You Can't Catch the Wind - Chapter 1

Swoosh.

Ael slowly opened her eyes at the sound of the strong wind brushing past the window. At the same time, she felt a terrible thirst.

‘Water…’

Ael stretched out her hand, groping to find the water jug she always kept on the bedside table.

Instead of the familiar feel of the table, she felt the softness of a cushion.

What’s this?

Where’s the water jug?

“Jena, are you outside? I need some water…”

Calling for her maid, Ael struggled to open her eyes again as another wave of thirst hit her.

As she blinked a few times, her blurry vision began to clear.

The moment she saw the beautiful painting on the ceiling, Ael realized where she was.

“…!”

This was not her room. More precisely, it was her husband’s room.

“Ah…”

As that fact dawned on her, she felt a dull ache throbbing throughout her body.

From her neck to her lower abdomen. Honestly, in almost every part of her body, enough to say it was her entire body.

Ael’s face reddened as she felt the areas of pain. The deepest pain was in a place she could never reach herself.

“Ugh…”

With a groan, Ael sat up.

As the blanket fell away helplessly, her body, still bearing traces of the previous night, was fully exposed.

Before looking at her own body, Ael turned her head to look beside her. At the place where her husband had been last night.

There was no one there.

All that remained were wrinkles in the sheets, as if to prove someone had been there.

Ael ran her hand over those wrinkles, then gave a bitter smile.

The wrinkled sheets were cool to the touch, with no trace of body heat remaining. As if to tell her that the person who had been here had left long ago.

Ael turned her head to look out the window.

The horizon of the distant sea was turning red. Even though the sun had not yet risen, her husband had already left.

He might have left the bed early because he was busy. As the owner of the continent’s largest trading company, many tasks would be waiting for him, leaving little time even for sleep.

But anyone who wasn’t a fool would know. No matter how busy he was, he couldn’t always be busy the morning after spending time with his wife.

Ael tried to recall if she had ever seen him after falling asleep and waking up. Ridiculously…

‘Not even once.’

After their marriage, she could only see his face one day a week. And only at night.

Even that wasn’t for long. He always came in late and moved only to fulfill his duty, without saying much.

Then, if Ael fell asleep first, he would leave like this, without waking her.

As if there was no reason to stay and look at her anymore, now that he had done what he needed to do.

‘Does he dislike me that much?’

As Ael pondered alone, the corners of her mouth twisted in self-mockery.

How could he like her? She was just a wife he had bought with money out of necessity.

Even calling her his wife might be an excessive courtesy. To him, she was probably just a tool to produce an heir for the Golden Rule.

“…Though I’m not even doing that properly.”

Muttering with a bitter expression, Ael carefully got up from the bed. But no matter how carefully she moved, the pain remained, making it difficult for Ael.

Barely managing to pick up and put on the robe that had fallen to the floor, Ael headed to the adjoining room. Like the bedroom, there was no sign of anyone there, but her clothes were neatly arranged for her to wear.

Ignoring the throbbing pain, Ael dressed as quickly as she could.

The sun would fully rise soon. Then all the servants of this main house would come out and start their daily routines, so she had to leave here quickly before that.

If they encountered each other, both she and they would feel uncomfortable.

No, more precisely… she didn’t have the confidence to bear their gazes.

Ael hurriedly put on her shoes and opened the door, not even properly buttoning the top of her blouse. Carefully checking the corridor, thankfully there was still no sign of anyone. Ael quickly left the room and headed out of the mansion.

Leaving behind the wide corridor leading to the center of the mansion, she went down the narrow stairs used by the maids, then opened the side door and went outside as if someone was chasing her.

Swoosh.

As soon as she opened the door, a strong wind that had barely reached land after crossing the ocean blew Ael’s hair into the air.

But Ael moved towards the garden almost at a run, without even thinking of fixing her hair.

If someone saw this scene, they would surely think it strange.

This mansion was the residence of Kalon Ash, the owner of Ash Trading Company, and Ael was his wife. So it was natural for her to stay in this mansion. But she was leaving the mansion in a hurry, as if escaping, like someone who had entered a place they shouldn’t be.

When she entered the path between the trees after passing through the well-maintained garden, Ael turned her head to look back at the mansion.

The sun, now visible above the horizon, gently covered the orange roof of the mansion, making it shine brilliantly.

Feeling dazzled by that light, Ael slowly blinked.

This was the largest and most beautiful mansion in the Kingdom of Denertum. But even at this time when the morning sun was pouring down, the mansion was still as quiet as if there was not a single person.

Was it really normal for no one to be seen in such a vast mansion until this hour?

Unlike usual, Ael entered the path and hid her body behind a tree.

After a short while, people’s figures began to appear here and there in the quiet mansion.

They hurriedly opened windows and swept the garden, moving busily. As if they had been putting off work for a long time and could only move now.

