Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 421 (Part 2):

“Is there a reason my weight tipped the scales in your favor?”

Yet the most crucial point was that choosing Helmut would only matter if Renosa survived. Choosing him despite defeat was unthinkable. That was neither Renosa’s way nor the way of a swordsman.

Helmut knew his own strength. But the Grand Duke couldn’t be so certain.

A faint smile touched the Grand Duke’s lips.

“You are a pure swordsman, yet you calculate instinctively. As befits Renosa’s bloodline. You know how to gauge your position and weigh the odds of victory. That’s why, four years ago, you hid your identity.”

Helmut’s eyebrow twitched at the Grand Duke’s words, which seemed to dredge up his innermost thoughts from four years prior.

Conviction gleamed in the Grand Duke’s eyes.

“I believe if you thought you would lose, you wouldn’t have returned.”

Four years ago, Helmut had no confidence he could defeat the Temple.

He couldn’t let Renosa be swept into the flames of war because of him.

So he chose to conceal his identity.

Back then, he was consumed by an obsession to grow stronger.

For someone like him to resolve to fight and reveal himself, there must be confidence and grounds for victory.

It was an intuition about Helmut as a person.

Seeing into people was also a quality of a ruler.

The Grand Duke added quietly.

“The name ‘Sword Saint’ is worthy of standing against the Temple.”

A faint smile curved Helmut’s lips.

“You place great expectations on me.”

“If you win, you will take everything Renosa has to offer.”

“And if I lose, I lose everything.”

“So you will fight with all your strength. You achieved the miracle of escaping the Forest of Roots. Twice. Doesn’t that mean you are closer to what they call Lumen’s will? Though they wouldn’t want to admit it.”

The barrier that seals the Forest of Roots is imbued with Lumen’s will, after all.

“It’s been a while since I last wielded a sword.”

The Grand Duke frowned, gazing out the window into the distance.

As if the Temple’s army were already approaching.

Sensing his resolve, Helmut bowed and left the room.

Did the Grand Duke not consider Renosa’s destruction as Helmut’s revenge?

No matter where that belief came from, it didn’t matter. Helmut’s sword was now aimed at the Temple.

*

Michael’s visit was unexpected.

Since Helmut had planned to speak with him once, he accepted Michael’s visit.

The moment Michael stepped into Helmut’s study, he bluntly threw out a question.

“What do you intend to do?”

He must have lain in bed, endlessly mulling over what he had pursued his whole life and lost because of Helmut, without a shred of remorse.

Yet his face was far too polished for someone who had been bedridden.

Perhaps tired of feigning innocence, the venom in his expression was plain to see.

Helmut responded with a question of his own.

“And you? If Renosa falls, they’ll place you on the throne.”

Even the Temple couldn’t elevate someone not of Renosa’s bloodline to the position of Grand Duke.

While punishing Renosa in Lumen’s name, it wasn’t for naught that Michael and those in cahoots with the Temple had maintained ties.

The Temple had the power to restore him to the position he desired.

And now, they had a pretext.

From their perspective, it was as if the Grand Duke, swayed by evil, had stripped Michael of his destined heirship, making it easy to claim legitimacy.

Michael snorted and asked.

“Knowing that if you lose, I’ll take the throne, will you still spare me?”

It seemed Michael hadn’t forgotten what Helmut had done to him.

“You seem to have found some zest for life. At least you’re motivated to move around.”

Though, if anything, he seemed more like a man clinging to vengeance.

Even as he glared at Helmut with venomous eyes, Michael made his intentions clear.

“The Temple was merely a tool to me. They shouldn’t try to lord over me. I can’t let them take Renosa.”

He didn’t want to sit on an empty throne. It only held meaning if he claimed it himself.

For the first time, Helmut sensed something ‘Renosa-like’ in Michael’s honesty.

In any case, Michael was in a position where he had to prove his usefulness to Helmut.

Helmut pointed out quietly.

“If you push yourself and fall, you’ll be a hindrance, not a help.”

“You don’t need to worry about me. That bug of yours seems to have some effect—I’m feeling quite healthy.”

Michael grimaced, as if displeased, and glanced down at his chest.

If the host dies, the parasite dies. It seemed the worm had the effect of strengthening its host.

His body was naturally frail, so there were limits, but still.

Ironically, in exchange for having his life controlled, Michael had gained slightly below-average health.

By his standards, what he gained outweighed what he lost.

‘Lucky guy.’

Hoping that luck would hold in this war, Helmut nodded.

“Then go to Charlotte.”

The siblings would put their heads together to protect Renosa.

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