Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2379 Broken

"Mmm..."

Helen's eyelids trembled gently as another faint groan escaped from her delicate throat, weak enough to be mistaken for nothing more than an involuntary breath. Then, very slowly, she opened her eyes.

"....."

For nearly an entire minute she simply stared blankly at the ceiling without moving, her unfocused gaze wandering across the unfamiliar patterns overhead as though her mind were still struggling to understand whether she had truly awakened or whether this was merely another illusion born from endless years of stillness.

Finally, she let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"Heh~"

Only then did she begin trying to move.

"Ah..."

With tremendous difficulty, she pressed her palm against the surface beneath her and slowly pushed herself upward, every tiny movement feeling strangely unfamiliar, as though she were borrowing someone else's body for the very first time.

"Hoo..."

At last, after nearly two full minutes of struggling simply to sit upright, Helen finally managed to raise herself into a slouched sitting position. She still couldn't fully control her body. She lacked the strength to stand and couldn't even straighten her back completely, every muscle refusing to obey her with the ease she remembered.

Slowly, she lowered her gaze toward her own trembling hands.

She could feel blood forcing its way back through the countless cells of her body. She could feel her nerves awakening one after another. She could feel warmth returning to limbs that had forgotten what warmth even was.

She could feel—

"Ahem... Ahem..."

"...?!" Helen's eyes flew wide open as she immediately turned toward the sound despite the stiffness in her neck. "...Marshal?!"

Her eyes instantly narrowed with killing intent mixed together with panic and disbelief. Unfortunately, her body refused to cooperate in the slightest. She couldn't run, she couldn't attack, and she couldn't even summon enough strength to say another word, her murderous gaze remaining the only weapon she could still wield.

"Cough... Cough."

Then another voice came from the side.

"The big rat is here too."

".....?!"

Helen's eyes widened to their limit once again as she slowly turned her neck until her gaze finally landed on the speaker.

Someone wearing the most provoking smile she had ever seen.

"...Robin... Burton...?"

"Oh?" Robin casually raised both hands. "Does having all this skin and flesh make me look that unfamiliar?" He tilted his head with an amused smile. "Perhaps I should go back to being nothing more than a head and a heart so you'll recognize me properly. What do you think?"

"....."

Helen stared silently into Robin's face for several long seconds, carefully studying every feature as though confirming that the person before her was truly the same monster she remembered.

"Were you the one who reconnected my body with my soul?" Her exhausted voice grew quieter. "No one knows how terrible my condition was better than I do... It was hopeless."

Robin looked genuinely surprised for a brief moment before lowering his hands. "Yes. At Hedrick's request." Then he raised one eyebrow. "Were you conscious all those years?"

"...I counted every second since that day." Helen lowered her head tiredly. The dark circles beneath her eyes made her appear unbelievably exhausted, carrying the weight of years that no sleeping person should ever remember. "...I never understood exactly what had happened to me, but it felt as though I were completely paralyzed. I couldn't even blink no matter how desperately I tried, I tried to scream but no sound would come out, I tried to stand but my body refused to answer me, and through all of it I could do nothing except remain conscious. It was... terrible."

"...."

Robin's expression shifted from playful mockery to complete indifference.

"Your body has already begun returning to normal. You're still a Monarch of the Law of Incineration because your soul remained intact. Once you've recovered your strength, take your brother and go join Hedrick. Whether he assigns you missions or lets the two of you spend the rest of your lives doing absolutely nothing is none of my concern. He's the one I care about now, and the two of you are simply part of our agreement."

"The two of us...?"

Helen frowned before slowly looking around the room, forcing her still-unsteady eyes to focus.

Eventually, her gaze settled upon another crystal coffin beside hers.

Inside lay a white-haired, crimson-eyed man surrounded by a familiar aura, the unmistakable aura of the Destra Family.

"Could that be...?"

"That's Hydras." Robin gestured toward the sleeping figure. "He might wake up soon, or it might take much longer. You may stay here and wait for him, or head directly to your brother Hedrick at the frontlines. The choice is yours."

"Hydras is alive?" Helen turned back toward Robin, disbelief once again filling her tired eyes. "And you're healing him as well?"

