Chapter 50
A Bet
After entering Helios’s room, Psyche had to constantly fight to keep her mouth from falling open. His room, done in an overall light golden tone, was so androgynous and ornate it could have been mistaken for a lady’s chamber. Just like him.
A crystal chandelier emanated luxurious light from the impossibly high ceiling, and elegant, romantic objects were placed throughout. A silky carpet with a glossy sheen covered the milky marble floor, while delicately embroidered translucent curtains adorned the windows, and an elegant white lace canopy decorated the bedroom.
Furthermore, his room included a salon for enjoying music and a petit salon for chess and card games. Even Rezus, the head, didn’t have such spaces in his room.
“Do you like it?”
Helios, who had been pulling Psyche around showing off the room, suddenly asked. Psyche felt no need to answer and remained silent.
As if he hadn’t expected an answer in the first place, Helios smiled and resumed his tour. Since he still held her hand firmly, Psyche had no choice but to follow where he led.
Entering his bedroom, the milky soft scent of sandalwood and an urban masculine fragrance tickled her nose. It was the subtle scent that had been lingering in the room since they entered.
Unconsciously examining the bedroom in detail, Psyche discovered a duchesse brisée—an elegant resting chair meant only for ladies—and slightly furrowed her brow. Why would there be a duchesse brisée in a man’s room?
Moreover…
“I think you’ll quite like this. Don’t you agree, Phrena?”
The design was almost identical to Psyche’s. As if it had been copied directly from the duchesse brisée in her room. Even the color was the same. The frame was dark oak, while the interior was cream-colored with golden highlights.
‘…Must be coincidence.’
People’s eyes for beauty are similar. If she finds something beautiful, others would likely find it beautiful too. Of course, the duchesse brisée in her room was specially custom-made, but Psyche dismissed it as insignificant. If his and her tastes were similar, custom orders could yield similar results.
However, when Helios showed her 〈The Girl Biting into an Apple〉 – one of the masterpieces hanging in her mansion – and even showed her a jewelry box identical to the one she received as a gift from her father when she was young, Psyche realized.
That it wasn’t mere coincidence that the items in his room overlapped with the things she loved and cherished. A chill slowly crept up her spine to the tips of her hair. Yet Helios’s spine-chilling behavior showed no signs of ending.
With deliberate slowness that hinted at things to come, he clasped her hand and guided her toward the warmth of the hearth.
“This is my favorite hunting trophy. Isn’t it beautiful?”
Helios tilted his head toward the mounted doe above the mantle, his face transformed with an almost religious reverence, as though beholding not a preserved specimen, but the living visage of his most cherished paramour.
“……”
Psyche was lost for words. Not because she felt sorry for or disgusted by the doe, mounted with one antler broken off and eyes wide open in an eerie blue. It was because this doe was the very one she had failed to hunt at the hunting competition two years ago.
How did she recognize that doe at a glance?
Originally, female deers don’t grow antlers. While there are rare cases where females do grow antlers, it’s a different story when those antlers shine a brilliant gold and are shaped like a crown. Decisively, considering the location and shape of the broken antler, it would have been stranger not to recognize it.
After all, it was Zephyros who had accidentally damaged that beautiful crown while trying to assist her hunt.
At the time, Psyche had shed tears of frustration, and the media had been quick to sensationalize the incident. This was one of the few painful memories of failure in her life.
Come to think of it, wasn’t the headline then… ‘The Princess Who Lost Her Golden Crown’?
“Why do you…”
Have this? If I remember correctly, no one managed to hunt that deer in the end. Though she didn’t speak the latter part aloud, Helios seemed to notice what she was thinking and smiled until deep creases formed at the corners of his mouth.
“Phrena, why do you think you lost what you had almost caught back then?”
Psyche couldn’t answer.
“Haven’t you considered that it wasn’t because the deer was too fast, but because someone intercepted it?”
Helios looked down at her, tilting his head slightly. His violet eyes curved mischievously.
“How naive you are.”
“……”
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