The two of them ate dinner at any restaurant they saw and headed to the inn.

This time it was an inn located in a slightly outlying area. The room was on the very top floor. It was clearly visible, but Helena followed silently.

From the start, he didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding it. As soon as they entered, he grabbed the doorknob again.

“Do you have some kind of disease where you have to break one door a day?”

“Don’t worry. I’m paying double for it.”

Helena sighed at the answer that missed the point.

“I won’t run away.”

“And you won’t try to die anymore either?”

“…”

This time Ian sighed.

“I hope you realize that not tying you to the bed is my maximum mercy.”

In the end, the doorknob was crushed.

He quietly approached her and untied the knot he had tied in the morning, taking her cape. Placing it together with her bag in one place, he sat Helena on the bed.

“You must be tired, rest.”

Though his tone was flat, it was always gentle as usual. Ian lay down on the floor familiarly like yesterday.

The darkened room was filled only with the sound of their breathing. Helena sat still, blinking. As she did so, she saw the change on the table.

It was what remained after paying for dinner and the inn. No more gold coins came out of his possession.

Helena muttered towards the large back lying down.

“You don’t even have money to meddle anymore.”

At that moment, a loud cry from outside cut through.

“Maaaaster! Where on earth are you!”

It was so desperate that it sounded like a death cry. Helena’s consciousness naturally drifted to the window.

Meanwhile, Ian got up and approached the window, closing it with a rather stern motion as if to cut off the attention.

Then he turned to her and said,

“There’s no need to worry about that either. I just found a report I had forgotten.”

Helena thought for the first time that his face looked a bit wicked.

Flap. Flap. The pages turned rapidly one after another.

Despite working frantically for several nights, the mountain of paperwork hardly seemed to diminish.

Eugene finally threw down the unfinished approval documents and leaned back in his chair.

“Hah…!”

The gesture of running his hand through his black hair was quite rough. Thinking that even this annoying situation was due to Helena’s absence made him even more irritated.

To think that the whole mansion was in an uproar just because one person disappeared.

The various administrative tasks that Helena had been in charge of took up a considerable portion. It was the result of her doing her best so that he could focus solely on external affairs.

Why hadn’t they hired more people? When he pressed the head butler Gordon, the answer was that the madam had opposed it, so there was nothing they could do.

“He may seem to do everything in one breath, but he’s always fighting with his life on the line. In contrast, all I can do is these things… It may be far from enough, but I want to understand Eugene better this way. The Grand Duchess also wants me to prove my qualifications.”

An implicit sacrifice carried out under the guise of the role of madam. Even so, she didn’t utter a single word of complaint.

With so much work taken on alone, one would think she would ask for help or at least make a light show of it, but she didn’t.

“I haven’t been sleeping well lately, so I’m feeling a bit under the weather. I’ll go to bed first.”

She would only occasionally leave the dinner table early, saying she was tired.

And what did he say at those times? He seemed to have sarcastically reproached her, asking if hopping from party to party was really that tiring.

‘What a foolish woman. Not even able to say such a thing properly… Damn it.’

Her past actions that kept flashing by were increasingly suffocating him. Eugene couldn’t stand it anymore and got up from his seat. There was a place he usually went when he wanted to clear his head.

Or more precisely, a person he met.

‘…It’s been quite a while since I visited the villa.’

Eugene recalled the first time he met Natasha as he mounted the saddle.

The inevitable coincidence occurred a few months ago in the middle of the Verat Forest. Chasing after game deeper than usual, Eugene encountered a pitiful yet beautiful woman.

Honey-like flowing blonde hair and deep green eyes. Her trembling appearance, like a terrified rabbit, was enough to make him lose sight of his prey.

“Please spare my life.”

She looked quite ragged, having wandered the rough forest paths for a considerable time. Feeling pity for her earnest pleading, Eugene took her to his villa.

Originally, it was a villa he had intended to gift to Helena once it was completed.

But he couldn’t just take Natasha to the Grand Duke’s residence out of the blue. So he intended to let her stay at the villa only until she recovered her health.

However, contrary to his initial resolve, as weeks and months passed, Eugene couldn’t bring himself to send Natasha away.

Not only did Natasha always make various excuses to hold him back whenever he tried to bring it up, but Eugene himself didn’t particularly want to part with her.

“Your Grace is my benefactor who saved my life. Please allow me to stay by your side to repay your kindness.”

Was it out of sympathy for a woman who said she had fled from a fallen kingdom, or because she reminded him of Helena whom he had pulled out of the slums?

Eugene found himself increasingly drawn to her.

However, he shouldn’t cross the line. Eugene was trying to visit the villa less frequently.

Perhaps there was also a bit of stubbornness. The stubbornness to not recall you without covering it up with Natasha.

Nevertheless, the clingy feelings like melted wax were not easily shaken off.

Especially at times like now when Natasha drooped her eyes and trembled her round shoulders.

“Your Grace, if you formally accept me, I won’t have to live in hiding anymore. I won’t need to be chased around anymore. I won’t have to spend sleepless nights fearing someone might come to drag me away. Finally, such a daily life could come to me.”

