Episode 6
“Your stamina’s too weak. Try this. It tastes good and it’s great for restoring energy.”
Some kind of ginseng, the likes of which Roxana had never seen in this world, had been candied in honey and put on the table as part of the meal.
Asterion speared a piece with his fork and held it out to her.
When Roxana opened her mouth, he gently put it in.
It was sweet with a hint of bitterness — definitely ginseng.
“You eat well.
I’ve heard others don’t like it, it’s hard for them to stomach.”
Asterion said that without expression.
The difference between how warm he was when holding her and how cold he usually was felt extreme, like plunging between a boiling hot spring and an iceberg.
Roxana wanted out of bed as soon as possible.
Luckily, on the morning of the fourth day, people started coming to look for him one by one.
First, it was his secretary, then the commander of the knights. Before long, more than just a handful of people came calling.
Finally, the middle-aged butler Khalid stepped past the sitting-room door that led to the duke and duchess’s bedroom.
Standing quietly by the private bedroom door, Khalid announced, “Your Grace, there’s a lot of work piled up.”
He said that one sentence and then stood there like a silent string pulled tight.
That day marked one week since the wedding — the couple had been holed up in their room for a whole week. Khalid’s pressure was quiet but firm.
That afternoon, Asterion Kailani, the duke, finally wrapped up his honeymoon-in-the-bedroom and went back to work.
As soon as he left the couple’s bedroom, Roxana forced herself up. It was a struggle to survive.
She managed to throw on some clothes and sprinted straight to the duchess’s chamber. Back in her own room, she locked the door that connected to the couple’s bedroom first — only the duchess had the key.
Of course, if Asterion really wanted to open it, no door would stop him. Still, she hadn’t even looked at that bedroom door for over a week.
Roxana put Khalid up as her solid shield.
“For now, I don’t want the duke coming into my room.”
She said it with a face much thinner than at the wedding. That one line was enough. Khalid posted two maids in pairs outside the duchess’s room and put them on 24-hour shifts.
He also kept an eye on Asterion’s movements. The moment he heard Asterion heading toward her door, he moved. Even the duke — the household’s top authority — couldn’t get past Khalid standing firm.
Because there was so much work piling up, Asterion could only stop by briefly and had to leave within thirty minutes each time.
A small power play happened between the couple, but the Kailani household remained calm and quiet as usual.
‘Nice not doing anything,’ Roxana thought.
As duchess, she had no required duties. She had no real administrative power.
The housework and the estate affairs were all handled by the butler and the head housemaid. Even now that she was a duchess, nothing had changed.
By the fifth day, Roxana’s awake time slowly increased. Her sleeping pattern gradually went back to how it had been before the wedding.
Maybe I was too relaxed? I’m getting bored now.’
Lying in bed, she looked out toward the balcony. Each of the duchess’s sitting rooms and bedrooms had a wide balcony with a tea table and chairs — a nice little spot to watch the grounds.
Roxana wanted to get out and walk in the garden she loved.
But the thought of the days spent locked in the bridal room made her cheeks burn.
She didn’t have the courage yet to meet the staff face-to-face. She had to run into the maids who stood guard outside her door or the people who came in for meals and cleaning.
“Daisy, bring that book from the study.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Daisy took a note listing the books.
“Stephanie, prepare tea.”
“Yes.”
The maids left the room and soon returned with the book and tea. Roxana drank tea out on the balcony facing the garden and started reading.
The heavy lump of helplessness in her chest lightened a bit.
It was late summer. The noon heat was still strong, but as the sun started to descend, the wind’s temperature shifted subtly.
For a few days, she hadn’t really felt like a duchess, but sitting there peacefully made the reality undeniable.
When Roxana was thirteen, her parents died in an accident.
A lost child with nowhere to go, she was taken in by Eleanor, Asterion’s mother, and the previous duchess.
New surroundings, strange faces. Even though the Kailani estate was beautiful and grand, it felt terrifying and foreign to little Roxana.
She sank into grief and kept shrinking away.
Eleanor gave the young girl the position of a baby maid — a place for a girl with no one at the estate to belong. Eleanor always kept Roxana close and taught her how to live on her own.
For the first couple of months, knowing Roxana had nightmares, Eleanor even put her to bed herself.
Eleanor treated her like a treasured niece and gave her learning opportunities. Because of that, those first two years serving as the duchess’s baby maid were sad but also happy.
But Eleanor was frail. When Roxana was fifteen, Eleanor died. In that wide estate, Roxana was alone again.
She could have left and started over somewhere else, but she didn’t want to immediately leave the place full of memories and comfort.
After the previous duchess passed, the estate had no maid of the household, and the other baby maids all left with generous severance.
Fifteen-year-old Roxana was too afraid to face another unfamiliar world, and she didn’t want to go anywhere else.
She wanted to stay in the place that held Eleanor’s memory.
Luckily, neither the late duke nor the current duke, Asterion, kicked her out. She found her place again by working as a housemaid instead of a baby maid, and continued living at the Kailani estate.
Roxana returned to the main building after her walk. Khalid stood at the duchess’s door and bowed to her.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“His Grace is waiting.”
A guest had come to the empty room.
“Has he finished his work?” Asterion’s question was clear, and Khalid understood the meaning.
“Yes.”
He didn’t say it to Roxana, but Asterion had finished two weeks’ worth of work in one week.
During that time, he had been like a dog with its tail on fire, fiercely driven. He’d only stayed briefly, but he still tried to visit the duchess on occasion — sometimes reaching the door but having to turn away.
Roxana stepped into the sitting room off the bedroom, and Asterion rose sharply when he saw her, then softened and sat back down.
She took the opposite sofa.
He poured tea for himself and set a warm cup in front of her.
What’s he up to? I can’t just give in!’
Asterion Roxana knew would never hand someone tea like that.
Maybe he acted different because she was his wife, but she couldn’t accept that his intentions were pure.
‘Was our night amazing?’ Roxana thought, feeling her suspicion was reasonable. After all, they’d spent an intense night together on their wedding day.
He was probably acting nice now to get another night with her.
His small acts of kindness almost softened her. If she spent more nights with him the way they had, though, she’d end up exhausted and drained.
Meanwhile, Asterion’s chest burned darker and darker.
The thought of Roxana refusing him made sweat run down his spine.
He’d pushed hard from the first night — maybe for her recovery, he could justify it. But he also filled himself with selfish desire.
Above all, he believed that for Roxana to recover, he needed to get those nights with her.
Seeing Roxana’s determined face made him tense. He wiped the sweat from his hand on his pants and Roxana steeled herself again. She raised the cup and took a small drink.
“Where did you go to be out so late?” he asked.
“I went for a walk. Do I need to report where I go even inside the estate?” she replied.
“Ahem. No, not that.” Asterion cleared his throat.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Um, you won’t come tonight either?”
Roxana was satisfied inwardly.
“You were busy. Because of you my health suffered and I needed time to recover.”
He should have agreed at least partly, but he kept acting noncommittal.
“I’m mostly done with the busy work. And you look very well.”
Smack! Roxana set the teacup down with a trace of noise.
“So you want to share the bed again from tonight?” she asked. Asterion nodded as if he’d been waiting to hear it.
“I’ll think about it.”
She baited him. He looked at her as if to say what she meant.
“It seems like it only benefits you, Your Grace.”
Asterion had been narrowing his eyes for a while. He took a sip of tea, put down the cup, and then
“Asterion.”
“Yes?”
When he said his own name, Roxana answered back, ready to challenge — and the scene ends there, waiting.
