Chapter 86
Unable to suppress her boiling anger, Thalia picked up a pillow and threw it at him.
“If you have something to say, say it! Don’t dry people’s blood like this!”
The cloth bag full of feathers struck the back of his head with a thud.
Varkas, who had been opening medicine bottles on the shelf and checking their contents one by one, cast a cold gaze over his shoulder.
Thalia shrank her neck and pressed herself tightly against the headboard.
As she tensed, not knowing what sort of counterattack would come, Varkas let out a small sigh and knelt beside the bed.
“Give me your hand.”
Thalia merely blinked blankly.
Then he pulled her hand toward him and held it up to the light. The skin on her palm was red and swollen.
Clicking his tongue, Varkas poured a sticky liquid onto her hand.
At the burning sensation, Thalia reflexively pulled her arm back. But because her wrist was firmly held, she could not move at all.
She glared at him with irritated eyes.
“What are you doing!”
“It is medicine that works well on bruises.”
Varkas answered bluntly and spread the medicine evenly across her palm.
At the strange sensation, Thalia curled her toes.
Every time his long, elegant fingers rubbed her swollen skin, a tingling sensation spread.
Feeling heat rise to her ears, she twisted her arm.
“Th-that’s enough now.”
“Stay still.”
The low voice, deeper than usual, swept down her spine.
She stared at him with an uneasy expression, then lowered her eyes again.
He slowly traced the faint lines engraved on her palm.
Is this really treatment?
The touch persistently stroking every line on her palm felt strangely suggestive somehow.
“There is a bruise on your wrist.”
Suddenly, his voice dropped another tone.
Thalia swallowed painfully through her tight throat.
She had no idea why her courage had suddenly shriveled.
Glancing at his mood, Thalia put a little more strength into it and pulled her arm from his grasp.
“That’s enough now, so leave my room.”
Then, as she turned her back to him and lay down, her body was turned back around with a jerk.
Thalia looked up at him with a flustered face.
Varkas, leaning over her, asked as if interrogating her.
“Why did you come to the banquet hall today?”
She twisted her face.
So that was why he was angry after all.
Sending him a venomous gaze, Thalia asked mockingly,
“Why? Am I not allowed to go to the banquet hall?”
“……”
“You said it yourself. That I’m the highest-ranking person in this castle. Then why do you want me to stay locked up like a prisoner?”
“…You are the one who was reluctant to stand before people.”
“Do you really not know why I’m reluctant?”
Suddenly, the resentment she had been pressing down inside her chest raised its head.
Thalia roughly shoved his shoulder away, hugged her knees with both hands, and glared at him accusingly.
“Because I’ve become like this!”
A deep shadow fell over his eyes.
Into those eyes, she shouted like a loan shark demanding payment.
“But even if I feel ashamed of myself, you are not allowed to. Just because I hide myself, you are not allowed to try to hide me too!”
A tendon stood out on his throat. It was the face of someone scraping together patience.
That face, enduring her with effort, carved into her insides even more.
Thalia snatched the one remaining pillow and swung it at him.
Varkas slightly narrowed one corner of his eye.
She struck that face repeatedly with the pillow and poured out accusations.
“You asked why I came to the banquet hall? I came to hear what all of you were saying about me! I have to know what words are being exchanged about how I’ll be treated so I can search for a way to survive! That’s why, instead of dressing myself up in a dress, I wrapped myself up in a robe like a rat and crawled in secretly!”
He grabbed the flying pillow and pushed her down onto the bed.
At his rough touch, the thin cloth tore, and white feathers scattered everywhere.
Thalia gasped roughly as she looked up at the feathers drifting down like snow.
Holding her wrists and pressing them down onto the bed, Varkas sent her a dark gaze.
A suppressed voice poured over the bridge of her nose.
“I understand what you mean.”
Taking a deep breath, Varkas slowly added,
“We will hold the succession ceremony within a few days. At that place, I will formally introduce you as the Grand Duchess of the East.”
Thalia felt every hair on her body stand on end.
She could not tell whether it was because of the fate awaiting her or because of the man before her eyes.
He removed the hair stuck to her cheek and continued gently.
“So until then, stay quiet.”
She kept her mouth tightly shut and glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
A few feathers settled on his shoulders.
Varkas brushed them off with a light touch and slowly stood.
Soon after, the sound of the door opening and closing rang out.
Thalia blankly stared at the place he had left, then pulled the blanket up over her head.
***
After the cruel welcome ceremony, a heavy tension began to hover over Raedgo Castle.
The maids, who had once acted stiffly, now behaved carefully as if walking on thin ice, and whenever she left her room, the guards held their breath and lowered their eyes.
It seemed a ridiculous rumor had spread that treating the Second Princess carelessly would incur the anger of the future Grand Duke.
It was a misunderstanding caused by the fact that a retainer who had been rude to her had lost his life.
That monstrous man had merely paid the price for challenging the heir of the Grand Duke’s house, but Thalia did not bother correcting their mistaken thoughts.
Being an object of fear was safer than looking easy to deal with. If she took a clumsy, servile attitude in an attempt to win others’ goodwill, her head would be trampled.
That was the way of living she had learned over many years.
“I don’t need attendants, so don’t bother me and leave.”
Thalia turned a page and arrogantly waved one hand.
The maids standing by the door exchanged troubled looks.
When the women, who would normally have withdrawn immediately, stayed where they were, Thalia sharpened her voice.
“Can’t you hear me telling you to leave?”
“Your Highness, the succession ceremony is scheduled for this afternoon.”
The head maid opened her mouth with a solemn face.
Thalia’s eyes widened.
“Already?”
She had heard from Varkas that there would be a succession ceremony within a few days, but she had never imagined they would try to hold it before even a week had passed.
Her face turned pale as she lowered her feet from the bed.
“Where is Varkas right now?”
“The Young Master is meeting with the high priest who will preside over the succession ceremony. Once the coordination regarding the ritual is complete, the ceremony will begin immediately.”
Thalia raised the corners of her eyes.
“Why are you only telling me that now!”
“The Young Master instructed us not to let it reach Your Highness’s ears until the day itself.”
The head maid said as if sighing.
Thalia twisted her face.
She could guess what he had been thinking when he gave such an instruction.
He probably thought she would hide or run away.
Whenever she faced something she did not want to do, she often disappeared.
Now was no exception.
Thalia was seized by the urge to run away at once and looked out the window.
The head maid spoke in a gentle tone, as if soothing her.
“There is still time, so you do not need to be so anxious.”
Thalia glared at her with nervous eyes, then soon muttered in a slightly subdued voice.
“What do I have to do?”
“We have prepared the traditional clothing of the East for Your Highness to wear.”
Letting out a small sigh of relief, the head maid stepped aside.
Soon, large-built servants entered the room carrying piles of colorful clothes embroidered with splendid patterns.
“The attire will be unfamiliar to the maids from the central region, so for this occasion, we hope you will entrust your grooming to us.”
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