Chapter 13
Three days later, Ninia was walking down the hallway, guided by the butler, Severus. She glanced around at the new path she had never taken before.
‘My lady… wants to see the master?’
When Ninia first requested to see Tarahan, Rosa hadn’t bothered to hide her look of disbelief. Still, as she was the Grand Duchess, the maid couldn’t ignore the request and immediately informed Severus.
The butler, too, had scoffed at Ninia, thinking his master would never agree to see her, but permission was granted easily, leading to an unexpected situation.
‘I thought I would be refused.’
She had spoken with the expectation of a sharp refusal. Her actions were based on the prediction that if she kept asking, even if she were ignored several times, he would eventually meet her, if only out of annoyance.
Just as Ninia was lost in these thoughts, Severus stopped in front of a certain room and knocked on the door. Soon after, a low voice came from within, and Severus opened the door.
“Please, go in.”
He was still clearly showing his displeasure, but Ninia thought he was being rather kind, all things considered. She entered through the open door. The office was as cool as the hallway. In that chilly space, Tarahan sat in a chair beyond a table, glaring at some documents.
“…Hello.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Ninia spoke. Even as she said the words, she thought it was a very strange greeting. It was a normal thing to say, but for some reason, it didn’t feel like something she should say to him.
Was it because of that? Tarahan didn’t even respond and picked up another piece of paper. He didn’t even glance in the direction where Ninia was standing. For a long while, only the sound of rustling paper echoed in the silent office.
“You.”
It was when the faint sunlight coming through the window was swallowed by the clouds. Ninia, who had been quietly looking down, raised her head in surprise at the voice. Their eyes met. He opened his mouth as if he had just witnessed a most irritating sight.
“Are you staging a protest? Or can you not even sit down on your own?”
“No, I’m not.”
Flustered, Ninia looked around. In the center of the room, large sofas were arranged around a table.
Ninia, who hadn’t even thought of sitting despite her legs aching from standing for so long, hurriedly sat down there. The slightly hard sofa was better than standing, but it felt no different from sitting on pins and needles.
After that one remark, Tarahan went back to concentrating on his work. The heavy silence made it difficult to even breathe. After staring at the pattern on her dress for a long time, she finally looked up.
“Excuse me, I have something to tell you.”
She thought he would ignore her again, but Tarahan looked up from his documents and met her gaze. Ninia flinched and hunched her shoulders. Tarahan looked incredulous at her, who had initiated the conversation only to be startled herself.
“This is the first I’ve known that you were a creature capable of speech.”
At Tarahan’s words, Ninia blinked innocently, as if she hadn’t heard any sarcasm. He didn’t like that. His words contained multiple meanings, including Ninia’s current situation.
He had expected Ninia to throw a fit and protest the moment she received the marriage contract disguised as a promise. He had been planning to personally suppress her as she cried and made a scene, asking why she had to be treated this way, but surprisingly, she had docilely signed the contract.
The room he had given her was the same. Tarahan had left Ninia’s living arrangements, such as her lodging and meals, to the butler. He knew that everyone in the castle disliked Ninia, but that was none of his concern either.
He had thought she would surely blame others tearfully and pitifully, but this too was exceedingly quiet.
She was like a person who didn’t exist in the castle. As being too quiet could sometimes cause problems, he had gone to see Ninia late one night.
‘If you give me another chance…’
The detestable woman who had once represented the temple was acting like someone who would do anything Tarahan ordered.
‘This is better, I suppose.’
An dazed and docile person was at least not noisy, unlike one who would throw a tantrum and be as annoying as a gnat.
But he didn’t know why it was so irritating, so he had left Ninia’s room without hiding his annoyance.
“So. What is your business, Saintess?”
Tarahan still called Ninia “Saintess.” It signified the treatment she would receive in the North and a line she could not cross.
Just as the goddess ostracized the North, the living beings of the North did not believe in the gods. Therefore, Saintess Ninia would forever be established as an eternal stranger here.
“I have a favor to ask.”
But despite Tarahan’s clear hostility, Ninia was pleased with his reaction. The sarcasm was still there, but perhaps he was finally willing to listen? It was written all over her face.
‘It would be nice if I could clear up the misunderstanding.’
Ninia had only just found out the reason for the hostility towards her. But it was clear that no one would believe her no matter how much she argued or pleaded to clear up the misunderstanding.
