“I think I’ll have to ask the guild master to move my accommodation. I’m so uneasy here, sigh.”

“I’m sorry. I was distracted for a moment.”

As Helena regained her balance, Ian withdrew his arm. Helena stood up properly and faced him.

“There’s still some time until mealtime, do you always come out at this hour?”

“Hmm… Today I just happened to come out early. Actually…”

Ian acted like he had more to say, but then closed his mouth.

It was suspicious that the man who usually flowed like water was hesitating. But Helena remained silent until he spoke again.

Ian rubbed his eyebrows a few times with a somewhat embarrassed face, then brought his hand to his pants pocket.

When his hand came out again, it was holding a familiar object.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it prettier.”

Helena received it with slightly surprised eyes. It was the handkerchief she had lent him on the way to Dairon.

However, it looked a bit different from before. There was embroidery in one corner that hadn’t been there before.

Three wavy lines like the sea and above it… a crumpled…

“It’s supposed to be the moon, not a cookie piece.”

“…That’s right.”

Ian rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Helena lowered her gaze to the handkerchief, clutching it as if it were a precious treasure. And she repeatedly brushed her fingertips over the raised part, as if trying to feel the texture of the stitches.

“…It’s pretty. I’ll cherish it, thank you.”

A faint pink spread across Ian’s cheeks as he looked at her. It was clearly… just for a fleeting moment, like a gentle breeze brushing past those cheeks.

Ah, she smiled.

Helena, smiled.

Ian could now finally understand the countless classic lines about feeling a moment like eternity.

At the same time, he felt an endless longing.

A longing not to let those lips end with just a smile. A determination to capture her brightly smiling face with his own two eyes.

‘Is it natural to feel such longing every time I see you? Why am I…’

All the mixed emotions dug painfully into his true feelings, but Ian closed his eyes tightly. And he shook off his thoughts while pressing his temples.

Meanwhile, Helena realized that his hand covering his forehead had fallen victim to Lily’s doctor play.

The other hand was similarly covered with randomly placed bandages. It was a somewhat uncomfortable and exaggerated treatment for a needle wound.

Helena thought for a moment and looked back. The distance to her room wasn’t too far. Helena took his hand that wasn’t covering his forehead and pulled him along.

Ian snapped back to his senses at the sudden soft sensation enveloping his hand.

“What are you doing now…”

Helena held the large man’s hand with both of hers, examining each finger joint as she fiddled with them.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll fix it properly. It doesn’t look comfortable for eating.”

Helena looked up at Ian with a face seeking agreement.

Ian slowly nodded, and Helena now led the way holding his hand with one of hers.

A cool autumn breeze blew. Helena’s red hair, redder than autumn leaves, occasionally fluttered in the wind.

Ian looked down at the small round head leading him and felt the start of a new season in earnest.

But why,

‘Am I feeling hot?’

[This is the timeline separator]

After neatly finishing applying the bandage on his pinky, Helena closed the box containing the first aid supplies.

“You’re probably the only person who borrowed a handkerchief and returned it with holes in all ten fingers.”

“Actually, these wounds are hardly worth showing, so I feel a bit embarrassed.”

“A wound is a wound, why do you need to feel embarrassed about treating it? I see why Lily was so insistent.”

Helena stood up to put the first aid box back in its place. Ian also got up from the bed, following her.

But even though he opened the door and waited, Helena stood still next to the desk without moving further.

“You go first. I’ll follow soon. I just remembered something I need to do.”

Ian raised his dark eyebrows slightly but left obediently, saying not to be too late.

Helena sat at the desk with the handkerchief he had given her. And she took out a paper from the drawer that had been almost blank.

This time, she had something to write and a pen that wouldn’t dry out.

Helena picked up the pen she had borrowed from Gelda last night. A pen that Plum had made for Gelda, using his full craftsmanship skills. This pen had ink built in, so she could write without worrying about it running out before it dried.

Helena wiped off the clumped ink on the pen tip and wrote the first item.

[Things I want to do] [1. Go see the night sea.]

But after writing it, something felt a bit unsatisfactory. This was something she had already done at least once.

Helena thought for a moment and then tried inserting one more word in front of it.

[1. Go see the night sea with Camel.]

She had long known that Camel wasn’t his real name. He often reacted a beat late when called by that name.

But she had many secrets she couldn’t tell either. So maybe he would tell her someday when the time was right. Waiting was a very easy thing for her.

So she put down the pen and carefully folded the list that she was now satisfied with, putting it back in the drawer.

When she came out with the handkerchief, he was at the entrance of the opposite building. He pushed off from the wall he had been leaning against when their eyes met.

“I told you to go first.”

“Walking alone is no fun at all.”

