Chapter 10 (Part 1)

Boom, crash!

The roar of the rainy season’s sky shook the castle again today. Lightning flashed through the gaps in the shutters that Leni and Greta had meticulously closed. In the silence between the flashes, the sound of pouring rain filled the room.

Unlike the wild storm outside the castle, the Madam’s room was impeccably tidy today. As if the raging wind and rain were someone else’s problem, the interior remained serenely calm.

If there was anything out of place, it was the owner of the room herself.

“Ahh, sob…”

Ellenia sat curled up on her bed, blocking her ears and crying, tormented by the echoes of the storm. Her neck and the backs of her hands, which were so thin that her bones protruded, were covered in band-aids.

It had been ten days since Edan was imprisoned in the underground cell.

And the sleepless nights had begun again.

Not knowing how she had fallen asleep, she woke up with the blanket pulled up to her chin, thinking something was wrong, which had been a long-standing issue.

Though none of the servants ever spoke of it…

When she got up with a body stiff from trembling the night before, she found band-aids on her neck, the backs of her hands, and somewhere else. The wounds never seemed to heal properly, and Leni and Greta didn’t even suggest bathing in the tub during winter, using the excuse that her body temperature dropped easily.

It was clear that the curtains changed every night, the ceramic vases in the room disappeared, and the slightly different shaped candlesticks lit up each night.

These were things that never happened when her husband watched over her nights…

Tears welled up in her eyes and overflowed, soaking into the strands of hair scattered on the bed sheets.

In the end, she was left alone again.

***

One day in the third month, just as spring had settled in.

A shabby carriage from the bishop’s house in Nux delivered a skinny girl. She was so thin that even though she was seventeen, she looked younger.

The servants, seeing her awkward demeanor, swallowed their sighs. Even the thirty-one-year-old lord, Edarson, who stood at the very back.

“Ah, miss, welcome.”

The head maid ran to the girl with a forced friendly voice, extending her hand to the girl. It was a gesture of affection towards the future Madam, who looked like her young niece.

“Ah, ah. N-nice to meet you.”

The girl quickly hid her hand, tucking her neck like a turtle.

Her defensive posture deepened the somber mood among the Tarnu family members gathered in the yard.

That must be…

In the silence, there was a sense of pity for the frail young Madam.

Originally, her mother was supposed to come as the Madam according to the agreement, so it made sense that she was so young.

Seeing the girl, who looked like she hadn’t even had a proper meal, dressed in ill-fitting clothes and sent as a bride, it seemed Nux was quite desperate. Such thoughts crossed their minds.

In the eyes of the theocratic state aiming to unify the entire country under religion, the deeply unbelieving Tarnu family was a thorn in their side. Situated in the fertile, beautiful eastern part of the kingdom, they couldn’t abandon their territory and flee, nor could they easily abandon the principles their family had upheld for so long.

Tarnu was a family that believed in some other mystery rather than the gods, and the way the family lineage continued, including the previous lord and his wife, was proof of that.

As a sort of compromise, the royal family forced Tarnu into a political marriage with the bishop’s family of Nux, the nearest diocese to Tarnu.

In return, the bishop of Nux would gain the honor of bringing the unbelieving family into the fold of the gods and the practical benefit of incorporating the people living under Tarnu’s protection into their diocese.

And that marriage contract fell to Edarson, the young son of the current lord and lady.

Edarson’s parents, who had gone to the capital for the marriage contract, died in a carriage accident on the same day.

Thus, the young lord became an orphan.

The servants cherished the young lord, and the young Edarson cherished them in return. But perhaps there was some distance from familial affection. The boy thought he would protect them until his last breath but didn’t need to save his life for their sake.

To take responsibility for them, he endured the meddling of the collateral family and silently participated in the war with the duchy as ordered by the king… though he often thought it might be better to die in the process.

But ironically, the young lord not only survived the five-year war with the duchy but also achieved great feats and was praised as a hero.

Whether that was a blessing or a curse…

When there was no one who didn’t know the name of Edarson, the hero of the war and the lord of the fertile Tarnu, a royal decree came down to the hero Edarson.

To fulfill the old royal command as soon as possible.

The dry words of the decree pointed to the marriage with that delicate girl, as light as a dandelion seed.

