Chapter 2

This is Rose, Ashera's mother's perspective.

I am Rose Bartia.

I was born as the eldest daughter of a viscount's family.

At the age of 16, I married my childhood friend, who was five years older than me.

Soon after, my husband, who was serving as a diplomat, was arrested on unfounded charges in a neighboring country.

Our country is surrounded by other countries on three sides, with the exception of the mountainous area.

The abundant water flowing from the mountains nourishes the plains, and the part of the sea where this water reaches is also part of our territory, which makes our country envied by others.

While other countries also have access to the sea, lakes, or large rivers, they are inferior to our country.

They often make various accusations and nitpick, and my husband had also resigned himself to this as an inevitable part of serving the country.

However, it wasn't just my husband who was arrested.

The other two countries also took our country's ambassadors and diplomats as hostages.

In other words, they conspired to take over our country.

Eventually, the country made a bitter decision.

To fight against the three countries.

In other words.

To abandon the hostages—.

"No..."

In my father-in-law's study, when I heard this, my blood seemed to freeze, and my body trembled.

Declaring war meant that the enemy countries would understand that the hostages had no value.

What would happen to Asher?

No matter how many times I thought about it, the worst scenarios kept coming to mind.

Would I never see my husband—Asher—again?

We had always been together since childhood and had promised to be together for life.

Would I never be able to touch his lustrous, soft golden hair again?

Would I never be able to see Asher's eyes, which were like melted new green leaves?

Would I never be able to touch them...

"I am also filled with regret!!"

My father-in-law clenched his fists and groaned, unable to contain his passion.

My mother-in-law, who was a lady-in-waiting to the queen at the palace, was usually absent but had returned home worried about her only son's fate.

"Although I knew that such things could happen while serving the country..."

She was strong, but her usually neatly tied golden hair was disheveled, her gray eyes were moist, and she was biting her lip.

The marriage house was in turmoil.

The heir, my husband, might no longer be alive.

To continue serving as nobility, we needed to immediately establish a temporary successor.

My father-in-law's much younger brother became the successor.

He was 31 years old, 10 years older than my husband.

While my father-in-law and husband had golden hair and the light green eyes inherited from the direct line, my uncle had golden hair and brown eyes inherited from his grandmother.

The condition was that he would step down if my husband, Asher, returned, but my uncle was gleefully spreading the word that his nephew was dead.

My rash and arrogant uncle and aunt came, and I was almost kicked out of the house.

However, when it was discovered that I was pregnant with my husband's child, my father-in-law immediately declared that the child would be the successor and obtained the approval of the noble council.

The child of the original heir, captured for the country, was recognized as the successor, regardless of gender.

Because of this, the abuse from my uncle was so severe that it felt life-threatening.

However, if my child was born with green eyes, they would rank higher in the line of succession than my uncle.

—Yes. The successor of this branch of the royal family is determined by the color of the eyes.

Green eyes are common, so why are they important in this family?

My husband never told me why.

He said I would be told when the child was ready to take on their role.

Usually, the next successor comes from those who inherit the direct line's eye color.

—Therefore, my uncle, who did not have the direct line's eye color, was always the final backup.

He cursed me, saying, "If it weren't for your child, I could have been the head of this house!!" with a hideous expression.

No, it wasn't just curses.

I found out that the stairs had been tampered with and that something had been mixed into my food.

The old butler and long-serving servants who had served my husband from the beginning prevented these incidents from happening.

As the due date approached, I began to lose consciousness frequently.

The uncertainty of my husband's fate and the fear that my uncle and aunt might harm me and my unborn child were taking a toll on me mentally and physically.

"Please, Lady Rose, eat something. For the sake of your child..."

My husband's wet nurse, pleading, handed me a spoon of soup as I finally managed to sit up in bed.

I knew that if I continued like this, I wouldn't survive childbirth.

I wanted to give birth to a healthy baby.

Forcing my increasingly immobile body, I finally managed to swallow the soup.

This soup was specially prepared for me and my unborn child, as I could no longer eat solid food.

God, please let me give birth to this child safely.

Please let this child grow up healthy and free from harm.

—If possible, please let me hold this child.

I thought I would lose my life in childbirth, given my weakened state.

So, I wished to hold my newborn child at least once before I passed away.

—But.

After the intense pain, when I woke up again.

I was alive.

But the child I had given birth to, at the cost of my life, was not breathing.

It was my fault.

I hadn't been able to raise the child properly in my weakened state.

Why am I still alive?

Why am I the only one left, after losing Asher and his child...

Ironically, even though I had lost my child, my milk came in.

If left untreated, it would cause inflammation, so I endured the pain and expressed the milk with the help of my husband's wet nurse.

It was supposed to be for my beloved child...

A few months later, when I had recovered enough to resume a normal life, my father-in-law, through the butler, asked me to return to my parents' home.

"Please forgive me..."

The usually strict butler, with his salt-and-pepper hair, bowed and looked terribly sad.

After losing my child, I had hardly seen my father-in-law or mother-in-law.

I was so sad and guilty that I cried and apologized constantly.

I hadn't seen my father-in-law for months because the war had already started.

I had no choice but to comply.

It had been over a year and a few months since my husband was arrested in a neighboring country.

However, I had received no information about him.

If he didn't return, I had no reason to stay in this house, which held so many memories of my husband, even though our time together was short.

However, my father did not allow me to return to my parents' home.

