Chapter 156: Helena (2)

Her curves. Helena’s upper body was clad in a fitted pure white silk top that perfectly hugged her frame, just barely covering her collarbone. Over her shoulders, she wore an exquisite lace-cut shawl.

For her lower half, she wore a white A-line silk mini skirt as an underlayer, covered by a sheer white gauze maxi skirt that reached her ankles.

The evening sunlight pierced through the misty white gauze, sharply outlining the contours of her long, graceful legs.

Her legs were encased in a pair of sheer white silk stockings that clung tightly to her flesh, giving off a delicate sheen.

Beneath the hazy white veil, her legs in white high heels appeared and disappeared as she took graceful, alternating steps.

With each step, the crisp sound of her heels striking the ground would tempt people to unconsciously look at her.

The majesty of an empress, the holiness of a saintess, the maturity of a wife.

These three entirely different auras perfectly interwove and merged within Helena, becoming an invisible pressure that made everyone present hold their breath.

Lucia instinctively turned her head away, her gaze drifting to the flowerbed on the side.

As if by not looking at Helena, she could avoid the glaring gazes around her that were like searchlights.

‘Although that was nonsense.’

‘The entire Empire knew that the Third Imperial Princess was the Empress’s biological daughter.’

‘But what Lucia hated most was this point, and she also hated how her appearance was compared to Helena’s. The two really looked exactly alike, and they even ate different things, yet they ended up with similar figures.’

‘Anyone could see that Helena was simply a grown-up, perfected version of Lucia.’

‘Even though Lucia didn’t want any connection to Helena, this appearance was the biggest link between them.’

‘But… since that time when Helena sighed and left her with that resentful look, Lucia had disliked her. She never wanted to call her “mother” again.’

‘From that moment, Lucia had built a wall in her heart. Refusing to save her was one thing, but she even picked up a new daughter to raise. If she couldn’t do that, fine, but she pretended to be busy and ignored her. Saving the world as a saintess… but she couldn’t even take care of her own child.’

‘And then… Mia became the most famous Candidate Saintess, while Lucia, on the other hand, became the least famous Candidate Saintess.’

‘This made Lucia seem like a failure.’

‘Such a failure that Helena wanted to start over with a new character to raise.’

‘Lucia had nothing to say. Since she gave up on her back then, from now on they would only be mother and daughter in name.’

‘Although the Emperor and Lucia weren’t close either, at least Lucia felt they could be called father and daughter.’

‘Were she and Helena mother and daughter?’

‘No, Lucia didn’t think so.’

‘They hadn’t seen each other in over five years, right?’

‘Lucia felt she had nothing to say to her either.’

‘Even when Helena stayed in the palace, she never sought her out, did she?’

‘Lucia even felt that Helena was deliberately avoiding her. Otherwise, how could they not meet in five years?’

‘Lucia hadn’t avoided her on purpose. After all, she had a clear conscience.’

‘It was Helena who despised her, right?’

‘Although she had never brought Mia back to the palace, because Mia wasn’t an official adopted daughter. Bringing her to the palace would be improper.’

‘Since she avoided her, Lucia didn’t need to go and be disliked. She had a clear conscience. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She was the one who was abandoned. The one who should avoid was not her.’

Curious gazes still stabbed into Lucia like needles. Although the surrounding students kept their distance out of respect, curious looks still pierced her like needles.

‘Lucia looked at the silver-haired, gray-eyed woman before her. She was truly speechless.’

Helena was still breathtakingly beautiful, but Lucia noticed that now at eye level, she was actually slightly taller than Helena.

‘It seemed that even without her care, she had grown stubbornly like a weed. Lucia felt great about it, at least she could look down on her now.’

Helena’s gray eyes, which could see into people’s hearts, swept over the nervous Mia and the grim-faced Mahina before finally landing on Lucia’s stubborn face.

Helena’s voice was very gentle, as if they had just had afternoon tea together yesterday, as if only a night had passed.

“You’ve grown up, Lucia.”

Lucia hadn’t expected Helena to greet her first, but she nodded.

“Yeah, I can grow taller than you even without trying.”

However, Helena wasn’t angered by her daughter’s provocation. She didn’t even frown.

On the contrary, she seemed to have heard something funny and let out a light laugh.

In that instant, time seemed to stop in the courtyard.

“Heh…”

Helena raised her gloved hand and elegantly covered her mouth, revealing a smile.

Even though she was a mother of three children, even though she was the mother of the nation, the way she smiled at that moment was as pure as a girl falling in love for the first time.

Her gray eyes curved into two crescent moons, and light seemed to flow from her eyes that could purify all the filth in the world. The sunset’s afterglow sprinkled on her trembling eyelashes.

In Helena’s smile, there seemed to be no political scheming, no air of an elder, only unguarded innocence. At that moment, the mature wife aura faded away, leaving only a girlishness.

The surrounding students, whether boys with first love or girls with admiration, were all captivated by Helena’s smile at that moment.

The pedestrians’ breathing disappeared, leaving only the pounding of accelerating heartbeats ringing in their eardrums.

It was a beauty that transcended gender and age, sacred yet seductive, making people want to get closer, and also want to sink into that pure smile.

Even Lucia, whose heart was full of resentment, couldn’t help but skip a beat at this smile.

But it was still very disgusting.

“Yes, it’s normal for a daughter to be taller than her mother.”

‘This woman… was truly a monster.’

‘She should be a wrinkled aunt, but now she looked like a big sister who had just graduated from Zelion Academy.’

“What are you here at the school for?”

“What for?”

Helena tilted her head.

“Of course, to prepare for the Radiant Festival and to attend this academy’s Evening Gala.”

Lucia looked at the Helena before her.

‘She already understood that being tough on someone like Helena was useless. She tried to adjust her wording.’

“I didn’t see you at all the past two years. Why did you decide to come this time?”

“Because Zelion Royal Academy is the most important cradle of the Empire. I wanted to build better relationships with the students this time.”

“I see.”

‘Since the Empress said so, Lucia naturally couldn’t say anything else.’

‘The year before last, the Emperor had come. Last year, he didn’t. If the Empress came this year, it wasn’t strange.’

‘From an outsider’s perspective—’