So, Ninia resolved to do the best she could within her means.
“Speak.”
At the word “favor,” Tarahan thought, finally, it’s here, and smiled. He judged that the people of the temple were so noble that she was just late in choosing her words gracefully to protest her situation. However, his smile shattered at Ninia’s next words.
“Is there… anything I can do to help?”
She couldn’t correct the misinformation spread by the temple. But she wanted to be of as much use as he had been in bringing her here.
‘I have no holy power, and there’s nothing I’m particularly good at.’
Saying it like this made her feel truly pathetic, but it was the truth. Even the weeds and wildflowers in the fields had their own uses. So, she came to Tarahan with the thought that she, with only her body, might also be of some help somewhere.
“Ha.”
As Tarahan let out a sigh as if he were dumbfounded, Ninia’s shoulders shrank. He must be thinking she was pathetic.
‘Who would ask if there’s anything to help with as a favor?’
But he was taken aback for a different reason. Tarahan laughed because he found her idea so novel.
He came around the table towards Ninia. A dark shadow fell over her. He graciously lowered his head and met her eyes at a distance where they were almost touching.
“The former doll of the temple, in person?”
At his words, Ninia’s face turned white. The doll of the temple. It was the nickname the sophisticated ladies of high society used to call Ninia behind her back.
Not everyone who believed in the goddess was devout. The noble ladies jeered at Ninia, who, using the temple as her backing, was invited to various banquets and prestigious gatherings, attracting the attention of men, calling it an act of a doll.
Ninia blinked silently. Her golden-thread-like eyelashes glittered in the faint sunlight each time they languidly closed. Her snow-white skin and blue eyes were so melancholically beautiful that she looked like a precious work of art that one dared not touch.
‘Even the way she blinks is infuriatingly slow.’
Tarahan, who was watching her quietly, sighed. It seemed she was a woman who was annoying to look at no matter when, making his stomach churn just by making eye contact.
Just as Ninia’s complexion could not get any paler, he opened his mouth.
“Well, fine.”
It was clear that Tarahan had bought the temple’s shell. But even a pretty and glossy shell on the outside could be useful depending on how it was used.
The body that had approached as if to swallow her whole retreated. Ninia, who had been holding her breath, let out her first breath in a gasp, and then swallowed again.
Watching her state, Tarahan commanded her in a level tone.
“Get the land from Count Erban Troyd.”
“…Count Troyd?”
Ninia asked back at the unexpected answer. Erban Troyd. Only after repeating it once more did she vaguely recall who he was.
In the past, the Count had been stuck in the North, unable to even set foot in the capital, but now, with the Empress as his backer, he was flitting between the capital and the North like a bat.
Furthermore, he was the one who had persuaded the nobles to evacuate when the war broke out in the winter land. Ninia’s expression darkened.
“The Count promised to give me the land before he left, but now he’s being stubbornly resistant.”
He leaned back languidly. In the past, Count Troyd was the representative figure of the North. If only he could have chopped off that bastard’s head, the other ants would have coughed up what they had promised on their own, which was a shame for Tarahan.
Because the Count was holding out, others thought it was alright and the number of those who were being stubborn increased. Annoyingly, Tarahan had to personally take care of their heads.
‘They all seem to think they have the Empress as their backer.’
He sneered at the nobles who held their heads high and stiff without having anything to back them up. But beheading Count Troyd, who really did have the Empress as his backer, would be quite a nuisance.
However, beheading wasn’t the only way, and just as he was thinking about how to handle the guy, Ninia had come to see him.
“Will you do it?”
It was an absurd task from the start. Tarahan didn’t have the slightest expectation that Ninia would bring back the land. He just wanted to see the troubled look on her face.
“Yes. I’ll do it.”
But Ninia nodded with a clean face. In her blue eyes, there was no resentment towards him or even a hint of ill will.
Tarahan said nothing to her answer. Taking it as a dismissal, Ninia carefully stood up from her seat.
Just before leaving the office, Ninia turned around and said,
“Thank you.”
Ninia spoke with sincerity and then disappeared from the place. Watching her disappear, he spoke without thinking.
“Thank you? She’s lost her mind.”
Tarahan still didn’t understand her. Thinking that it only soured his mood for no reason, he soon shook off the unsettling feeling and picked up his pen again.
