“Let’s… continue this story next time.”
A chill ran through her body, making her tremble. Ashika tightly clenched her pale, hanging hand.
“When will next time be…?”
Before Drushia could finish speaking, Ashika turned away. She walked briskly, almost running, to the carriage she had spotted earlier.
The coachman, who had been crouching under the canopy of the driver’s seat, widened his eyes upon seeing Ashika. She only left a brief instruction to go to Duke Igraine’s residence before climbing into the carriage.
Inside, it was dark and damp. Ashika kept her mouth tightly shut and straightened her back, trying not to shrink into herself.
Shortly after the carriage began moving, the door suddenly opened.
“Wait a moment.”
The man she had just parted with jumped in with a single breath. Drushia quickly sat down and closed the carriage door.
Ashika could neither express surprise nor ask why he had done this. Her face was deathly pale, her dark pupils fixed somewhere in the dim void.
The sound of rain pounded violently on the roof of the carriage. The unfiltered noise shook the cramped space mercilessly and inevitably dredged up a fragment of memory she had tried so hard to bury.
“Lady Igraine.”
Even the man’s deep, resonant voice was buried in the threatening noise. A spasm ran across her tightly closed lips, as if she had stopped breathing.
“Ashika Igraine.”
His voice calling her again didn’t reach her. When the violent rain transformed into destructive noise digging into the edges of her memory, an affectionate voice she had heard long ago echoed in her ears.
[Ashika, wait here.]
With a worried voice, her father comforted his young daughter before leaving the carriage. She wanted to say don’t go, wanted to ask him to stay with her, but couldn’t stop her father as he left with a bright smile. Her father, who departed like that, never returned.
Crash! Boom!
The thunderous sound roared as if it would tear the entire carriage apart.
Ashika’s face, white as sheet, could neither express her fear nor remember to breathe. The vibrations of the shaking carriage felt like the memory of that day when she was caught in the landslide. Like that day when she waited for her father who never returned, trapped in destructive noise and darkness.
Drushia didn’t understand why he had boarded this carriage himself. But he couldn’t bear to let the woman flee alone with her pale face. Like himself, who had been lost while burying his parents’ empty coffins, she carried the memory of that day as a nightmare.
Drushia first saw the eight-year-old girl on the day of the memorial service, at a place where everything had been washed away without a trace.
The girl who cried endlessly with deer-like dark eyes, without making a sound or sobbing. How could such a young girl cry so poignantly?
Drushia also knew. That in truth, they just needed someone to blame. That the hatred they directed at each other contained deep wounds that only they could understand. A vicious cycle where they could only hate and resent each other.
Thus, both sides had already existed within each other, angry and sorrowful. From a certain point in the past when those emotions began.
When the thorny outer shell is peeled away, the ugly, split wound is revealed. Drushia and Ashika had been living with such wounds.
Drushia, who had been sitting quietly across from her, stood up.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
But his voice didn’t reach Ashika. Instead, the loud rain that had been consuming her like a swamp began to recede. Instead of the vibrating noise that had seized her entire body, a warm sensation settled on her ears.
Ashika blinked slowly. Was it a dream or reality that the deep blue eyes close to her were as wet as her own?
The large hands covering Ashika’s ears pulsed as if they had a heart. In sync with that subtle vibration, her heart also pounded: thump, thump.
Warm and affectionate. The touch that shielded her from fear. The warmth that reached her heart. The memories that had been thoroughly excavated sank below the surface, and her trembling subsided.
Ashika’s hand gently caressed the man’s hands that enveloped her. As if to confirm that they were real, not a dream or illusion. With that small movement, the other person, who had been still, moved in response.
When the blue eyes, with unreadable emotion, drew closer, Ashika quietly closed her eyes.
Warm breath touched her skin, followed by a soft sensation on her lips. As the slippery sensation slid between her slightly parted lips, Ashika forgot all thought.
The destructive noise cutting through the darkness, the vibrations shaking her body, all the memories of that night that had swallowed her.
Instead, humid breaths intermingled. Along with the warm and affectionate body heat of the man.
****
The ill-fated connection between the Igraine and Talion families began 40 years ago in the Grand Duchy of Arkpella.
The Grand Duchy, which had been reduced to ruins by the former emperor’s army on charges of treason. The former emperor completely closed off the Grand Duchy and imposed all kinds of sanctions on the Grand Duchy region for being the land of traitors.
And he entrusted the management of this to two houses adjacent to the Grand Duchy region: the Duke Igraine family and the Duke Talion family.
For years, the two ducal houses managing the vast Grand Duchy region pushed for a marriage alliance to unify their management system. It was entirely possible with Talion’s military power combined with Igraine’s financial power. At this time, a political marriage was arranged between Weive, the legitimate son of the Duke Igraine family, and Vanne, the legitimate daughter of the Duke Talion family.
