(13) Between Possessiveness and Jealousy
It was absurd.
Ian was a stranger she was meeting after a very long time. Of course, priests could marry and date, but she had never felt that way about Ian.
She knew nothing about his personality or anything else about him.
Asla was so dumbfounded that she strode up to Enoch, grabbed his hand, and quietly scolded him.
“What on earth are you thinking!”
Enoch looked down at Asla.
She was secretly surprised to see how shaken his black eyes were as they gazed at her.
“You’re trying to divorce me, and you secretly left this morning to meet that man. Don’t you think it’s a situation where I might misunderstand?”
Enoch’s tone was sarcastic, but he looked depressed. Asla was puzzled as she read jealousy in his burning eyes.
‘Why?’
He had been a husband who showed no interest in her.
This time it was clearly jealousy, not possessiveness.
Whatever his emotions were, Asla, feeling wronged by the misunderstanding, coldly cut off his words.
“It’s not like that.”
But Enoch didn’t budge. He didn’t seem to believe her words.
“As I said yesterday, you’re beautiful. There are plenty of men who will make advances at any time. Especially that Ian Herta, who’s even more black-hearted.”
After finishing his words, Enoch pulled Asla, who was holding his hand, into his arms.
Suddenly finding her head against Enoch’s chest, her face turned bright red.
“Enoch.”
It was her first time. Being in Enoch’s arms. Being this close to his body.
Dazed by the pleasant scent emanating from Enoch’s body, Asla stared at his hand wrapped around her shoulder.
“You’re…… weak to good looks.”
Asla was startled by Enoch’s muttered words and snapped back to reality.
“……What?”
“That’s why it’s dangerous. That man is dangerous inside and out.”
When he gritted his teeth and warned her, Asla looked up at him in surprise.
Meeting him at a distance where their breaths touched, he was truly handsome and magnificent, making Asla feel as if her breath would stop.
He said she was weak to good looks.
Of course, she liked Enoch’s handsome face, but that was…… not just his appearance, but also his unique atmosphere, and…
Asla tried to make excuses, but she couldn’t organize her thoughts properly and only opened and closed her lips.
Enoch narrowed his eyes, removed her from his embrace, firmly held her hand, and looked toward Ian.
Ian, who had been watching Asla and Enoch, looked quite displeased.
He brushed back his soft black hair once, then smiled at Asla.
“Lady Asla, what was your reason for visiting the temple? I’ll guide you.”
“Ian.”
Right. Asla realized that she had come to the temple to get assistance on a few matters so she could go to the capital alone.
As she tried to step forward, Enoch firmly held Asla’s hand.
“There’s no time for that. I’ve already booked train tickets to get to the capital quickly, as you wanted.”
“Ah……, you did?”
“Yes. I went personally this morning to get the tickets, only to find that my wife had vanished.”
When Enoch grumbled, Asla opened her eyes wide.
She was amazed that Enoch remembered what she had said yesterday and had obediently followed through.
She completely forgot why she had wanted to go to the capital alone and unconsciously nodded.
Then she smiled gently at Ian and waved her hand.
“It was good to see you, Ian. May God’s hand remain with you.”
“Lady Asla!”
“What is it?”
Ian approached Asla and Enoch with eager strides and a desperate look in his eyes.
Enoch bared his teeth menacingly.
“Ian Herta. I warned you, stop hovering around.”
“She was the princess of my homeland. As a priest, are you saying I can’t even see her?”
“So you’re saying you’ll keep hovering around?”
“I didn’t say that.”
The two men engaged in a war of words with Asla between them.
Asla was perplexed, feeling as if the air was prickling.
Enoch coldly warned the smiling Ian again.
“The priest of Dynus is extremely rude. I cannot tolerate this any further.”
“Enoch!”
When Asla pulled his hand to stop him, Enoch looked at her with displeasure.
“Ian Herta, you stop as well. If I need help, I’ll request it directly.”
“I understand, Lady Asla.”
Ian answered thus, then clenched his fist as he watched Asla walking away with Enoch.
The pink hair swaying gently, the clear, shining skin. He had finally met his princess, who seemed indifferent to the world yet was fair and kind to everyone.
Ian sternly ordered his assistant priest who had somehow found him.
“Book a train ticket to the capital, immediately.”
“Pardon? Priest?”
“And send a telegram in advance saying I’ll be transferring my position to the Grand Temple in the capital.”
Ignoring the assistant priest’s astonished exclamation, Ian turned away coldly, his face filled with anxiety.
The princess who had been caged was finally starting to move.
⁕⁕⁕
Powerful jets of misty steam rose from the black, gleaming steam locomotive.
The Dynus train station was quite muggy with the added heat of midsummer, so Asla fanned herself.
Seeing the beads of sweat forming on her forehead, Enoch signaled to Talet with his eyes.
“So Dynus has a train station now too.”
As Asla admired the grandeur of the train station without particularly minding the heat, Enoch promptly explained.
