(8) Were You Ever Attracted to Me?
The delicate glass with water droplets on it trembled precariously in his large hand, looking as if it might break.
Asla was very puzzled. She had merely asked a question, but he seemed truly angry.
The purpose of our journey is to go to the Grand Temple for divorce.
Why does this man get so angry whenever divorce is mentioned?
Enoch put down the glass and twisted his lips.
“You can’t become a citizen of the Holy Kingdom. That country no longer exists.”
It was a sharp truth that cut into Asla’s heart.
It was a truth that even a child on the street would know, but hearing it directly from Enoch’s mouth made her feel very strange.
It felt as if he was driving home the point that she had nowhere to return to anymore.
Asla felt peculiar.
She recalled the dream that God had shown her.
The Holy Kingdom, where fresh summer roses had bloomed in abundance, was now gone.
The bright and shining Princess Asla Sherita, who had first met Enoch there and blushed, was also gone now.
‘I know that too.’
She suddenly felt extremely wronged and gulped down all the water in her glass.
The water with a single piece of ice was very refreshing and made her feel a little better.
“Are you angry?”
As she was rubbing her temples because the water was so cold it made her head ache, Enoch cautiously spoke while reading her mood.
Finding him amusing, Asla let out a small laugh.
“Why would you think that? As if the fall of the Holy Kingdom was your fault.”
“Usually, people who gulp down cold water like that are angry.”
“……I’ll admit it. I am angry. Not because of you, but because I feel wronged. Because the Holy Kingdom fell. If it hadn’t fallen, at least I wouldn’t be living like this.”
“Living like this, you say.”
Enoch repeated her words, then tapped the table and sat askew with his elbow on the armrest.
She was very surprised to see him, usually so aristocratic, take a posture like a street thug.
“Is being married to me that unfortunate?”
“Are you only now realizing my unhappiness? You’ve finally noticed.”
Asla responded coldly.
Because she felt so sorry toward him, she swallowed her complaints about the unfair treatment she received.
It had been two years of holding back her words and being obedient.
‘It was all for this person.’
Duke Ventus, who had taken the princess of the fallen Holy Kingdom as his wife.
He, the most noble and wealthy in the Empire, couldn’t participate in politics because of a wife with an ambiguous former status.
The Emperor said he had arranged the marriage with the wealthy Duke Enoch Ventus for the sake of the former Holy Kingdom princess’s dignity, but those in the know were aware.
They knew the Emperor had attached the last princess of the Holy Kingdom to Duke Enoch Ventus to keep him in check.
The founding law that imperial authority and divine authority should be separated was still in effect, and in recent times when the boundary between titled nobility and gentry was becoming blurred, divine authority had become a great threat to the imperial family.
Since God clearly existed and there were priests who wielded divine power, the imperial family couldn’t help but be sensitive.
In an already turbulent era where commoners were claiming authority and gentry were stepping forward, the bomb that was a princess from the Holy Kingdom had entered the Empire.
Like others, Asla thought the Emperor had hidden his vile intentions and arranged her marriage to Enoch.
‘He was afraid of Enoch accumulating vast wealth as his business thrived. What a petty Emperor.’
Recalling Enoch’s current situation, Asla felt even more miserable.
She had realized the Emperor’s ulterior motives foolishly only after the marriage.
So she kept her mouth shut and endured the harassment at the Ventus mansion.
She had hoped that by living quietly in the northern Ventus territory, far from political circles, the last royal of the Holy Kingdom would be cleanly forgotten by everyone.
That Enoch could then claim his rights and freely spread his wings.
But now she couldn’t endure anymore. Asla, who self-deprecatingly thought herself a truly weak human, recalled what Enoch had said.
‘It would be better to divorce on grounds of adultery.’
Asla slowly formed a plan.
If it became known to the public that she had committed adultery and filed for divorce as a form of repentance, Duke Enoch Ventus’s reputation could be maintained.
She wanted to tell him everything she wanted to say and then divorce him, on the grounds of adultery she had never committed.
When Asla glared at him intensely, Enoch seemed a bit surprised, opening his eyes wide and grabbing his chin.
“I’m sorry.”
When he apologized so readily, Asla felt all her strength drain away.
Does this person actually understand what he should be sorry for?
She found this situation amusing.
What had Enoch done wrong? Not loving me? Or leaving his sister-in-law Margo alone?
Yes, it was all his fault.
Even as she reached this conclusion, her heart felt heavier and more complicated.
She looked back at the lake, trying to calm her troubled mind.
“Excuse me.”
Breaking the silence that had settled between them, a waiter appeared and set down appetizer plates. Meanwhile, Asla looked at Enoch.
