Chapter 165
“What did the old man say?”
Returning to Helios’s royal palace, not my comfortable home, the owner of the palace was waiting for me. Even though we had been apart for only half a day, he clung to my waist like a dog that had been waiting for its master for ages.
“Your Highness, could you please not call him ‘old man’?”
I pulled Helios’s hand off me. He stepped back, frowning.
“Why, Iâm just calling him what he is, an old man.”
“Do you know how much trouble Iâve gotten into because of that phrase?”
I quickly summarized my meeting with Terman.
“Heh.”
Helios burst out laughing. I gave him a side glance, trying not to look too annoyed.
“Well, that old manâs look is half and half. It’s an appearance you might like. He looks a lot like me, doesnât he?”
Helios acknowledged that he resembled Terman. It seemed he didn’t mind looking like someone he disliked.
When I gave him a confused look, he led me to the sofa and said:
“I used to hate my face, but since you like it, I started to like it too.”
It was a nice thing to say.
But it’s not like I only like him for his face.
“When did I ever say I liked your face, Your Highness?”
Helios leaned in close, his face inches from mine.
“Don’t you like it?”
His question, with his big eyes wide open, made my ears burn with heat.
Anyone who doesnât like this face was either blind or dead.
I swallowed hard.
“…I like it.”
“I do too. Anyway, I’m tired.”
Now he was openly admitting that he liked his own face. While I appreciated his confidence, it left me feeling a bit off.
Helios laid his head on my thigh, his long legs spilling off the edge of the sofa without a care.
“Are you busy?”
The Byzantian prince would be arriving soon.
If Helios said he was going to do something, he had to do it perfectly, or else he wouldnât be satisfied.
So, the preparations would be no small task.
“Yeah.”
Though he said it casually, his expression was dark. I gently placed my hand over his closed eyes.
Fortunately, there didnât seem to be any signs of anything serious.
The darkness on his face was simply from accumulated fatigue.
Everyone in the royal palace knew that Helios had been handling a schedule so demanding it felt like he had two bodies instead of one.
The preparations for the Byzantian prince’s visit were already daunting, but Helios was also paying close attention to the investigation into the series of suicides.
“Canât you let me and Inspector Nick handle the investigation?”
âYes, do as you please.â
He murmured in a sleepy voice. Despite saying that, he was always keeping an eye on everything I did.
When I mentioned wanting to learn more about Steel Merchant Company, by the next day, he had already found out the birth dates of every former employee of the company.
“All I really found from that information was that Milchin bought pet food from the Steel Merchants.”
All the deceased were connected to Steel Merchant Company and Chloe, yet there was no substantial link between Chloe and the Steel Merchants themselves.
The deeper we dug, the more complicated it became.
So, Inspector Nick called Chloe in as a witness. Chloe willingly agreed, but the investigation came to a halt.
âI didnât expect Duke Marzov to block it.â
Nick muttered, clearly frustrated. Marzov had ordered a halt on the investigation on the grounds that it was suppressing the scholars he was sponsoring.
The accusation was baseless, but Nick was just an inspector, and his opponent was Duke Marzov. When Chloe even apologized to Nick, the inspector’s suspicion toward her vanished entirely.
âShe doesnât seem like the kind of person who would have ill intentions.â
I agreed. No, Chloe couldnât afford to have any bad intentions. After all, she was someone Helios would imprint on.
“Hmm, Rienna… Do whatever you want… So, did you cancel the reward?”
Helios mumbled, still half-asleep. I couldnât help but think about how tired he must have been, to sleep on the couch all cramped up instead of a bed. I gently rubbed his back.
“Your Highness, please sleep comfortably in bed.”
“No⌠I like it here.”
Helios turned and pressed his face against my stomach. He was already half asleep, it seemed.
“Just for a moment.”
“Yeah, just a moment… What is His Highness saying?”
Was he asking to sleep or to talk? It felt like both were what Helios wanted, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his unspoken thoughts. I gently ran my fingers through his soft hair, remembering my meeting with Terman.
Maybe because I didn’t have any background information on Terman, everything he said and did felt so fresh. He thanked me for helping Helios, even though he had said it coldly, in a tone that suggested indifference. But there was affection in his words for Helios, and I appreciated that.
Terman was like Demyr. He cared for me in the same detached way, almost like it was second nature. The scale of his gestures was just as grand. Who wouldâve thought that in return for a gift, he’d give a golden chest?
Lastly, like Helios, Terman cursed the imprint.
