Coral had already lost consciousness, his eyes rolled back until only the whites showed. Blood sprayed from his face, which was smashed almost beyond recognition.
But Drushia didn’t stop. His killing intent was overflowing, as if he would end Coral’s life right there.
He truly meant to kill him. With eyes dropping blue sparks. With merciless force that seemed ready to tear him apart alive.
At least that’s how it appeared to Ashika.
“No! Rushia!”
Ashika ran forward in one breath and wrapped her arms around Drushia’s waist.
Coral was the legitimate son of a marquis family. No matter how angry one got, he wasn’t someone who could be harmed at will. If he were to die by Drushia’s hands now, there would be tremendous consequences.
Only when Drushia noticed Ashika clinging to him did he stop his punches.
“Huu.”
The blue eyes that had seemed ready to spark turned skyward. As if trying to swallow down anger that hadn’t fully dissipated. The murderous intent that had been raging suddenly subsided. However, his face hardened with an icy coldness.
Drushia turned to look at Ashika while shaking off his blood-covered hands.
“A man who loses his reason is not human but a beast, Lady Igraine.”
And so he must be treated not as a person but as a beast. His face, which had already regained its composure, seemed to be saying that.
Ashika’s open mouth couldn’t close. She knew he was a knight, but this was the first time she had seen such an aggressive side of him.
“This was my mistake. I didn’t think this place would pose a threat to the Lady.”
“No, that’s not…”
“My Lady!”
Jeanne, who had belatedly heard the commotion and came running, was shocked to discover Coral sprawled on the ground and Drushia covered in blood spatters.
Seeing the knights who came running after her, sparks flew from Drushia’s eyes.
“What kind of guard duty are you doing! How did no one notice a rat sneaking in!”
Ashika startled at his thunderous shout and stepped away from Drushia.
“But how… there’s only a wall on this side…”
“Didn’t I tell you to do thorough preliminary checks!”
“We checked inside and outside the villa yesterday afternoon… We’re sorry.”
It seemed Coral had sneaked in after that. Having observed the negotiation process over the years, he had found his opportunity.
“My Lady, are you alright?”
Ashika came to her senses only when she saw the Igraine knights standing there in dismay.
“Jeanne, take….take Lord Oclein away.”
“No, I’ll take him. Since it started by my hand, shouldn’t I finish it?”
Ashika’s heart raced at Drushia’s suggestion. The implications of what he meant by “finish” sent chills down her spine.
“No. Lord Oclein…”
Though her startled voice trembled faintly, each word she spoke was clear.
“He trespassed into an Igraine villa without permission and attacked me. This happened when my knights tried to stop him. It’s right that we handle the aftermath on our side.”
This was a matter between Ashika and Coral, between the House of Igraine and the House of Oclein. Talion should not get involved.
Drushia understood what she meant. But his expression showed he didn’t want to accept it. His coldly hardened face clearly displayed his displeasure.
“What will you do after taking him? Report him to the Noble Council?”
Ashika’s gaze moved to the unconscious Coral. The man who had been threatening her just moments ago now lay collapsed in a pitiful state.
‘Report him…’
All strength drained from her body. What had she done wrong for things to turn out this way?
“I just…I don’t know. No. Thank you.”
Ashika rose from her spot, hiding her trembling voice. For a moment, her vision spun.
“My Lady!”
Drushia reflexively moved toward Ashika. But before his outstretched hand could reach her, Jeanne caught her.
For a brief moment, Drushia’s face went blank. Then, looking at his hand stopped in mid-air, he realized.
That this was as far as he could help Ashika.
Entering the garden had been an impulsive decision. Not that he had intended to interrupt Ashika’s walk. They weren’t close enough to take walks together anyway.
But when he heard Ashika’s scream, his mind went completely blank.
When he discovered her slender body thrown to the ground and pinned down by another man, he experienced what felt like his vision turning red with rage.
By the time he came to his senses, he was already pounding Coral into the ground. He truly wanted to kill him. Nothing remained in his mind except the intent to kill.
