Chapter 103
“If you do that for me, I will check the ingredients. That way, Your Highness will be able to feel at ease as well.” Thalia neither agreed nor disagreed, merely gesturing as if telling her to leave now. The woman immediately bowed her head and left the room.
Sitting in front of the fireplace and watching the crackling embers, Thalia was overcome by deep fatigue and rose from her seat.
When she laid herself down on the soft sheets, the pain spreading through her knees gradually subsided. It seemed the ointment was taking effect after all.
Thalia stared at the stained ceiling here and there with hazy eyes, then turned her head toward the glass window glowing red.
Before she knew it, the sky was changing from bright amber to a deep wine color.
The fiercely burning sunset would soon be swallowed by darkness. Once that happened, it would be advantageous for launching a surprise attack on the enemy.
For a moment, worry rose over what would happen if Varkas were injured during the battle, but she immediately shook it off.
He was a man who had risen to the position of commander after surpassing all the hundreds of Roem Knights before he had even turned twenty. Wiping out a group of raiders would surely be nothing to him.
Thalia, forcing her idle thoughts away, slowly closed her eyes. Into her gradually fading consciousness seeped the sound of a bell announcing the end of the day.
Listening to the faint resonance ringing out from the bell tower, Thalia at some point fell asleep as if losing consciousness.
When she came to again, it was dawn, with pitch-black darkness settled over everything.
Feeling a burning thirst, Thalia lifted her eyelids and, at the sudden suffocating sensation that assailed her, pulled at the neckline of her linen dress.
Even so, when the tightness pressing down on her windpipe did not disappear, she crawled to the edge of the bed and grabbed the lamp.
Just then, an orange-red glimmer flowing along the wall entered her sight. Following that faint trace of light with her gaze, Thalia discovered the light of the fireplace, nearly extinguished, and drew in a deep breath. The dying beam of light felt like fresh air.
Thalia got down from the bed and walked to the fireplace. She saw a few embers sizzling within the black ashes. To revive them, she stacked several pieces of firewood and pressed down hard on the bellows lying on the floor. Then the firewood began to emit smoke and kindle bright flames.
As Thalia let her shoulders droop in relief, she suddenly turned her head. A strange sound was coming from somewhere. Only after a few seconds did she realize it was the cry of an animal.
Had a wild dog appeared?
Thalia walked to the window and carefully opened the glass pane. A dry wind carrying a chill struck her face.
Shuddering at the cold sensation, Thalia looked around the darkness, following the sound that had grown clearer.
A mournful cry echoed over the hill, where white moonlight poured down. However, the figure of a beast howling at the top of its lungs was nowhere to be found.
Just as she was about to turn her gaze to the edge of the meadow, wondering if the sound was coming from the forest, someone knocked on the door.
Thalia’s nerves went sharply on edge.
“Who is it?”
“My apologies, Your Highness. I heard movement and wondered if you were unable to sleep because of the pain, so I came to check on you.” It was the healer of House Siarkan.
Thalia, lowering her guard, replied in an uninterested tone.
“I simply slept poorly. Leave.”
A brief silence passed. The woman, who seemed to be hesitating as she lingered in front of the door, carefully made a suggestion.
“If it is all right with you, shall I prepare some herbal tea so that you may sleep comfortably?” Thalia frowned. When the woman did not immediately obey her order to leave, irritation surged up in her.
“I don’t need—”
It.
Thalia, who had been about to refuse as usual, suddenly closed her mouth. She had remembered that she had said she would hand over the medicine this woman had made to the healer of the Taren family.
She did not truly suspect that this woman was feeding her some dubious medicine, but there was no harm in being careful.
After thinking for a moment, Thalia said curtly,
“Fine. Come in.”
Once permission was given, the healer entered the room with a small bundle in one hand.
Thalia calmly studied her with an assessing gaze.
As if she had just gotten out of bed, the woman was wearing only an ash-gray robe over a loose linen dress that looked like sleepwear.
As if embarrassed, the woman tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear and walked to the fireplace.
“Please wait a moment. I will prepare it shortly.” Then she hung a brass pot over the fire and took out a bundle of herbs from the package.
After blending several kinds among them, placing them in the pot, and lightly roasting them, the woman picked up a kettle and poured in water.
Before long, the scent of chamomile and lavender filled the air.
“Here, it is ready.”
The woman poured out a suitable amount of the strongly brewed tea and carefully offered the cup.
Thalia held it in her hand and quietly looked down at it. Perhaps because honey had been added, a sweet scent gently stimulated her nose.
As she quietly savored it, another long howl sounded.
Thalia let out a small groan. It seemed that beast had decided to bark all night.
“Close the window. Draw the curtains too.”
The woman immediately obeyed the command. However, the cry of the wild animal easily pierced through the thick glass window and curtains.
The healer gave an awkward smile.
“It seems a wolf is desperately missing someone in this village.”
Thalia let out a laugh of disbelief.
“Are you trying to joke around with me right now?”
“That is not what I meant......”
The woman, who had looked flustered by the sharp response, continued calmly.
“In the East, there is a folk belief that those who die without receiving baptism are reborn as wild animals. The cries of beasts heard at night are thought to be songs calling for the ones they loved in life.”
Thalia snorted.
“A soul that has not received baptism simply falls into the abyss and perishes. You do not even know such basic doctrine?”
“......I am well aware of the teachings of the religious order.”
A bitter air lingered around the woman’s mouth.
“But would it not be far more comforting to believe that a loved one has returned to one’s side, even if only in the form of a beast? Priests also tend to turn a blind eye to such beliefs.”
Thalia looked puzzled.
“Are there that many people who die without receiving baptism?”
“Like all citizens of the empire, we easterners also receive baptism within one hundred days of birth. However, such a blessing is not granted to stillborn children.”
Reading the pain in the woman’s voice, Thalia’s eyes darted about in bewilderment.
Had this healer lost a child?
While she fidgeted, not knowing what she should say, the woman showed a gentle smile as if to lighten the mood.
“The tea will grow cold. Please drink it.” Thalia, watching the woman’s expression, drank the lukewarm tea.
The healer, who had quietly watched her, placed several medicine bottles on the shelf and left.
Thalia lay on the bed and listened to the cry growing fainter and fainter.
Perhaps that woman had heard a song calling to her. Maybe that was why she had been unable to sleep until now.
Thalia, who had been blankly thinking such things, soon shook the useless thoughts from her mind.
It was already too much for her to look into her own pain. She had no room to concern herself with someone else’s.
***
Whether the herbal tea had helped or not, she was able to fall deeply asleep without even dreaming.
Waking with a refreshed feeling she could not remember having felt in a long time, Thalia looked at the glass window growing brightly lit with eyes still heavy with sleep.
At that moment, she sensed someone nearby. Thinking that Nanny had brought water for washing, Thalia turned her head, only to feel cool fingers cup her cheek and startle.
In her suddenly opened field of vision, she saw Varkas sitting on the edge of the bed.
Thalia, blinking with a dazed expression, hurriedly raised her upper body.
Just as she was about to examine him thoroughly from head to toe to see if he had been injured anywhere, she felt her chin being lifted, and without warning, his lips descended.
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