‘So… that’s how it was.’

Seeing the servants who only revealed themselves after she had disappeared from sight, Ael hung her head.

Of course. They had been deliberately avoiding her.

Was it Kalon’s order? Or their own judgment?

It didn’t matter either way. There was no way Kalon wouldn’t know they were moving like this.

In other words, everyone, including the master of the mansion, didn’t want to encounter her. That’s why until now, no one had shown themselves while she was there.

Ael’s face, as she turned away weakly, was flushed red.

Facing the fact she had been trying hard to ignore until now, she couldn’t lift her head from embarrassment.

Thud. Thud.

Her already weak steps slowed even more. Taking much longer than usual, she emerged from the path to find a hill overlooking the sea.

And at the end of that hill was a small house.

It was an old house where a researcher who used to observe the weather of the distant sea from this hill long ago had stayed.

Now it was also where Ael stayed.

“Lady Ael!”

As Ael approached the house, the door suddenly opened and a maid with red hair tightly tied back rushed out. It was Jena, Ael’s maid.

Long ago, Jena had called Ael “Miss”. Then after she got married, she called her “Madam”.

But now she calls her “Lady Ael”.

She couldn’t call a married woman “Miss” like before. But seeing Ael looking like she might cry at any moment whenever she called her “Madam”, she seemed to have compromised on “Lady Ael” as a title she could barely manage.

“I was worried because you were later than usual… Huh? Lady Ael, did something happen?”

Jena, who had approached chattering, stiffened her expression when she saw Ael’s reddened eyes and face. Then she turned her head to glare at the mansion beyond the forest.

As if thinking the people there had made Ael like this.

Ael quickly shook her head and grabbed Jena’s hand. Then she went into the house as if fleeing from something frightening. After closing the door, Ael deliberately coughed and said to Jena:

“No, it’s just that the wind was strong and dust got in my eyes, so I rubbed them. More importantly, I’d like to wash up. Could you prepare some bath water for me?”

“What? You always came back already washed… No, no. I’ll prepare it right away.”

“Alright. Please do. I’ll wait in my room.”

At Ael’s request, Jena dashed inside.

Ael climbed the steep stairs leading to the second floor, gripping the railing and taking one step at a time.

When she first came here, these wooden stairs were so rotten that she was afraid to even set foot on them.

Now not only the stairs, but also the railing and even the walls had been neatly repaired and were gleaming.

It was thanks to her husband Kalon ordering repairs after she said she wanted this place as her lodgings.

At his single command, workers from Ash Trading Company had flocked here.

The cabin that had been about to collapse from age became a cozy space with no major problems for two people, Ael and Jena, to live in, in less than a week.

On the day she came here, Ael was very satisfied. She had finally obtained a place that could give her a little peace.

But Jena cried loudly, lamenting how he could banish his wife to such a place and blaming Kalon.

Even though Ael told her many times that she had requested it herself, Jena wouldn’t listen. She cursed Kalon and all the servants of the mansion.

Ael couldn’t stop Jena’s behavior. She knew it all came from concern for her.

Perhaps that’s why. On days like today, once a week when Ael returned from fulfilling her duty at the mansion, Jena was especially attentive to Ael’s mood and diligently did everything Ael asked.

Arriving on the second floor, Ael entered her room and closed the door. Then she flopped down on the bed as if collapsing.

She was always tired after dealing with him, but today that fatigue was particularly intense.

‘Yesterday he was especially… persistent.’

He usually pushed her to the point of exhaustion, but yesterday it was especially severe.

‘He might be thinking the money he spent to buy me is being wasted since I still haven’t conceived a child.’

As she buried her face in the bed sheets that Jena had changed in advance, last night’s fatigue came rushing back.

‘How long has it been?’

Ael counted how long it had been since she married Kalon. Exactly one year ago, the two of them had held a wedding more grand than even the royal family’s.

It was a marriage that had turned not just the Kingdom of Denertum, but the entire continent upside down.

And for good reason. That Kalon Ash, who had never even had a rumor of dating let alone marriage in his entire life, had suddenly married the daughter of a fallen noble family.

People said he had finally found true love.

Every newspaper and magazine on the continent kept calling Ael the lucky woman who had captured the heart of the continent’s wealthiest man.

‘…But that’s not it.’

Ael buried her face in the bed sheets. The tears she had barely been holding back fell again, silently wetting the sheets.

‘This was just a transaction, buying and selling.’

People don’t know. The fact that there isn’t a single point of love in this marriage.

Why he wanted this marriage.

How coldly Kalon had decided her price.

People will never know.

Her muffled crying seeped into the bed sheets and disappeared.

‘I didn’t know it would be like this.’

Ael recalled when she first met him.

When he called her name and looked at her with trusting eyes.

When he smiled at her every time their eyes met.

The past when she too, without fear or guilt, simply admired him while hiding the love she harbored alone.