Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Surely we must have done it? Erna felt perplexed. An old saying came to her mind which said that ‘Men could fulfill their sexual desire at any time, even with a woman they didn’t have feelings for.’ Kalion had said he wanted to get it over with quickly, so Erna presumed that was what had transpired.
While she checked her body once again, to be sure, Kalion shook the empty whiskey bottle and took a long, deep breath, and softly said, “I think we need to talk.”
“Alright, let’s talk,” Erna said unenthusiastically.
“I couldn’t do it,” said Kalion in a defeated tone, quite unlike his normal self.
Erna wrapped herself in the comfort of the woolen blanket and sat on the bed, listening intently as he related the events of the previous evening.
“So what stopped you then?” she asked. Her voice indicated that she was baffled. Kalion approached the bed where Erna was sitting; an irritated look across his face, but stopped halfway and retraced his footsteps.
“You know what, why don’t you try it?” he said sternly.
“Try what?” she replied.
“Oh come on, stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about. This is the problem between you and me. I’m the only one trying. So how about you try it this time?”
“What are you saying?” she asked innocently.
“Men say that they can have sex without involving emotions. But from what I’ve seen, I believe women can too. Even though it’s taboo to talk about it, we all know that it happens.”
Erna was speechless at Kalion’s words, she was naive in a lot of ways but after pondering what he’d said, it did make sense. He wasn’t wrong in what he said.
“What now? Can’t you do it?” he said, challenging her.
Erna was now clenching her jaw. Looking at his face – which screamed out, ‘I knew it!’ – she could see the auspicious omen unfolding. Her head pounded from the strong liqueur she’d consumed, as she unwrapped the blanket from her body, and swung her legs off of the bed. Kalion stood directly in front of her and stared at her in expectation.
She felt mortified by his brazen attitude, as if he viewed her as a ‘lady of the night,’ exchanging her services for monetary gain. But she sat still before him, swallowing what she wanted to say; he would feel indifferent to anything she said now.
What do I do now? Erna recalled the process of intercourse, from books she’d read and gossip she’d overheard in the castle. She knew that a man’s penis needed to get erect… Her thoughts stopped there, her eyes were glued to the area between his solid legs. This time, she was in a position to undress him, just as he had demanded her to do last night. She reached out her trembling hands.
Just grab them and pull them down. That’s all you have to do.
But, just before touching him, she recoiled. Kalion didn’t laugh at her behavior. Instead, he said with a serious face, “You hate me.”
She nodded her aching head vigorously at his words. He continued to speak with a nonchalant look on his handsome face as if he knew that she’d say that. “And I hate you. This is the problem.”
“What do you mean?”
As soon as Erna replied, Kalion inhaled deeply and said, “We hate each other so much that a mere touch from one another is sickening. How do you think we can make a successor this way?”
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Erna was nervously biting her nails.
As Kalion had said, their flesh must inevitably meet. However, as it was impossible to even do that, quite frankly, it didn’t seem like they’d be able to procreate.
“Firstly,” Kalion said with a somber face, “we have to get to a point where we can put up with each other!”
* * *
Erna heard a light knocking on her slightly ajar bedroom door. She could make out the silhouette of Orpé, her assistant. Looking past her, she saw the big, detailed old grandfather clock, carved out of pristine wood, at the end of the hallway. Since the hour hand was pointing at twelve, it would be time for most of the people in the Grand Castle to eat lunch. But this was also Erna’s time to wake up.
She often went to bed late and woke up late. However, it wasn’t because she was lazy. By nature, magic became stronger and more manageable during the night hours, whilst everyone slept and the world calmed down. Therefore, the wizard Erna used that time to study and practice magic.
As Orpé was about to open the door, thinking that she should go inside and draw the curtains, as per usual, a voice came from inside, “Orpé, come in please.”
She hurriedly opened the door fully and then stood in shock. “Duchess!”
As soon as she’d stepped into the large, spacious bedroom, she saw Erna sitting in front of her desk. Orpé quickly approached her and looked over her slowly.
“Did something happen? What woke you up? My word! And you’re already dressed!”
Erna placed a hand on her forehead and shook the other at her assistant’s turbulent voice, “Can you lower your voice, my head still hurts…”
“Hurts how?” asked Orpé.
