Chapter 154
Rain poured down over that faded ruin.
The rain that soaked his pale grayish-brown eyelashes crossed his pale cheekbones and flowed down along his jawline.
At a glance, it looked as if he were shedding tears.
But nothing could be read from the man’s frozen face.
She could only vaguely discover a desolate and empty shadow.
He lowered his arm as if he could not bear the weight of the rainwater.
A heavy sigh flowed from between the lips that were gasping out breaths he had not yet managed to steady.
“Let’s go back.”
“......”
Thalia only looked up at him with blank eyes.
Then a crack appeared in his silent face, as if it had been hardened from wax.
“You... cannot stay like this. You lost... blood...”
As if the flow of his thoughts were not smooth, he spoke haltingly.
“You lost... so much blood. So if your body gets cold...”
His voice blurred beneath the intensifying sound of rain.
The man slowly approached her as if nearing a timid wild animal, then knelt on one knee in front of her.
A white hand with prominent knuckles wrapped around her dirt-covered hand.
She felt faint warmth over her cold skin.
The man held it with both hands, rubbed it carefully, and brought it to his hot neck.
Thalia remembered that he had once done the same for an unsightly bird that had fallen into muddy water.
The sobs that had been subsiding surged up again.
“Let’s go now.”
He wrapped his arm around her bony back over her thin nightgown.
Thalia twisted her body to push him away.
This man, who could lift her up to the clouds simply by reaching out a hand, truly frightened her.
She resented him for making her harbor hope.
If she had remained at the bottom, she would not have suffered the pain of falling.
Even knowing it was an unfair accusation, Thalia wanted to ask him.
Why did you not leave me to rot under the mound of dirt that day?
Why did you not leave me in the shadows of the Imperial Palace?
Why did you make me dream of happiness?
“I don’t want this anymore. Leave me alone!”
When she twisted her body as if having a seizure, he wrapped both arms tightly around her, preventing her from thrashing.
Thalia burst into tears, overwhelmed by helplessness.
A hot palm slipped into her wet hair and wrapped around her icy neck.
A voice as heavy and rough as metal poured down over the crown of her head.
Realizing that he meant to take her away even by force, Thalia twisted her head and looked at the grave.
The image of the baby trembling inside the cold mound of dirt flickered before her eyes.
The cry of a newborn baby once again mixed into the sound of rain.
She wanted to somehow pick the baby up, hold him, and soothe him, and the fact that she could not made her want to die.
Thalia, who had been gasping roughly as if her breath would be cut off, soon let her limbs go limp.
The whole world was being submerged in rain and tears.
She wanted to sink into it instead.
As she felt her vision gradually grow distant, she prayed through her tears.
Please, let me sleep forever like this.
So that I can escape this painful reality...
***
Tiuran was climbing the stairs with a canteen filled with cold water when she spotted Daren Dru Siarkan standing to one side of the corridor and stopped.
Perhaps there had been some formal event, because the man, wearing an ornate doublet perfectly fitted to his imposing build and a breastplate with delicate craftsmanship, was talking with a young aide.
Then he noticed her standing awkwardly at the top of the stairs and offered a formal greeting.
“You have worked hard.”
Tiuran bowed her head with a tense face.
“What brings you here?”
“Ah, it is nothing much. I merely came to ask about the Grand Duchess’s condition.”
The man pointed with a sideways glance toward the bedroom door further down the corridor.
Tiuran set the canteen she was holding on the floor and carefully chose her words as she moistened her dry lips.
“Her fever finally fell around noon today. She has taken medicine and is sleeping now.”
“Then has the dangerous period completely passed?”
Tiuran watched the man with cautious eyes.
She, too, knew that some vassals were questioning the Grand Duchess’s ability to bear children.
Separate from feeling disgusted by their heartlessness, Tiuran hoped that Thalia would not be hurt any further.
So she gave a rather protective answer.
“Fortunately, Her Highness is slowly recovering. In a few months, she should be able to return to her previous condition.”
“It takes that long?”
The man’s thick eyebrows furrowed sharply.
Tiuran firmly suppressed the urge to frown.
What did this man think childbirth was?
Although it had been a premature birth, the stillborn child had been large for a seven-month baby, and the Grand Duchess’s pelvis was narrower than that of an ordinary woman.
It had been a situation scarcely different from an ordinary birth.
On top of that, the bleeding had not stopped, and she had nearly reached a life-threatening state.
Of course recovery would take time.
Instead of explaining all that at length, Tiuran replied coldly, almost snapping.
“This is a normal recovery speed. Is a woman’s body not naturally more delicate and fragile than a man’s?”
“In any case, you mean she is no longer in danger, correct?”
The man asked again in a somewhat impatient tone.
After hesitating briefly, Tiuran soon nodded.
Then the man let out a relieved sigh with a satisfied face.
“Then there is no longer any need for His Grace to stay by her side.”
Only then did Tiuran realize that they had come because of the Grand Duke’s absence, and her face hardened.
“I apologize, but just because the wounds of the body have healed does not mean the heart has recovered as well. Her Highness has lost the child she cherished and carried. Right now, she needs her husband.”
At her somewhat presumptuous words, the expression disappeared from the man’s face.
Tiuran tensed her body.
Daren Dru Siarkan was not someone with such a cruel nature, but nobles were beings who could become endlessly merciless toward commoners.
As she hid her shrinking fear and watched his reaction, the man, who had looked displeased, soon explained in a calm manner.
“It may be too much to ask someone of your status to understand the duties nobles must bear. But I shall personally explain. Varkas Raedgo Siarkan is a ruler responsible for millions of easterners before he is someone’s husband. At his decision, all the military forces of the East move, and hundreds of lords gather. If he does not fulfill his duty, the nobles will think this.”
“......”
“If that man does not fulfill his role as ruler, why should we serve him?”
Tiuran lowered her head with a speechless expression.
The man added in a composed tone,
“I am striving to protect His Grace the Grand Duke’s authority. If you, too, are loyal to this House Siarkan, then report to your lord that there is nothing wrong with Her Highness the Grand Duchess’s health now, and that he no longer needs to worry.”
“...I understand what you mean. Please forgive my careless remark.”
When she bowed her head politely, the man seemed to be appeased and stepped aside to one side of the corridor.
Tiuran picked up the canteen she had placed on the floor.
As she carefully passed through the corridor and approached the bedroom door, making sure the water did not spill, the two men continued talking in the corridor.
Feeling Daren’s gaze resting on her, Tiuran carefully pulled the doorknob.
When she entered as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the Grand Duchess’s sleep, she saw the Grand Duke sitting with his back against the headboard of the bed.
Tiuran, who had been about to tell him that she had brought water, unconsciously stopped breathing.
It was because he looked so very young, sitting at an angle in a loose tunic, his disheveled hair pushed back.
Only then did Tiuran remember that he was a young man of merely twenty-four.
“Why are you standing there? Bring it here.”
The man, who had been carefully touching the forehead of the woman lying beside him, gave the order in a quiet voice.
Tiuran, who had been standing stiffly by the door, hesitantly approached the bedside.
The young man did not even glance at her and only stared silently at his wife’s face.
His profile looked no less gaunt than the Grand Duchess’s.
Come to think of it, had she ever seen this man sleep?
For several days, she had gone in and out of the Grand Duke’s bedroom day and night, but she could not remember ever seeing this man with his eyes closed.
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