Only when Helena was fully by his side did Ian start walking. It was a busy morning for everyone, so some guild members occasionally passed by them or crossed paths from the opposite direction.

But Helena felt strangely quiet. As if she and he were walking alone.

Whoosh-.

The breeze carrying the scent of the distant forest swept through the plane trees. Helena listened to the sound of colliding leaves and thought.

She was confident in waiting, she definitely was.

‘Why do I want to know your name right now?’

[This is the timeline separator]

Ian’s quarters in the guild were in Area 1, while Helena’s were in Area 2. So no matter how much he tried to create an attraction with Helena, they couldn’t spend the entire day together.

‘You know I have no intention of dying now, so what are you so worried about?’

Even as he was being dragged away by Plum along with Sakin, Ian still greeted her. Seeing him getting further away, Helena hesitated but waved her hand slightly.

But she quickly lowered it, feeling somehow embarrassed when Ian smiled even more brightly upon seeing her.

Helena looked around needlessly and then quickly turned her body to hurry towards her area. Then at a fork in the road, she ran into a guild member crossing over to Area 3.

It was a man carrying a large oak barrel on his shoulder. Helena stepped aside first to make it easier for him to pass. However, he remained standing still.

“A face I haven’t seen before…”

The man narrowed his eyes looking at Helena, then soon opened his mouth wide as if realizing something.

“So you’re that new princess they say joined recently!”

Despite his young appearance, perhaps due to his long guild life, his way of speaking felt seasoned.

Moreover, he blatantly looked Helena up and down, not realizing it was rude. But Helena didn’t feel bad about it.

His sparkling eyes were similar to those of a child seeing shiny, colorful candies for the first time in a general store.

“You look quite different from our kind, how did you end up flowing in here?”

“Things didn’t go as planned in life…”

“Hey, even your voice is like a princess’s. Well, our leader used to live upstream, so he has a good eye for people.”

The man’s words provided a clue to a small question Helena had been harboring inside.

‘Was Gelda… originally a noble?’

When she first talked with her, it was unclear, but she could feel it as it was repeated.

Unlike the people here who spoke with somewhat mixed dialects, Gelda had a fairly refined accent. It was just buried under her rough outpouring of words every time.

“Anyway, there’s no need to keep your back so stiff around here.”

The man cut into Helena’s thoughts. He wiggled his toes exposed in slippers on his bare feet as he continued speaking.

“Even our leader threw away all his old habits long ago, and everyone here cares most about minding their own business, so they don’t pay attention to others.”

“I wasn’t particularly conscious of-”

“Even if you were to walk on your hands, they’d just applaud and move on, so feel free to be yourself.”

Before Helena could deny it, the conversation was over. Instead, he pulled out an empty liquor bottle from the sack tucked under his arm.

Then he opened the cork of the oak barrel and started filling it with wine. The gurgling sound of the liquid falling was somewhat amusing. When the bottle was full, he corked it and handed it to Helena.

“This is usually the boss’s favorite wine that only comes out on special days, but I’m giving this to you as a welcome gift, so keep it a secret.”

As Helena reluctantly took the bottle, the man hummed a tune and went on his way.

The short black hair gradually receded into the distance. Helena also returned to her quarters, dazedly holding the liquor bottle.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Elder sister!”

Just as she entered the corridor, Lily, who had been standing in front of Helena’s room, greeted her happily.

Helena lowered her gaze as she inserted the key into the hole next to the doorknob.

“Did you wait long? If you had told me in advance, I would have come faster.”

“It’s okay, I didn’t wait long. But can I take a look inside your room, elder sister?”

Lily smiled innocently, her eyes sparkling. Helena opened the door and stepped aside slightly so Lily could enter first.

“You might find it more fun to look at the sky outside instead.”

“Come on, I see the sky every day, but this is my first time seeing your room. I find any place I’m entering for the first time interesting.”

Lily stepped inside confidently, as if telling Helena not to worry about her hesitant tone.

Lily first looked around and sniffed. Then she exclaimed with wide round eyes.

“Wow, you’re really neat, elder sister! Uncle Plum’s room smells like the socks I wear on rainy days.”

Helena followed her in. She put the wine bottle in the cabinet fixed to the upper part of the wall, then approached the window and opened it.

Lily, who had been closely observing her movements, asked while slightly raising her heels and walking diagonally across the room back and forth.

“How do you walk so lightly? Uncle Plum always walks like a bear with a sore back, but you seem so light that I can’t even hear your footsteps.”

Helena paused for a moment at those words. However, she turned around with a smooth connecting motion and watched Lily, who was still trying hard to maintain her balance.

“Not being neat and straight is…”

She thought about how to explain it in a way Lily would easily understand, then answered softly.

“Such things are bad, aren’t they?”