Chapter 32 – 032. Rescue Request (3)
After the story, it was time to leave the library right away.
While walking down the hallway, a girl who came to the library saw Eunhyeon, Eleanor, and Helena Hubie with a dumbfounded expression.
“… Uh?”
“Erin? What’s going on at the library?”
“Well, I just came right after class…”
For Erin, the place at the school called Aether was a very uncomfortable place.
The reproaches and ridicule accompanying the bullying of the children of the aristocrats at every opportunity were eroding her heart little by little, and since Eun-hyeon was the only one she could rely on now, she had unconsciously visited Eun-hyeon.
“That child…”
Seeing the young girl with blue hair, wearing her school uniform as if she were still a student, Eleanor was able to guess who the girl was at once.
Erin, the girl who had the attention of the two women, including Helena, stood there with her bewildered expression on her face as she didn’t know why she was looking at her.
Soon after Eleanor bowed her head to Helena and expressed her intention to excuse herself, Erin moved her steps towards her.
Seeing Eleanor getting closer to her, Erin’s shoulders, who didn’t understand her, shrank even more.
“This must be the first time you see me like this.”
“Uh… Do you know me?”
“This may be the first time you’ve seen me like this, but I’ve seen you once.”
Eleanor, who had seen the girl asleep in the tree of wishes once, took a deep breath as if she was a little nervous.
She meets Erin’s puzzled eyes and gaze and opens her mouth.
“I am Eleanor Armitas, the princess of the Duke of Armitas.”
“Ah…”
The moment she heard the words ‘Duke of Armitas’, her Erin eyes widened.
She didn’t know what to say, so when she opened her mouth and stared at Eleanor in silence, Eleanor spoke again to Erin.
“Erin, I wanted to talk to you.”
Erin just stood there blankly as she looked at the woman who suddenly introduced herself in the hallway and asked for a conversation.
The moment she heard her name, Armitas, her mind went blank and she couldn’t think of anything to say.
After staring blankly at Eleanor for a while, Erin barely regained her senses and immediately fell into her troubles.
‘What should I answer? You want to talk? What conversation? Come now? Now? Why? Why? Who is the one staring at you from behind?’
Seeing Erin’s confused expression as the thoughts raced through her head, Eleanor noticed that her Erin wasn’t really thinking about her, startled by her introduction.
The moment she had once again had her talking to Erin.
“Wait a minute. Princess.”
Eun-hyeon intervened in the middle of thinking that there was nothing she could do about it.
“This child is also in a bit of a confusion right now, and the princess must be busy preparing for that matter right now. Why don’t you arrange a proper place for her later?”
“That… Whoa, that’s right. I think I was too sudden. It seems that I found this child without thinking and hurriedly started talking.”
“Ah… Yes…”
Erin still couldn’t hide her puzzled expression.
Contrary to what Erin had imagined, the princess of the Armitas family was very polite and dignified.
Erin, who knew the inside story of the case, knew that the attempt to assassinate her was carried out at the discretion of the Duke of Ashton, the successor of the duchy.
Even though she knew that the woman in front of her was an unrelated incident, an unknown core remained in her heart.
When she unexpectedly met the person of the duke, Erin, who was not yet ready, was not able to properly cope with the confusing situation.
Eunhyeon’s mediation was like salvation to Erin.
“However, since this opportunity has arisen in this place… She had something to say. As the daughter of a duke, I suffered great harm due to problems in my family. I’m really sorry.”
“Oh, hey, that…”
Erin, who put her hands together and bent her back, bowed her head, and received her sincere apology, was even more embarrassed.
‘Should I forgive? But why? It was someone other than the princess who did the wrong thing. Why does this person have to apologize? This… No.’
Erin felt that Eleanor’s current apology was very unreasonable, and she began to get angry for some reason.
“Why… Why are you, the Princess, apologizing… ?”
Eleanor lowered her bowed head back and cast her gaze downward with a bitter expression.
Because she understood the meaning of Erin’s words.
She hated this situation so much that Eleanor, who was not at fault and had no connection, had to apologize to her.
“It’s true that the duke’s family did the wrong thing… It’s not what the princess did! Why did the princess… ! Awesome!”
As Erin tried to fill her eyes with the emotions and tears she had been holding back, Erin felt a hand wrapped around her shoulder and the moment she looked behind her in surprise, she saw Eunhyun shaking her head. He groaned softly, unable to follow her words.
Even if it wasn’t Eun-hyeon’s actions, she was self-aware of Erin as well.
The reason Eleanor makes her apologies and apologizes to herself is that she is making her apologies as an individual, as a daughter born into a ducal family.
There was another man who had to bear the name of the duchy and apologize as a representative.
Erin probably assumed that he would never appear in front of her and apologize.
“Mi, I’m sorry… She didn’t mean to be angry with the princess…”
Seeing Erin wiping her tears with her sleeve, Eleanor smiled bitterly.
“No. Are you okay. Rather thank you.”
Rather, Eleanor was comforted by Erin telling her why you were apologizing for what your half-brother did to her, not her fault.
The guilt she had in her heart felt a little relieved.
“Later… I hope we can talk together when the opportunity arises.”
“Yes…”
Erin nodded her head weakly, and she accepted Eleanor’s imminent invitation.
“Thank you.”
Eleanor said her goodbyes to Erin and returned to Helena Hubby’s side.
