How To Save A Time Limited Young Master

As she watched her retreating silhouette dazedly, Heloise averted her gaze slightly and made eye contact with Zenon.

He was probably staring at Heloise all along, and made a cynical smile the moment their eyes met. 

Soon, he bowed in greeting after exchanging a few words with the king and approached Heloise. 

“Heloise.”

Heloise gulped and asked Zenon like she was completely in the dark.

“Zenon, why were you with His Majesty the King?”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Even if you say that, it’s really…”

While suppressing the urge to give him a punch, Heloise wanted to continue asking, but she gave up on doing so because she realised that if Zenon was determined to change the topic, he wouldn’t reply even if she pressed him further. 

To diffuse the somewhat awkward atmosphere, Heloise quickly raised a different subject. 

“How have you been?”

“Well, does it seem like I’ve been doing well?”

Zenon bowed slightly and stuck his face towards Heloise.

Heloise took a step backwards flusteredly because his face suddenly drew closer. 

“W—what is it?”

Although honorifics popped out inadvertently, Zenon didn’t back down.

“Does it seem like I’ve been doing well?”

When she looked downwards, Zenon’s long black eyelashes were clearly visible. 

The slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth made him seem to be joking and somewhat disappointed at the same time.

Just as Heloise was at a loss as she was unable to push Zenon away or come up with a response.

“Young Master! It’s been a long time since we’ve last met.”

At those words, Heloise and Zenon turned their heads around at the same time.

Viscount Lorca, whom Heloise had been looking for all along, approached them without their notice.

A radiant smile on his face, like he was welcoming his own nephew, and joy was written all over his face. 

Zenon straightened up and turned towards Viscount Lorca.

“Viscount Lorca.”

“I almost didn’t recognise you because of how healthy you seemed.”

The sound of his jokingly praise caused a chuckle to leave Zenon’s mouth.

“Even if they’re empty words, it’s nice to hear that I appear healthy.”

“I’m being truthful.”

As the vassal of the Lionerik Duchy, her father held a special affection towards the son of the lord that had died early, the Duke of Lionerik, and gave Zenon a happy smile. 

As she observed their seemingly father and son appearance, Heloise fell into contemplation. 

‘Earlier, Zenon changed the subject.’

“They’re probably talking about ‘The Book of Origin’.”

As she felt discomfort, she recalled Isabel’s words. 

“It wouldn’t matter if the Book of Origin was simply an NPC item, but… It feels weird that Zenon is hiding something.’

Regardless of her personal feelings, Zenon was the biggest cause of regression in the future, and as such, he shouldn’t be exposed to danger. 

It was a book that led to the death of the saintess, who was protected in various ways, so she felt uneasy at the thought of Zenon being involved with it. 

Heloise bit her lip furtively. 

Given the fact that the book was in the dead saintess’s possession, it’s safe to say that Zenon couldn’t have begun the topic, so the king brought it up first……

‘In the first place, why is he bringing up a book that has never been heard of before to Zenon, who has barely managed to recover?’

Her dissatisfaction with the king suddenly shot up.

‘This is not good.’

Heloise’s instincts were telling her.

Apparently, both Zenon and the king are hiding a fishy problem behind them.

However, if Zenon made a decision to conceal it, it would be hard for her to inquire about it, but it’s ridiculous of her to question the main culprit, the king.

Heloise thought of a figure that was both easy to gain information from and was relatively easy to deal with.

‘As expected, is he the only option?’

In order to sort out the situation, Heloise spoke to her father. 

“Dad, Mom is looking for you.”

“Oh, yes. My apologies, Young Master. It seems like we should get going.”

Her father, who was talking to Zenon, asked for his understanding with an apologetic expression.

Zenon nodded readily upon hearing that.

“You must be rather busy, so go on in.”

After lifting his hat lightly, her father turned around first.

Heloise also bade him farewell and was about to follow her father, but Zenon called for her.

“Heloise.”

Heloise paused and turned her head unconsciously. 

“Why aren’t you coming over these days?”

Heloise’s eyes widened silently. 

It’s because she didn’t expect Zenon to say something like that. 

Didn’t it seem like he was upset?

“……I’ll come by.”

“Then, it’s a promise.”

Instead of answering, Heloise nodded slowly with a hesitant expression, before hurriedly following after her father.

“Why does he feel so unfamiliar? Did he grow taller while we hadn’t met?”

It felt quite strange.

Several thoughts were jumbled in her mind.

⋄────∘°❃°∘────⋄

Heloise finally removed the tiresome mourning clothes.

Although she was able to freely wear pretty clothes as she did before, the death of the saintess left an unfathomable point, making her uneasy. 

