Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 223

223―――――

“Sir, you can’t do this here.”

“It smells nice,” Ria replied.

At that, Helen almost reflexively said, ‘Isn’t smelling a specialty of the Wolang tribe?’ but she quickly stopped herself.

‘I almost made a mistake.’

It was said that the Myo-eun tribe hated three things the most:

Stroking their belly, touching their feet, and being compared to the Wolang tribe.

Even if Helen brought up the Wolang tribe with simple intentions, the Myo-eun tribe could misunderstand it as, ‘You’re not even a Wolang, so what are you talking about smelling?’

“I know what you’re thinking.

You were going to ask how I know by smell even though I’m not a Wolang, right?”

“I never thought that, Ria.”

“Nyaang.”

Still, Helen was quite accustomed to managing her expression from her life as a merchant.

She said that confidently without a change in her complexion, and Ria, while showing a reaction of ‘I don’t think so!’, only stared at Helen intently, perhaps because she didn’t have any definite evidence.

“More importantly, what kind of scent do you say you smell from me?”

“It smells like Zion.

Um, how should I put it?

It’s not a strong smell like Lilith or Lucia or Rishiki, but there’s a faint trace of Zion’s scent left.

Did Zion hug you, or did you hug him?”

“That’s…”

Helen was about to answer but suddenly closed her mouth. The reason was that she wasn’t sure of her own feelings, even though she had to give an answer.

‘Did Zion hug me, or did I really cling to him without even knowing it?’

Clearly, she had fallen asleep for a while in the carriage returning to the royal palace.

Then, she woke up to someone’s soft voice telling her to wake up, and when she came to her senses, she found herself in Zion’s arms from some point on.

When she blankly looked up at Zion, he scratched his cheek and said, ‘Sorry, you kept clinging to me, so I held you like this to calm you down.’

Hearing Zion’s words, Helen couldn’t dismiss them as a lie.

If this man in front of her was like the other men she had met so far, he would have already used everything he had to strip her naked and take her into his room.

Whether it was a business relationship or being on her side, he could have secretly taken a mere merchant who wasn’t even a noble, enjoyed her to his heart’s content, and then thrown her away.

‘But Zion, you strangely didn’t do that.’

He wasn’t some old noble who was over 70 years old, but a noble young man who had just become an adult.

His body and mind were burning like a flame, and he was moving according to his desires.

Yet, he didn’t show any impure intentions towards her, whom he could easily take if he wanted to.

―You came out of hell, so live a real life.

I’ll take care of the rest.

Instead, work hard.

―

Rather, he even pushed her back to focus on work.

If he really wanted Helen’s body, taking her right there would have been the perfect opportunity.

The situation was so perfect that even Helen herself, who had terrible memories, was even having the foolish thought that it might be better to be held by a man like him.

“…I don’t know.”

“Nyaang.

That’s a strange answer.

I told you that not knowing is the stupidest answer.”

“Who told you that?”

“My dad.”

Saying that, Ria sipped the teacup Lucia handed her, then grumbled, “…bitter,” and dumped a lot of sugar on the table before drinking the tea again.

With a smile as if it finally tasted a little better, Ria slurped!

While drinking the tea, this time Lucia opened her mouth.

“I hope you don’t feel too bad if I’m about to ask a question with rude intentions.”

“I’ve never thought that, Lucia.

I’m just curious…”

“You don’t need to be curious.

In the first place, we told Helen our true feelings directly.

Think carefully.”

Said her true feelings?

Helen pondered over what Lucia had said.

What on earth did she say to her, what kind of story did Lucia tell….

‘We should all be colleagues.

No, should I call them rivals of good will?’

Lucia had definitely said that a little while ago.

After that, the beast-kin woman named Ria sniffed and said that she smelled Zion, or asked if she liked Zion, so the conclusion she could draw was one.

“You, perhaps both of you…”

“Not both.

There are two more.

But if I think about it again, there seems to be one more, and looking at it today, I think another one is about to be born.”

“It’s not me.”

At the very confident answer, Lucia and Ria both looked at Helen with a ‘Huh?’

Then, they both started staring at Helen with strange eyes as if telling her not to lie.

The woman who had been waiting for Zion with a happy expression until just now suddenly said no, so it was quite unconvincing.

“I know what you’re thinking.

I know that Zion is definitely different from other nobles, so I understand that you both have feelings for him.

But it’s not me.

I, I can’t do that.”

It was an answer that was as sharp as a knife, but somehow felt a bit urgent.

Lucia instinctively realized that Helen had a reason she couldn’t tell, but she didn’t do the stupid thing of asking about it again.

She just poured tea back into her teacup, which had been emptied at some point, and opened her mouth.

“They say there’s nothing more foolish and painful than deceiving yourself.

I don’t know what you’re thinking or what happened, but as someone who has never deceived myself, I’ll give you some advice.

Regret from not doing something is greater than regret from doing something.”

“…It’s not me.”

Yes, other women might be able to, but Helen herself couldn’t do that.

No matter how much he was the man who took her out of that hell, even if he comforted her, she couldn’t dare to have feelings for him.

‘…How can someone like me, someone who has been defiled, receive the heart of such a person.’

Even if the wounds in her heart were healed, she couldn’t erase the traces left on her body.

Her body was already a filthy body that had been violated and violated by demons.

Helen knows too.

How men and women who have feelings for each other prove their feelings.

If she imagined herself and Zion in such a place, Helen was afraid that the place would be like a time to dredge up her hellish time, and that it would feel like it was all her fault.

‘How can I approach with this dirty body?

Right, Young Master?’

Zion knows Helen’s past.

Everything about how terrible and miserable her life was.

So she could understand whatever expression Zion made.

Rather, when he tried to approach her, Helen herself wanted to stop him.

