Ch#154
Rain poured over those faded ruins.
The downpour soaked his pale grey-brown eyelashes, streaming across his pallid cheekbones and down the line of his jaw.
At a glance, it looked as if he were weeping. Yet, nothing could be read from the man’s frozen face. One could only catch a faint glimpse of the desolate, hollow shadows dwelling there.
As if unable to bear the weight of the rainwater, his arms dropped to his sides. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he exhaled the ragged breath he hadn’t yet managed to steady.
“Let’s go back.”
“…….”
Talia only looked up at him with glazed eyes. At that, a crack finally appeared on his silent face, which had looked as though it were carved from hardened wax.
“You… you can’t stay like this. The blood….”
He spoke haltingly, as if the flow of his thoughts were obstructed.
“You lost… a lot of blood. If you let your body get cold….”
His voice grew faint against the intensifying sound of the rain. Moving slowly, as if approaching a skittish wild animal, the man knelt on one knee before her.
A pale hand with prominent knuckles wrapped around her mud-stained hand. A faint warmth seeped into her deathly cold skin.
Holding it in both hands, the man rubbed her hand gently before pressing it against his own warm neck. Talia remembered that he had once done the same for a pathetic bird that had fallen into a muddy puddle.
The sobs that had been subsiding surged up once more.
“It’s time to go.”
He wrapped his arms around her thin back through her flimsy nightgown.
Talia twisted her body to push him away.
She was truly terrified of this man, who could lift her to the clouds with just the reach of a hand.
She resented him for making her harbor hope. If she had remained at the bottom, there would have been no pain from falling, would there?
Even knowing it was an unfair accusation, Talia wanted to demand answers.
Why didn’t you let me rot in the dirt that day?
Why didn’t you leave me in the shadows of the Imperial Palace?
Why did you make me dream of happiness?
“I can’t take it anymore. Leave me alone!”
As she writhed paroxysmally, he pulled her body into a tight embrace with both arms, pinning her so she could no longer struggle.
Overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness, Talia burst into tears. A hot palm delved into her wet hair, cupping her ice-cold nape.
A voice, heavy and rough as metal, poured over the crown of her head.
“We have to go now.”
Realizing he intended to take her away even by force, Talia twisted her head to look toward the grave.
The image of the baby, likely shivering in the cold earth, flickered before her eyes.
Once again, the sound of an infant’s cry seemed to mingle with the noise of the rain. She wanted to hold the child and comfort them somehow, and the fact that she couldn’t made her want to die.
After gasping for breath as if her lungs might give out, Talia soon let her limbs go limp.
The entire world was being submerged in rain and tears.
She wanted to sink into it instead.
As her vision gradually grew distant, she prayed amidst her weeping.
Please, let me sleep forever like this. So that I may escape this agonizing reality….
Tiuran, who was climbing the stairs with a canteen of cold water, stopped when she spotted Daren Drew Sherkan standing at one end of the hallway.
Whether he had come from an official event, the man—clad in a splendid doublet that fit his burly frame and a breastplate with delicate engravings—was speaking with a young aide. Upon noticing her standing awkwardly at the top of the stairs, he offered a formal greeting.
“You are working hard.”
Tiuran bowed her head, her face tense.
“Is there something you need, my lord?”
“Ah, it is nothing major. I simply came to check on the Grand Duchess’s condition.”
The man gestured with his eyes toward the bedroom door further down the hall.
Setting the canteen down on the floor, Tiuran moistened her parched lips and chose her words carefully.
“Her fever only broke around noon today. She is currently sleeping after taking her medicine.”
“Then has the dangerous period passed completely?”
Tiuran watched the man with a cautious gaze.
She was well aware that some of the retainers were questioning the Grand Duchess’s fertility. Aside from the disgust she felt at their cold-heartedness, Tiuran hoped that Talia would not be hurt any further. Thus, she offered a somewhat protective answer.
“Fortunately, Her Grace is recovering her strength bit by bit. In a few months, she should be able to return to her former state.”
“It takes that long?”
The man’s thick eyebrows furrowed deeply.
Tiuran suppressed the urge to scowl.
What does this man think childbirth is?
Though it was a premature birth, the stillborn child had been large for a seven-month-old, and the Grand Duchess’s pelvis was narrower than that of an average woman. It had been a situation hardly different from a full-term labor.
Furthermore, the bleeding hadn’t stopped, nearly bringing her to the brink of death. It was only natural that recovery would take time.
Instead of explaining all that in detail, Tiuran replied in a cold, snapping tone.
“This is a normal recovery speed. Is a woman’s body not inherently more delicate and fragile than a man’s?”
“In any case, you are saying she is no longer in a critical state?”
The man asked again, his tone somewhat impatient.
Tiuran hesitated for a moment before nodding her head.
At that, the man exhaled a sigh of relief, looking satisfied.
“Then there is no longer a need for His Grace to remain by her side.”
Only then did Tiuran realize they had come because of the Grand Duke’s absence, and her expression hardened.
“Forgive me, but just because the wounds of the body have closed does not mean the heart has recovered. Her Grace has lost the child she cherished and carried. Right now, she needs her husband.”
At her somewhat presumptuous remark, all expression vanished from the man’s face.
Tiuran tensed her body. Daren Drew Sherkan was not a man of cruel temperament, but nobles could be infinitely ruthless toward commoners.
While hiding her intimidation and watching his reaction, the man, who had looked displeased, eventually explained in a calm manner.
“It may be too much to ask someone of your station to understand the duties a noble must shoulder. However, I shall explain it to you myself. Barkas Raedgo Sherkan is a sovereign responsible for millions of Easterners before he is anyone’s husband. According to his decisions, all the forces of the East move and hundreds of lords assemble. If he does not fulfill his duties, the nobles will think this:”
“…….”
“‘If that man does not fulfill his role as a sovereign, why should we serve him?’”
Tiuran lowered her head, looking speechless.
The man added in a composed tone.
“I am striving to protect the Grand Duke’s authority. If you are also one who is loyal to the House of Sherkan, then inform our lord that there is no longer any abnormality in the Grand Duchess’s health, so he need not worry further.”
“……I understand what you are saying. Please, forgive my rash remarks.”
When she bowed politely, the man seemed to lose his irritation and stepped aside.
Tiuran picked up the canteen from the floor. As she walked carefully down the hallway to ensure the water didn’t spill, the two men remained in the hall, continuing their conversation.
Feeling Daren’s gaze upon her, Tiuran cautiously pulled the door handle.
Stepping inside 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.
Tiuran, about to tell him she had brought water, found herself holding her breath.
Sitting there at an angle, dressed loosely in a generous tunic with his disheveled hair pushed back, he looked incredibly young.
Tiuran only then remembered that he was a young man of merely twenty-four.
“What are you doing standing there? Bring it here.”
The man, who had been gently checking the forehead of the woman lying beside him, gave the instruction in a quiet voice.
Tiuran, who had been frozen by the door, hesitated before approaching the bedside.
The young man didn’t even glance at her, his eyes fixed solely on his wife’s face. His profile looked just as haggard as the Grand Duchess’s.
Come to think of it, had she ever seen this man sleep?
Though she had been in and out of the Grand Duke’s bedroom day and night for several days, she had no memory of ever seeing him close his eyes.
