Chapter 56

Asla worried that the middle-aged woman might have recognized her as Princess Sherita because of her distinct pink hair. Her heart raced with anxiety, but the woman simply crossed her arms and stared at the tense Asla before speaking.

“You’re a painter who came here to work, right? You’re a young lady, so let me just say this in advance. Don’t even think about dating while you’re here.”

“Dating…?”

“Do you know how many clueless painters pass through this town? You’ve got a pretty face. If you’re here to paint, then focus on painting. If men start flocking around you, you won’t be painting anything—you’ll just be dealing with messy rumors and stress.”

Asla’s lips parted in surprise at the woman’s flood of scolding. To clear up the misunderstanding, Asla quickly waved her hands.

“Don’t worry, ma’am! I’m married. I promise I’ll be careful not to get involved in anything scandalous.”

She let out a bitter laugh as she recalled that she had fled here in the first place because of a scandal with Ian.

The middle-aged woman covered her mouth in surprise and gave an awkward laugh.

“Oh? Ah, really? Sorry about that. You’re just so young and pretty—I didn’t think you could be married already. Or maybe it makes sense, someone this beautiful probably would marry early. Your husband must be a really good man.”

“Haha…”

“So, are you looking for a house to live in with your husband?”

“No… Just…”

Asla trailed off, unable to finish her sentence from the awkwardness. The woman narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Asla’s face. Though suspicion and curiosity gleamed in the real estate agent’s eyes, Asla found herself gradually relaxing.

The woman didn’t seem interested in things like Asla’s hair or eye color, nor in her true identity. All she cared about were personal details like whether Asla had a husband or how old she was.

It was clear that people in Astra didn’t care about the pink hair or eye color of the royal Sherita bloodline. As she felt herself freed from the attention and curiosity she had always received, courage began to blossom in Asla’s heart. She raised her chin slightly and spoke.

“My husband isn’t here. I need a small house to live in by myself.”

The woman tilted her head, then burst out laughing.

“Really? Well, now that I think about it, having a husband would definitely be a hassle if you’re trying to focus on painting. I get it. Even though I don’t do delicate work, my husband can be annoying sometimes too.”

Something about her cheerful personality reminded Asla of Princess Amelia.

‘Would living in Astra make me this straightforward and bold too?’

Asla smiled quietly to herself. The woman briskly walked ahead, giving a brief introduction to the village.

“Name’s Joy Luduran. Just call me Joy.”

“Please call me Asla.”

Asla followed Joy in a hurry, listening closely to her rapid speech. Joy explained that Ruhanel Village had about 50 households, mostly elderly. She was the youngest native in the area, and worked as a real estate agent helping artists who came to paint short-term in the countryside close to the capital.

“So? I’m really curious what kind of paintings you’ll make. I bet they’ll be as pretty as snow.”

“Ah…”

Joy had clearly mistaken her for a painter who’d come to the quiet village to focus on her work. She must’ve seen the paintbrush poking out of Asla’s bag when she left the capital. Asla missed the right moment to correct the misunderstanding—and decided not to.

Maybe it was better if everyone just assumed that. A stranger with no clear purpose staying in a small village would only raise suspicion. But Asla had no intention of causing harm to anyone here. She would live as quietly and unnoticed as possible.

Scratching her head and flipping through some paperwork, Joy said:

“With the money you’ve got, there aren’t many homes I can offer you. It’s small and pretty worn down.”

“As long as there’s space for me to lie down, that’s enough.”

“Hm.”

Joy hesitated, unable to ignore the air of nobility Asla exuded. She eventually led her to one of the two vacant houses in Ruhanel—the slightly cleaner one.

It was a tiny red-brick house built under three big oak trees. With one bedroom, one living room, and a tiny kitchen, the place was extremely small and, as warned, quite old.

“Oh…”

But the moment Asla locked eyes with a squirrel perched on the oak tree, she fell in love with the house.

With Joy and the landlord present, she thoroughly inspected the house. There were many repairs needed, but Asla spent nearly all the money she had to purchase it.

Once the landlord left, Joy looked at Asla with concern, glancing between her and the dusty windowsill, which looked completely mismatched with Asla’s refined presence. She sighed.

Asla could guess what that sigh meant but asked anyway, pretending not to know.

“Is something wrong?”

“…I know I shouldn’t pry about outsiders, but—you’re not from a noble family or something, are you? How are you going to live in a place like this? I mean, you probably won’t stay long in a country village like this anyway…”

“Haha, true enough.”

Asla gave an embarrassed smile, finally beginning to feel worried. Though she had always valued a modest lifestyle, she had still been Princess Sherita.