“I have a hangover.”
“A hangover!” Orpé couldn’t believe the unfolding situation. Not only had Erna woken up before her assistant was supposed to wake her up, but she was already fully dressed. And now she had a hangover on top of that! “Your Grace, I thought you didn’t drink alcohol.” Orpé stared at the woman in front of her, wondering if she was the Erna she knew.
“What’s with that weird look in your eyes?”
“It’s just, I can’t believe it. Duchess, is that you? Did something happen that I should know about?”
Indeed something has happened, though she couldn’t just tell her openly.
While Erna was clutching her ever-pounding head, Orpé clicked her tongue and tended to her duty of drawing the curtains and opening the windows. As soon as a fresh breeze drifted in, Erna leaned on the desk feeling like she might live after all.
“I’ll bring up a dish that’s a good cure for your hangover, your Grace.” She placed a notepad on top of a smaller table in the corner of the room, wrote something down, then threw it up in the air. It quickly swirled around mid-air and flew out of the window as if it had grown a pair of wings and came alive.
Orpé was a member of Erna’s first team of trainee wizards. She had originally worked as a laundry maid in the Grand Castle, and now followed Erna who had changed her life so dramatically. Even as a wizard, she was excellent, but she had become an assistant on account of her excellent abilities to assist Erna with her duties as well.
“You failed a few times, but I see you can do it now.” Erna gazed proudly at Orpé, who was now naturally using the magic she had taught her.
“Yes. It was a little bit difficult to specify where you wanted to send it, but if it’s in the Grand Castle, there’s no big problem anymore. I’ve explained it to the other wizards, so please take a look after you have finished eating.”
“Sure, I will.”
Erna thought of the wizards under her command. The all-female group consisted of members who had been found and trained by her. Her most affectionate wizard group, which had made its first official appearance last year, when they had taken care of the monsters in the southern region of Hessenguard. The Hessenguard Council had been truly delighted and looked forward to their future endeavors. Erna was well-pleased about the fact that her trainees had become the military power for the state of Hessenguard. They were evidence of her efforts to survive up until now, and she would never leave all of this behind to go back to Haband. So, she would grit her teeth and devote herself to making a successor.
With her thoughts now on the successor again, Erna, who’d made up her mind, said to Orpé, who was checking today’s schedule, “Orpé, I have something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“If you had to be close to someone you hated with all your heart, how would you go about doing it?”
Orpé thought deeply about the unexpected question. Then she soon found an answer, “What has made you ask such a thing? If it’s someone I hate with all my heart, instead of trying to get close, why not bury them?” She laid down the frightening answer with a quizzical look on her face.
“Oh, goodness. No, burying is not an option. Through an unavoidable circumstance, you have to let them live.”
Orpé thought it would be fun to play along with the question, but when she saw the serious look on Erna’s face, she thought about it once more, twirling her finger in the air. “Oh, is it to appease an enemy?”
Erna rubbed her throbbing head again at Orpé’s answer. She would sooner die than tell her she was talking about Kalion. On top of that, quite frankly, Kalion was Public Enemy No. 1 in her eyes. The two were rivaling for the Grand Duke’s throne, where only one person could be seated.
“Let’s just say it’s similar to that. In a situation like that, what would be the best thing to do?”
Orpé hummed, “Wouldn’t it be important to get familiar with each other first?”
“Get familiar with each other? How so?”
“Well, first, you have to get them to drop their guard. While being in the same place together for a long time, it’s also important to get used to the other person. It’s only when you don’t care much if you’re next to them, that you can either comfort them or attack them.”
Erna was now frowning at Orpé’s response.
Staying in the same place with Kalion? Over a long period?
Over the years, when they had seen each other, they had avoided one another or sat at opposite ends of the table, sneering. Every time they had been in the same space together, they had constantly been disgusted by the other’s existence, and just the thought of having to continue to do it made her feel nauseous.
Orpé’s voice interrupted her nightmarish thoughts, when she boldly said, “Never mind that. Please take a look at today’s schedule and the documents that arrived this morning. If your hangover is too much to handle though, I can remove some of the less important things that need to be done.”
“No, it’s alright. I can’t change my schedule once it’s already set.” Erna would just have to suffer in silence with her hangover for the remainder of the day.