Helio Niccolo/Timeline

## Background

Helio was born in the reputable House of Niccolo as the son of the late Marquess Vita Niccolo and Marchioness Diaz Niccolo. At the young age of 12, Helio lost both of his parents to a carriage accident and subsequently inherited the position of marquess. Before he could properly grieve the death of his parents, greedy nobles attacked the young marquess and brought the House of Niccolo to ruin. Helio lost the will to live and contemplated committing suicide until Medea Solon took him under her wing. Grateful for his savior and salvation, Helio vowed to become the strongest warrior in the empire and devoted his life to protect her.

Under Medea's tutelage, Helio grew to become an accomplished swordsman and made significant contributions to the war  against Hennel Kingdom as a young commander. Despite leading the empire troops to victory, Helio learned the weight of decisions on a battlefield as his comrades fell under enemy fire. His achievements in war rapidly restored glory to the name of Niccolo, allowing his house to flourish with prosperity since. After his return to the empire, Psyche Callista debuted in high society  and began following after Medea in admiration. Medea became disconcerted by the unwelcome behavior and expressed her discomfort to Helio, who in turn shared his doubts regarding Psyche's true nature. As the two women inevitably became close friends, Helio refrained from interacting with Psyche to keep watch from a distance. He confided with Nana that he was apprehensive about Psyche's motives for approaching Medea, stating that he did not believe she was the type of person who would sacrifice her own life to protect Medea.

After Emperor Vasilios cancelled the engagement between Crown Prince Eros Orna Vasilios and Medea, Helio began conducting reconnaissance. He discovered that Eros had begun sneaking out of the castle at night around the same time Psyche had debuted in society. When Helio reported his findings to Medea, she declared that it was a coincidence, refusing to believe that Psyche was affiliated with the crown prince. During the crown princess contest, Helio noticed a woman influencing the public to sympathize with Psyche. On the day the competition results were announced, Helio managed to catch a brief glimpse of the woman's strange-colored eyes, but became distracted when Psyche was unexpectedly chosen as the future crown princess. In the midst of confusion, the woman slipped away.

That night, Duke Thesion Solon beat Nana as punishment for Medea's loss in the crown princess competition. Helio watched as servants of the House of Solon mutilated Nana's body with knives and threw her off of a cliff. Despite his instincts, Helio refrained from intervening, concerned that the servants would report back to the duke. As Nana fell from the cliff, Helio made eye contact with her and realized with horror that she was still alive. An assassin then arrived to murder the servants, revealing that he was hired by Thesion to ensure complete silence of the entire incident. Helio realized that he had miscalculated the duke's paranoid nature and hid in vain  instead of saving Nana before the assassin appeared. He rushed to her side and promised to take her back to his mansion. Despite promising to save her, Helio knew from his time in war that he could not save a person simply by wishing it. Nana eventually begged Helio to kill her out of mercy, confessing that the pain was too overwhelming to handle. With no weapons, Helio was forced to acquiesce to her request by using his bare hands to strangle her. A week later, Helio and Medea mourned over Nana's death, one of the countless tragedies that had occurred since the competition.

## Plot

Several months later, Helio and Medea developed a scheme to punish Psyche for allegedly tampering with the crown princess contest. After Psyche was poisoned, Helio assisted Medea in slaying the knights of House of Callista. He then made arrangements with a trusted priest to allow Medea to infiltrate the Temple on the day of the Yearly Prayer. When the maid Medea planted at the House of Callista showed up, Helio killed her accompanying servant as a precautionary measure. Helio then grew concerned that Medea may have encountered an unknown predicament after she abruptly stopped responding to his letters.  He visited the duke's manor and immediately noticed the uncharacteristic behavior exhibited by the woman he believed was Medea. Though he attempted to confront her, Psyche managed to impersonate Medea's intimidating demeanor and fend him off. Helio refrained from vocalizing his suspicions any further, and promised to escort her to the upcoming imperial banquet. The next day, he received a letter from Medea, who informed him of the body-switching phenomenon and instructed him to protect her original body. Helio entered Medea's chambers through a window later that night and concluded from the visible shock on Psyche's face that the letter was not a hoax.

Under Medea's instructions, Helio began teaching Psyche the necessary subjects and etiquette for her to properly impersonate Medea in public. Amongst the various topics he covered, Helio discussed the complex history between Hennel Kingdom and the Vasilios Empire. He explained that though the new king declared himself pro-imperialism, it was difficult to determine his underlying intentions. As their studies progressed, Helio determined that Psyche had sufficient self-preservation instincts to survive in dangerous situations. On the day of the imperial banquet, Helio instructed Psyche to wear a less-conspicuous gown to avoid drawing unnecessary attention. He then briefly stepped away in the midst of the festivities to reunite with Medea. There, she conveyed her suspicions about the House of Callista, the imperial family, and the Temple. She instructed him to interrogate Psyche for information on the crown prince, whom she deemed suspicious. In turn, Helio quickly gave her a dagger for emergency use before she was led away to meet Eros in the imperial gardens.

