In This Life, I'll Assist You (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
“Is this a new assassination technique?”
The Grand Duke asked in his usual indifferent tone. I was truly flustered and quickly tried to get up, only to press down hard on the Grand Duke’s thigh as I jerked my body upright.
The Grand Duke’s brow creased ever so slightly.
“This too?”
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
I couldn’t lift my face. My mind wouldn’t clear.
“Is something the matter?”
Arcadia asked from outside.
“No, my new steward nearly tripped. Caught on the table.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Calm down, Arcadia. Or you’ll get indigestion.”
Arcadia fell silent.
After a long hesitation, a soft chuckle suddenly sounded—it was the Grand Duke.
“Are you well?”
At my desperate question, he replied,
“I’m fine. This much warmth isn’t even warm.”
He casually brushed off the soup that had spilled onto his shirt. Pale crimson stains had already seeped into the white fabric.
“I’m truly sorry.”
“Mm. Then shall we finish what we were doing?”
“Huh?”
“We should finish eating. Mobi will wonder whether I enjoyed my meal or not.”
“…Yes.”
“The soup is ruined… Shall we share the steak?”
“I’ll—I’ll do it.”
The Grand Duke’s insistence on sharing seemed unyielding. As his steward, it was only right that I move.
Carefully, I cut a very small piece from the steak.
“Sit.”
At the Grand Duke’s command, I pulled out a chair and sat—unfortunately, right beside him on his right.
I could feel the Grand Duke looking at me.
Of all places, I had sat facing the side where my face was disfigured.
For no reason, my mood soured.
To eat, I had to remove my mask. Just as I reached for it—
“Would you mind sitting on my left instead, if it’s not too much trouble?”
“…Thank you.”
I moved to the Grand Duke’s left side, the seat of honor.
I removed my mask and ate. The steak melted in my mouth—so tender it was unlike anything I’d ever tasted.
Contrary to what he’d told Arcadia, the Grand Duke asked me nothing further. Yet I remained tense.
Every so often, I could feel his gaze fixed upon my face.
Once, while eating dessert, our eyes met. His expression was unfathomable—his eyes deep and unreadable.
I quickly looked back down at my food.
After the meal, as I cleared the plates, I recalled Major Mobi’s earlier request for laundry.
“Your Grace, if you have any clothes that need washing, may I take them?”
The Grand Duke glanced at his soiled shirt.
He walked over to the bed, took out a fresh one, then turned his back to me and removed the stained shirt.
It was the same body I’d once seen displayed in the temple—a statue of a god.
Broad shoulders, sun-kissed skin, and taut muscles told the story of how he’d wielded his sword in battle.
Embarrassed, I quickly looked away.
He handed me the soiled shirt.
“Just this one, please.”
“Yes.”
I took the shirt and hurried out of the tent.
Outside, Arcadia stood tall beneath the moonlight. His pale skin, near-platinum hair, and green eyes locked onto me.
“Remember—I’m always watching.”
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
I bowed to him and turned away.
The Grand Duke’s shirt carried the scent of wind I’d once smelled in a rain-drenched forest at dawn.
Suddenly, I wondered:
“Is this the scent of the North’s wind… or merely the Grand Duke’s own?”
It was a comforting, yet strangely nostalgic smell.
[This is the timeline separator]The next morning, after staying up late doing laundry—something I’d never done in my life—
I awoke to clamorous noise outside.
“What? That patient brought from the South?!”
I heard people running.
A patient from the South?
My mind snapped awake. I hurriedly dressed, grabbed my mask, and dashed outside.
Almost at the infirmary tent, a beast-like roar reached my ears.
“You! Who are?! Go ‘way!”
It was the Yellow Caterpillar. He’d awakened!
I rushed into the tent.
“No!”
I froze at the sight before me.
In the center of the tent, the Caterpillar stood on two legs, swinging a sword to keep people at bay. Two knights and several soldiers pressed in around him, blades drawn.
“Don’ wanna die!”
“What’s he saying?!”
“His tongue’s been cut in half!”
“Huh… Aaargh!”
The Caterpillar raised his sword. Just then, someone brushed past me—Arcadia.
He drew his blade toward the Caterpillar.
“No! Caterpillar!”
In an instant, I ran between Arcadia and the Caterpillar, turning my back to the latter and spreading my arms to block Arcadia.
Arcadia’s descending blade halted just before my face. The Caterpillar’s sword struck my shoulder.
“Thank goodness.”
In his panic, the Caterpillar had swung the blunt side, not the edge. I staggered slightly but quickly steadied myself.
“What are you doing!”
Arcadia roared.
“You mustn’t kill him—he’s my friend, this Ayn.”
Arcadia stared at me incredulously.
“Step aside. He threatened injured soldiers.”
“I can’t step aside.”
“What?”
“Please… just give me a little time. Let me explain things to him. I beg you.”
After a moment, Arcadia sheathed his sword—the Caterpillar had dropped his weapon.
“White… Caterpillar?”
“Yes, Caterpillar. It’s me.”
I turned to face the Yellow Caterpillar. To calm him, I gently gripped his shoulders. He trembled like an aspen leaf.
“Wh—Where… am I?”
“This is the infirmary tent of the Northern Knights. You were killed by Lady Medea’s blade, yet you didn’t die. I found you abandoned in Rachel’s Grove, still breathing, and saved you. I brought you here to save you—and myself. His Grace Grand Duke of the North took us in.”
