Chapter 13: Unspoken Terms

“Recovered that fast?”

Helentine braced her hands behind her on the hard bed, shoulders lifting in a light shrug. Her expression was casual.

“I thought you’d start whining about things like, ‘How did Liana become like this?’ or ‘Does Liana not like me anymore?'”

“That kind of talk is useless.”

Landon took off his clothes, leaned out the window, and shook them to get rid of the dust. Only then did he dare bring them back inside.

“If saying those things would help Liana, I wouldn’t mind whispering in your ear every minute of every day. You just might not be able to stand it.”

“True.”

Helentine smiled, an unreadable smile on her face.

She seemed to be looking at Landon, yet also not looking at him.

Given how she had just watched every move he and Liana made, she was probably observing humanity from above, like a researcher studying ordinary people.

“But there’s one thing I really don’t get.”

Watching Landon walk from the window to the bed and finally pull a sleeping bag out of his pack at the foot of the bed, Helentine flopped onto the mattress and asked.

The old bed creaked in protest at Lady Helentine’s rudeness, but she ignored it and kept staring at the boy who was preparing to spend the night there.

“Ask.”

Landon had no reason not to answer her questions. She was the person most likely to help Liana and Whispering Town. And Helentine always had a way.

She acted idle and indifferent, but at heart she was kind.

He didn’t know what had happened while she secluded herself to study runes, what could have erased her social sense and ethics. But at least the Helentine here still held some curiosity about humans.

“Why did you two look so awkward just now? Not like strangers, more like you were forcing yourselves. It was weird.”

“Normally, wouldn’t a reunion after so long be tearful and happy? And from what you said, your relationship with Liana isn’t bad, right? Childhood friends on the verge of something more. So why did it look so strange?”

Helentine had been watching from the window, frustrated. Why not hug her? Why not say sweet things like in those popular Imperial Capital stories about men and women?

Why the silence? Why the hesitation? Why separate like that in the end?

She had many questions and hoped Landon, the one involved, could answer for her.

“Because I’m afraid of becoming a burden.”

It would have been easy to brush her off with “I don’t know.” Helentine was curious, but she wouldn’t press forever. She would back off.

But Landon was like an open book in front of her.

Sometimes he wondered if she had drugged or hypnotized him. Ever since Griffin, he always blurted out what he wanted to say, and things he shouldn’t say.

Helentine frowned and thought, ‘She really did hypnotize him.’

On the side Landon couldn’t see, her fingers kept tracing runes on her thigh. Runes that made her seem kinder and more reassuring to others, a new product born from magic and runes combined.

Along with the spells she had tested on Landon before, “amplify inner thoughts,” “true feelings exposed,” “obedience,” and “rebellious disciple against his master,” Landon was now more like her pet.

‘Magic is amazing.’

Of course, she didn’t actually treat Landon as a pet. He was something more special.

With so many buffs, why did you still show kindness to Olivia? And why did you still keep Liana in your heart?

That shouldn’t be happening.

Landon knew none of it, of course.

“A burden?”

Helentine was curious.

“If she asked, I would probably pluck stars or the moon for her. She knows that too.”

“So you know she thinks that way, and that’s why you won’t directly offer to help?”

“She knows I think that way too, so she won’t put me in a difficult position. We both know what the other is thinking, so we just don’t say it.”

Landon finished arranging the sleeping bag and tossed it beside Helentine’s bed.

She was lying across the bed, so wherever Landon slept, he would inevitably touch her legs.

He reached out to straighten her body, grabbing her calf and trying to swing it aside, but it didn’t work. Like a roly-poly toy unmoved by wind and rain, she put both legs back in front of him.

There was no other choice. He would have to make do.

Helentine’s feet lightly landed on Landon’s chest, stepping on him without hesitation.

Landon glanced over and saw her curl her toes twice, as if tickling him.

‘Would they smell?’ That was his only thought.

“What? I washed them with magic.”

She couldn’t see Landon’s face, but she could roughly guess his thoughts. Helentine grumbled and lifted her foot to step on his face, but Landon caught it.

The calluses on his fingers and his broad, rough palm made the sole of her foot itch. But his warm body heat traveled through. Her cold feet felt a little better.

“You two are way too complicated. Can’t you just be direct?”

Helentine’s hand finally stopped tracing runes. She didn’t need them anymore.

She was afraid Landon would find fault with her feet, so she added another spell to make them smell better.

Landon let go and allowed her small feet to rest on his chest.

“Liana is proud. She used to be the mayor’s daughter, a scholar, my aspiration. Now she’s disabled and depressed. She won’t ask for help on her own.”

“And you?”

“I left when she was at her brightest. I was absent when she suffered most. Now that everything has settled, I come back to pity her?”

Landon answered with self-mockery.

He didn’t think Liana would see it that way. But even if there was a one in ten thousand chance, he didn’t want her to see him as a hypocrite.

Maybe she had written many letters. Maybe she had hoped Landon would return. But he only came back when nothing could be salvaged.

“I understand your thinking, but I can’t understand it.”

Helentine had secluded herself for too long. When she emerged, a century had passed. Everything around her had changed, including human ethics and values.

She also thought she had broken during those endless cycles spanning more than a hundred years.

“Anyway, is there really a way to help Liana and Whispering Town?”

After a moment of thought, Landon added Whispering Town.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t there be?”

Helentine chuckled.

“But you’ll have to agree to two things.”

“Tell me.”

“First, don’t forget why you left here and went alone to the Imperial Capital to study.”

“Second, you have to guarantee Liana won’t get in the way of our plan. Otherwise, I’ll kick you out.”

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