The Camellia Tattoo - Chapter 2
“Does it hurt?”
“A …little.”
“Good. Endure it. After all, you’ll have to endure it for the rest of your life from now on.”
As Amber weakly affirmed, the man grabbed her wrists firmly and quickly hoisted his hips, causing her to slide along.
She was pushed back as if by waves expelled from the sea, thrown onto the beach without being able to catch her breath. At one point, as her head began to bump into the headboard, he used one hand to cradle her head.
Even then, the relentless movement below didn’t stop.
The receding tide left a residue, pouring over the already muddy sands of the beach.
Finally still above her, he slowly rose and donned his robe. Watching the scene, Amber bit her lip hard.
She wanted to say something, but her mind was too jumbled to form any coherent sentences at the moment.
Despite her efforts not to cry, her nose was still runny.
It wasn’t because he had shown his distaste for this marriage, or even because he left her on the bed alongside the mess.
In the past, such actions would have hurt and angered her, but now… she couldn’t do that anymore.
In the fifth year of their marriage, during that winter, Nidhogg, the dragon the reason they were together, appeared like a nightmare and demanded her.
As the situation worsened and the land became contaminated, many suggested that they release her, sacrifice her as an offering.
Amber naturally assumed her husband would throw her as a sacrifice.
Waiting for the impending death, she would curse and pour out her anger, determined to die. If he sacrificed her, she would surely hurt him too.
With those thoughts in mind, she hid a knife under the pillow.
But that man remained Amber’s shield until the end.
It was truly a strange thing.
People cursed and hurled insults when the Grand Duke did not release his wife, but he never wavered.
He seemed like an insurmountable cold stone wall, yet she knew he had become her shield.
And the reason he did that… was not solely to protect his wife.
‘My stomach’
Amber looked down at her flat stomach. At the edge of her memory, she had been pregnant. It was her first pregnancy in their five-year marriage.
If everything she had lived was just a dream, then having the baby was a dream too?
That baby was her only hope.
Confused, but with no answers, Amber gently wiped her lower abdomen with her fingertips. Eventually, tears she couldn’t hold back quietly streamed down her cheeks.
It wasn’t a hot cry, but a bitter, stinging one.
Don’t be foolish. It couldn’t all have been a dream. The baby was definitely there. It was there, but…
There had been no miscarriage. She died while still pregnant, without even giving birth to the baby she carried. It was just that she had yet to have the baby.
But why did her chest feel so empty and her heart ache so much?
If she went back to the time when she didn’t have the baby, shouldn’t the joy she felt when she had the baby also disappear? Shouldn’t even the memory of having the baby be a true blessing to forget?
No one would understand this feeling, so Amber quickly wiped away her tears. The tears streaming down seemed hot enough to scald, but now she understood.
Crying like a child wouldn’t solve anything.
This fact was something she had not known during that winter when she was forcibly married to this sturdy man.
* * *
Amber’s homeland, Shadroch, was a kingdom much smaller than an Empire.
However, Shadroch, despite its weak national power, had its advantages. It was known as a land of earthly paradise or a greenhouse of the gods, owing to its abundantly fertile land.
Under the watchful eye of the spirit of abundance, Shadroch recorded abundant harvests every year, resulting in surplus grains overflowing in its warehouses. In the southern seas, the fishes were so plentiful that nets were torn, and flocks of migratory birds and water buffalo roamed through Shadroch’s plains, making it easy to obtain meat.
As if that weren’t enough, the fruits and vegetables grew so abundantly!
Even if someone were to covet and try to swallow it whole, Shadroch’s advantageous position was what had enabled the kingdom to maintain its prosperity.
Though no one knew how the first monarch had so cleverly drawn the borders, Shadroch extended horizontally across the southern tip of the continent, facing several countries simultaneously.
Being a coveted land for all, each nation quietly checked one another, preventing any one of them from invading Shadroch.
Paradoxically, it was because of this that the territory, which managed to avoid war, only grew more fertile over time.
Moreover, a hundred years ago, Shadroch had even forged a peace treaty with the neighboring empire of Asgarden.
The content of the treaty was that Shadroch would provide the abundant food produced within its borders to Asgarden, and in return, the Empire would send military forces to protect the country.
As a result, the people of Shadroch, who had lived without foreign invasions, took peace for granted. Even the king, who should have focused on protecting the kingdom.
No one ever expected that the Empire would suddenly demand the princess.
No one, truly no one, anticipated it.