“……”
The Caterpillar looked confused. He collapsed onto the floor and gazed up at me pleadingly.
“Why… kill me?”
My heart ached for him. At the same time, fresh anger toward Medea surged within me.
“Lady Medea framed you for attempting to poison His Grace Grand Duke of the North.”
“…Why?”
He looked utterly bewildered. Then he reached into his mouth and touched his tongue. Slowly, shock filled his eyes.
I knelt before him on one knee.
“They cut out your tongue, Yellow Caterpillar—so you couldn’t say you were innocent. Because we’re just tools. You understand, don’t you?”
After a pause, the Yellow Caterpillar began to sob. I gently embraced him as he trembled uncontrollably.
“You’re alive now. So you mustn’t do this again. Understand?”
“Waaahh…”
“You’re safe here. Don’t worry.”
As I comforted the crying Caterpillar, I looked toward Arcadia.
He stood watching me, sword sheathed. And behind him stood Grand Duke Zion Belfast, his shimmering blue eyes fixed on me.
I spoke.
“He mistook this place for the South—still reeling from the shock of his near-death. Deputy Commander, please show him mercy.”
After a brief pause, Arcadia sheathed his sword fully and spoke.
“Your movements are remarkably swift.”
He referred to how I’d just intercepted him.
“Yes, I’m rather quick.”
At my reply, one of Arcadia’s eyebrows twitched.
“You caused a disturbance. I can’t let this pass so easily. Just because you fled the South doesn’t make you one of us in the North. You said before you’d prove your worth—remember?”
“Yes. Anytime.”
“After seeing your agility today, I think giving you a chance to prove yourself isn’t a bad idea. Are you prepared?”
“Yes.”
I straightened myself and knelt on one knee before Arcadia.
‘If only I’m accepted, I’ll do anything you ask.’
“It will be a tournament. Three bouts of swordsmanship. I’ll choose your opponents from among the soldiers.”
I bowed my head in agreement.
Just then, Grand Duke Belfast spoke.
“For the third and final match, may I ask that his opponent be a knight, Arcadia?”
“Hm?”
Arcadia turned to the Grand Duke, surprised.
“If he can’t defeat the first two opponents, he won’t reach the third anyway. So why not make the last one a knight—and a strong one at that? Our Northern Knights are the Empire’s finest.”
“Understood.”
When Arcadia bowed his head, the Grand Duke turned to leave. For an instant, our eyes met—his gaze unreadable.
Then the Grand Duke suddenly stopped, turned back toward us, and addressed the Yellow Caterpillar.
“I heard your homeland is the North—is that correct?”
He remembered my words.
The Caterpillar, now calmer, hastily wiped his tears at the Grand Duke’s call and bowed deeply, nodding vigorously.
“Is your name Caterpillar?”
The Caterpillar shook his head.
“No.”
“He says no.”
I interpreted his words and added,
“‘Caterpillar’… was just a careless name they gave to people like him and me.”
The Grand Duke said,
“Do you have a name? If not, may I give you one?”
The Caterpillar looked up at the Grand Duke of the North with tearful, grateful eyes.
[This is the timeline separator]I told the Yellow Caterpillar—no, the boy now named Yora, a year younger than me—only as much as I could about the Medea I knew.
Yora’s hometown, it turned out, was a frigid village far north of Grand Duke Belfast’s seat. Its name was Bern.
Fortunately, there was a wounded soldier from near Bern, who reached out his hand to Yora.
Gradually, the soldiers’ suspicion toward Yora softened into sympathy.
An orphan boy from Bern, wandering endlessly until sold to the South, where he endured life as a worm in Lahert’s castle.
Because of Yora, the Northern soldiers’ gazes toward me also grew noticeably gentler.
Yet Arcadia’s eyes on me grew sharper than before.
That evening, the Grand Duke didn’t ask me to attend him during dinner.
The sword match was set for the following afternoon.
After tomorrow’s duel, if they deemed me useful, Yora and I could join the Northern Knights and head north together.
“Stay strong.”
That night, Yora secretly encouraged me when we met again at the infirmary. Somehow, we’d grown close. He looked at me as if I were his elder sister.
On my way back to my quarters, I ran into Arcadia. He stood leaning against a great old tree, as if waiting, and straightened as he saw me.
“Estelle.”
“Yes.”
I stopped.
“I have a question.”
“Ask anything.”
“…Mobi told me you’re clumsy at cooking and laundry. Truth is, you’ve barely cleaned properly either, have you?”
Tense at his blunt question, I dodged it out of fear of what he might say next.
“…I’m sorry. Even in the South, I was scolded often for being clumsy at work.”
“You can be clumsy if you’ve never done something before.”
“……”
“Be honest. What was your real role in the South?”
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
They are deeply concerned and confused and hurt from the past….they just can’t overcome their fear from the past…it is deeply rooted…it will take time…in the mean time they are hurting each other…and Arcadia is also feeling twisted inside…what are all they can do…
This chapters sentences were really weird to read so maybe someone should proofread to verify. It was a lot of broken up words to complete a sentence. like they were talking on a radio.
why did we switch into caller her a he again. Does anyone Proofread. I love the novel but I really wish that you guys would pay better attention. I paid for this novel, I expect it to atleast be done correctly