If Ashika hadn’t stopped him, he would certainly have ended Coral’s life. The thought that he wouldn’t have regretted it afterward wasn’t mere speculation but near certainty.
Drushia’s blood-covered hands fell to his sides.
This was Ashika’s problem and Igraine’s affair. He was just a Talion who desperately hated that same Igraine.
‘Damn it.’
This obvious fact clawed at his insides especially badly today. It pained him to see a woman who couldn’t shed a single tear even after such a shock. Even in that moment of trauma, she thought ahead to the problems that would arise and stopped Drushia.
Fury welled up inside him. Looking at Ashika’s pale face, at the fact that it wasn’t him supporting her.
His heart constricted until he could barely breathe at the reality that he couldn’t stop the woman walking away with her back turned.
****
How she made it back to the mansion was hazy. She was so out of it she couldn’t even remember what kind of eyes Drushia had been watching her with.
Only when the magnificent mansion that filled her vision came into view did Ashika have the carriage stop. There was still some distance left to the main building.
“My Lady?”
“Send a physician to Coral and explain the situation to Grandfather. Also tell him that I have no intention to report this.”
Since they couldn’t bring Coral into the mansion, they sent him elsewhere with knights to guard him. Though there would likely be an uproar when he woke up, he wouldn’t be able to act rashly given what he had done.
“I’ll come in a bit later.”
“My Lady should see a physician as well.”
Concern filled Jeanne’s gaze. Throughout the journey, Ashika had sat rigidly in place. With a face so pale it seemed she might faint while sitting.
“No. Go on ahead. I’ll come in just a little later.”
Ashika’s hair and clothes were completely disheveled. She didn’t want to face the servants and reveal her vulnerable state like this.
But Jeanne couldn’t leave Ashika alone. She gave instructions to the knights who had followed.
“You all escort the Lady back.”
However, Ashika shook her head and refused even that. Right now, even the watchful eyes of her protective knights felt burdensome.
“My Lady, even so…”
“I will stay.”
Everyone’s attention turned to the deep voice that came from somewhere. Standing at a distance in shabby work clothes and a hat was the mansion’s gardener.
He took off his hat and held it in his hands as he bowed politely.
“I am Buzri, my Lady.”
Buzri, the elderly gardener, was one of the longest-serving staff at the mansion. From what she’d heard, he had been there even before Ashika was born.
“Will that be alright?”
At Jeanne’s question, Ashika quietly nodded.
Jeanne could say nothing to Ashika, who found an elderly gardener more comfortable than guard knights. Reluctantly nodding her head, she led the rest of the knights away.
Ashika’s face went blank as she watched the knights leave.
Though they had been distant, he had been her fiancé and would have become her husband if things had gone as planned. Though it was a marriage she had wanted to avoid, she never imagined it would end like this.
If Coral had understood Ashika’s careful attitude and waited patiently, the two would have become husband and wife without incident. But Coral had recklessly pulled another woman into his bed, insulting Ashika and tarnishing her family’s honor.
No, dishonor wasn’t the issue. It was an indescribable sense of betrayal. Though they hadn’t shared their hearts, she thought they at least had minimal trust in each other, but even that had been an illusion.
Even though she hadn’t loved him, her heart ached and her insides burned.
“Um… My Lady.”
A careful voice broke through Ashika’s thoughts.
“There’s something I’d like to ask, would it be alright to speak now?”
Buzri’s voice was polite yet familiar. Not disliking that feeling, Ashika nodded.
“Then, this way for a moment. While tidying up some thick bush that had grown in a corner of the garden, I encountered an issue.”
Ashika followed behind Buzri with a dazed expression.
As they left the walking path and went deeper inside, untrimmed vines caught on their clothes making it difficult to walk. After a short while, they heard small chirping sounds and Buzri stopped.
“Please look here.”
The gardener parted the thicket tangled around a chest-high tree and gestured to Ashika.
In the space so cramped she could barely take a step, Ashika bent forward awkwardly to see where Buzri was pointing.
“A bird’s nest?”
Ashika’s eyes grew wide. The loud chirping sounds were coming from baby birds huddled in the nest.
