Chapter 32

 “Umm…… Is this it?”

 Ella showed the sapphire to the wet nurse. The woman who had been examining the bed straightened her back and approached. She took out the remaining sapphire earring from her pocket and showed it to Ella.

 “Oh my. This is it. This is right. Thank you so much. The earring is so small it’s hard to see. Getting old is the problem. Hoho.”

 The woman laughed out loud. Ella followed with an awkward smile and then went outside. While walking down the corridor, the woman had nothing particular to say. It was quite a different attitude from when she had asked for help. The wet nurse returned to the queen. Ella grabbed the railing at the bottom of the stairs and looked down at the banquet hall. Between the golden chandeliers and the lamps blooming on the walls, the jewels of the noble ladies shone dazzlingly. Ella spotted the queen and her ladies-in-waiting among them. Like the noble ladies, the queen’s ladies-in-waiting were fluttering their fans and rolling their eyes to find lovers.

 Just as the king and the knights did, the noble ladies also freely dated and loved. Regardless of whether they were married or unmarried, they sought partners with pure affection, expressed their feelings without hesitation, and changed partners when the intensity of those feelings faded. Therefore, for them, marrying someone they had affection for was not a meaningful thing. Marriage is, after all, about comparing all those things outside of affection-based ones. Even subsidiary things like the soil of the hometown where the partner grew up and their accent. Affection is not included in that. Of course, couples could have feelings for each other side by side and enjoy a romantic newlywed life with their spouse after marriage.

 Moreover, it was only natural for innocent virgins to dream of such things. Even the wife of Marquis Gwendel, Marie’s master, was a wife who deeply had a one-sided love for her husband. But any woman who had even slightly dabbled in the social life of the court would know what the practical interests of the nobility were. How fleeting the vows exchanged before a priest while wearing a veil were.

 Even knights often showed more obsession and demanded more obedience from their servant girls than from their legal wives. They wouldn’t even blink an eye when their legal wife had an affair with a knight-in-waiting on the balcony, but would foam at the mouth and have a fit when their servant girl lingered near the castle gate. It was wrong, thoroughly wrong.

 Suddenly, Larque raised his head. Their gazes immediately collided. Her heart sank. The man was smoking tobacco leaves with his knights-in-waiting. Ella stared at him blankly and then left after seeing the queen moving toward him.

 *** 

 She forgot where the curtained area was. It was the result of only picturing the queen and Larque in her mind. While walking around and searching here and there, Ella discovered a small room softly lit with lamps. For a moment, she had the illusion that she had somehow reached the detached palace, but since she hadn’t gone outside and crossed the garden, it must still be the main palace. Ella calmed her confused mind and looked around. The lamps, spread low like moonlight, were like fireflies floating around a dark forest.

 Ella closed her eyes and breathed deeply. The scent of osmanthus carried by the wind was sweet. Opening her eyes again, she looked at the open window. White flowers were nestled among the leaves of the basil. It was a beautiful but strange space. It seemed to be one of the outer palaces since there was no sign of people, but strangely, the bed, vanity, and curtains covering the window frames were clean and neat. As if waiting for the owner to return. Ella went close to the windowsill where moonlight faintly sat. The neatly arranged small porcelain pots looked quite cute.

 Did no one really live here? But the osmanthus tree outside the window and the leaves and modest flowers in the pots were incredibly fresh. Ella fiddled with the purple petals of a potted plant and then examined the room once more. Blue velvet curtains and silk curtains covering the bed. The vanity made of the finest wood had intricate gold and silver decorations. Ella moved and examined the vanity. The precious items that emanated clear light even in the night were as enchanting as abundant flowers. Could it be the royal consort’s room? But she heard that the royal consort shared a bedroom with the king. Ella narrowed her eyebrows. Did it matter whose room it was? In a room full of such precious items, a lowly woman might be scolded just for entering without permission.

 Ella tried to leave the room in fear. But as she turned around, she couldn’t help but freeze slightly. It was a small portrait. Though she couldn’t examine it properly due to the darkness, the outline revealed in the moonlight was very similar to the woman she faced in the mirror every morning.