"I healed you, didn't I?" Robin lifted his chin slightly.

"....."

08:24

Helen stared into Robin's eyes with her own weary gaze, trying to understand the reason behind everything she had just witnessed.

"Hedrick was already working for you indirectly when my accident happened. What changed? What convinced you to bring both Hydras and me back? What could possibly persuade you to revive an old enemy like me?"

"He's working for me directly now."

Robin answered with complete honesty and absolute clarity, without attempting to decorate the answer in the slightest.

"...." Helen gave a weak nod. "I suspected as much."

"Do you also know this?"

Robin suddenly grinned from ear to ear before slapping Caesar on the shoulder, his eyes opening wide with unmistakable mischief.

"Your marriage to Caesar was also part of the agreement."

"-_-" Caesar let out a long sigh before casting a sidelong glance at his father. It was obvious Robin was deliberately trying to provoke her even further and was thoroughly enjoying himself, yet Caesar had absolutely no intention of denying it.

"...." Helen slowly drew both knees toward her chest and quietly wrapped her arms around them, making herself appear smaller than ever before, as though instinctively trying to shield what remained of herself after everything she had endured, then spoke in a voice completely devoid of emotion, "...If that's what the agreement says."

"....?!"

Robin's smile disappeared instantly, vanishing so quickly that it almost looked as though it had never existed. Even Glatheon and Caesar's expressions changed, and so did the way they looked at Helen. Neither of them pitied her, yet neither could pretend that nothing had happened. Helen Destra... had been broken. Not physically, but somewhere far deeper than flesh, something inside her had quietly fractured.

As for Robin, he remained silent for several moments before glancing sideways at Caesar and subtly motioning toward Helen twice with his head, his meaning perfectly obvious.

"No!!" Caesar immediately shouted, genuine hesitation appearing on his face for the first time as he instinctively refused before he had even fully understood Robin's intention.

"Your loss." Robin merely shrugged with complete indifference before turning back toward Helen. "Young lady, recover your strength first, calm yourself, then make your way to your brother. Since you're my sword's sister, I won't hold any grudge against you from this day onward. Live the rest of your life however you please, so long as you don't interfere with my plans, because beyond that, what you choose to become is no longer any concern of mine."

He then turned toward Caesar and lightly patted him on the shoulder. "Weren't you saying you had a better place for us to continue talking? Come on, let's give little Destra some space to gather her thoughts after finally waking from that endless nightmare."

"Before all those years..."

"...?"

Robin stopped once more when Helen's quiet murmur reached his ears. He slowly turned around again and silently waited without interrupting her.

Bitsu had completely lost his mind after Robin immobilized him with soul power for only a single week. As for her, how many years had she endured that same nightmare, or perhaps something even worse? A prison where thought remained alive while everything else stood perfectly still. It must have been unimaginably cruel, especially for someone as overwhelmingly proud as Helen.

"Before all those years, when my elder brother connected the dots and concluded that you were that entity's Candidate... I envied you." Helen spoke quietly without raising her head, her fingers tightening slightly around her knees. "I envied you, and I became afraid of the position I'd put myself in. I was afraid that I had provoked that very entity into moving, and I couldn't understand why something like that would move... to save someone like you."

"...."

Robin silently reminded himself not to walk over there and knead her into the floor after hearing those dismissive words. Then again... back then, he truly had been nothing. No background, no strength worth mentioning, nothing that should have justified such attention in anyone's eyes.

"...And when I realized it had already intervened for your sake back on Nihari, even before I had ever set foot on that planet, my jealousy only became stronger. But I forced myself to turn that jealousy into motivation. I told myself that if someone like you could receive that kind of attention, then I would become someone the entire universe could no longer ignore. I wanted to become the greatest Monarch the universe had ever known... or something equally foolish."

A faint, self-mocking smile finally appeared on her pale face. "How ironic... The person I looked down on, then hated, then chose as my rival, and eventually used as the driving force pushing me forward... ended up becoming the one who saved me from certain death."

"...." A rather peculiar smile slowly appeared on Robin's face. Unlike before, it wasn't mocking or amused. It was simply... curious.

"What exactly do you mean... by saying that he intervened for me on Nihari?"