Chapter 1 (Part 10)

Therese’s face was filled with worry as she traveled by carriage early in the morning. They had traveled for a long time. The carriage stopped briefly, and someone boarded midway.

“Greetings, Master.”

Kneeling on the carriage floor, Roshan kissed the back of her hand.

“…Ha. I thought I told you not to do this.”

Roshan insisted this was a custom of Pasa, always greeting her with such embarrassing gestures.

“It is a great honor to work with you like this.”

“Roshan, my head hurts, so stop with the unnecessary words and sit down quickly.”

“…As you command.”

Roshan seemed intent on sitting next to her, rather than across from her.

“Is there a reason to sit side by side here?”

“There’s plenty of reason.”

With a rather solemn expression, Roshan pointed to both windows.

“I need to be close to block any flying daggers that might come through those windows.”

He subtly showed the lethal weapon hidden in his coat.

“Roshan, I’m seriously asking, in the past month, did you hit your head?”

Therese had known him for seven years. 

Her father had visited the Pasa Empire, surrounded by sand, to secure an exclusive supply of high-quality carpets from there. The carpets from Pasa were the finest in the world and beautiful, fetching high prices in the empire.

‘Therese, since I’m busy, take a guard and go explore the market.’

After the kidnapping incident, her father assigned a personal guard to Therese.

‘Yes, I understand.’

Business talk among adults was always dull, so she gladly went outside. But she soon regretted the outing. The scorching sun felt like it was cooking her skin, and she was parched.

‘I should head back.’

It was when she turned around at the entrance of the market.

‘Don’t make a sound!’

A shout and the sound of a whip came from somewhere. When Therese arrived there, a young child was tied to a post and being whipped.

The scene was so horrific that Therese found it hard to even look.

The boy’s white shirt was in tatters, soaked with blood.

‘Why are they doing that?’

She asked in shock, but her escort seemed troubled and suggested they just pass by.

‘…….’

Therese knew it wasn’t her place to interfere. This wasn’t their empire, and customs were different, and there might be a valid reason for the boy’s punishment. But no matter how she thought about it, violence couldn’t be justified.

‘This isn’t right.’

Clenching her fists, she charged at the man wielding the whip.

‘Stop hitting him! He’ll die!’

Everyone gathered around was startled into silence by Therese’s sudden intervention.

‘Where did this bold girl come from?’

The man with the whip was bewildered, never having encountered such a situation in decades. The boy tied to the post also stared intently at her with red eyes, seemingly surprised.

‘You’ll be punished for hitting a child!’

Therese earnestly conveyed her thoughts. Though they didn’t share a language, the man seemed to understand her intent through her eyes and gestures, lowering the whip. He appeared flustered, not knowing what to do with the sudden turn of events.

Then Therese’s escort approached the man and whispered something in Pasa language. A pouch of gold seemed to change hands, and soon the boy was released from the post.

‘I, Shin Roshan Jawad, will serve you until death.’

The staggering boy knelt before Therese.

‘Get up right now. You’re bleeding.’

She vividly remembered how they couldn’t communicate at all then. That was seven years ago. Or, if she counted, it would be twelve years ago. 

‘Time is truly fleeting.’

She thought.

Roshan, watching Therese’s confused face, spoke slowly.

“My heart has never changed since you saved me, Master.”

He seemed to speak the Imperial language perfectly, but if you listened closely, the Pasa accent lingered.

“When are you talking about? Besides, that was….”

She later learned it was a unique coming-of-age ritual in Pasa. 

It seemed cruel, but enduring the pain of the whipping was necessary to be recognized as an adult.

‘I really thought that person was trying to kill Roshan.’

Recalling that moment, Therese frowned, and he cautiously spoke.

“Master, my vow is sincere.”

“Roshan, my head is pounding, so please be quiet.”

She wanted to flick his forehead for his sly behavior.

“As you command.”

She met Roshan again when she was eighteen. Roshan suddenly appeared in rags and knelt before her.

‘Please take me in, Master.’

‘……What?’

Stuttering in the Imperial language, he tearfully said he had nowhere to go.

