(1) Divorce Petition
When Asla Sherita first met the foreign Duke, it was in a rose garden on a summer day so hot that the sunlight felt scorching.
Heavy rain had fallen the night before, making the red roses bloom even more vividly. The Duke, Enoch Ventus, who was gazing at these roses, was barely eighteen years old.
He had just come of age this year.
When she had heard rumors about him, she worried that he might be too young to bear the weight of his ducal title, but the moment she saw him in person, she realized her concerns were unfounded.
Everything about him was distinctly different from others.
As befitting the Duke of the Ventus family, known for their wealth in the Tulia Empire that controlled power across the continent, he exuded both luxury and dignity.
Surrounded by an unapproachable noble aura, his features, which still retained a slight boyishness, were attractive.
He was handsome enough to draw involuntary admiration, with his tall stature and seemingly solid physique.
‘Perfect.’
That’s what Asla thought.
Having lived most of her fifteen years confined within the palace walls, she fell in love with the Duke at first sight.
Her heart raced, her breath quickened.
Like the sweet flesh of fruit ripening under the harsh summer sun, Asla harbored her first love.
Sensing her presence, the Duke turned his head and their eyes met.
When she met his handsome eyes, the area around her heart tingled even more.
But the Duke seemed different.
After politely bowing with a straight back to Asla, the princess of this kingdom, he turned away coldly without speaking further.
The princess’s nanny standing behind her burst out in anger, calling it ‘an attitude that disrespects the princess,’ but Asla didn’t mind.
She thought it was understandable.
She stood still, watching his retreating figure intently.
Asla kept him deep in her heart after falling for him at first sight, and she fell in love.
The dreamlike time of harboring her brilliant first love and imagining various scenarios became her only solace and salvation in her barren life.
However, everything changed from their wedding day when they became husband and wife.
“This way.”
Enoch Ventus, the man who would become her husband and whom she had loved unrequitedly for five years, extended his hand to her, his twenty-year-old bride, but he was far too cold.
Asla became frightened by Enoch’s icy gaze and rigid demeanor.
What she had read in books was true.
First love doesn’t come true.
But the time she had loved him was long and passionate.
So Asla bit her lip firmly, resolving to be a wife who wouldn’t burden him.
“Yes.”
She took his hand, which showed not a trace of affection, and went through with the wedding.
Princess Asla Sherita of the fallen Holy Kingdom thus became the wife of the Empire’s wealthiest Duke Ventus.
⁕⁕⁕
Asla was lost in thought, recalling the wedding ceremony from two years ago.
“You shouldn’t touch it, Madam.”
“…Right.”
As the maid’s sharp rebuke flew at her, she withdrew her hand.
That her hand had moved unconsciously made her realize just how desperately she loved this man.
This was the gallery corridor of the Ventus ducal mansion.
It was a place steeped in tradition where portraits of past Ventus dukes hung.
Though the employees diligently cleaned it every day, a faint smell of dust that had absorbed the passage of time lingered in the air.
The portraits with open eyes in the quiet corridor were all men with silver hair and black eyes.
The portrait Asla had reached toward was of her husband, the current head of the family, Duke Enoch Ventus.
She clasped her hands together and looked up at Enoch’s portrait, thinking.
No matter how many times she examined them, Enoch was the most handsome and splendid among all the dukes.
Asla pulled up her lips in a bitter smile.
‘I guess I really did fall in love with just this person’s appearance and aura.’
Even though two years had passed since their marriage, her heart still fluttered whenever she saw his face.
That’s why Asla enjoyed viewing Enoch’s portrait here.
His portrait was artistically excellent, and at least the Enoch in the painting didn’t cast the indifferent gaze he did in person.
He merely looked down at the corridor with a nobly arrogant, expressionless gaze.
Asla lingered longer today to gaze at him.
She wanted to keep the man she had loved in her sight a little longer.
How much time had passed?
“My legs hurt, Madam.”
Brought back to her senses by the maid’s grumbling, Asla glanced at the maid and nodded briefly.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Ugh.”
The sound of the maid sighing in obvious irritation behind her stabbed at a corner of Asla’s heart.
Asla walked slowly, trying not to show her feelings.
Her beautiful face contorted slightly, but the maid didn’t even make an effort to check on her mistress.
No matter how kindly Asla had treated her, the attitude of her assigned maid never changed.
It remained the same despite two years of admonishment and persuasion.
There was one reason for this.
This maid was a minion of the previous Duchess, Margo Ventus.
She could never escape from Margo’s grip, which controlled this vast Ventus mansion.
‘Not as long as I’m here.’
She clenched her hand slightly to calm herself, feeling stifled and sorrowful.
She wanted to endure and endure because she loved Enoch.
