I Became the Tutor of the Royal Twins - Chapter 267

TRT has been completely translated on Patreon

Chapter 267

Translator: Yonnee

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Helios was gasping for breath, having run here in a hurry. His breathing was ragged, and his body trembled as much as his breaths.

At first glance, his eyes seemed filled with anger.

However, it didn’t take long for Sera to realize that the emotion lurking behind those scrutinizing gazes was not anger, but fear.

Fear that she already knew all the secrets he had been hiding.

It seemed he knew she had met with Raphael and heard everything.

“Please come in.”

As the silence stretched, Sera moved aside to make room for him to enter.

Helios, with an unreadable stern face, stepped forward then paused to look back.

“Sera.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I saw Raphael outside.”

“Ah… Yes.”

“What did Raphael tell you?”

A fine tremor in his voice made Sera smile sympathetically.

“I’m okay. So, don’t worry too much…”

Even to her own ears, her voice was surprisingly calm, causing Helios’s brow to twitch.

“What do you mean you’re okay? What did you hear that makes you say that?”

“Your Majesty…”

Calling him in a soothing manner as if to show understanding, Helios’s fleeting expression seemed sad.

As if he didn’t want to show a face that had completely crumbled, Helios deeply buried his face in his large hands.

“Don’t call me ‘Your Majesty’… Sera. It’s like you’re asking me to… ”

It sounded as if he was about to say that it’s akin to asking him to act like an emperor. Sensing what he was about to say, Sera quietly nodded.

“Alright, Heli.”

Approaching him carefully, as if approaching a large beast whimpering in sadness, Sera stretched her arms wide to hug him.

Startled by the embrace, Helios flinched but did not try to pull away.

“What did you hear from Raphael?”

After taking a deep breath, Helios asked in a choked voice, wishing for a different answer even though he knew.

“About almost everything I’ve been wondering…”

Gently patting him, Sera calmly responded.

“Almost everything… almost all…”

Helios repeated Sera’s words under his breath.

Seeing him as if he was half out of his mind, Sera swallowed a bitter laugh.

His family, especially his much younger siblings, had been kidnapped, and now…

He had to discuss this matter with her.

Imagining what he must be feeling, forced into a corner to make such a tough decision as the demon suggested, was beyond Sera. She carefully took Helios’s hand.

His fingers were white with tension.

After a long silence, with his eyes shut tight, Helios slowly opened his lips.

“Why aren’t you angry, Sera? If you heard everything from Raphael, you should be afraid of my visit. If you already know what I might say to you, why are you comforting me instead?”

Helios’s words, deliberately harsh on himself, pained Sera.

She pressed her lips tightly together, managing her expression and forced a bland smile.

Otherwise, she felt like she might cry.

“…Well, I thought you’d tell me to run away. Or, ah! Secretly send me off halfway across the Empire.”

“You find this funny?”

Helios let out a laugh as if he found the situation baffling.

“Sera, I hid it from you. And I told you to come into the palace. What was I going to do if I intended to use you?”

“Don’t say that.”

“Do you not think I’ve been keeping secrets from you and assigned guards to you to trap the demon inside your body?”

“You’re not that kind of person.”

Sera spoke without hesitation, and Helios let out a bitter laugh.

“How can you trust me so much? I’d expect you to feel betrayed.”

“Well…”

Sera looked directly into Helios’s eyes with calmness.

“Because I believe in what you said about loving me. I understand why you had to hide that fact from me, why it had to remain a secret until now.”

As she ran her fingers through his soft silver hair, Sera spoke calmly.

“The demons kidnapped Their Highnesses… because of me. Exchange me for them. And then, seal the demon inside me.”

Helios’s eyes, which had been sad yet warm, hardened at her words.

His neatly shaped lips twisted at the same time.

“I’ve been silent till now because I feared you’d say you’d do it. That you’d volunteer to be the seal. Did Raphael tell you to speak to me first about sealing the demon?”

Sera shook her head.

“No. Lord Raphael simply told me about the role I could play. I was the one who said I’d do it—I was the one who decided.”

“Then why make such a decision? Do you think I’d ask you to be the seal? Or that I’d reluctantly follow that decision?”

Helios’s intense tone wasn’t out of anger.

It was a desperate plea, begging her to stop saying such things.

Every time Sera saw his eyes reddening, she felt weaker and buried her face in his embrace.

“Heli, Their Highnesses Rosé and Ferre, they… they must be crying. You have to save your siblings. And you have to save the empire, too. This is the decision you must make as well.”

Sera knew that was the only way. The more she talked with Raphael, the clearer it became.

She had seen with her own eyes the day of the battle.

The knights, priests, and mages, swept away mercilessly.

Ironically, she, who had no power, was the most viable option.

“I don’t want to see you make the wrong choice because of me. And I don’t want to lose Their Highnesses Rosé and Ferre either.”

“You know because you’ve experienced it. It hurt, didn’t it? I’m saying this because we don’t know what will happen.”

“I know, that’s why I’m telling you.”

Helios couldn’t listen anymore and pushed Sera away from his embrace.

He looked at Sera with blurry eyes for a while then turned his back on her.

“Heli…”

“Even knowing what will happen, how can you still say that? Even if I manage to bring back Rosé and Ferre… the cost is losing you. How can I be whole? I’m already planning to go to war, Sera.”

Helios let out a heavy sigh.

As Sera reached out first to hold his hand, his sad eyes met hers. Sera responded with a quiet smile.

“When I agreed to start dating you, Your Majesty, I already prepared myself for this. I knew we might face dangerous situations. Both of us.”