Perhaps because it had been a while since he visited the villa, Natasha clung to him more desperately than usual. Maybe she had instinctively sensed the subtle change in his feelings.

“Please save me, Your Grace. Don’t leave me alone. Only you can lift me out of this pit…”

It was truly a pitiful sob. Enough to make anyone want to embrace her the moment they saw her.

Moreover, the teardrops that fell with each blink of her eyes were as transparent as glass beads.

Like the protective coloration for an animal’s survival, it was an instinctive posture that stimulated the desire to protect.

The usual Eugene would have held and comforted her while handing her various jewels. Or readily answered that he would take her as his mistress.

“…”

However, the current Eugene couldn’t say anything. Helena’s afterimage kept circling in front of him.

Then Natasha tried to stop her tears and grabbed Eugene’s hands.

“I, I’m not asking shamelessly without reason. I’ll try to become someone necessary for Your Grace. Despite how I look, when I lived in my country, I helped my father with the administrative work of our family. Although he’s passed away now…”

Emotions welling up, her large doe-like eyes filled with tears again.

“…Natasha.”

Finally, Eugene reluctantly offered his handkerchief. Natasha took it and wiped her tears, smiling faintly.

“Your Grace is truly so kind…”

The moment he faced that smile, Eugene felt his chest tighten as if someone had grabbed the nape of his neck.

Even feeling slightly dizzy, he had to squeeze his throat to open his mouth again.

“I’m not as good a person as you think.”

“No, Your Grace is truly a good person.”

A soft yet firm voice fell. A small ripple arose in Eugene’s heart.

It felt like receiving absolution for his past actions that he had been ruminating on all day.

Natasha didn’t stop and burrowed even more intimately into that gap.

“Even if that’s not the case, the fact that Your Grace is my benefactor remains unchanged. That’s why I want to be of even more help.”

“…It won’t be an easy responsibility.”

“I don’t mind. Just entrust me with any task. I’ll do my best.”

“…”

Eugene rubbed his temples and fell into thought for a moment. Certainly, he had been wishing for someone to fill Helena’s vacancy.

Hoping that it would lessen the annoying thoughts plaguing him.

Wondering if he could cut off the incessant memories of you, even a little.

‘Anyone will do, I need to forcibly push someone in.’

Coincidentally, a considerable amount of administrative work had piled up. Since she said she had experience in family management, if he instructed Gordon and the aides, he wouldn’t have to worry about trivial matters anymore.

In fact, it would have been enough to hire more vassals, but such thoughts were quickly erased by Natasha’s scent that suddenly enveloped him. She also needed to learn responsibility through this opportunity.

Having made his decision, Eugene extended his hand to Natasha.

“Let’s leave here now, Natasha. From today, you are my person.”

Natasha’s white fingers settled on top as if they had been waiting. She smiled brightly like a pear blossom blooming on a moonlit night.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

As dusk began to settle on the street.

Dion felt inexplicably eerie and rubbed his arms.

‘Ugh… How did I end up here.’

While wandering around looking for his master, he had somehow ended up in a deep alley, not knowing where he was.

It was unspeakably gloomy, to the point where even if someone died overnight, it would be fortunate to be discovered in the morning.

He hurriedly moved his feet to get out of the alley. Just as he was about to turn into the shopping district after walking frantically.

“Oof.”

He collided hard with someone who was just entering the alley. Usually, he would have just let it go, but being quite mentally and physically exhausted, his temper flared up. Now that the main road was right in front of him, there was nothing to fear.

“Watch where you’re…!”

However, the anger that had boiled up subsided immediately. Seeing who he had bumped into, Dion unconsciously took a step back. A lightning-fast change of attitude was a bonus.

“…going. I should watch where I’m going, haha. It was a self-admonition.”

The man wearing a black robe pulled low was quite tall and had a solid build. It seemed like he could be crushed without even leaving bones if he messed with him wrongly.

Dion quickly muttered and moved away from him.

“Excuse me, then I’ll be on my way.”

The man in the black robe nodded slightly and quickly disappeared. Left alone again, Dion let out a deep breath.

“Whew, that took ten years off my… Huh?”

The hand stroking his chest suddenly stopped. Something was wrong. His chest felt too light, far too light.

The weight that always pleasantly pressed down on his chest was gone. Dion hurriedly took off his outer garment and shook it vigorously.

A half-empty cigar case, communication device, crumpled paper wads, and miscellaneous trash fell out. But the most important thing was missing.

‘The money pouch!’

And not just any pouch, but one full of gold coins. He had deliberately put the gold coins in a shabbier pouch, but somehow only that was taken.

Dion slid down against the wall. It seemed he was indeed destined for a short life.

Meanwhile, Ian returned to the inn in good spirits, having completed his harvest. He had been a bit worried as it took longer than expected to find Dion.

And unfortunately, his intuition proved correct.

As soon as he opened the door, Ian’s complexion turned pale.

‘No.’

Helena was gone.