Her steps felt unbearably heavy as she walked through the beautiful, antique Ventus mansion.
This mansion, said to be the most historic and magnificent in the Empire, was a prison to her.
Just then, a man at the end of the long corridor spotted her and quickly ran over.
‘Enoch’s secretary, Talet.’
Asla noticed that Talet’s expression was slightly more rigid than usual and felt relieved, smiling faintly.
She knew why he was looking for her so urgently.
Now that it was all over, she actually felt relieved.
As Asla gave Talet an eye greeting, he quickly bowed and straightened up, saying:
“Madam, the master is looking for you.”
“I’ll go right away.”
“Yes, I’ll escort you to the study.”
Asla began to follow him, then glanced back at the maid.
The maid was rolling her eyes in apparent confusion, looking back and forth between her and Talet.
It was understandable that she would be surprised.
Asla thought this as she turned her head back.
It was uncommon for Enoch to summon her to his study.
No, he rarely even came up to the Ventus mansion in this Ventus territory.
He was always busy.
The wealthy Ventus ducal family was rich enough to dominate the Empire.
Not just anyone could become wealthy.
Enoch was always busy and troubled with business-related matters.
That’s why he spent more days in the capital than at the northern Ventus mansion in the Empire.
‘He spent even less time with me. He probably never felt the need to anyway.’
Asla smiled dejectedly.
This too was all coming to an end.
She had decided to stop enduring life in this mansion for a man who showed her not a shred of affection.
Upon arriving at Enoch’s study, she saw him dressed in a neat formal suit.
Enoch appeared to be massaging his tired eyes, seemingly having just returned to the mansion.
Looking at him as he swept back his silver hair that sparkled like shattered sunlight, Asla thought he looked splendid.
And finding it absurd that she still loved him, she forgot even to greet him.
As Asla and Enoch stared at each other silently, creating an atmosphere like thin ice, Talet quickly closed the study door and left.
Left alone with Enoch in the study, Asla took a short breath.
Enoch seemed slightly angry, unlike his usual self.
‘Ah.’
When Asla shifted her gaze to the document envelope Enoch was holding, he raised one eyebrow.
“……You sent a divorce petition to the temple, Asla.”
Asla found his low voice unusually threatening today, making her throat go completely dry.
She honestly wondered why he was so angry.
Although she had unilaterally sent the divorce petition, she was certain that her husband Enoch would be the one most welcoming the divorce.
‘Did I hurt this noble man’s pride?’
After reaching this conclusion on her own, she responded to him calmly.
“I didn’t have time to write an agreement with you. You never come to the mansion.”
“You could have come to the capital. What good are your legs? No matter how noble a princess you were, couldn’t you move a bit in situations like this?”
Enoch twisted his lips and criticized Asla.
She found his sarcasm both absurd and somewhat surprising.
Was Enoch Ventus always someone who showed his emotions so openly?
Asla felt wronged.
How could she possibly go to the capital?
It was evidence that Enoch had no idea what kind of life she was living in this Ventus mansion.
‘Really, this is too much until the end.’
Since Asla had already decided to give up on him, she decided not to argue with him further.
She ignored Enoch’s words and explained calmly.
“As someone with the status of a princess from the fallen Holy Kingdom, I couldn’t do much, but it proved helpful in this case. Since you’re busy, it was simple to handle it alone.”
“I really…… don’t understand.”
Enoch gripped the envelope he was holding so tightly it almost crumpled, then strode toward her.
The distance closed in an instant.
Having not seen his black eyes this close for so long, Asla found her breath caught.
Enoch’s eyes were blazing like fire.
‘Why?’
Could he really harbor such intense emotions? Asla’s eyes widened in surprise.
He looked at her like that and parted his lips as if to say something, then bit them roughly and closed them.
Enoch handed the divorce petition to Asla with one corner of his mouth turned up.
“The temple sent it back. God Ters personally made the judgment.”
‘God Ters issued a divine decree?’
Surprised by this unexpected development, Asla blinked.
Reporting to the temple for a divorce was merely a custom to seek God’s blessing and forgiveness for the two people about to start new lives.
A simple custom where the priest would take the divorce petition that had been placed on God’s altar overnight and stamp it.
Why would a divine decree come down for something like a divorce petition?
With trembling hands, Asla opened the white envelope.
Asla’s eyes widened as she took out the divorce petition she had written and sent.
‘Blue waves!’
The blue wave pattern, evidence that God had directly issued a divine decree, was engraved on the divorce petition.
‘Why would God Ters intervene in the divorce of mere human spouses?’
Asla felt dizzy as she read God Ters’s judgment written at the end of the divorce petition.
«I oppose this divorce.»