“I was planning to clear all the bush in this area, but while working I found birds had made their nest. So I couldn’t decide whether to move the nest or stop the work. What should we do?”
It was the first bird’s nest she had ever seen. The tiny, fragile creatures no bigger than a finger were making such loud cries. When she suddenly looked up, she saw a bird circling around crying sharply.
“Is that the mother bird?”
“It appears so. She’s afraid we might harm her babies.”
“Ah… I see…”
There was something deflated about Ashika’s response.
They were delicate and fragile birds, like living crafts. Even these tiny creatures cried out loudly asserting their existence.
Something welled up in Ashika’s throat. Both the mother bird crying piercingly overhead and the baby birds struggling in the nest became blurry in her vision.
Drip, drop.
Dark stains spread across the bush leaves. The tears that burst forth now poured endlessly as if finally finding their moment.
Buzri quietly stepped back and began cutting away the bush. Snap, rustle. The natural everyday sounds gently soothed her tensed heart.
In a place where no one would find her, without being discovered by others, Ashika cried to her heart’s content.
After some time passed like that, she felt the surroundings had become quite clear.
Buzri was steadily clearing away the bush as usual. Ashika wiped her tear-stained face and cleared her throat.
“Ahem, um. Buzri.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Here.”
Even after composing herself, her voice was hoarse from just finishing crying. Ashika lifted the bush she had disturbed slightly and covered the nest.
“Leave it be. How shocked would the mother bird be if someone took away her home and babies.”
“Then I’ll clear everything except this tree.”
“It would be even better if you could put up something like a thorn fence to keep cats from getting in.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
Buzri answered with a gentle smile.
“Well then, thank you for your work.”
“Please go in.”
Ashika hurried her steps, hiding her embarrassed face. She walked along the path with light steps as if she had never wavered.
Buzri quietly watched Ashika’s retreating figure.
Someone with shoulders that looked small but strong, yet pitiful. The eight-year-old girl who used to act spoiled in her father’s arms suddenly became alone one day.
After losing her father, Ashika had no time to grieve before taking on the weighty position of ducal heir. And she had to become someone who ruled over vassals while being constantly pushed and pressured.
He remembered the girl who stood beside her grandfather, led the vassals, and left the mansion. The girl who walked more upright than any noble lady with a face so pale she looked about to faint at any moment.
“When will you ever be able to cry comfortably?”
Buzri muttered bitterly. It was his wish that the girl who had grown up too straight and true, making him feel only pity, would finally find some peace now.
****
The engagement cancellation procedures proceeded swiftly.
They settled by clearing most of the business arrangements between the two families, and instead of receiving compensation, transferred the losses from broken business contracts to the Marquis Oclein family. This was what Ashika had demanded from her grandfather, and Weive had agreed.
It took ten days to complete all procedures.
On the day she finally left the mansion after being released from confinement, Glenoa didn’t express any words of gratitude or apology.
No matter how carefully they had looked after her, Glenoa had been held against her will. Though she thought no greetings were necessary because of this, she still felt uncomfortable.
As she left the mansion, that discomfort turned to anxiety. She had clearly heard that they had informed Coral she would be leaving today. Yet no one had come to meet her, and no carriage had been sent.
Glenoa felt a chill once again.
She tried to calm herself thinking it couldn’t be, that that wicked woman must not have passed on any message to Coral. She left the mansion in a carriage borrowed from the ducal residence.
Ashika felt complicated emotions watching Glenoa leave.
Considering everything that had happened, she should have felt nothing but revulsion. However, thinking about how Glenoa’s life would not be easy from now on made even hatred feel pointless.
Some time later, word came that the marquis family had provided Glenoa with a house and maid. Though it was away from the central district, it was quite a decent mansion.
However, there were no rumors of Coral visiting that house. Indeed, he was exactly the kind of man she had expected. The marquis family too seemed to have reluctantly provided a place to stay while cleaning up after their son’s mess.
Less than a month later, Glenoa Schwern left the capital of her own accord. Using the excuse that she was recovering after losing her child.
Coral too left the capital almost like he was being chased out and moved to the Oclein territory.
