Chapter 5 (Part 1)

It rained all afternoon. Thunder intermittently rattled the windows, but Ellenia slept without distress.

What did she desire? This face, this c*ck, or perhaps my memory of where to touch her?

Sitting by her bedside in just his undergarments, brushing her hair aside, Edan had meaningless thoughts.

Knock, knock.

There was a cautious knock. Although Ellenia was asleep, it was still early evening, and the castle was not yet at rest.

Edan quickly dressed and opened the door.

“Yes, butler.”

“Is Madam asleep?”

“Yes, she’s sleeping.”

The old butler’s wrinkled face formed something akin to a pleased smile. Madam was always distressed during stormy nights and throughout the rainy season, whether day or night.

Edan blocked the view inside with his body, but the silence alone reassured the butler.

“Here.”

The butler pulled out his business from his bosom. A rolled-up parchment. It was a letter.

“I don’t think the Madam necessarily needs to see this, but I have to give it to her.”

Whether the Madam saw it or not, he was determined to give it to Edan. He couldn’t dispose of it carelessly, but Edan, who would leave, could.

There was a gold seal on it. Seeing the seal, Edan’s face hardened involuntarily.

“…Yes, I understand.”

Edan quickly composed his expression and bowed obediently. The butler nodded to the grateful guest and disappeared down the corridor.

When Edan closed the wooden door tightly and leaned against it, he realized his hand was clenched. The rolled-up parchment was crumpled in his well-shaped hand.

‘This isn’t the first time.’

There was an old drawer next to the fireplace, on the side not visible from her bed. It was used to store unwanted things from the main house. When he opened the sliding lid, it was indeed filled with rolled-up parchments. All had gold seals, now broken.

「Rumors are rampant that the collateral relatives of Tarnu are scheming to oust you. They must have taken in someone like you to bear the young lord’s seed, but you couldn’t even keep a husband? Your lewd mother must be weeping in hell.」

「You belong to Tarnu. Even if you die, you must die in Tarnu. Nux is no place for the bloodline of a witch. Isn’t the family of a non-believer a fitting place for a witch to meet her end, as ordained by God?」

「I heard your husband, that non-believer, died in battle? Don’t even dream of coming back, even if you have to buy a slave and claim it’s the young lord’s seed.」

Dozens of similar letters filled the parchments. 

Don’t think of coming back. You are lewd. You inherited the blood of a witch. You are lowly and filthy.

Edan read each letter meticulously, as if self-harming. His heart ached endlessly as he read them.

It had been 10 years since the young lord left. Every two months, the bishop of Nux had sent such a curse-laden letter to his granddaughter. The thought of Ellenia, who had lived in fear of him all her life, trembling as she opened these seals…

He let out a long sigh, trying to suppress the anger boiling within him, so as not to wake her from her peaceful sleep.

Finally, he opened the one crumpled in his hand.

「Wouldn’t it be better to bear the seed of some collateral relative? That would give you a reason to stay in Tarnu. With your family’s promiscuous history, seducing one man shouldn’t be a problem.」

Unconsciously crumpling the letter again, Edan threw it into the fireplace. The flames licked the edges, burning the high-handed words penned by the trembling hands of the bishop of Nux.

Edan turned to look at Ellenia. Her face, sleeping with her hands clasped over her chest, looked like an angel of the purest kind, the kind they claimed to serve.

***

“The sun is out.”

It was the day after she had a seizure at dawn due to a sudden storm, cried while trembling in his arms, and then fell asleep.

Late that morning, nearing noon, she opened her eyes to a dazzling sensation she hadn’t felt in a long time. Edan, neatly dressed, sat by her bedside. The sunlight poured in brilliantly behind his honey-golden hair.

“You woke up early.”

“Because I’m young.”

Ellenia laughed as if scoffing and hugged his waist. She could clearly feel something that had become firm under her arm.

But he never desired anything unless she needed it.

He knew that on stormy nights, she lost herself in childhood fantasies. And during those times, he faithfully embraced her as if it were his duty.

Just like her husband used to, he would shake her entire being with sensation, so she could cry and fall asleep in his arms, knowing nothing.

He knew exactly where she was particularly sensitive. During those times, she would recall the promise her husband had made to her…

‘I will definitely return.’

It had already been 10 years.

Whether the remaining feelings were love, longing, or just lust… it was time to put them to rest.

