Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 73

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕𝟑

“Can’t you stay and play for just one more day?”

I held onto Helena, using boredom as an excuse.

The truth was, I had so much I wanted to discuss with her alone.

“I told His Highness the Crown Prince that I would only greet the monks and return quickly……”

Seeing her hesitate, I pouted slightly and looked at Ren.

“Ren, can’t you go back and tell my brother?”

“……Aren’t you going to ask me to stay?”

Ren asked back, sulking, but he must have realized that I truly wanted to talk to Helena.

“Please, Ren.”

I pleaded with my hands clasped together, and as if that wasn’t enough, I even kissed him on both cheeks.

Only then did Ren withdraw, satisfied.

‘He did worry about me getting a stomachache from the persimmons and gave me a bunch of digestive medicine and stomach pills, though.’

In any case, he agreed to return to the Imperial Palace without complaint, leaving Helena behind.

“I’ll come back to escort you tomorrow.”

Helena bowed politely to Ren, who spoke curtly.

“Thank you, Ren-nim.”

After he left, Helena lowered her voice and whispered softly.

“I suspected it at the monastery, but as expected, Ren-nim is Your Highness’s lover.”

Suddenly, Ernst appeared, frowning, as if he had been in the palace all along.

“Preposterous! Who are you to make such a grave misunderstanding?”

Helena’s expression was one of utter bewilderment.

I quickly chased Ernst out of the room and then pleaded with Helena.

“You absolutely cannot tell my brother. Understand?”

But Helena tilted her head and asked back.

“Was that gentleman perhaps His Highness the Crown Prince of Flavi?”

“……How did you know that?”

As far as I knew, Helena had never encountered Ernst before.

Helena hesitated with a troubled face and then spoke.

“Actually, His Highness Lurik wishes for the Flavi royal family to be Your Highness’s marriage partner. He always mentions how His Highness the Crown Prince is exceptionally handsome and takes good care of Your Highness in Edessa……”

I was so startled that I covered Helena’s mouth.

“Don’t say such things, Helena. Absolutely not. Anyway, Helena doesn’t know anything. Got it?”

Helena nodded with her eyes wide open.

The innocent nun couldn’t bring herself to ask who the child’s father was between the two, and instead blushed for no reason.

“Yes, Your Highness. Don’t worry.”

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

“Actually, on the night Your Highness collapsed at the monastery, I had a very long dream.”

Only after we were alone did Helena talk about the future she had seen.

It was exactly the same as the dream she had in the novel I wrote.

“At first, I didn’t think it was the future. There were a few things that were very different from reality. So, I recklessly left the monastery.”

That difference must have been my existence, of course.

Since I was alive and Lurik was sane, Helena couldn’t have possibly considered that ominous dream as the future.

“But now you believe it is the future?”

When I asked to confirm, she nodded.

“Seeing the situation in the Imperial Family, I know for sure. What I saw was the future. So, I think……”

Helena chose her words carefully for a long time, but finally spoke.

“His Majesty the Emperor will soon depose His Highness the Crown Prince and grant the position of Crown Prince to His Highness Lurik.”

But in the end, that didn’t happen in the novel.

To be precise, Lurik didn’t accept it.

“Is that so? Will that happen smoothly?”

I pretended not to know and asked, and Helena shook her head.

“No.”

She continued calmly.

“His Highness Lurik is deeply heartbroken by this incident. He must feel like his entire life has been denied.”

That’s why Lurik in the novel replied to the Emperor like this:

“If you give me the throne, I will take it.”

But since the Emperor wouldn’t easily relinquish the throne, the only option left was a forceful takeover.

Thus, the Emperor learned the hard way that Lurik’s past victories weren’t solely due to the magic sword.

I continued to speak as if I didn’t know.

“That’s understandable…… If he were to inherit the throne immediately, it might be different, but there’s no reason for my brother to be satisfied with just the position of Crown Prince and step down. That would be His Majesty’s wish. After all, the only son His Majesty has left is my brother.”

Helena covered her face with her hands and agonized.

“I wish Your Highness had seen my dream instead. I’m ignorant of Imperial culture and politics. I can’t read the rapidly changing situation like Your Highness……”

No, Helena.

‘I’ve already taught you all the best I know.’

I held my protagonist’s hand.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”

In fact, Helena would be able to overcome this on her own even if she worried about it.

I have complete faith in my female lead, but considering the variables at the monastery, I decided to help Helena.

It wasn’t difficult since all I had to do was recite the contents of the novel I had already written.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

“Helena, you know……”

I decided to set up the final device before Helena left.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

So, I asked, looking straight into the innocent, shining eyes of the female protagonist.

“It’s a little embarrassing to say this about my brother, but…… isn’t my brother Lurik really wonderful?”

Helena blushed shyly and didn’t answer.

‘Could it be that they’ve already developed into a romantic relationship?’

It had been a month since Helena started staying at the Imperial Palace.

In the novel, it took some time for them to become lovers because it was right after Lurik’s rampage, but now there were no particular obstacles.

‘Of course, I did set up a wall of social status difference between them.’

But now that I had become Lurik’s younger sister and entered the novel, there was no reason for me to watch Helena suffer because of her status as a maid.

So, I pretended to be upset and asked again.

“No? Is he different from your ideal type?”

Then Helena was startled and waved her hands.

“Different from my ideal type? It’s not that kind of problem…… Of course, His Highness Lurik is wonderful, but……”

“But your heart doesn’t flutter? Is it because you’re scared of my brother?”

Helena vehemently denied it.

“N, no! My heart does flutter, but……!”

In the novel, Helena couldn’t take her eyes off Lurik from the moment their fingertips touched.

‘Because that’s how I set it up.’

It meant that even though she knew he was a time bomb about to explode, she couldn’t stop loving him.

‘She must be in love with him now too……’

She couldn’t lie, so she could only stammer in confusion.

I sighed, pretending to be disappointed.

“Sigh, I’m really worried because my brother acts so gruff. I’d be relieved if I could see him get married to a good woman soon.”

Then Helena replied with a visibly dejected face.

“He’ll meet a good woman…… He’s a wonderful person, even though he has a lot of scars……”

“You mean he’s a wonderful person, but you don’t like him as a man?”

When I asked directly, Helena jumped up.

“Someone might misunderstand if they hear that. How can you ask me such a thing…… How could I possibly like or dislike him?”

What, so they’re not lovers yet?

‘Brother, what have you been doing?’

I was greatly disappointed, but I spoke naturally as if I was confiding in her.

“Oh my, Helena……”

And then I held her hand tightly.

“Please be kind to my brother. He’s a lonely person.”

“M, me?”

“You’re my brother’s benefactor. You’re the only woman he can trust and rely on.”

Helena asked cautiously.

“Did His Highness…… say that?”

Oh, these fools.

“Of course. My brother has spent half his life on the battlefield. He hasn’t really talked to women much. He’ll take any words you say that push him away as your true feelings.”

I wanted to hit my chest in frustration, but I held it in for the sake of the baby and said,

“Moreover, my brother believes that he’ll be harmful to you, who is so pure and innocent.”

Indeed, Lurik felt sorry for Helena for that reason until the very end of the novel.

“That’s ridiculous! He had no intention of doing that! And yet, he always regrets it!”

Helena belatedly protested.

I stroked the back of her hand with a serious face.

“I’m on your side. I hope you’ll stay by my brother’s side and…… be happy.”

“Your Highness……”

Judging by the way Helena’s eyes welled up shyly at my words, it seems like something good will happen to Lurik soon.

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