Chapter 27
Although Tarahan clearly showed signs of being annoyed with Miernelle, he didn’t show any attitude of trying to scare her away.
From anyone’s perspective, it was a situation where Miernelle was unilaterally following him, but the strong foreigner and the woman who perfectly matched the Empire’s ideal of beauty looked good together, like two exotic breeds placed side by side.
Even though she knew Miernelle’s goal was Tarahan, there was nothing Ninia could do. It was because she was Tarahan’s wife, but she had none of the rights a wife should have.
‘Is it because I haven’t performed my wifely duties?’
No. Even if he had taken her, it would only have been on Tarahan’s whim. Besides, didn’t he despise her?
They had kissed, but it was similar to the instinctive act of a beast to surely pin down its opponent.
Therefore, to Tarahan, Ninia was perhaps closer to an animal he had paid a price for and brought home, rather than a wife.
‘Miss Miernelle and I are different.’
Ninia had hidden in the shadows, promising to breathe only when he wanted her to, and was thus permitted to stay here. It was a state where she was just endlessly waiting for her master to make use of her.
Unlike Ninia, Miernelle had freedom. She could approach Tarahan as much as she wanted and was staying here with the status of a distinguished guest. It was a different class from a fake wife who had been sold.
Perhaps Miernelle could even warm his bed.
‘If he were to kiss Miss Miernelle… at least he wouldn’t say it’s disgusting.’
Tarahan was a man who knew how to take a woman. She had implicitly heard and knew that a man needed a woman.
Having taken a person he detested so horribly as his wife, perhaps he needed another woman.
‘Let’s go back.’
She peeled her back off the tree trunk to leave before they arrived. But Tarahan was faster.
“What are you doing here?”
Had he known all along? Tarahan called out to Ninia, who was trying to avoid him. Ninia had no choice but to step out of the shadows and stand before him and Miernelle.
“I was looking at the flowers.”
“Flowers? Where are the flowers here?”
At Ninia’s words, Miernelle’s eyes widened as she looked around.
The weather in the Empire’s capital was mild even in winter, so the nobles’ gardens were always full of splendid flowers year-round, and it was a daily affair to till the fields to plant the desired species.
So, to Miernelle, wildflowers blooming mixed with the grass were probably nothing more than weeds.
Miernelle looked at Ninia as if she were pitiful, her eyes drooping at the corners, and spoke to Tarahan.
“Her Highness the Consort must miss flowers a lot. I like flowers too, but not to the point of seeing things that aren’t there. In winter, you can just look at them in a glass greenhouse… it’s always warm inside. I think Her Highness the Consort would like it.”
Miernelle chattered on endlessly, but Tarahan ignored all her words. His gaze was on Ninia. Ninia was once again captivated by his eyes.
“You’re wandering around as you please. Return to your room.”
“…Yes.”
As Ninia answered that she understood his command, she recalled the marriage contract. The document included detailed clauses about the range of Ninia’s movements.
‘I thought it was like a prisoner’s walk time.’
Even though it was a desolate and empty garden, she was not supposed to stay here for more than half a day.
She hadn’t thought about it, as her movements had been free since he gave her the key. Ninia passed between them to carry out Tarahan’s command.
Without being able to say a single word back to the woman who had treated her like a lunatic in front of her husband.
Again, she could hear Miernelle chattering away as she pleased. If Ninia had been Tarahan’s real wife, the situation might have been different.
Ninia walked like a well-behaved dog. But her ordinary steps gradually slowed. She did so even knowing that at this rate, she wouldn’t arrive on time.
‘Why am I feeling this way?’
Miernelle was slowly chipping away at Ninia’s walls and digging inside. Miernelle’s weapon was to constantly bring up Tarahan.
In the past, Ninia’s master was the goddess, and the goddess was an object of sharing. Those who believed in and followed the goddess were always overflowing in number, and Ninia was just one of them.
Ninia didn’t know what to do with this unfamiliar emotion that she hadn’t felt even when she was a Saintess.
Her slowed steps had eventually come to a stop. Ninia didn’t even realize she was standing still in the hallway.
