Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 401 (Part 1):

“I…….”

After what happened to Helmut, she had been deeply disappointed by the conduct of the Grand Duchess and Michael, and had left Renosa.

Even if her actions seemed wrong, she had her reasons why she had no other choice.

As Charlotte trailed off, the Grand Duke spoke again.

“You are the Duchess of Renosa. And you are also my daughter, Charlotte. Leaving Renosa to attend Greta Academy, I thought you would inevitably face confusion someday.”

Charlotte’s sense of right as a swordsman could not always align with her sense of right as the Duchess of Renosa.

But what if a situation arose where, for someone as principled and upright as her, the two identities clashed irreconcilably?

It was something that might happen… or might not.

Charlotte had never imagined such a scenario.

Yet when it actually happened, she simply knew. Having always walked a path without deviation, she understood what she must do to correct the misalignment.

And she had resolved herself. If she made the wrong choice, she would pay the price for it.

“To walk the path you believe is right without losing balance, you need unwavering resolve. And just as much effort.”

The weight of his voice struck her.

“Charlotte. You have done splendidly. Well done.”

It wasn’t merely praise for successfully overseeing the martial arts tournament.

The Grand Duke of Renosa was acknowledging that neither her choice nor the path she believed in was wrong. As her father—no, as the ruler of Renosa.

Charlotte blinked slowly.

She didn’t think she had done anything praiseworthy.

It was only natural. As a human, as a swordsman, as Charlotte, and as a member of Renosa.

She alone had to shoulder the responsibility that none of the guilty members of the Grand Ducal House of Renosa would bear.

Yet hearing those words made her chest burn.

Her eyes stung. To keep from crying, Charlotte clenched her teeth.

She couldn’t sob like a child before the Grand Duke—her liege. She was an adult, a swordsman.

Moreover, the Grand Duke was making it clear: her faith in him had not been misplaced.

While injustice and betrayal might preserve Renosa, its honor could not be saved that way.

Charlotte recalled Renosa’s fallen honor, and the thought pained her unbearably.

And surely, the Grand Duke felt it even more keenly than she did. Realizing that made her heart swell.

Wetting her parched lips, Charlotte spoke.

“……What does Your Grace intend to do now?”

The Grand Duke swallowed his silence. His eyes were dark as the abyss—like Helmut’s, yet different.

Though he had not suffered more than Helmut, the trials he had endured and the anguish he carried were far from ordinary, nor were they light.

The fathomless gaze of a ruler who bore Renosa on his shoulders.

He changed the subject.

“Michael… did not attend the tournament.”

It wasn’t the Grand Duke’s intention. Michael was simply reliving the same struggles he always had.

The reason he lay bedridden was none other than his own heart. His frail body could not endure the brilliance of Charlotte’s moments.

Amid the tournament’s success, Michael couldn’t bear the sight of Charlotte and the Crown Prince standing side by side, representing their nations.

His deep-rooted jealousy and inferiority toward Charlotte. His wariness of the one rival who could strip him of everything in an instant.

For him, trapped helplessly in Renosa, those feelings became poison.

“It’s better he didn’t come.”

After all, he wouldn’t have been able to graciously accept even the moment Charlotte greeted him as the tournament’s organizer.

Charlotte tilted her head and asked,

“Did Her Grace the Grand Duchess not accompany you?”

This was a critical meeting between the Emperor and the Grand Duke of Renosa.

If Michael had been only moderately ill, he would have tried to attend; his absence meant it was more than just moderate.

As a mother who doted on Michael, the Grand Duchess would have wanted to stay and care for him.

The fact that the Grand Duke had come to meet her alone might have meant her mother hadn’t come either.

But the Grand Duke shook his head.

“Your mother said she wished to look around the tournament grounds. Alonso is accompanying her.”

Charlotte’s expression shifted subtly. Margret was a quiet noblewoman who disliked openly wandering unfamiliar places.

‘Does she know something?’

Had she somehow learned about Helmut? She would surely never wish for Helmut to return alive.

If she knew of his existence, she might try to ruin his plans.

Yet despite Charlotte’s suspicious gaze, the Grand Duke remained impassive.

“There will be a dinner soon. Since Alonso is with her, she will likely be back by then.”

“I see.”

Just as Charlotte sighed in relief, the Grand Duke’s gaze turned to her.

“So, how was he?”

“Pardon?”

“The Crown Prince. Though I don’t care whether you choose him or the Grand Duke Farnese’s son.”

The sudden remark caught her off guard.

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