At the end of the mourning period, invitations to small tea parties were sent from the Velazquez County and the Nardian Marquisate.

One was a mild venue for a meeting, while the other was an invitation to a brutal hell that she couldn’t drop her guard against.

After agonising over the two invitations, Heloise soon wrote a letter of rejection for both. 

She needed time to organise her thoughts, and wanted to rest for a few days. 

“Emma.”

“Yes?”

“Can you serve me a cup of tea?”

After calling a maid over, Heloise was lost in thought while sipping on tea by herself.  

The death of the saintess was officially termed as ‘asphyxiation due to the unexplained fire’, but it was secretly called ‘the Great Temple’s arson incident’  among the nobles.

It was because of rumours that heretics set fire to the Great Temple in order to target the temple’s high-ranking officials. 

The nobility were even reluctant to meet each other, when the rumours mentioned a high-ranking aristocrat that supported the heretics. 

Heloise set her tea down and looked out of the window.

She spotted people walking down the street in the distance.

Originally, the <Birth Festival> should have proceeded during this period of time, but due to the Great Temple’s arson incident and the saintess’s death, the <Birth Festival> and the <New Year’s Festival> have been cancelled. 

Perhaps that was why even the expressions of the passersby walking down the street seemed listless. 

As she watched them quietly, Heloise raised her head at the sound of someone knocking on the door. 

“Heloise? Are you in your room?”

It was her mother.

“Yes, I’m here.”

The door opened as soon as she answered. For some reason, excitement was present on her mother’s face, as though something pleasant had happened. 

“Look at this. The royal family is organising a party to lighten up the kingdom’s atmosphere, which had been subdued due to recent events.” 

“Party? What is it for?”

Then, her mother held out the parchment like she’d been waiting for that.

A short passage was written on the parchment, along with a painting depicting dancing couples. 

<A dance competition organised by the royal family>

Anyone that was fifteen and above was eligible to participate.

The winner of the contest will be awarded the prize ‘Pigeon Blood Ruby Brooch’, as well as a ‘reward money of 5,000 G’. 

Haah.

Inwardly, Heloise laughed hollowly.

No matter who it was, the party could be seen as an attempt to avoid the arrows of criticism that was raining down on the great temple and the royal family, who had failed to prevent the saintess’s death.

While some might wonder how many people would fall for this, especially since such things occurred every year, and that just another party was being held. 

It was extremely obvious from the fact that the reward money was 5,000G.

Considering that the reward money for most beauty contests was 3,000G, this was a considerably generous amount.

“Well, isn’t it surprising? Oh, my. Are you scared stiff?”

Heloise came to her senses upon seeing her mother wave her hand before her eyes.

“Oh… I know. It’s amazing.”

Actually, Heloise already knew about this event.

It’s because the <Dance Competition>, which was held at the age of fifteen, was a target event for players due to its sizable reward money.

Heloise also sent many daughters to the <Dance Competition>, and tasted the bitterness of defeat several times.

It wasn’t not written in the announcement, but the [Sociability] stat will also increase by 40 upon winning this competition. 

However, Heloise had no intention of participating in the competition.

Likewise, this event was targeted by those that wanted to become the princess or those that wanted the sizable reward money. 

It was unlikely for the [Sociability] stat to apply to her, and neither of the aforementioned situations was applicable to Heloise.

“Mom, I…”

Just as she was about to mention her refusal to her sparkling-eyed and expectant mother with a troubled expression. 

Knock knock, there was the sound of someone knocking on the door again. 

“My lady, it’s Emma.”

“What is it?”

“A guest is here.”

“A guest?”

“She’s waiting in the drawing room, so you can head there as soon as your conversation with the Madam has ended. Well then.”

Heloise’s confusion upon hearing the news that was delivered through the closed door only lasted momentarily. She immediately realised that it was a good opportunity to escape from her mother’s expectant gaze and quickly opened the door.

“Heloise, where are you going?”

“Didn’t you hear that, Mom? A guest has arrived, so let’s talk about this later.”

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re not going to participate in this competition too? Due to the mourning atmosphere, it’s unclear whether a Flower Maiden will take place this year!”

“That’s good news.”

Although she didn’t want to participate, it was a competition that’s worth attempting when she was seventeen or eighteen. 

It was also tiring to refuse each and every time.

Heloise left her bewildered mother behind, and escaped from the room.

When she started running down the hall, her mother didn’t hold her back.

As Heloise headed down towards the drawing room on the first floor, she suddenly remembered that she’d forgotten to ask for the guest’s identity.

‘Who would it be? No one would come…’

When she opened the door with an oddly dry throat and strange quivering to her hands, Heloise was faced with a fluffy, pink haired girl and clear purple eyes.