My younger brother, who was angry with my father, set up a trading company in the town of the earldom and prepared a place for me to live before coming to fetch me.

"Sorry, I'm late, sister."

It had been several months since I was told to return to my parents' home.

My brother was only 16 years old. He had worked hard with his childhood friend, Lord Link, to set up the trading company and prepare a place for me to live.

"Please don't apologize. Thank you, Roderin. For everything you've done for me."

I left the marriage house, accompanied only by my husband's wet nurse, Martha, and the butler, Thomas.

I had married just before turning 17 and had smiled, thinking we would celebrate our birthdays together forever.

A month later, Asher was arrested in the country he was visiting for work.

With no news of Asher's safety, I gave birth...

What a short honeymoon it had been.

I looked up at the large mansion, which I could not see in its entirety from the gate.

I had only lived in this mansion for a year and a half.

Before returning to the viscount's territory, I visited the church to pray for my husband's safety and my child's soul.

Although my child had already been buried, I was not allowed to visit the grave.

No one told me what my child looked like.

Childbirth had drained my life, and by the end, I could barely see or hear, as if in a fog.

I only remembered the sense of satisfaction from giving birth.

—My husband's wet nurse, Martha, didn't tell me the gender or features, saying it would only make me sad.

But as I left the husband's house, she told me a little.

"The baby had the same golden hair as your husband, Asher."

The viscount's territory was right next door, so I left the marriage house in the morning and entered the forest at the edge of the viscount's territory by evening.

—The forest where I used to play with my husband, brother, and childhood friend.

There was a small villa of the viscount's family, and we planned to stay there overnight and head to the trading company and our new home the next day.

The villa was far enough from my father's watch, and the long-serving caretaker couple, who had always been kind to me, would hide me from my father if necessary.

As soon as we arrived at the villa, my brother and I went for a walk in the familiar forest.

I wanted to see the familiar places before it got dark, as we were leaving the next morning.

Deep in the forest, there was a small but ancient temple dedicated to the goddess.

"This hasn't changed at all."

"It's the goddess's place. No one touches it."

The forest's greenery and the white marble temple, which always praised the light, had been a sacred site since before the founding of the country.

A place filled with special energy, where even priests rarely entered.

Therefore, even though it was within the viscount's territory, it was under the jurisdiction of the country, and all disputes were forbidden, and silence was maintained to show respect for faith.

The goddess of creation, who had been said to hear only pure and unsoiled prayers since before the founding of the country.

I prayed for my husband's safety.

I prayed for my love and apologies to my child.

Just as I was praying.

"Whaaaan..."

A baby's cry echoed in the temple.

"Eh...?"

"Is that... a baby!?"

My brother, Roderin, who had been kneeling and praying behind me, stood up.

"Whaaaan..."

The cry that broke the silence of the temple was not an animal but a human baby.

This temple was deep in the forest, open to everyone, but hearing a baby's cry from the depths of the forest could only mean one thing: abandonment.

Following the cries,

"Whaaaan, whaaaan..."

At the edge of the temple, in a clearing, there was a baby in a basket.

"Whaaaan, whaaaan..."

The baby, with golden hair, was crying loudly and was very cute.

It seemed to have been abandoned recently and was crying energetically.

"A baby in such a place..."

The moment I saw it, I felt a strong gravitational pull.

The baby was moving its small limbs in the basket, and I wondered how such a small body could produce such a loud cry.

—Ah.

It's alive.

—It's alive, which is why it's touching my heart so much.

The baby's cry was a life-affirming word to me.

"I want to live."

That desire was emanating from the baby.

And as I was drawn to the baby and picked it up, my milk came in.

"Shh, shh. You're hungry, aren't you?"

"Hey... Sister!"

Ignoring my brother's protests, I sat on a nearby rock and let the crying baby suckle.

It was my first time breastfeeding, so I fumbled, but the baby latched on and clung to my chest with its tiny hands.

"...Good. The milk is coming."

As the baby drank, I felt as if I was finally able to feed my own child.

This baby is not the one I lost.

Still.

—I won't let go of this baby.

I decided.

This baby is mine.

The goddess of creation gives what is meant to be.

So, this baby is the one the goddess has given me.

"Oh... so cute... how cute..."

A warm, living bundle.

The baby, with its big, sparkling green eyes, looked up at me while drinking.

The color was very similar to my husband, Asher's.

"Golden hair and light green eyes... the same color as my husband..."

I awkwardly changed the diaper left in the basket, and the little girl, looking comfortable, started to make cute snoring sounds in my arms.

The weight of the baby felt heavy in my weak arms, but it was a happy weight.

I thought I needed to build up my strength.

"Your name is Ashera. Ashera."

We had decided that if we had a daughter, we would name her Ashera.

The baby, who was supposed to be asleep, opened her eyes with a snap.

As if to say, "Did you call me?"

I was never told whether the child I lost was a boy or a girl.

So, the name I had prepared was left hanging.

But when I named the baby I found at the goddess's temple, I felt that the child I lost was a girl.

And the two children seemed to fit perfectly together.

"Ashera. My baby."

As I whispered the name and gently rocked her, she slowly closed her eyes and started snoring again.

My brother, Roderin, chuckled and said,

"Sister, let me hold my cute niece."

I couldn't help but laugh as he awkwardly took the baby.

We, the siblings, were inexperienced in child-rearing and had never taken care of ourselves.

And Link, the earl's son, who had also never raised a child, would be daily challenged by raising this cute daughter.