“It was completed a year ago. Trains are quite convenient and economical. Not only the cities of the Empire but other kingdoms are also desperate to lay tracks. The man who invested in the steel industry struck gold.”
Asla stared at Enoch, who was calmly stroking his chin as he spoke, and asked.
“Who is that man?”
“Duke Enoch Ventus.”
He answered promptly.
“The man who struck gold, His Grace Duke Enoch Ventus.”
Asla narrowed her eyes and deliberately summarized, but Enoch instead whispered in her ear.
“He struck gold, but the poor Enoch Ventus is about to lose his wife.”
“……Why are you like this.”
Asla pushed him away and stepped back. Whether it was because of his breath or the heat of the train station, she couldn’t tell, but Asla now felt this place was extremely hot.
She had grown up in the Holy Kingdom of Sherita at the southern end of the continent, so she thought the Empire’s heat would be nothing.
She walked briskly away, avoiding Enoch’s gaze as he stared at her intently.
“Where are you going, Asla.”
“We came to the train station, so I’m going to board the train.”
“Not that way.”
The direction Enoch pointed was exactly opposite to where Asla was walking.
When her expressionless face slightly contorted in embarrassment, Enoch let out a somewhat pleased laugh.
“It’s my first time here.”
“You have no sense of direction. So don’t think about going off to the capital alone like that. You’ll get lost and become a missing person.”
“How dare you say I have no sense of direction……!”
Asla flared up, but seeing Enoch shrug his shoulders, she couldn’t refute and closed her mouth.
While heading toward their train and holding his outstretched hand, Asla wondered.
How did he know she had no sense of direction?
During the past two years at the Ventus mansion, she hadn’t really been alone enough to get lost.
He had never shown any interest in her either.
Asla glanced back at May who was following behind them and carefully opened her mouth.
“How did you know I wanted to go to the capital alone? I didn’t even tell May.”
“Why would you, who hasn’t visited a temple all this time, specifically seek out the Dynus temple? If I think about reasons you might ask a temple for help, it’s simple.”
Asla’s eyes widened beneath her lavender hat with its large brim that hid her face.
She quickly looked around at the bustling crowd.
People glancing at them were admiring Enoch’s exposed face, but the noise of the train station was so loud that they probably couldn’t hear their conversation.
“What if people hear you? Watch what you say, Duke Enoch Ventus.”
“Yes, Princess Asla.”
“……I’m not joking right now.”
“Neither am I.”
Asla lost her words at Enoch’s brazen attitude and sighed deeply, lowering the brim of her hat further to cover her face.
According to May, many people would recognize her face as the last princess of the Holy Kingdom.
She was annoyed at Enoch for openly saying that such a princess hated the temple.
‘How does he know I haven’t been seeking God much, anyway.’
Asla felt a chill as cold sweat ran down her back.
Had she been showing her dislike for God lately?
She thought she had lived for 22 years restraining her emotions as much as possible and was quite skilled at not revealing them through her expressions.
“Here. I’ll help you up.”
Upon reaching the train car, Enoch climbed the narrow steps with a clean, nimble movement and elegantly extended his hand to Asla.
As she saw Enoch’s jawline and Adam’s apple clearly visible as he looked down at her, Asla felt a flutter in a corner of her heart.
Incredibly handsome.
Thinking that even if she lived on, this man would be the only one who could make her heart flutter like this, Asla took his hand.
When Enoch smiled, raising the corners of his mouth refreshingly to reveal his white teeth, Asla’s heart felt even more complicated.
How could he be so affectionate?
They had parted awkwardly just yesterday, but today they were conversing as if nothing had happened, making their relationship feel strange yet comfortable.
After passing through a narrow corridor, a conductor holding a golden ticket bowed deeply and opened the sliding door.
It was a first-class compartment with a table and two chairs facing each other in a spacious area.
Enoch, who had been talking with the conductor, closed the door and left, and May, who was helping Asla remove her hat, exclaimed in admiration.
“This is my first time in the first class, Madam!”
“It’s my first time riding in it too.”
“It must not have been easy to get first-class tickets on the same day. The secretary said that the Duke came to the train station himself early in the morning and almost threatened them?”
“Surely not.”
Asla muttered as she watched May fixing her hair that had been flattened by the hat.
Enoch threatening someone?
Thinking it didn’t suit him at all, she smiled slightly, and May, who had finished arranging Asla’s hair, carefully asked.
“Is there anything else I can help you with? I need to go to the second class now.”
“Ah, I see.”
May smiled happily, saying it was her first time riding in second class too.
Asla became slightly depressed when she realized she would have to be alone here with Enoch.
She remembered the words she had mumbled in her sleep last night.
She gathered her courage and grabbed May’s skirt.
“The space is so large, couldn’t May ride with us?”
“Pardon? Madam……”
“May and Talet’s seats are spacious too.”
Before May could refuse with a troubled expression, Enoch opened the door with a clatter and entered.
May didn’t hide her relieved expression as she hurriedly bowed and disappeared.