 *** 

 “Why am I……”

 “Ella.”

 The door burst open. Ella was so startled that she collapsed on the spot. Her legs, which had lost strength, twitched slightly like a pulsing vein. She bit her lips tightly and looked at the other person.

 “What’s going on?”

 Larque’s expression immediately turned fierce. He took his eyes off her and examined the window. It was a look checking if an intruder had entered. However, there were no signs of damage or ransacking anywhere in the room, including the windowsill. There was only the woman who had collapsed in shock.

 “Did you encounter a ghost or something?”

 It was something to laugh about. A ghost? The word “ghost” from the Duke’s mouth? Nevertheless, Ella couldn’t laugh. She absolutely couldn’t laugh. Unless she had really encountered a ghost as he said, she couldn’t be like this.

 “There, there……”

 But she pointed at the wall as if she had really seen a ghost. Larque looked where Ella was pointing.

 “Master.”

 “……Get up now.”

 Larque said those words and turned his gaze away from the portrait. As Ella struggled, he grabbed her waist and helped her up. The man’s large hand moved from her waist to her back. Ella looked at him with her hands on his firm chest.

 “Master. There I am, I am, no, a woman who looks like me……”

 “Yes. A woman who looks like you.”

 His gray eyes were indifferent. He didn’t seem surprised at all. Ella looked at the portrait once more. The long silver hair, the dress fluttering like a white morning glory, the pearls wrapped twice around the neck, and the amethyst beads decorating the chest. Except for the face, she was a woman with nothing in common with Ella.

 “Ella.”

 Larque called her. It seemed like an action to divert her attention. She looked at him with the eyes that had been staring at the portrait. His cool gray eyes were no different from usual, but the anger growing like weeds within them was more distinct and clear than on other days.

 “I’ll find out what’s going on. Why you, no, why a portrait of a woman who looks like you is hanging here.”

 “……Yes.”

 “Let’s leave now.”

 Ella nodded. When she removed her hands from his chest, her barely standing legs trembled. Suddenly, her two feet floated in the air. Ella instinctively grabbed his collar. Strong hands wrapped around her legs and back. The familiar body heat enveloped her. Ella didn’t resist and buried her face in his chest. She was tired. It had been a day completely devoid of sanity.

 As she rubbed her blurry eyes, soft lips touched her forehead. At that cozy sensation, her heart sank.

 “Close your eyes.”

 The man whispered. Ella didn’t answer. It’s always like this…… The sensation of her pulse rising strongly was overwhelmingly strong. She pouted her lips and then closed her eyes.

 *** 

 Morning light was abundant. Even breaths touched the top of her head and then fell away repeatedly. Ella rubbed her blurry eyes with the back of her hand and then buried her nose in the soft skin. The firm chest flinched a few times, and then the thick arm tightened around her a bit more. Ella buried her face in the man’s arms without resistance. She wiggled her fingers and felt his flat chest.

 It was dense muscle. The tightly interlocked muscles were so hard they felt like weapons at first glance. The man grabbed her wiggling fingers. Ella shook off his hand and hugged his back. Then she felt his smooth skin. Despite the servant girl’s brazen behavior, he didn’t say a word. Ella gently stroked his protruding shoulder blades and broad back. The scars that hollowed along his ribcage were sometimes long and sometimes short. It was a prolonged history of violence. It was proof of barbarism, its byproduct, and the tragedy that had forged survival. Ella counted the number of wars from which he had returned with scars. From the sleek muscles of his curved humerus to the long damage wrapping around his lower back.

 Every time the knights fluttered the king’s banner and went out, he invariably overcame death and returned. The wounds he received became his medals and the king’s honor. Irreverently, Ella hated the king for that reason. Despite all her tears flowing because of this man, the moment when Ella cried the most was when deep, unfillable wounds were carved into his back.

 “Master.”

 Ella murmured softly. Since the time she had served his bedchamber, mornings had always been the same scene for Ella. When she opened her eyes, she always saw his flat chest, then his bluish chin, and then his gray eyes……