After coolly brushing aside Lady Seira, Helio found Psyche crying alone outside of the banquet hall. Psyche confessed that she always envied Medea's strength and felt incapable of upholding her reputation. As Helio maintained his faith in his childhood friend, Psyche wondered if he was in love with Medea. They returned to the banquet hall and spotted Eros speaking with his guests. Realizing that Medea was tricked and potentially in imminent danger, Helio immediately departed to search the imperial gardens. Despite not understanding the context, Psyche led him to the rendezvous place where she and Eros used to privately meet. They arrived to find Medea mortally wounded, surrounded by the corpses of undercover knights. Helio attempted to commit suicide to join Medea in death, but was stopped by Psyche, who insisted that Medea was still alive. Though Psyche struggled to help her, Helio recognized from his war experience that Medea could not be saved. Suddenly, Psyche's divinity was harnessed by the sacred relic necklace and miraculously healed Medea's injuries. After reconciling with Medea, Psyche revealed that she was born with divinity, the ability to heal. Medea in turn disclosed her suspicions regarding Eros, declaring that she planned to kill him as punishment for the assassination attempt. Helio watched apprehensively as Medea inflicted fresh wounds on her body, hoping to never see her shed blood again.

As Medea returned to the imperial banquet, Psyche hid one of the knight's swords while Helio altered the corpses' wounds, destroying evidence of what had transpired. In an attempt to explain their prolonged absence from the festivities, Helio and Psyche staged an intimate moment on one of the palace balconies. Rumors regarding the nature of the relationship between Helio and "Medea" began to circulate through high society as a result. Since the assassination attempt, Helio began experiencing frequent nightmares of Medea and those he failed to save in the past. Psyche asked him the next day to teach her swordsmanship as a basic level of self-defense. In light of recent events, Helio agreed but reminded her to maintain distance from him in public. That night, he noticed the kiss mark Psyche left on his neck had not healed and decided to conduct an experiment. He wore a high-collared shirt to the duke's manor to give Psyche an introductory lesson on basic swordsmanship. After a productive session, Helio coincidentally caught a glimpse of Nana's opal necklace around Psyche's neck. He coldly declared that she had no right to wear it and remarked on how fortunate she was to inhabit Medea's body; regardless of his personal desires, he could not harm her as he wished.

After returning to his manor, Helio regretted his actions and wondered if he was projecting his own guilt of not saving Nana. Psyche visited the next day to inform Helio of King Hennel's marriage proposition. As Psyche expressed her fury at how Thesion used his daughter to advance his political influence, Helio proposed several methods to assassinate the duke. Helio confessed that he and Medea had plotted the assassination for several years but missed their opportunity. He then secretly slit his hand with a dagger underneath the table, out of Psyche's line of sight. Since the wounds on his neck and hand did not heal, Helio theorized that, contrary to what she claimed, Psyche was capable of fully controlling her divinity. He visited the Temple the next day, passing by Perion Sob Vasilios, to meet with his trusted priest and read the recently delivered oracle. As the priest was called away on urgent matters, Helio spotted Medea in disguise and used his cloak to protect her identity from the Temple guards. After taking Medea into a private room to recuperate, Helio handed her the outlined interpretation of the oracle, which prophesied the downfall of the Vasilios Empire. Though Medea was initially frustrated that there were no clues on how to return to her original body, Helio suggested that the contents of the oracle could potentially jeopardize Eros's good standing within the empire. Medea and Helio decided to fabricate rumors of the 14th prince leading a rising coup within Hennel Kingdom to delay King Hennel's engagement plans. When Helio expressed doubts on Psyche's ability to handle the consequential dangers, Medea disclosed that Psyche had injured herself to delay the engagement. Helio arranged a carriage to safely escort Medea back to the count's manor, lamenting on when they could once again reunite.

The next day, he received a letter from the driver that the carriage was intercepted by an unidentified person. Reminded of his war days, Helio anxiously wondered if he made another erroneous decision that compromised the safety of a loved one.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Episode 4
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Episode 13
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Episode 23
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Episode 39
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Episode 7
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Episode 12
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Episode 14
8. ↑ Episode 11
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Episode 15
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Episode 38
11. ↑ Episode 2
12. ↑ Episode 3
13. ↑ Episode 5
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Episode 6
15. ↑ Episode 8
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Episode 9
17. ↑ Episode 10
18. ↑ Episode 16
19. ↑ Episode 17
20. ↑ Episode 18
21. ↑ Episode 19
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Episode 20
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Episode 29
24. ↑ Episode 21
25. ↑ Episode 22
26. ↑ Episode 25
27. ↑ Episode 27
28. ↑ Episode 28
29. ↑ Episode 30
30. ↑ Episode 32
31. ↑ Episode 33
32. ↑ Episode 34
33. ↑ Episode 35
34. ↑ Episode 36