“Enoch. When we get to the capital, can I meet Vice President Robert Hesse?”
“……How do you know Robert?”
He asked sharply after a brief pause, and Asla closed her mouth in difficulty.
Vice President Robert Hesse. The man who had told the unbelievable story to her in her dream when she had transformed into Enoch.
Asla thought it was natural for Enoch to find it strange, as she had absolutely no connection with Robert, and responded as calmly as possible.
“There’s something I want to ask him.”
“Something you need to ask Robert instead of me?”
“If I ask you, will you answer?”
“Have I ever not answered your questions? Have you ever asked me any questions?”
Enoch laughed weakly as if he found it absurd.
Asla blinked slowly.
‘That’s true. Have I ever asked him anything?’
At the wedding.
Or the two or three times a year when Enoch came to the territory—she didn’t particularly speak to him.
At first, it was because marrying her long-time first love felt like a dream.
But gradually, she began to hate herself and feel sorry for holding back the person she loved.
“Ah.”
Asla put her hand to her mouth and let out a short groan.
So I dug my own hole.
She asked with a trembling voice,
“Please answer me without thinking I’m a crazy woman.”
“If anyone dares to speak of you that way, bring them to me.”
Enoch flashed his eyes menacingly while picking up his appetizer fork and calmly said.
“I’ll skewer them.”
“……With a fork?”
“No.”
Then with what does he plan to skewer them?
Asla tried to imagine other implements, but it became too horrific to even think about, so she decided not to respond to Enoch’s random joke.
Instead, she asked directly.
“Were you ever attracted to me?”
“Kuhgh.”
Enoch, who was putting the appetizer he had speared with his fork into his mouth, began to cough violently.
“Are you alright, sir!”
As he coughed, a waiter who had been waiting at a distance approached, handed him a napkin, and poured water.
Asla grew anxious with concern as Enoch’s face turned as red as a tomato.
‘The sauce must have gotten stuck in his throat.’
She watched as his coughing gradually subsided, then glanced at the salmon salad that had been served as an appetizer.
White, soft cream sauce.
As Asla was thinking she should swallow carefully when eating, she leaned toward Enoch, whose complexion was still poor, and said:
“Your face is still red, Enoch. Perhaps we should see a doctor?”
“……I’m fine.”
“But it could turn into pneumonia if we’re not careful. You were weak as a child.”
Her concern was genuine.
She wanted a divorce from Enoch, but she absolutely did not want him to fall ill or die.
Enoch looked at her with an incredulous expression and narrowed his eyes.
“Do you perhaps see me as a ten-year-old child?”
“You never know. Your illness might not have completely healed.”
Enoch, whose face had now completely returned to its normal color, suddenly burst into laughter.
Asla felt slightly embarrassed.
Did he think she was pathetic for saying such things?
In truth, objectively speaking, Enoch appeared healthy and strong without the slightest sign of illness.
Embarrassed, Asla closed her mouth and fidgeted with her fork.
“So you knew I was sick as a child. You must have had some interest in me, Asla.”
“……That much is only natural.”
“Yes. Because you’re diligent.”
Diligent, he says.
Asla avoided his gaze, feeling somewhat shy because Enoch’s words and the look in his eyes as he evaluated her were so serious.
It wasn’t just because she was his wife that she took an interest in him.
Asla’s feelings went beyond mere interest; she had truly been enthusiastic about him.
‘Because I liked him so much.’
She recalled her girlhood.
It had started when she first met him at fifteen.
She wanted to know everything about Duke Enoch Ventus.
She eagerly listened to every bit of information circulating about the duke, letting her imagination soar.
The young Asla, who collected information about Enoch, had been very worried when she read a newspaper article saying he had been weak as a child.
Enoch, who had been frail since childhood, reportedly suffered from pneumonia almost year-round until he was ten.
Fortunately, he became healthy the following year and was able to grow up like this.
‘But…… that’s about when the previous Duke, Aren Ventus, started getting sick. That’s why Enoch feels unnecessary guilt toward his brother Aren.’
Though she thought it was a completely unreasonable guilt, Asla believed it wasn’t something she could judge freely since she wasn’t Enoch.
It was a family matter.
That’s why it seemed Enoch had deliberately turned a blind eye to his sister-in-law Margo, who reigned like a queen in the Ventus mansion.
She, too, had endured that.
“Ahem.”
“Ah.”
Enoch cleared his throat to wake Asla from her deep thoughts.
“May I ask why you suddenly asked such a question?”
She came to her senses and looked at him, answering carefully.
“What? About you being sick as a child?”
“……No, you asked if I was attracted to you.”
“Ah.”
Enoch’s ears were still red, so Asla stared at him blankly and opened her mouth again.
