Chapter 5: It became a northern anti -aircraft

‘She needs me, huh.’

I reiterated my point, frowning at the Duchess, who was still smiling sweetly.

“You don’t have to force a smile.”

“Not at all. I’m genuinely happy, that’s why I’m smiling.”

Helena, as if she had intentionally steeled her face, was now laughing openly.

The dejected look she had just moments ago was nowhere to be found.

‘Was it all an act? I didn’t think it was. At least, her crying when I first saw her seemed real.’

‘Which face was real? I couldn’t even tell anymore,’ I let out a hollow laugh.

“Duchess, could you please repeat what you just said?”

“I asked if you would marry me.”

It seemed I hadn’t misheard after all.

Forcing myself to maintain a poker face, which had been broken countless times in front of Helena today, I said with a wry expression.

“I don’t particularly appreciate such ill-mannered jokes.”

“A joke? I’m quite serious. It’s not just a marriage, it’s a contract marriage, but do you truly have no intention of going through with it?”

“Of course not. Why would I? A contract marriage, that’s ridiculous.”

‘What is this world, a romance fantasy? A contract marriage, my foot. No, come to think of it, it is a romance fantasy world, so perhaps it’s not so strange.’

‘As expected, that woman knows something I don’t.’

I was certain.

Regaining my composure, I crossed my legs and rested my chin on my hand.

Then, I slowly asked Helena.

“What benefit would I gain from marrying the Duchess? In fact, I have no need to marry at all right now.”

I am the Grand Duke who holds everything in the North, and she is merely a Duchess by title.

There was almost no benefit for me to gain from her.

‘What, an alliance with the Duke Celestia? I wouldn’t take that even if it were offered.’

As for an heir, I am still young, so it doesn’t matter; when the time comes to have children, it might sound a bit blunt to say, but I can simply choose a suitable spouse from among the noble young ladies and marry them.

There were rumors that nobles nowadays preferred love marriages, but for now, arranged marriages were still far more common, so it wasn’t strange.

Moreover, my life was too busy right now, so I had no desire to take a wife.

‘…If I weren’t a noble, or at least not a Grand Duke, I would have wanted to date freely,’ I thought, thoroughly hiding my true feelings.

However, what bothered me was Helena’s expression.

She hadn’t lost her composure at all.

On the contrary, the look on her face, as if she had expected this much, was what troubled me.

With an utterly serious expression, Helena straightened her back and spoke clearly.

“Your Grace.”

“…What is it now?”

“Aren’t you aiming for the throne?”

“The throne?”

‘Me?’

Almost showing a dumbfounded expression at Helena’s words, I composed myself and suppressed the laughter threatening to escape, then spoke to Helena.

‘So that was what she was banking on.’

“Duchess, it seems there’s some misunderstanding.”

This time, Helena showed a bewildered expression for the first time.

Pleased with her expression, I curled my lips into a slight, satisfied smile, causing Helena to look blank.

“I have absolutely no intention of aiming for the throne. It’s hard enough to rule this North; how could I possibly govern the entire Empire?”

“W-what? B-but…!”

“Oh, and by the way, if that remark hadn’t come from you, it would have been grounds for execution for treason. So watch your words.”

As I made a gesture with my finger, as if a head was falling from a body, Helena’s face turned pale, and her lips trembled.

‘Was that a bit too much?’

I tilted my head, wondering if the Duchess had been drinking on her way here or if she was truly insane, then smiled.

Now, the Duchess and my positions had completely reversed.

Though, I had been the ‘alpha’ and she the ‘beta’ from the start.

“As an adult, I’d offer some advice: it’s better to be a little more careful when you speak, Lady Helena, lest your head be severed in a single moment of carelessness.”

However, Helena, making my advice moot, clenched her teeth and denied my words.

“Lies.”

“It’s not a lie, Duchess. I have no interest in the Emperor’s throne.”

“I’m acting quite rationally right now. That’s why I came to see Your Grace. I can help you…!”

“No. Right now, the Duchess is truly rude and emotional.”

“If I had even the slightest intention of seizing the throne, I could do so at any moment, even now, without your help.”

As I said that, crossing my arms with a cold, hardened expression, the color truly drained from Helena’s face.

‘Why would I need the throne when I’m not even of the Emperor’s bloodline? Ah, but my grandmother was the Empress Dowager, so I suppose I could be considered a Prince.’

Whether she truly realized I had no interest in the throne, Helena kept muttering, “This isn’t right…” and fell silent.

Watching Helena repeatedly open and close her mouth as if she had something to say, I felt inexplicably stifled, so I slowly nodded, as if telling her to continue.

