Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 

 

Actually, Helen hoped that the man would not hear her say thank you.

 

It was a trivial thing, and she didn’t want him to know that she was touched by every little thing.

 

She hoped that the man would see her a bright and warm princess.

 

“Here we are.”

 

The man called Helen, as if they had arrived somewhere.

 

“It’s the door.”

 

It was on the opposite side of the door Helen had come in.

 

“Perhaps this is closer to the Emperor’s Lion Palace.”

 

“Lion’s Palace?”

 

“Oh, I mean the main palace. It’s the palace where the emperor resides.”

 

“Ah… I think the emperor locked me up.”

 

“Huh…!”

 

“Why are you so surprised?”

 

The man said nonchalantly.

 

He didn’t even seem to know what he had done wrong.

 

“If the others hear, you will be punished for insulting the emperor.”

 

The man’s ears hurt from Helen’s nag.

 

“This man is really…!”

 

“Don’t give me that headache, just look at this.”

 

The man tugged on Helen’s arm, making her move a little closer to him.

 

Helen stood next to the man and stared at him.

 

He reached out to grab the door handle.

 

As soon as his hand touched the door handle, there was a strong spark and the wind blew.

 

The wind even sent the books stuck in the bookshelf flying.

 

‘So that’s why he kept me close.’

 

The man gripped Helen tightly with his right hand.

 

Her hair fluttered as she shook.

 

“Ugh.”

 

Helen heard a groan sound.

 

She saw now that his left hand was cramping as it gripped the door with each flash of light.

 

“What are you doing!”

 

Helen yanked him away in surprise.

 

The man finally released the door handle.

 

With a whoosh sound, all the sparks disappeared.

 

“Wha…what is it?”

 

The man repeatedly squeezed and stretched his left hand that held the door a few times.

 

His muscles were still trembling slightly.

 

“This is why I can’t leave the room.”

 

“…”

 

“You believe me, don’t you?”

 

“….”

 

If Helen didn’t see it with her own eyes, she didn’t think she would believe him.

 

The man grabbed the doorknob and a bolt of lightning came down, and the wind blew at the dead end.

 

So he showed it to her.

 

“But you’re hurt, aren’t you?”

 

“I will be fine tomorrow.”

 

There were many strange things about the man’s body.

 

The library, which was so messed up that it always reset itself when he passed out in the morning, and his own body, which was stabbed with a blade, were back to normal.

 

If Helen hadn’t come, he would have thought he was living the same day over and over again.

 

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

 

The man asked calmly.

 

“Now is the time to worry about me? What’s about your hand? How are you?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

The man hid his left hand.

 

He didn’t seem to want to show it, but Helen clung to his arm.

 

“Oh, let me see it quickly!”

 

“What are you going to do when you see it?”

 

“If you’ve been badly injured, you need to be treated!”

 

Helen said with her eyes wide open.

 

The man hesitantly held out his hand.

 

His skin was burned red.

 

It must be a painful wound, but there were no signs of hurt on the man’s expression.

 

“Ah, that looks painful… What should I do…?”

 

Helen’s eyes fluttered in bewilderment.

 

A wound of this magnitude was enough to require a high treatment.

 

However, it was very expensive to call a high-level priest. It cost an ordinary official a month’s salary to call in a lower-ranking priest already.

 

“I’ll get the medicine for you.”

 

“I’ll be fine.”

 

The man hid his injured hand from Helen. If he knew she was so worried, he would not show his hand to her.

 

The sight of Helen in shock made the man’s conscience ache.

 

“Try to open the door. I can’t open it.”

 

“Yes…”

 

Helen was still worried about the man’s hand.

 

He was a knight holding a sword. She knew how important his hands were to him, but he didn’t seem to know.

 

‘I have to tell him how important his hands are next time.’

 

“Do it quickly.”

 

At the man’s urging, Helen stood in front of the door.

 

She was afraid to grab the doorknob, knowing that when the man grabbed it, it caused a violent reaction.

 

“What if my…my hand gets hurt too…?

 

“I don’t think so.”

 

“How can you be sure?”

 

Helen asked languidly.

 

She wanted to ask.

 

There must be a reason why he was so certain.

 

She asked the man with faint hope.

 

“Just…”

 

“…Just? You just got hurt, and I’m supposed to trust your senses and just open it up when I might burn my hands?”

 

Helen shuddered in panic.

 

Her hands were already starting to sting at the thought of them burning like that.

 

Helen quickly hid her hands behind her back from the man with a frightened look on her face, and the man chuckled as he covered his mouth with his hand.

 

“Why are you laughing?”

 

“Oh… Nothing… No…”

 

The man turned his head to the side, holding back his laughter.

 

Then Helen’s face became more anxious.

 

The man’s laughter was warm, but the situation was strange.

 

If her hands get burned, that will make him laugh?

 

He really was a strange man.

 

As Helen wrinkled her brow, the man’s laughter stopped.

 

“Are women normally that cute?”

 

“What…?”

 

Helen was dumbfounded. She was very confused by the man’s words as he laughed.

 

“You look like a chirping chick.”

 

“I look like a chick?”