Therese found it fascinating to meet him again, but she had no intention of taking him in. However, she couldn’t ignore someone from Pasa, so she decided to at least feed him, which led to today.

“Master, we have arrived.”

The place they reached had a desolate atmosphere. It was the opposite of the bustling, bright feeling of Manus Bazaar. There were a few shops without signs, and the occasional merchant waved their arms as if shooing flies.

“Master, may I ask why you’ve come here?”

Roshan usually followed her orders without question. But given the location, he must have sensed something suspicious.

After a moment of hesitation, Therese pondered.

‘I might die from poisoning.’

It would be better to inform him in advance in case that happened. But when she tried to speak, she was so taken aback that her voice wouldn’t come out easily.

“Actually, I’ve been poisoned.”

“…?”

Roshan stopped in his tracks upon hearing her words. Expecting such a reaction, Therese didn’t look back and urged him on.

“Roshan, we don’t have time, so let’s hurry.”

She didn’t want to stay long in such a desolate place.

“Master, who did this?”

Roshan’s voice was unusually dark, and his entire body exuded a chilling aura. He seemed to think someone had attempted to poison her.

‘It’s no one’s doing.’

Therese had taken the poison herself to die. She couldn’t tell even Roshan this. 

Recalling that desperate moment, her eyes turned red.

Just because she had returned didn’t mean all the emotions from that time were erased. Still standing, waiting for her answer, Therese slowly spoke to Roshan.

“Would you like to see me vomit blood and die on the street?”

“…I’m sorry. It was too sudden.”

“Hurry up.”

Leaving those short words, she strode forward. There was no sign of poisoning in her steady gait. 

“…Ah.”

Someone who captivates him every time he sees her. 

From the moment she stopped the beating, Therese was his sun and his whole world.

‘I will protect you, Master.’

No matter what it takes.

With resolute determination, Roshan followed her closely.

The afternoon was as dazzling as the day they first met.

❖ ❖ ❖

Despite rushing to find an antidote early in the morning, it was late afternoon by the time she returned to the ducal residence. Her mother-in-law, who was having tea with guests, clicked her tongue when she saw Therese.

“You didn’t forget our regular meeting, did you?”

Of course not. How could I forget that?

Therese faintly smiled at her mother-in-law’s interrogation. 

The meeting her mother-in-law referred to sounded grand but was actually a time when idle noblewomen gathered to gossip or boast about who had bought the biggest and most expensive jewels. 

However, her mother-in-law and her group of noblewomen valued this time immensely. Attending this meeting was proof of being the most prominent ladies in the empire. For that reason, unless she was too ill to stand, Therese had to attend the tea meetings. And that was to serve them.

‘Looking back, there’s nothing that isn’t pathetic.’

She believed that if she endured, everyone could be happy. So she endured everything. But she didn’t realize that she was excluded from that happiness.

“What are you standing there for? Come and pour some tea!”

“…Hmm.”

Having traveled far, she didn’t have the energy to respond, and the toxins raging in her body made her feel unwell.

‘Even if I bring tea, I can’t drink it right now.’

Yet she was told to pour tea.

Even though it was something she always did, it felt strangely awkward.

Why was it that she, the Duchess, served tea to guests? 

That was wrong from the start.

‘Despite emphasizing etiquette so much.’

After Duke Richard went to the battlefield early in their marriage, Therese received etiquette education daily.

‘How can I accept you as a daughter-in-law from a family with no roots!’

Her mother-in-law said she had to learn the dignity befitting the ducal family to be accepted. However, no matter how many hours she spent reading etiquette books, learning flower arranging, or embroidery, her mother-in-law never praised her.

‘When will you ever rid yourself of that lowly nature!’

Though it was true that she came from a merchant family and that the title was bought, she had no lowly nature.

‘No matter how hard I struggle, I’m not even in your consideration, am I?’

They just needed someone to scold and trample on. 

Nonetheless, if she disappeared without a word, her mother-in-law would foam at the mouth and collapse. She couldn’t create unnecessary trouble. 

Solving the poisoning issue was the priority.