As Helena, who was running over happily, blankly looked at me, I awkwardly smiled and turned to Pamela.

Because it wasn’t me who brought Pamela here.

To be precise, she came here on her own feet. I wasn’t sure if she came to find Helena or followed me.

“So why are you here?”

“… It’s not like I want to be here either, you know?”

What are you saying, Pamela?

As I looked at her with strange eyes, saying those words after coming here on her own, Pamela twisted her expression and avoided my gaze.

“…Felix?”

While I was demanding an answer from Pamela, a chilling voice came from somewhere.

Helena, smiling kindly and brightly until just now, was looking at me with cold, sunken eyes. At that gaze, I unknowingly had to swallow my dry saliva.

“Yeah?”

It definitely wasn’t something I did wrong, and it wasn’t something I had to apologize to Helena for, but I didn’t have the guts to say that.

Rather, her eyes were so scary, like those of a dead fish.

“Who is that girl?”

“… She’s Pamela, the daughter of Marquis Degrosis.”

“I don’t think that’s what I asked?”

“…Please stop. I came here on my own.”

I introduced Pamela kindly, but I trembled at Helena’s words.

Every time she spoke a word, I felt an inexplicable eerie feeling. Pamela helped me when I was confused and didn’t know what to do.

Stepping forward, she looked at Helena and spoke. It seemed like she wasn’t afraid of her at all.

“Why did you come?”

It’s scary that the two girls of the same age are speaking to each other formally. I moistened my dry lips with saliva and watched Pamela and Helena.

Despite Helena’s cold voice, tone, and expression, Pamela stared at Helena upright without being daunted.

“Helena, I have something to say to you.”

Pamela’s next words surprised both Helena and me at the same time.

As we blinked slowly, not understanding the situation, Pamela exhaled softly.

Come to think of it, she was facing Helena without even wearing the mask she usually wore in front of other people.

Helena stared intently at Pamela’s violet eyes, exhaled quietly, and nodded.

“You can’t say it in front of Felix?”

“…Yeah.”

“I understand.”

And I could only blankly watch the backs of the two girls leaving to talk to each other.

…What on earth is happening?

***

Helena’s good mood from Felix coming to see her had turned cold.

She was already overwhelmed with Ashillya, and Sylvia was acting strangely these days, giving her a headache. Now, an unknown girl appeared with Felix.

Sylvia went without saying, and Ashillya was also an incredible beauty. But the girl who appeared now was a little different from them.

She was beautiful. But if asked if she was extremely beautiful, she could say no compared to Sylvia and Ashillya.

But her cute face, eyes that somehow stimulated the protective instinct… and her figure that could only be described as violent in contrast to that.

Each one touched Helena’s nerves.

Helena, who had walked with Pamela to a place where Felix’s gaze couldn’t reach, exhaled deeply.

What in the world happened that made her want to talk to her? Such curiosity flashed through her mind, but she soon shook her head.

“So what’s this about?”

It was because she thought nothing would change, even if she thought about it alone. Helena asked straightforwardly.

At her question, Pamela only silently stared at her.

In fact, the reason Helena was angry wasn’t because Felix brought a new girl ‘again.’

It’s because there was no affection in Pamela’s eyes when she looked at Felix.

To put it simply, Pamela didn’t like Felix. So it wasn’t that she was worried about that.

She was simply in a bad mood. But that didn’t mean she liked Pamela. That’s because it wasn’t pleasant to have a girl with a different charm from herself next to the man she wanted.

“…You like Felix, don’t you?”

“Huh…?”

Apart from that, Pamela’s sudden, straightforward question was enough to make Helena flustered.

“You like Felix, don’t you?”

If it were the usual Helena, she would have been embarrassed by those words or wouldn’t have affirmed Pamela’s words. She probably wouldn’t have denied it either.

But the current Helena was different. After the Siegfried incident and becoming wary of Ashillya’s actions, she was flustered but soon nodded.

“…So what?”

Pamela continued to stare blankly at Helena.

The Helena she knew was not timid but girly. Although she wasn’t that close to her, she knew quite a lot about her.

The Degrosis Marquis’s information power was excellent, and after the head decided to give Pamela as a doll to Felix, information about him poured into her.

Of course, even information about Helena, who was around him.

“Aren’t you anxious?”

“…About what?”

“The girls around Felix. Including Her Highness Crown Princess Ashillya and even that girl named Sylvia.”

Helena was silent for a moment at Pamela’s words.

Not anxious? It would definitely be a lie if she said she wasn’t anxious. She already knew how Crown Princess Ashillya looked at and acted around Felix was unusual.

She was not only beautiful but also had outstanding abilities and a solid background, so she was an incomparably powerful existence compared to Helena.

Sylvia has also been strange recently. Until now, Helena was convinced she would never be interested in Felix.

She also rejected Felix’s confession, and among the people who confessed to her were many handsome and talented ones.

But now it was different. Sylvia often avoided Helena’s gaze whenever Felix was mentioned and blushed like a girl in love.

Because of such strange symptoms, Helena doubted Sylvia’s intentions.

“What does that have to do with you?”

Apart from that, Helena couldn’t give Pamela a kind look.

That problem was between Helena and other people, not something for Pamela to be concerned about.

“Crown Princess Ashillya has a powerful background. She’s the next empress, and nothing is lacking about her.”

“…”

“Sylvia has also captured the hearts of many people with her outstanding beauty. Even Felix confessed to Sylvia, so that says it all.”

“So.”

Helena asked coldly as Pamela kept bringing up uncomfortable facts that Helena herself knew.

“What do you want to say?”

Helena was not docile like before. She always became sharp when it came to Felix, but after the Siegfried incident, she became even more sensitive about Felix.

Even now, she was sharply on guard and wary of Pamela as she listened to her story, showing how sharp she had become.

But even with Helena’s attitude, Pamela didn’t back down.

Compared to Marquis Degrosis, Helena’s words were at the level of cute coquetry.

“I’ll help you.”

“…With what?”

“I’ll help you so that you can be with Felix.”

Helena couldn’t help but frown at Pamela’s serious words.

She didn’t understand Pamela’s words that she would help her be with Felix, not only coming to find her out of the blue but also saying that.

“Why would you?”

“I have a reason to get close to Felix. Of course, as you know, Helena, I’m not romantically interested in him.”

“…”

“It’s just an order from the family.”

Marquis Degrosis was trying to offer her to Felix. If things continued like this, it was clear that it would proceed regardless of Pamela’s will and Felix’s thoughts.

Pamela was just making a small struggle against that predetermined fate.

If she had to choose the person with the lowest possibility among those around Felix, it would be Helena.

She didn’t know what Crown Princess Ashillya was thinking, but if she made up her mind, she would be able to have what she wanted.

Sylvia was also very advantageous in that Felix had already confessed to her.

Helena was a childhood friend, but she hadn’t been able to close the distance with Felix, so Helena needed the most help.

By helping Helena connect with Felix, Pamela can create a point of contact with him. Even if she doesn’t necessarily offer herself.

Helena can be with Felix with Pamela’s help.

Isn’t it a good deal for both of them?

With that thought, Pamela’s violet eyes sparkled slightly. Helena, looking at such Pamela, calmly opened her mouth.

“I’ll decline.”