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Chapter 90
Helene ran without thinking.
She had no idea how far she needed to go or how long she had to keep running.
Once her tangled thoughts settled, her wildly rushing steps would probably stop on their own.
To think that Blaine had confessed…
“To Blaine…”
Helene recalled the contents of “Wangongan” that she had read when she was still Yena.
Blaine appeared from Part 2 of Wangongan.
Even among fans who were already split into pro-Duke and pro-Crown Prince camps, Blaine’s appearance had been shocking.
A war orphan, yet a self-made man who could turn the impossible into reality—the male protagonist had arrived late, but his popularity rivaled the two main male candidates.
Helene had always thought that Blaine was the true male lead.
Blaine and Angelina were to meet at the debutante ball.
That was today.
Realizing this, Helene felt raindrops fall onto her face.
She realized she had somehow ended up outside the palace, in the garden.
She had been so distracted that one of her feet was even bare.
“Damn it! I lost a shoe…”
But going back wasn’t an option either.
At that moment, she heard someone approaching, and Helene crouched down and hid by the bottom of the stairs.
Blaine, who had been chasing her, picked up a single red shoe lying outside.
How burdensome must his confession have been for her to leave behind a shoe and run like that?
Blaine smiled bitterly.
Just then, thick raindrops fell at the most inconvenient timing.
It felt as if the heavens were teasing him, making him laugh because he couldn’t even cry.
“…Excuse me.”
At that moment, someone called to Blaine.
Princess Angelina of Herbient, with her hair as radiant as sunlight and eyes sparkling like a summer lake.
This was the first time she was facing the so-called angel of the empire, Princess Angelina of Herbient, in person.
“Yes?”
Blaine replied.
“…Why are you standing there in this rain?”
Curious, Angelina held out her palm to feel the raindrops again.
The drops fell steadily, soaking Blaine’s dark cerulean tailcoat even more.
A few steps forward would have taken him to the palace’s pergola to shelter from the rain.
“…It will rain wherever I go.”
The man spoke strangely.
Angelina immediately recognized him.
A coldly handsome man with ash-tinted dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Blaine Diark.
As the world’s wealthiest tycoon and eccentric, it was no wonder that even in Herbient, most knew of his hundreds of business ventures.
Seeing him standing outside the palace in the rain and speaking oddly, he seemed to live up to his reputation as a serious eccentric.
He didn’t seem to have any intention of returning to the palace.
Angelina could have ignored him and gone back inside, but curiosity got the better of her.
“…The ball is still in full swing. Are you leaving?”
He really was strange.
Every man she knew would fall in love the moment they saw her.
They would do anything to steal even a single word from her.
But he looked at her without the slightest interest, replying curtly.
“…Yes. Is there a problem?”
Blaine asked with an expressionless face.
His oddly polite tone made him even more irritating.
It was as if he were asking, out of courtesy, whether there was some other reason.
Angelina had to admit it—this man had no interest in her.
Helene crouched lower as she watched Blaine and now Angelina emerge from the palace.
Finally, Princess Angelina had met the new male lead candidate, Blaine.
The two seemed to recognize each other and were already talking.
Helene recalled their meeting from Wangongan.
Blaine, who disliked social events, had tried to sneak out the back, only to be questioned by Angelina:
“Are you leaving while the ball is still going on?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
Unlike other men who had always shown interest in her, Blaine’s lack of attention piqued Angelina’s curiosity.
Blaine, who had never cared for women, gradually found himself drawn to the angelic Angelina.
Angelina, seeing that he never asked her name, introduced herself first:
“I’m Angelina.”
“I’m Blaine.”
Helene stood on the stairs, quietly reciting their lines.
It was one of her favorite scenes, one she had replayed many times.
Perhaps, in this moment, everything was falling into place.
Surely, Blaine had mistaken his feelings for Helene as love before meeting Angelina.
Now that he had met her, he would fall in love with Angelina, just as in the original story.
So why did a pang of sadness hit her chest?
“…Is it because he’s my favorite?”
Helene let out a hollow laugh.
Blaine had been her favorite male character since he appeared in Wangongan.
Though he appeared later than the others, he quickly became a leading male candidate due to his charm.
A cold-hearted man, yet a pure-hearted lover who would cherish only one woman—she had hoped he would end up with Angelina.
“It really could happen…”
Helene laughed bitterly to herself.
If Blaine and Angelina ended up together as she had hoped, Liriana would pair with the Duke, and Jaina with the Crown Prince. She felt no joy in that thought.
Even after Blaine and Angelina left, Helene remained at the bottom of the stairs, dazed.
One by one, the palace lights began to dim.
The long yet short summer night ball was coming to an end.
In the dark dawn, Jaina lay in bed, unable to sleep.
When she had cut Phimos’s neck, it had clearly been with some power, not just a sword.
Jaina couldn’t forget the surge of power in her palm, and she wondered what it was.
After some contemplation, she concluded: “I can’t figure it out on my own.”
She would need to talk to someone.
Speaking with the royal knights might seem like showing off her ability. Liriana could listen, but lacking knowledge about swords, she might not give objective advice.
Considering that, there was only one person left.
And of all people, it had to be that person.
Jaina pouted at the thought, but finally closed her heavy eyelids.
She had a strange certainty that this person would provide the right answer.
“Orene.”
When morning came, Jaina cautiously brought up the topic to Helene.
After thinking carefully for a few minutes, Helene gave an answer that made Jaina secretly cheer.
“Of course!”
Jaina had suspected it, but hearing it confirmed still left her slightly confused.
Though she had never properly learned swordsmanship, she had used the ultimate sword skill—Aurra.
Trying countless times afterward, she could never reproduce the same sensation.
Believing it truly to be Aurra only made her more frustrated.
Her desire as a swordswoman surged.
She wanted to use Aurra again, no matter what.
Seeing Jaina’s expression, Helene suddenly had a thought and gave a meaningful smile.
