The Princess sat beside Teresia on the cushion placed on the ground. She had come here to accompany Teresia through a hard time but she seemed to be much more energetic than the Princess.
"When we did not have this furniture, we used to sleep on the bare floor. The Great Father used to sing me to sleep as if I was a little child." Teresia smiled warmly. "When I sleep on the bare floor, I am reminded of that time even though this time is just not the same."
The Princess was surprised to hear that someone as great as Heinrich once used to sleep on the floor.
"Were you two unfortunate before?" The Princess asked.
Teresia shook her head, "Furniture was not common back then." She said softly. "So I asked for a room without furniture because I adore the past."
The Princess wondered if the furniture was a recent invention in this timeline. In Miraculum, the idea of furniture arose from illustrations left behind by the previous civilizations.
"Did the Great Father always have this big mansion and this big family?" The Princess asked.
"The mansion, yes. The people, not really." Teresia replied. "He and I would stroll about the town and stumble across helpless people now and then. Of course, we did not leave them and brought them here to live with us. Then slowly, we got more and more people to live with us. Even now, we get Kaspar to bring people sold to the market to live here with us. Of course, we buy them now. It is different." She explained.
"This is peculiar. Why do you pay for people and then give them a job here instead of keeping them as slaves?" The Princess asked in confusion.
"The Great Father does not seem like it, but he is a kind-hearted man. He says freedom cannot be stolen. Shortly, slavery will completely end according to him. This is why he adopts the change before it has even arrived." Teresia explained with subtle pride in her voice.
Every time she talked about Heinrich, there was some sort of pride in her voice. The Princess was very confused right now because Killian had told her to assume that Heinrich wasn't good to his wives. She seemed proud and cheerful while talking about him.
"Do you love him?" The Princess asked boldly.
Teresia was taken aback for a moment before she chuckled, "This is a strange question. Perchance I did, what would you do?"
"Be happy for you." The Princess said.
Teresia was taken aback once again, "But I thought you fancied the Great Father."
"I do not. You are mistaken. I do not know about him though…" The Princess replied calmly.
"He probably fancies you then," Teresia said slowly.
The Princess couldn't tell if Teresia was disappointed or glad.
"What about you?" The Princess asked.
"I used to," Teresia said while smiling. "But my dear, marriage is hard and long. If you do not put your heart into every single conversation, the fleeting feeling known as love disappears within seconds." She said, "And I did try my best. I put my heart into it." She smiled bitterly.
"Did he not do the same?" The Princess asked.
"He is a man of duties. I do not blame him." Teresia said, replenishing her kind smile. "He still loved Wanda the way he used to though. This is why he has locked himself. Wanda was the last person he had imagined to lose."
The Princess nodded, "I never got the chance to meet Miss Wanda personally. What kind of a person was she?" She asked in curiosity.
"Bright and broken?" Teresia said in an interrogative voice. "Bright because everyone loved being around her, including me. Broken because she had gone through too much. She was still as bright as a star. I do not know what led her to take her own life. It saddens me deeply." She added in sorrow.
"She was pregnant too, as far as I have heard." The Princess expressed in a sorrowful voice, "It is deeply saddening."
Teresia sighed, "I think she was traumatized by failed pregnancies." She said slowly. "This was her 15th pregnancy. She had lost 14 infants. As someone who has given birth, it hurt me to see her go through that agony over and over again. But it still does not sit right with me. Why did she end herself when she was so happy with this pregnancy?" She expressed her frustration.
"We might never know." The Princess said.
"The Great Father knows." Teresia said, "But he will never tell me." She added. "If he has locked himself in the room, it must be a dire reason."
The Princess couldn't think of many reasons after finding out that Heinrich loved Wanda. According to Killian, Heinrich wasn't liked by his wives. But Teresia didn't show any hatred toward him. She just didn't love him the same way.
"Do you hate him for this?" The Princess asked.
Teresia sighed, "I wish he would apologize for not being able to tell me, but no, I do not hate him. I can never hate him. I need to make sure I never hate him. I have to spend my entire life with him. He will be the only person who will stay when everyone else leaves." She explained. "Marriage is hard, is it not?"
The Princess nodded in surprise. She had been surprised by Teresia's answers a lot today.
"I guess not being attentive might have been my fault." Teresia said, "When he married Wanda, I thought I would always have Wanda beside me if not him. Now that Wanda is gone, I have no one but him to rely on." She explained.
"You have your children…" The Princess suggested.
Teresia shook her head, "They will get married and sent off to different locations. So, in the end, I only have the Great Father with me."
Teresia grabbed the Princess's hand gently and looked at her, "If you are to marry someone, choose a person who will love you even if you cannot bear children for him. A person who will love you even if it means letting you go. A person who will love you even if it means never seeing you again."