“That child.”
“Yes.”
“Not even pitiful.”
When she heard the full story of the Baron Hersha June incident in Eleanor and her duchy, she felt sorry for Erin, who became the only survivor.
She gave the impression that it was surprising that she turned down the offer even though she was able to receive support from the Duke of Armitas as Eunhyeon’s duke.
And I was curious about Eunhyun’s intention to take care of Erin behind her.
For better or for worse, now Erin Hersha has become an object of careful observation in Helena’s mind.
◆ ◆ ◆
“I don’t know how long it will take.”
“Well, I guess.”
“I made a rough dinner. Be sure to feed Erin.”
“Okay.”
“I want you to watch the training if possible. You don’t have to tell me what to do, just monitor whether or not you complete the set amount of training.”
“I got it.”
“Be sure to warm up your body by stretching before and after training…”
“Ah! Got it!”
Illyana screamed with a look on her face that she wouldn’t listen any more.
“Would you leave your daughter and go on a business trip? I’ll take care of it, just go! A little!”
‘It’s nagging until you go. Seriously,’ Eunhyeon smiled bitterly at Illyana who clicked her tongue and nodded her head.
“Go carefully. Don’t get hurt.”
“You look like a mother seeing off her son on a business trip.”
“Are you kidding me? What about her child’s mother, at least the child… Tsu, don’t talk nonsense and come and go quickly!”
Eun-hyeon left her house, being seen off by Illyana, who blushed and shouted at her.
Afterwards, while waiting quietly near the duke’s mansion, Eleanor came out of her mansion, and Eun-hyeon carefully observed Eleanor, who came out with her equipment on and ready.
“Hmm…”
“What, what?”
“Because I think I have better equipment than I thought.”
In fact, Eleanor’s equipment was a luxurious design of greaves that shone with silver light, and the staff made of old wood in her hands contained an unusual amount of divine power.
Eun-hyeon seemed to be able to see some basis for Eleanor’s confidence that she would follow her.
Even so, the cumbersome thing to carry around did not change.
Eleanor frowned as if she didn’t like what she said.
“Don’t ignore it. Since then, he has been on expeditions as a priest.”
“I know. In fact, among adventurers, a priest named ‘Flower of Pernin’ is quite famous.”
“Don’t call me by that name!”
Eleanor didn’t seem to like her own nickname in her adventurer’s guild.
Among adventurers, the job of a priest who is in charge of restoring and maintaining the party is a very rare job.
Normally, in order to get help from the priests, it would be possible to request cooperation from the ‘Temple of Vesta’ located in the sacred country of Bestia, a friendly country, but it was very rare for an individual priest to talk to the adventurer’s guild on their own.
Moreover, it was well known through word of mouth among the adventurer’s guild that the person in question, the priest, was a young and beautiful young lady and the daughter of a ducal family.
“Even the duke raised her daughter to be very strong. As for her two sons, she sent her daughter on an expedition to experience the outside world.”
As expected, it was an education policy worthy of a ducal family that valued ‘martial arts’ as he held the position of general manager of the country’s military sector.
“Do you know your father well?”
“No. I don’t know. Yesterday was the third time I’ve seen you.”
“How did you find out?”
“The atmosphere of asking questions is a bit reluctant.”
“How did you know about our family’s secret source, the ‘Holy Sword’?”
“Are you interrogated?”
As Eun-hyeon walked toward the castle gate, she looked at Eleanor, who was asking her questions, with an annoyed expression.
With the two of them alone, Eleanor was ready to ask Eun-hyeon all the questions she had been thinking about until now.
“At least I can tell you in this part. No. I need to hear it. It’s something that should never leak out. Tell me how you knew about our family problems.”
“It was just speculation.”
“Guess?”
“Currently, the hot interest among the nobles in the Kingdom of Fernias is the competition between the royalist faction and the noble faction over who to crown prince, between the first and second princes. I guessed what factors could make the second prince supported by Duke Armitas stand above the first prince.”
“…”
“If the 2nd prince holds the holy sword, at least he will gain not only fame and honor, but also military power, securing some legitimacy. . In the process of raising funds in various ways to restore the holy sword, I think that he was planning to steal the gold coins using Baron Hersha…”
Eunhyeon looked at Eleanor, who was walking with a hard expression on her face as if she had hit the right mark, and continued.
“Did my imagination go too far?”
“Brother Ashton… Did you ever think that he was thinking of taking the gold coins for self-interest?”
“Even dukes have a lot of money. Besides, I know, Ashton, that he didn’t do that to make himself happy. Because he has the image of an aristocrat among complete aristocrats who are united by a desire for honor, pride, and an inferiority complex rather than a desire for wealth. It’s absurd that he, as a small duke, did such a thing just to get a compliment from his father, the current head of the duke’s family.”
It was a trivial matter, such as the common lack of affection.
It was even very pitiful that his single act alone had gotten things twisted to that point and made many people avoid it.
Eleanor looked at Eun-hyeon, who knew not only the circumstances of her own family, the family of the Duke of Armitas, but also the personalities of her family members, with her tense eyes, and asked.
“Where the hell did you get that information from?”
“Um, that’s it.”
Eunhyun put on a slightly worried expression and then opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.
Eleanor was also gulping her saliva, nervous not knowing what answer would come out.
“It’s a trade secret.”