“Why do you think I’m aiming for the throne, Duchess? Did you overhear something somewhere? That the Grand Duke is aiming for the throne?”

It was not fitting to say this to a woman who was nervously biting her lip, barely able to breathe, but I had to hear it.

Because if there were such rebellious elements, the relationship between the Emperor and me, which had only just improved, could sour.

“Your Grace, don’t you wish to free Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, your mother’s mother?”

‘What is that suddenly about?’

As I showed a considerable degree of surprise for the first time, Helena smiled with satisfaction.

“Duchess… how do you know that? Of course, I want to.”

Indeed, my wish is for her to spend the rest of her life in a warm resort rather than in this North.

I had recently looked into resorts and gotten smacked on the back by my grandmother, but how did the Duchess know about that?

I hadn’t told anyone.

At my answer, Helena quickly continued.

“But why did you say you weren’t… aiming for the throne?”

“His Majesty the Emperor isn’t letting Her Majesty the Empress Dowager leave the Imperial Palace, is he?”

“To keep Your Grace on a leash…!”

It was all true.

It was all true, but why was she bringing it up now, after all this time?

Duke Celestia wouldn’t have told her, surely.

When I looked at Helena with a bewildered expression, she seemed quite flustered.

It was as if her face was saying, ‘This isn’t right.’

I sighed and said to Helena.

“I don’t know how you know such a top-secret matter, but the Emperor using my grandmother to keep me on a leash was years ago.”

“Huh…?”

“Some time ago, I beheaded the king of the barbarians, that is, the former king, at the Emperor’s command, and when I brought his head before the Emperor, he went absolutely wild.”

There, when the Emperor asked if there was anything I wanted, to name my reward, I succeeded in getting a promise to secure the freedom of my grandmother, the Empress Dowager.

‘…I absolutely did not threaten the Emperor with force.’

‘Though I did subtly raise my sword and alternate glances between the Emperor and the barbarian king’s head, that was by no means treason.’

‘Of course not. I’m a loyal subject, and I even made a knight’s vow that I would never bite you unless provoked first.’

‘If he can’t even grant that when I’m fighting barbarians and savages for free, then he’s not an Emperor, he’s a cheapskate.’

‘Now that I think about it, the Emperor might have been sweating slightly on his forehead back then.’

‘He muttered something about me being a crazy colt, I think.’

Recalling the faces of the Emperor and the Crown Prince, I became needlessly annoyed, and I deliberately gave Helena a mischievous smile.

“She’s sleeping in that room over there; would you like to see her face before you go?”

As I pointed towards the room where the Empress Dowager, my grandmother, was sleeping and asked, Helena weakly shook her head, her face looking half-soulless.

I now felt a little pity for Helena, who was staring blankly into space with a dazed expression.

But if there was nothing left to say, this meeting was over.

Because I had no more information to hear or gain from her.

“Is that all, Duchess? I had some expectations since you claimed to know the past and future of several people, but are you just a fraud after all?”

“…No! Truly, it’s not like that!”

Only then did she seem to regain her senses, and I paused when I saw tears gathering at the corners of Helena’s eyes again.

‘Did I make her cry?’

—Sniff.

Sob.

Pondering what to do, I decided it was better to convey a genuine sentiment than to offer insincere comfort, so I sighed.

Then, I used the handkerchief she held in her hand to wipe away her tears.

“…”

Glancing at Helena, who had suddenly fallen silent, I continued wiping her eyes and opened my mouth.

“I am content with my current life. Duchess, I like this North. Others may consider this land cold and abandoned, but to me, this North is a precious homeland.”

How could I not love the land where I was born and raised?

When I thought of the people living here and my vassals, such cold was nothing.

“The past and the future, sometimes it’s more beautiful not to know them.”

“…”

“Duchess, why exactly are you so determined to marry me?”

Helena hesitated at my question, but ultimately revealed a truth she couldn’t keep to herself.

“It’s more frightening because I don’t know it. While I know the future of others, I don’t know my own future.”

Her face, as she spoke of her future self possibly dying, looked more pathetic than anyone else’s.

“Your Grace, do you truly have no intention of proposing to me?”

‘…While she is indeed a foxy woman.’

Her appearance was so pitiful that I couldn’t bring myself to look away.

Despite it having nothing to do with me, and despite there being no benefit to marrying her, somehow, the more I looked, the more I couldn’t pretend not to care.

‘Still.’

“No. Besides, aren’t you currently engaged to His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince?”

“Ah…”

I had no hobby of stealing other men’s women.

I watched Helena let out a small sigh and shook my head.