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Chapter : 255
Talia held her breath. Although she had always believed it herself, hearing those words come from someone else’s lips stirred up emotions within her that she couldn’t put into words.
The woman carefully wiped the tears from her cheeks and continued speaking cautiously.
“Do you remember the story I told you before?”
“……The one about children who die without being baptized being reborn as beasts?”
A faint smile spread across Tiuran’s lips.
“Actually, whether they were baptized or not doesn’t matter. That story is a legend that has been passed down in the East since long before the Imperial Church spread its teachings.”
Her gaze fell upon the wolf, who was looking up at her with its ears perked.
“The ancient people of the East believed that those who met tragic deaths were reborn as beasts and came back to visit the people they had loved during their lifetimes. Perhaps Khan missed Your Highness so much that he borrowed the body of a beast to be born again.”
“……Do you really think so?”
Tiuran slowly nodded.
“I believe that every encounter in this world happens for a reason. When Your Highness was suffering from the pain of loss, there must have been a reason why Khan came to your side.”
With tear-filled eyes, Talia looked down at Khan. The wolf gazed back at her with unwavering affection, as though it didn’t resent her at all for hurting it.
Feeling something deep inside her slowly melt away beneath that blindly devoted gaze, she gently gathered the wolf into her arms.
As she buried her tear-stained cheeks in its warm, soft fur, all the sobs she had been holding back came pouring out at once. The healer, who had been quietly watching her, gently patted her on the back.
From that day onward, Talia began following Tiuran around like a little chick trailing after its mother hen.
Whenever she went for a walk with Khan, she always brought Tiuran along. She also spent entire afternoons chatting with her in the kitchen while preparing food together. Sometimes, she even followed her to her cottage, watching her prepare medicinal concoctions or helping her sort medicinal herbs.
Quite a few people looked displeased at the sight of the Grand Duchess of the East devoting herself to menial chores that were usually done by maids, but Talia didn’t care. The joy of having finally met someone who understood her meant more to her than anything else. The gossip of others was of no importance.
“Why don’t you move into the main castle? I’ll prepare an especially spacious room for you.”
Talia suddenly blurted out the suggestion while lounging on Tiuran’s bed with Khan.
Tiuran, who had been sitting at her desk writing something in her journal, looked at her awkwardly.
“I feel more comfortable here.”
“Why? If you stayed in the main castle, you could live much more comfortably than you do now. If there’s anything you need, I’ll provide everything for you.”
“You really don’t have to do that.”
Tiuran gave a small laugh and closed her book.
“This cottage is filled with memories of my late grandmother. I’ve lived here since I was very young, so unless there’s a special reason, I don’t want to leave this place.”
Talia stared at her face with curious eyes before suddenly asking,
“What about your parents?”
“Both of them passed away from illness when I was very young.”
After answering calmly, the woman slowly got up and walked over to the shelf. She then took out several medicinal herbs and began mixing them together.
Watching her quietly, Talia asked the question that had been on her mind for a while.
“What about your husband?”
The woman’s hand, which had been crushing herbs in a mortar, suddenly paused.
She turned around with a bitter smile.
“I’ve never been married.”
When Talia showed signs of embarrassment, having vaguely realized that Tiuran had also experienced the loss of a child just like her, Tiuran continued as though it were nothing unusual.
“There was someone I had promised to marry, though.”
“Did that man break his promise?”
Talia frowned and asked sharply. Seeing her fierce expression, Tiuran let out a small laugh.
“That’s right. He abandoned me and the child I was carrying and went far away.”
“Tell me that bastard’s name. I’ll send soldiers to deal with him.”
Talia snapped angrily.
“If you want, I can have him dragged before you, forced to his knees, and made to beg for forgiveness. Considering how much you’ve helped me, I’ll deal with him in whatever way you want.”
Tiuran gazed at her with an indescribable expression.
“Don’t you find it contemptible that I gave birth to a child without being married?”
“Have you forgotten that I was born illegitimate?”
Talia scoffed in disbelief.
“If I criticize you for something like that, I’d only be spitting in my own face.”
“……Your Highness is in no position to be looked down upon. Your father is His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire, and your mother is Her Majesty the Empress.”
“Even so, an illegitimate child is still an illegitimate child.”
A mocking smile appeared at the corners of Talia’s lips.
“To my father, I’m nothing more than proof of his infidelity, a stain that will follow him for the rest of his life. And to my mother, I’m nothing more than a pawn that has already served its purpose. The servants are no different. They all bow their heads before me, calling me Your Highness the Grand Duchess or Your Highness the Princess, but behind my back, they point their fingers at me and call me the product of an affair.”
Seeing Tiuran’s expression darken, Talia wiped the smile from her lips.
She suddenly felt awkward, as though she had impulsively revealed far too much about herself. To hide her embarrassment, she exaggeratedly changed the subject.
“Just tell me who the man who betrayed you was. I’ll have him hung upside down from the gallows and—”
“That man died a long time ago, too.”
At the calm reply, Talia fell silent.
Tiuran gently curved her lips into a smile, as though nothing had happened, and added,
“You don’t have to make that face. It happened a very long time ago.”
Talia stared at her as though she were looking at something incomprehensible.
She couldn’t believe that someone could still smile so gently after losing her parents, the man she had loved, and even her child.
When she had lost her own child, she had felt as though the entire world had collapsed around her. Even now, there were times when she missed the little movements she had once felt inside her womb so much that she could barely breathe. How could this woman have gone through all of that and still managed to live a normal life?
“After a long time…… does it stop hurting?”
At her hesitant question, the healer’s calm smile faded slightly. She put down the mortar and slowly shook her head.
“There are pains in this world that never disappear, no matter how many years pass.”
“…….”
“But there’s one thing I can tell you for certain. Even the most agonizing pain gradually, little by little, wears away with each passing year…… until, at some point, it becomes something you can bear.”
Talia blinked blankly before asking in a hushed voice,
“How long did it take you to reach that point?”
“A very long time.”
“I see.”
Talia murmured absentmindedly.
“……So it takes a long time.”
At that moment, she felt something warm against her cheek.
Talia turned her head. Khan was licking the tears from her face. She quietly gazed into the wolf’s eyes, which seemed to resonate with her sadness, then lowered her head and pressed a kiss to Khan’s face.
That day, after returning to her bedroom, she opened her diary.
She had started writing in it reluctantly after Tiuran suggested that honestly putting her innermost thoughts into words might help alleviate her symptoms of hearing voices and experiencing hallucinations. However, contrary to Tiuran’s intentions, the diary had gradually become more like a record of Khan’s growth.
After roughly flipping through the entries she had written so far, she began writing about her conversation with Tiuran. Rather than simply recording the events mechanically, she also added a few lines about the emotions she had felt.
Would this really help heal her troubled mind?
She stared at the words she had written for a long while before closing the diary. Then, holding Khan in her arms, she walked over to the bed and lay down.
Perhaps by coincidence, that night she was able to fall into a deep sleep without being tormented by nightmares or experiencing hallucinations.
Having enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep for the first time in a long while, Talia easily sat up in bed.
Khan, who had been curled up beside her pillow, immediately sprang to his feet as well, wagging his tail happily.
As she picked him up and covered his face with kisses, she suddenly heard the faint sound of trumpets coming from afar.
Talia flinched and looked out the window. She saw dozens of men on horseback entering the castle grounds in a long procession. When she recognized the face of the man leading them, her body stiffened.
