Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: At Least Not from Your Mouth
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"Sorry for keeping you waiting."
"Never mind. It’s my fault for coming without notice. Don’t worry about it."
Helios shook his head at Dana as she set a teacup before him. The moment she took her seat across from him, Oilie claimed the spot beside her.
"Oilie? Didn’t you have work to do?"
At Dana’s words, Oilie glanced slyly at Helios before asking,
"Is it alright if I stay as well, Your Highness?"
"It doesn’t matter. I actually had something to ask you too, so this works out perfectly."
"Me?"
Oilie’s eyes widened round in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected that.
Helios turned to Dana, who was fidgeting restlessly while watching him and Oilie.
"Until the Merchant Guild Master arrives, I’d like to speak with this man alone. Could you give us the room?"
"What is this ab—"
"Oh come on, I do know manners, so don’t worry. You’re busy, aren’t you? Better head out quick. Didn’t you just complain about being swamped?"
Oilie cut in, interrupting Dana’s wary glance, and she finally rose from her seat.
Still worried, she kept stealing looks at him as she headed for the door.
"Then, I’ll be going."
Even as she shut the door behind her, Dana couldn’t tear her gaze away. Oilie met her eyes and flashed a warm smile. Now only the two men remained in the room.
"May I ask what you wish to know?"
Oilie boldly questioned Helios.
Did he forget the man before him was the Crown Prince? His shoulders, rigid with tension, suggested otherwise.
"If I offered you a fortune to switch jobs, what would you do?"
"Pardon?"
Oilie’s face twisted in clear displeasure, and Helios instantly understood why this man had met his end.
This was undoubtedly the Oilie slain by the Emperor’s hand.
"Are you telling me to betray the merchant group?"
"If that offended you, I apologize. Others speak highly of your talents, so I was curious how you’d respond."
Oilie stared silently at Helios, then seemed to sense his sincerity. His guard lowered slightly as he replied.
"I didn’t take this job for the money. And now that I’ve received such grace here, I have no intention of betraying it—not even a hint. Naturally, I’d refuse anywhere."
And yet, he was the Crown Prince. Those challenging eyes before him made it easy to see why the Emperor had eliminated this man.
"I see."
But that very fact satisfied Helios all the more.
His steadfast resolve to protect Esther, unchanged from past to present, appealed to him greatly.
It was also undeniable that having someone loyally guarding her side was a boon for Helios himself.
"This place isn’t just a moneymaker for the members anymore—it’s home itself. The young lady knew that, which is why she worked herself to the bone. She shouldered that crushing burden at such a tender age."
Unaware of Helios’s thoughts, Oilie laid bare his convictions without reserve to the man seated across from him.
"So it’s not just a job to me either. It’s a home with a family I love."
His tone was resolute and fierce, as if he wouldn’t yield even to the Emperor himself.
The more Helios watched, the more he liked him.
He barely suppressed a smile tugging at his lips before asking,
"Didn’t it cross your mind that your earlier behavior toward me could bring punishment?"
Oilie shook his head vigorously in firm denial.
"I’ve sworn to protect this place, and if there’s something worth protecting, I must find the courage. I don’t know why you’re seeking her, but she’d never do wrong. She’s not one to hurt others without cause."
"......"
Watching that unyielding stance, Helios regretted his actions.
This man, lacking the money or power he possessed, would have stood firm even before the Emperor.
No wonder the displeased ruler had swiftly removed him.
But what of himself? Despite having it all, what had he done?
Nothing. It was his failing—making excuses, shirking courage, idly watching her. He couldn’t even avert her death, shoving her into the abyss of despair.
"How can a man who doesn’t trust the one he wants to protect—and lacks courage—earn anyone’s faith?"
"......"
"That’s greed. Vicious greed."
Oilie’s words struck Helios like barbs, condemning him. But no excuses came.
As Oilie said, he was a selfish wretch who’d given her nothing yet demanded her trust.
"I’m sorry, Your Highness. I tried to come as fast as I could, but..."
Carter arrived exactly two hours after Helios’s summons. Panting hard as if to prove his haste, he sat and struggled to steady his breath.
"Never mind. His Majesty the Emperor’s word outranks mine."
Moments later, his breathing somewhat calmed from the effort, Carter cautiously addressed Helios.
"I heard you inquired about the young lady’s whereabouts. May I ask why?"
Carter’s piercing gaze fixed on Helios, brimming with unmistakable wariness.
"I have a message to deliver—one I must convey myself. Her location would help."
"......Is that an order?"
Helios’s lips curved at the loaded question, implying refusal to an imperial command.
"If it were, would you comply?"
"I would have to."
Yet those eyes staring back burned with enmity.
She’d turned the merchant group’s members into devoted allies. Anyone seeing her would fall under her spell—it’d be odd not to—and Helios didn’t mind that one bit.
"No, this is my personal request to you."
"......Pardon?"
"If I meant to force it, I wouldn’t have waited. I lingered to beg sincerely. There’s something vital I must tell her. I’ll ensure no harm comes..."
To meet Esther, he’d kneel before this man if needed.
Knees? He’d endure worse.
He yearned to see her now, barely restraining the urge to bolt there.
Helios clenched his jaw. With his authority, pinpointing her was trivial.
He’d briefly considered digging covertly.
But he shelved that path.
That cursed power had sundered them to this pass.
His own greed balked at wielding it again and stoking her hatred.
"I beg you."
Even for Helios, tiptoeing around his loathsome status grew exhausting.
Besides, post-revenge, he wanted nothing of this beggarly throne. The Emperor...
"......May I consult the young lady first and reply after?"
Carter extended his hard-won verdict to a scowling Helios, lost in bitter recollections. Helios could only accept.
"Very well."
No other options remained.
He knew his sole recourse: swallow her verdict, whatever it was, and atone.
"Then please return safely, Your Highness."
"I’ll await your word."
"I’ll send a letter."
Helios replied to Carter’s farewell and turned to drag his leaden feet away.
Had he not spotted someone leaping urgently from the carriage ahead, he’d have departed in silence.
"......Your Highness?"
Noel stood before him, face ashen, still in the same disheveled attire as Helios himself. The sight twisted Helios’s features viciously.
"Why is Your Highness at the merchant group? The engagement is still..."
"What?"
Helios surged forward with crushing intensity at those words. Only Noel caught his low growl.
"How dare you speak of that?"
"Do you understand my words?"
Noel’s impudent snap plunged Helios’s mood deeper. Without Esther, he’d thought it rock bottom—but evidently not yet.
"Answer me. Why can you even utter it?"
Gritting his teeth, Helios pressed. Undeterred, Noel pressed on.
"Esther... is she alive?!"
Helios seized Noel’s collar brutally, hauling him into a shadowed alley bereft of souls.
Confirming isolation, he released and snarled low.
"What do you remember?"
"You remember too, Your Highness. At my Marquis inauguration, Esther..."
Noel trailed off, clutching his head and slumping against the wall—frail, precarious. Irrelevant to Helios.
"You recall the past."
"Seems so. My dead father lives, it’s my twenty-first birthday banquet—absurdity..."
"......"
"No, forget that. ...Is Esther alive?!"
"How dare you speak it?"
Helios’s voice thundered with otherworldly rage as he yanked Noel’s collar, slamming him wallward.
"How dare you invoke her name...!"
Helios bellowed in fury, and torrential rain hammered from the heavens.
At the least, not from this man’s lips.
If he recalled his deeds, absolutely not.