‘If he kept his promise, then fine. If not, then…’

It had been a long time since she had decided to forget with just one word. Ten years was long enough that hearing either a confirmation or denial would be painful.

She didn’t know how much time she had left…

Lost in thought for a while, she felt something tickling her scalp and slowly lifted her head. Against the sunlight, his shaded face had eyes that shone like emeralds, just like the ones she had longed for.

“Would you like to have lunch outside? It’s been a while since we’ve had sunshine.”

But when this beautiful young man looked at her with such kindness… Ellenia wanted to name her old feelings love.

Ellenia felt good in the rare sunshine. Knowing that her flushed cheeks weren’t just because of the late autumn chill, Edan also felt happy.

His frail Madam insisted on walking herself when they reached the wide meadow at the foot of the mountain behind the castle. As he had done lately, Edan gently lifted her by the thighs and set her down lightly. Her leather shoes, which never got dirty when she was with him, brushed against the frost-covered, glistening grass.

“How did you get here from the royal capital?”

“I hitched a ride on a merchant’s cart to Graphel.”

“Graphel, huh.”

“The central hub of the east.”

“I know that much.”

Ellenia said sharply.

Her world had always been confined to two buildings. As a child, it was the bishop’s mansion in Nux. After marrying the lord of Tarnu, it was the old castle of Tarnu.

Occasionally, she would stroll through the village below the castle or the mountain slopes behind it.

Knowing she was being proud, Edan chuckled inwardly.

“And then I walked for about ten days to reach Anzra.”

“Anzra, huh.”

“The place that borders Tarnu to the northwest.”

“Yes.”

A suitable tree stump appeared. Edan took off his robe, turned it inside out so the lining faced outwards, folded it thickly, and placed it on the stump. While he tied the mule to a nearby tree, Ellenia naturally sat down.

As always when they went outside, the young man, now in a single-layer tunic, seemed unaffected by the faint chill. He took a small apple from the basket and handed it to her.

“Do you see that over there?”

They were on a relatively gentle slope just below the mountain peak behind the castle. One side showed the back of the castle, while the other revealed the village below and the plains beyond. It was fertile land that had been under Tarnu’s rule for hundreds of years.

“Over there, if you follow the forest for a day, you’ll reach the border with Anzra.”

“It only takes a day to the border from here?”

“It would take three days with your pace, Madam.”

Ellenia smiled faintly at his boyish jest.

“So close…”

Ellenia murmured, almost sighing. Though she didn’t intend for him to hear, Edan immediately understood what she was thinking.

The collateral relatives of Tarnu lived in Anzra, the nearest commercial city to Tarnu. Every rainy season, they would come to the fertile castle of Tarnu, demanding the widow of the lord permit their stay and open the granary. Now they even demanded the old castle be handed over since the lord had died.

He hadn’t missed the gossip during his walk from Graphel to Anzra… And the vicious letters from the bishop of Nux he had discovered in her drawer a few days ago. Edan clenched his fist tightly.

Crunch, the sound of Ellenia biting into the apple echoed leisurely. From her emotionless face, Edan imagined the things she had endured over the past ten years.

He quietly sat at her feet. Though he had many words he wanted to say, he couldn’t utter a single one. Instead, he gently placed his hand on her knee. As he scratched with his fingernails, the waxed surface of her poncho was the only thing that suffered.

Not satisfied with just that, Edan rested his head on her thigh. Ellenia looked down at him, puzzled by the sudden action.

How does he remember the time he returned to me in that head of his?

Did some mystery really work as my husband had assured? Or was he just faithfully carrying out the last wishes as a squire who witnessed his captain’s end?

Ellenia reached out and gently combed through his hair. Her white fingers moved through his thick golden hair.

As they silently gazed at the plains of Tarnu.

“Oh.”

The sky, which had been clear when they arrived, was gradually darkening. Dark clouds swallowed the pale sun that was heading toward noon.

Clearly holding moisture, the dark clouds prompted Edan to quickly rise.

Even if it wasn’t a stormy night, Ellenia feared the sound of rain. On such nights, the rain would pour down beyond the sound of thunder. She feared dark days and the damp air filled with moisture.

“We should return quickly.”

Pale-faced, Ellenia nodded slowly.

Edan quickly brought the mule and lifted her onto its back. He donned the robe, warmed by her long sitting, and led the mule.