However, unexpectedly, Weive opposed the marriage. While refusing the marriage, Weive confessed that he already had a lover and children.
Both ducal houses were shocked. The shock was even greater because the young Duke Igraine had never caused a scandal in society.
Nevertheless, both families pushed forward with the marriage, claiming that illegitimate children were just that—illegitimate. In the midst of a complex situation involving the refusal of the parties involved, the interests of the families, and the knights stationed in the Grand Duchy region, an unexpected tragedy occurred.
Weive’s lover and children were attacked by unknown assailants. In this attack, the lover and the younger child died, and only the eldest son, Lanche, was rescued with severe injuries.
No one knew who was responsible. Was it Duke Talion who was determined to make this engagement successful, or Duke Igraine who could not overlook his son’s misconduct? Rumors abounded, but the deaths of the two were buried without capturing the culprit.
Less than half a year later, the Duke died, and Weive, who inherited the title, married Vanne Talion as planned. Of course, their relationship was not good, and Weive declared Lanche, whom he had officially recognized, as his heir.
About two years later, as the relationship between Weive and Vanne improved, Vanne became pregnant. The atmosphere between the two previously uncomfortable houses was also beginning to improve.
But another tragedy struck. Vanne was found dead in the main bedroom of Igraine. According to the testimony of the first discoverer, it was confirmed that Vanne had hanged herself, and it was concluded as suicide.
However, Neoren, Vanne’s brother, did not believe this. He strongly protested, demanding a thorough investigation into his sister’s death, but Weive dismissed the Talion family’s protest.
Vanne thus disappeared in an unexplained death, along with the child in her womb.
The relationship between Igraine and Talion rapidly deteriorated over this issue. Everyone in Talion questioned Vanne’s death, and Neoren demanded the return of the body, saying that he could not bury his sister in the cursed land of Igraine. However, Weive rejected all demands.
In the Grand Duchy where both sides’ knights were stationed together, the two knight orders faced serious conflicts several times over this issue. But the two families, who had to cooperate under the emperor’s orders, could not fight. The two families were barely able to calm down by turning away from each other.
Weive’s son Lanche grew up, married, and Ashika was born. As time passed, the feelings between the two families also diluted somewhat.
The territories of Igraine and Talion were intertwined with the Grand Duchy between them, and the Grand Duchy was struggling with continued drought and lack of supplies. In response, Talion proposed building a dam on the upper reaches of the Rosha River.
The Rosha River was a fairly large river that started in Talion, passed through the Grand Duchy, and entered the Igraine territory. Lanche strongly agreed. The construction continued for five years under Talion’s leadership with full support from Igraine.
And on the day celebrating its completion, dozens of key figures, including vassals from both families and construction officials, visited the site. No one predicted that it would suddenly start pouring rain from what had been a clear sky.
Then the accident happened. The completed dam collapsed rapidly with an explosion, releasing an enormous amount of water. Everyone at the scene was caught in the rapid currents.
In an instant, everything was washed away. Only a few survived; most of the attendees lost their lives that day.
From that day, rain began to pour, causing the surrounding rivers and tributaries to overflow. Even in the rain, both families continued searching for the missing. They found bodies washed up along the riverbank, but most had already been swept downstream.
From then on, it was a race against time. The longer it took, the farther the bodies would drift, and they might never be found at all.
Even in the rain, Talion’s knights and people risked their lives to continue the search. During this process, accidents continued to occur, and deaths began to mount.
Weive ordered the search to be stopped, reasoning that they could not increase the number of casualties. The Talion side vehemently opposed. Their position was that they would continue searching until the end, even at the risk of their lives.
As resistance grew fierce, Weive banned Talion from entering Igraine territory. Most of Igraine’s missing had been found, and most of those not found were Talion’s people.
The rain continued to pour. As if a rainy season that had never existed before had arrived. About a month after Weive had thus blocked the search and imposed the ban, he lifted it. Due to the long passage of time, no more bodies were found.
It was a time when people from both Igraine and Talion were unable to recover from the shock. Both families gathered at the accident site for a memorial service and held funerals in their respective houses. Most of the Talion side had to bury empty coffins without even having bodies.
From then on, the fighting began.
People from Igraine territory who lost family in the accident claimed that Talion, who had led the construction, should be held responsible, while Talion bitterly criticized Weive’s blockade that prevented them from even finding the bodies of their families. They did not hesitate to accuse Weive of being responsible for Vanne’s death as well.
The relationship between the two families deteriorated rapidly. Large and small conflicts occurred from time to time in the Grand Duchy where troops from both sides were stationed.
But guarding the Grand Duchy was the emperor’s order. Weive and Neoren officially declared that they would no longer hold each other responsible and urged their vassals and knights to remain silent.
It was a tragedy buried without even finding the cause of the accident because everything had been swept away. Those who lost the target to vent their anger and sorrow turned their arrows at each other.
And after 14 years—still too brief a time to erase the families they had lost.