Edarson looked long at his young fiancée, who seemed like a delicate deer or a skinny rabbit.

Having lived alone for about twenty years, he felt a kind of unfamiliarity at the thought of having a family.

“Welcome. I am Edarson, the lord of this place.”

Hiding the words “I am the one who will be your husband,” Edarson stepped forward toward her.

As he reached for the light luggage in her hand, the girl’s body flinched again.

The lord who would be her husband was very tall. His head seemed to be at the same height as her grandfather’s hand when he raised it to slap her. His mere presence frightened Ellenia.

Ellenia, shrinking, barely managed to look at the man’s neck.

His shoulders were as broad as his height. His thick build seemed like it would take two of her to make one of him. And his skin, tanned and full of life, and his jet-black hair, like the lacquered doors of the chapel she was never allowed to enter.

If the pale golden color of her hair made her presence ghostly wherever she went, he was a vivid presence that drew attention everywhere.

Ellenia’s gaze, filled with awe and fear, trembled as she looked at him.

Edarson knew that look well. It was the same look he saw in the eyes of everyone who faced him in the last moments on the battlefield, where he easily took lives.

Seeing her skinny frame, he could guess how she had been treated in Nux, and he understood why she was intimidated by him.

Edarson, trying to show that his thick hands were harmless, gently and slowly wrapped his hand around hers.

Ellenia finally looked up as her hand was suddenly held. His image reflected in the turbulent waters of doubt and mistrust in her eyes.

In Edarson’s green eyes, looking at her, there was a lushness reminiscent of the mature and warm autumn.

It was their first meeting.

“Madam.”

“Y-yes?”

“No need to be formal, Madam.”

“Y-yes…”

The head maid smiled faintly. It seemed the new Madam of this castle was quite uncomfortable with the servants’ respect.

Even though she stayed in the room where the lord’s Madam had lived for generations, she always slept curled up in a corner of the large bed, as if it wasn’t hers.

To the warm-hearted servants of Tarnu, it was just a pitiful sight.

It was clear that the esteemed bishop of Nux wouldn’t send his beloved daughter to the land of unbelievers.

Rumors about the Madam’s arrival spread quickly among the people below the castle.

They said the bishop’s granddaughter, sent to the family of unbelievers, was actually of a witch’s bloodline.

But the servants quickly felt compassion for the girl who quietly stayed out of everyone’s way, who seemed to be both wary and grateful for their small kindnesses with her tearful eyes.

Our pretty, kind, deep-hearted, and cautious little Madam. May she gain weight, always smile with a chubby face, and receive lots of love from the lord.

As the servants sang, the young Madam began to bloom brightly.

“Madam, did you enjoy the stew?”

The head maid smiled warmly as she looked at the empty soup bowl.

It was about two weeks after she arrived in Tarnu that the Madam, who had a very small stomach, started to finish the meals from the kitchen.

“Yes, ah, no, um…”

“The meat is tender and easy to swallow, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I’ve never had such tender meat before. Ah, no, I’ve never had it before.”

“The chef makes new broth every day so that our Madam will gain weight quickly.”

“That’s such a kind thing to do.”

The young Madam blushed slightly.

The Madam’s previously gaunt and sallow face was now filling out thanks to the kitchen’s hearty support. The soft peach fuzz on the girl’s cheeks had begun to show a rosy glow instead of shadows under her eyes.

“Madam, your hair color is like the sunshine during the rainy season.”

“How often does the sun come out during the rainy season?”

Greta, holding a bottle of fragrant oil, scolded Leni, who was brushing Madam’s hair to make it shine.

“That’s why it’s better. It’s rare and dazzlingly bright.”

“…Thank you.”

“Oh, Madam, you’re too kind.”

The maids, who were of similar age to Madam and had been brought in to serve her, often made the now plump-faced Madam laugh. Sometimes they acted like older sisters, being a couple of years older, but often they behaved familiarly as peers.

Wondering if it was okay to laugh so much, the Madam would gently press her stiff cheeks several times a day.

‘Don’t forget, you are going to save the unbelieving Tarnu by following the will of the Lord.’

Maybe it was her who was saved.

Beyond the bewilderment, there was a sense of guilt.