At the fall of the kingdom, she lived in the grand palace, and then married into the richest family in the empire—the Ventus Dukedom.

Unlike the grand royal palace or the luxurious Ventus estate, this house was going to demand a lot from her.

It wasn’t a life of sitting still and waiting with quiet worry. It was a life where she would have to move and act on her own.

“I’ll try my best. Thank you for worrying, Joy.”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing. I’m just a real estate agent doing her job.”

Flustered by Asla’s polite thanks, Joy waved her hands. Before leaving, she warned Asla to be cautious and lock her doors—even if the village was generally safe—and then shut the door behind her.

Now Asla was truly alone.

Though it was the house she had chosen for herself, it was really old. Dust and cobwebs filled every corner. There wasn’t even a clean spot to sit.

Asla decided to start with cleaning and headed to the storage shed. She found an old broom left by the previous owner, rolled up her sleeves, and gripped it firmly.

“…Bewitched by a squirrel, what kind of hardship is this?”

She muttered as sweat poured down her face during cleaning, blaming the squirrel.

“Ha.”

In the middle of it, she realized the squirrel’s dark eyes reminded her of Enoch’s. That must’ve been why she fell for it. She gave a short, bitter laugh.

But it was a relief.

This place didn’t give her time for stray thoughts.

A place that didn’t believe in God.

This special kingdom of Astra, untouched by the divine, was surprisingly comfortable for one of the divine’s so-called chosen.

Asla took off the hat she’d worn to hide her hair.

She was drenched in sweat after all the cleaning. There was no time to worry about hair. She tied her hair up tightly so it wouldn’t touch her neck.

Here in Astra, she was not special. Not at all.

She had to live here starting today. She had to make a place to sleep and breathe.

Late into the night, she kept cleaning under the moonlight. Finally, in one clean corner, she laid out some spare clothes and fell asleep—only to wake at dawn.

“Ahh. It hurts.”

Muscle aches tormented her the next morning. She’d used muscles she never had before, after hours of cleaning.

Asla thought she’d grown used to pain and endurance in her life, but now she realized how naive that thought had been.

She looked around the room glowing with morning sunlight and groaned.

“…What did I even do yesterday?”

Though she had cleaned, her inexperience showed—it was still dirty. The dust from a long-abandoned house didn’t come off easily.

Grrr.

Her stomach growled, and Asla looked down at her flat belly.

“I’m hungry.”

She smiled. She had never been this hungry in her life.

This wasn’t like the fasting prayers she had done before, where she simply sat still. There had been no physical effort back then, so she hadn’t felt such hunger.

She realized then that what she once called “fasting” had been a kind of luxury. True hunger—the kind that came with physical labor—was something entirely different.

She felt ashamed. The so-called hardships of her past seemed trivial now.

She had to eat to live. The instinct was now wide awake.

“Let’s go.”

Driven by the simple goal of going to the market, she forced her aching body upright and stepped outside.

Watching the squirrels scurrying about once again, Asla’s eyes teared up.

‘Now… now I finally feel alive.’

‘So this is what it means to live.’

Only at the age of twenty-two did she understand this truth. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Rumors that Duke Enoch Ventus had suddenly started pressuring the Grand Temple circulated quietly for a few days—but disappeared just as quickly.

He had withdrawn his threats to sever ties with the Temple’s trading partners.

Vice President Robert Hesse personally visited each client to apologize.

The situation was barely salvaged, but because Asla’s scandal and other bad rumors had already spread, Emperor Rosenberg summoned Enoch to the palace.

Seeing Enoch looking noticeably more gaunt as he waited in the audience chamber, Emperor Rosenberg clicked his tongue.

“Enoch Ventus, at Your Majesty’s service.”

Enoch rose from his seat and bowed deeply to the Emperor. Rosenberg had him sit again and spoke with a heavy tone.

“That was not like a duke.”

“…My apologies.”

Despite his words, Enoch showed no sign of remorse.

“The public could’ve turned against you in support of the Temple. You must have known that.”

“Your Majesty, I believe the Pope has joined hands with Duke Jemia. I judged that it would be better to crush them quickly. I was confident.”

“You’d risk losing nearly your entire fortune for that?”

“Money is easy to make. I can always earn it back.”

“What’s made you so impatient? Has Princess Sherita truly left you? Is she threatening divorce—or worse, to marry the Pope?”

“…Your Majesty. Surely not.”  

Enoch clenched his jaw, doing his best not to glare.

Hi everyone! I’m sorry to say this but I’ve decided to drop this novel. The two have just gotten way too frustrating for me and while that normally isn’t even on my threshold of frusration, I personally don’t feel like the ending was worth it. If anyone wants to pick it up then feel free to.