“Your Highness the Consort?”
That’s how consuming her thoughts were. Ninia lifted her head at the unfamiliar voice. A man in a white doublet was calling to her with a look of puzzlement.
“Count Anterno?”
When she unconsciously called out to him, Raid smiled as if to confirm it was him. She couldn’t understand why the Count was on the same floor as her room.
“Is there something wrong?”
Raid was the first to ask, seeing her dazed eyes. Ninia slowly looked around her. It was a similar corridor, but a different building. Only then did she realize she had come to the wrong place.
“No.”
Ninia quickly denied it. Though she was the mistress of the castle in name, she was ashamed of the fact that she had lost her way.
It was natural for the Count to be in the annex where the distinguished guests were gathered. The Grand Duchess standing frozen in the hallway, it was probably Raid who was flustered, not her.
“Do you have someone to meet?”
“It’s not that… I was walking while distracted and ended up here.”
Despite her absurd mistake, Raid did not look at Ninia as if she were a strange person.
‘I’m glad I ran into the Count.’
Raid’s brown eyes looked harmless. She relaxed a little at a gaze she was encountering for the first time in a very long time.
All she had to do was apologize for the intrusion and turn back. But Raid’s words held her back.
“That’s a shame.”
“Pardon?”
“I thought you had come to see me, but it seems that wasn’t the case.”
Her uncomprehending eyes met Raid’s. Seeing that innocent reaction, Raid smiled as if it couldn’t be helped. His brown eyes were still warm, but a subtle heat was flowing through them.
“Are you not lonely?”
He took a step toward Ninia. Ninia instinctively took a step back. At that, Raid stopped in his tracks and continued speaking.
“The environment is different from the capital, and it must have been all new people in a new place. I was similar in the early days of my studies abroad. I was fortunate to go to a country that spoke the same language, but still, the way of life and the people were different from the Empire and felt unfamiliar.”
As his words ended, Ninia, who had been holding her breath in vigilance, slowly exhaled.
‘So that’s what he meant.’
Raid was trying to say that his experience studying abroad and Ninia’s situation were similar. If so, his concern must be an ordinary feeling toward a kindred spirit. But her relief was premature.
“Furthermore, His Excellency is an indifferent man, is he not?”
At his words, her blue eyes wavered. Ninia had to lower her gaze to hide her emotions.
She was skilled at packaging herself as a doll, but after a defect had once appeared, a weakness called Tarahan had formed.
Anyone who pressed on it would make her react like this. She felt pathetic for being that way. Ninia gathered her gaze before opening her mouth.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
Miernelle, and Raid too, were all trying to leave a scar on Ninia by bringing up Tarahan.
Ninia now thought she couldn’t even trust her own eyes. The memory of being skilled at reading others’ emotions seemed to have already degenerated into an abstraction of the past.
But this, too, was Ninia’s misjudgment.
“I am saying that I can relieve Your Highness the Consort’s loneliness.”
A hand that had reached out at some point grasped Ninia’s. Raid, with his head bowed, was kissing the back of her hand.
Surprised, Ninia quickly pulled her hand away. It came away easily, but the warmth of another person still covered her hand.
“…I do not want that.”
Even though she tried not to, her voice trembled. Ninia clutched the back of her hand with her other hand. As if to wipe away the remaining warmth.
“I’m sure it would be helpful. In any way. How can you be so certain it wouldn’t be?”
Raid did not back down easily. He even went so far as to ask again if Ninia’s refusal was sincere.
“You poor thing. There are times when anyone doesn’t know their own feelings. I am the same. But if you keep pretending not to know, it becomes an illness.”
It was hard to know what he was trying to say. It was just confusing. Ninia slowly backed away. Eventually, her back met a cold wall.
Raid did not approach further, as if pitying the frightened Ninia.
“You don’t have to be so afraid. I would not dare force Her Highness the Consort. Everything will be done after your permission.”
“And who gives that permission?”
A chilling voice echoed down the hallway. In the darkness on the opposite side, Tarahan was standing.