There’s no good for someone like you to touch me, who has been defiled by demons.

I’m happy just watching from afar like this, so please just smile for me as you’ve always done, and please just care a little for me.

Helen thought that was enough.

“Lucia, I never want that kind of thing…”

“Helen says that, but you never know.

That man might not be thinking that way.”

Saying that, Lucia smiled and pointed her head slightly behind her.

“Did you already bring work after two days?”

Sighing, Zion approached right next to Helen.

Then, with a very familiar gesture, he suddenly snatched the teacup in Ria’s hand, sniffed it, and frowned.

“Ria.

How many sugars did you put in?”

“Half of what’s there?”

At the words half of what’s there, Zion sighed as if he was dumbfounded.

The jar containing the sugar wasn’t small, but she put half of what was in it, so it was natural that only the sweetness was coming from the tea, not the scent of the tea leaves.

“You’re going to be in big trouble.”

“Why is it a big deal that I like sweets?”

“Your body will be twice as big as it is now?

Not in a good way, but in a bad way.”

“Woo.

But what can I do!

I don’t like bitter things.”

“If it doesn’t taste good, just don’t eat it.

Is this tea or sugar water?”

“I have to eat it even if it’s for Lucia’s sincerity!

I have to eat it unconditionally because she’s making it for me!”

At that, Lucia smiled and poured tea into another teacup as if she knew Zion was coming.

Zion held the teacup and sipped it, then took the cup away from his mouth and tilted his head, realizing that Helen, who was sitting next to him, was staring at him blankly.

“Helen.”

“…Young Master Zion.”

Helen suddenly felt an urgent desire to cry.

She was so happy until just a moment ago, but she became so depressed when she thought that this happiness would bring sadness that was twice as great later on.

“News has been delivered from the North.”

But Helen knew very well what kind of person she was in this place.

Not a woman who pretends to smile while hiding a wounded heart, but as a collaborator who came to provide useful information to the person who was watching her back.

“The North?”

“Yes.

Things have improved as they received the food sent by Zion, and I heard that monsters have started to appear again, so trade has also become active.

Accordingly, the tribes in the North have sent people to formally express their gratitude to the kingdom.”

“The northern barbarian tribe sent people?

To express their gratitude?”

Zion’s reaction was that he couldn’t believe it at all.

Why are the northern barbarian tribes called barbarian tribes?

It’s because they have such a strong tendency and are extremely reluctant to absorb or accept anything else.

It’s the same now.

Expressing gratitude is something that has never happened before, and even if they did, they would have just written a few letters to Count Repoem, who is currently in charge of the North (he was above the Baron but rose to Count after Zion’s purge of the northern nobles), and sent them to the royal palace.

Above all, they are people who value their pride, so they would only wait for someone to come, and they couldn’t even think of going somewhere first.

“…Did you hear anything about the composition of the personnel?”

“I found out that they are made up of three northern warriors.

All three were men.”

“Are you sure?”

“First of all, Count Repoem’s side said that the results of the investigation were three men, and our merchants obtained that information and are delivering it to Zion like this.”

Surely they wouldn’t have done the investigation carelessly.

Then there was nothing Zion was worried about.

‘Not yet’.

‘…But somehow it feels ominous.’

Surely not, Zion shook his head and looked at Helen.

As if to ask if there was anything else to say.

“…”

“…”

But Helen was avoiding Zion’s gaze as if that was all.

In fact, she wanted to talk longer than this, and she wanted to be by Zion’s side by giving ‘reasons’, but suddenly Helen hated herself for that.

She thought it would be the end if she got out of hell, but while struggling in that hell, she was stained with the sulfur and blood of hell, and her whole body was dyed with that scent and color.

Zion would have originally given her time while quietly looking at her, but this time he didn’t have that much time.

He had to meet Helen first, see her face for a while, and then go to meet the person who came from the royal palace.

As Zion got up from his seat, Helen glanced at him.

At that, Zion patted Helen on the shoulder and opened his mouth.

“Someone from the royal palace came.

Wait here for a while.

I’ll be back soon.

Until then, think carefully about what you want to say to me and wait.”

“Ah…”

As expected, he seemed to have noticed that Helen was hiding something.

Before she could even answer, Zion left the garden and headed to the reception room.

Even if the first guest was Helen, he couldn’t just keep the person who came from the royal palace waiting.

“Young Master Zion Klauzen.”

As soon as Zion entered the reception room, the royal palace errand runner bowed deeply.

He looked around for a moment and carefully opened his mouth.

“His Majesty the King has ordered you to enter the palace.”

“…If you sent someone separately like this, it seems you want me to come in quietly, unlike other times.”

“That’s right.

You can go with me.”

What could be the reason for suddenly looking for him secretly?

Zion quickly turned his head in that short amount of time.

This was the first time that the king, who had been officially calling him until now, was calling him like this.

This matter had a desire that it would not be known to other nobles or the people of the kingdom.

‘Something inside the kingdom, or something outside the kingdom.’

There are so many things inside that it’s hard to predict.

But there was one thing that came to mind right away without saying anything about things outside.

‘The return of the expeditionary force.’

Come to think of it, it was about time for the expeditionary force to arrive in Hispania.

By now, they may have reached the Klauzen March and entered a period of reorganization.

‘Did something happen there?’

Zion suddenly thought of the pigeons and pointy ears that had been silent recently.

While he was worried about what crazy things those light-debtors would do again, the king suddenly called him, so was the feeling that something was wrong just a simple worry?

‘Please, nothing happens, please, nothing happens.

Let me rest and live, Shipper!’

Zion prayed like that in his heart, but if the pigeons heard those words, they would have answered like this.

No way!

―――――――Afterword―――――――

There’s no Kingrim!