man struggled to raise his body but couldn’t move an inch. It felt like an iron bar was wrapped around his neck, not a person’s hand. All he could do was tremble pathetically like prey caught in a trap.

It was clearly a person dealing with another person, yet why did it look like hunting? Helena pondered with her mind still hazy from lack of oxygen.

Ian, his face still unruffled, took out a cloth bag from his pocket and turned it upside down to empty it.

Gold coins clinked and poured onto the man’s head. The sound of hard metal hitting nose and jaw bones echoed dully.

“This should be more than enough payment.”

“Kuh, keogh…! Who are you?!”

Ian leaned down, completely blocking the man’s airway with another firm press.

He whispered something in the man’s ear, and the man turned pale, nodding his head repeatedly.

Then Ian removed the hand that was choking the neck. The man desperately gasped for air, coughing continuously.

Ian grabbed Helena’s arm without looking back. After briefly thanking the old woman who had been supporting her, he left the street.

No one followed them. People who saw the gold coins rushed towards the man. They were desperate to grab even one more for themselves.

“G-gold coins!”

“Waaah, move aside!”

It was truly chaotic. The man had to scream at the top of his lungs once again in the middle of that commotion.

Ian kept walking without stopping, holding Helena’s arm.

His strides were so large and quick that Helena had to almost run to keep up.

He only stopped when she started letting out gasping breaths. As if Helena’s rough breathing had put a brake on his feet, Ian came to an abrupt halt.

He slowly turned around in the sunset-bathed street. Perhaps due to the setting sun, his usually soft lavender eyes looked slightly reddish.

Though an unfamiliar pressure was felt, Helena knew he couldn’t harm her. She just knew it instinctively.

So she spoke in a calm voice.

“I could have handled it myself.”

“I’m sure you could have.”

“Really. I didn’t need your help. See, my voice is fine. It wasn’t squeezed that hard.”

And I don’t understand why you’re angry. She swallowed the last words.

After a moment of silence, Ian slightly lowered his head and released Helena’s arm.

It was the first time he averted his gaze first, so Helena could fully take in his expression.

“… I would have done this anyway.”

An unreadable expression.

Though it was she who had been choked, it was he who spoke in a choked voice.

Ian raised his head again, brushed Helena’s hair over her shoulder, and cupped her neck with his palm.

Then he gently rubbed the slightly swollen area with his thumb. As if trying to erase the traces left by the fruit shop man.

Was the sunset covering the street too strong? Helena still couldn’t read his expression.

Ian withdrew his hand and was about to turn around when he added:

“But if something like this happens again, please call me right away. I’ll handle it without causing a commotion so you don’t have to worry.”

He started walking ahead again. The pace was much slower than before. Helena followed behind the broad back, thinking.

Why should I, what right do I have? Will there even be a next time for you and me?

Numerous questions arose, but she didn’t bother voicing them. It was obvious that no one could give answers even if she asked.

Helena shifted her gaze from the man’s back to his hands. They were empty. It seemed he had thrown away the packed food and rushed over. For some reason, she felt stifled.