 

Because of the color of Helen’s hair, the way she spoke and acted, he thought Helen looked like a chick.

 

The yellow chick that he saw in the book chasing after the mother hen.

 

The way she followed his footsteps, the way her eyes squint, and the way her voice always chek-chek.

 

They were very similar.

 

The man stroked Helen’s head as he examined her.

 

“Today the killers came through this door. He walked in easily so I thought the boundary was gone. But I guess I’m the only one who can’t do it. You’ll be able to open it.”

 

Was that what it was?

 

It seemed that the man wanted to convince her of what he noticed today.

 

But he didn’t have to show it with his action.

 

Helen felt sorry that his hand was burned.

 

Helen let out one big breath, then slowly reached for the doorknob.

 

“It’s true.”

 

“Look at that.”

 

Nothing happened when Helen opened the door.

 

There was no small flame, and it was still, let alone the wind.

 

In addition, when the door flashed open, it was followed by a corridor similar to the one on the west side from which he had come. It was a dead end.

 

Helen closed the door again and looked at the man.

 

“Still, the joke was awful. I really thought my hands were going to burn.”

 

Helen folded her arms and said in a stern voice.

 

The man immediately apologized to Helen’s sulky face.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

He lowered his head and kissed Helen’s hand.

 

“Is this how it’s supposed to be done? I read about it in a book.”

 

“No, it’s a vow. An oath.”

 

“An oath?”

 

“It’s an oath that knights take. That they will protect someone for the rest of their lives.”

 

“That’s good to know. Then I swear.”

 

“No, you do that to someone you love.”

 

Helen said resolutely.

 

Then the man tugged on Helen’s hand, ignoring the shaking of Helen’s shoulders.

 

“You’re too close.”

 

“But there’s still many things on the floor. Aren’t you afraid you’ll fall?”

 

Gasp.

 

Helen held her breath.

 

The corpses in her imagination flashed through her mind again, though she had forgotten about it until now.

 

The man chuckled as he saw Helen following him, stiff with tension.

 

“Wouldn’t it be better if I held you?”

 

“Oh, no… That’s a little too much.”

 

“Right. Because you have a husband.”

 

What kind of husband doesn’t say anything when his wife disappears every night?

 

Could it be that she was in trouble?

 

The man’s brow wrinkled. He was angry at the husband, who he didn’t even know.

 

He thought he would kill the husband if the woman couldn’t come because of him (the husband).

 

“Doesn’t your husband get angry when you disappear every night?”

 

“Ah…”

 

Helen was puzzled by the man’s question.

 

‘Should I say my husband is the emperor?’

 

But the man believed that the person who had placed the curse on him was the emperor.

 

If she told him the truth, he wouldn’t be so gentle.

 

Strangely, she felt sorry. And it was unfair.

 

“I’ve never seen my husband’s face.”

 

Helen had seen a lot more of this man than her husband. She was very perplexed by the situation, but she decided to help him, so she kept her mouth shut for the time being.

 

“He doesn’t care. He’s not interested in me.”

 

“Oh?”

 

She appreciated the man’s words and expression, “I’m appalled.”

 

How could the husband didn’t care for his wife?

 

The man’s words were empowering to Helen. Of course, it was a reaction he could make because he didn’t know any better.

 

Eventually they arrived at the first place again.

 

They sat down on a couch in the center where a stack of books filled one wall.

 

“So what do we do now to escape?”

 

The man scratched his head, seemingly unable to come up with a solution. His face looked frustrated.

 

Helen pondered for a moment and then looked at his arm.

 

She could see letters written in the language of Idelberg.

 

“Do you still have the writing on your arm?”

 

“Even if I erase it, it comes back the same every day. It’s like a curse.”

 

She thought the man erased it long ago.

 

Helen couldn’t believe the words came back like it wrote itself. She didn’t know who locked this man up, but she thought it was really strange too.

 

And how could they lock up such a strong man? They must not be ordinary.

 

“Can I see your arm?”

 

“Of course.”

 

[Don’t let the others find out. Don’t leave the library.]

 

Helen stared at the writing on his tanned arm.

 

The handwriting was very beautiful. It looked like it was written by an educated man. And he used the language of Idelberg.

 

“It seems like it was written by an Idelberg nobleman.”

 

“How can you tell?”

 

“The very neat handwriting shows that he grew up with education, and he used the language of Idelberg.”

 

“Is this the language of Idelberg?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Helen was able to use both her native language and the language of Idelberg.

 

Idelberg was the largest continent on the peninsula. All the Princes and Princesses from the smaller countries learned the language of Idelberg from an early age.

 

“Come to think of it, you could read this language too.”

 

The man nodded. He looked a little bemused.

 

“Then it seems that you are also an Idelberger.”

 

“Idelberg man…”

 

The man murmured with surprised eyes. It was a moment of enlightenment.

 

He was a knight of Idelberg.

 

What did he do to get trapped here?

 

Helen’s curiosity was also growing.

 

“Can you read books as well?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then, were there any other foreign books you could read?”

 

Helen picked out a selection of books that had the languages of other countries.

 

The man opened the first page of the book and read it calmly.

 

Within three seconds, he raised his head.