Chapter 104
She did not even have time to react.
Through the gap that had opened in surprise, a slick tongue and a liquid as thick as honey flowed in together.
Thalia, who had expected an intense bitterness strong enough to make her stomach burn, widened her eyes at the unexpected flavor.
The sweet liquid, steeped with a floral scent, gently wrapped around her tongue. When she swallowed what had pooled in her mouth, the flesh pressing down on the tip of her tongue slowly withdrew.
“I heard you skipped dinner after all.”
A reproachful voice tickled her swollen lips.
Thalia looked up at him with a bewildered expression. Ever since she had started coaxing him into kissing her under the pretext of asking him to feed her medicine, they had pressed their lips together almost every night, but this was the first time he had kissed her first.
No, to be precise, this was the second time.
She blushed as she recalled their confusing first night.
Varkas, who had been quietly looking down at her, brushed the corner of her mouth with his calloused thumb.
“Do you want more?”
At that whispering voice, her heart convulsed.
Thalia pulled away from him in a fluster, as if she had been burned.
“Wh-what did you feed me?”
At the question she stammered out, he gestured with his eyes toward the shelf beside the bed. There, a small silver pitcher and a bowl filled with various fruits had been placed.
“It is a drink made by fermenting goat milk. Easterners often eat it in place of breakfast.” At the plain explanation, her already confused mind became even more tangled. But he himself wore a calm expression, as if feeding her by mouth were no great matter at all.
Perhaps that was truly the case.
Just as he had fed her medicine by mouth when she stubbornly refused to take it, perhaps he had merely been making sure she ate.
Yes. It must be that.
Was he not a man who was thoroughly broken somewhere? Just as he had one-sidedly accommodated Ayla, this time he was merely accommodating her demand.
Thalia, forcing herself to calm down, deliberately put on a cold expression.
“Who asked you to feed me breakfast too?”
At her sharp voice, his clear, open eyes narrowed.
But he did not seem offended. Varkas, who had been stroking his chin with a thoughtful expression, placed a tray in front of her.
“Then eat it yourself.”
Then he rose from his seat and walked to the window. Thalia watched him fill a basin with water and wash his face and neck, then lowered her gaze to the tray.
Suddenly, she felt the urge to tear out her own tongue. If she had insisted that she did not want to eat, he would have fed her himself. Thinking such servile thoughts, she picked up a piece of bread.
It was piping hot, as if freshly baked. While she tore the steaming bread into small pieces and pushed them little by little into her mouth, Varkas, having changed into fresh clothes, returned to the bed.
“Does the food not suit your taste?”
Seeing the bread she had mangled, Varkas asked with a frown.
Thalia hesitated briefly, then shook her head.
“It’s just edible.”
“Then eat properly. Stop acting as though you have some grudge against the food.” At his tone, as if scolding a fussy child, Thalia raised the corners of her eyes.
She had intended to snap back, asking how she could know what was inside this. But when she met his two eyes, which were watching her intently, the thorny words crawled back down her throat.
She did not want to get into a pointless argument with a man who had returned from a hard battle overnight and had first taken care of her meal.
In the end, Thalia picked up a small piece of bread that looked as though it had been fried in oil.
Closing her eyes tightly, she took a large bite, and hot lean meat seasoned with spices was chewed between her teeth.
Nausea suddenly rose.
The taste of the greasy meat itself was not much of a problem. Rather, the very fact that she had put an unknown food into her mouth provoked a strong sense of rejection.
Surely it was not something like lizard, bat, or frog. As she crushed the mushy flesh with her teeth, something crispy was chewed. It seemed to be nuts. No. Perhaps it might be some kind of insect. Inside the finely minced meat, all sorts of ingredients that seemed to have been fried in oil were mixed together.
At the thought that filthy foreign matter might be inside, her stomach twisted painfully.
Thalia, who had been moving her jaw mechanically as if chewing mud, could not endure the disgust and simply swallowed what was in her mouth.
Seeing that, Varkas quickly poured water into a cup and handed it to her.
“Drink.”
Thalia urgently took the cup.
When she drank the water, cold as ice, the food that had been blocking her throat tightly slid down her esophagus.
As she shuddered at the foreign sensation, as if she had swallowed gravel, she heard a voice mixed with a sigh above her head.
“That dreadful eating habit of yours never seems to improve.”
Thalia looked up at him with surprised eyes.
She was a little flustered because she had never thought he would care about what she ate.
“It’s just... I don’t have much appetite today.”
At the words she spoke like an excuse, creases formed around his eyes. He seemed to know that she ate even less than priests who practiced abstinence.
Varkas let out another small sigh and poured her a drink made from goat milk.
“It would be best to gradually increase the foods you can eat. You cannot live on only honey and fruit forever.”
Thalia blankly looked up at the man nagging her in a way that did not suit him, then accepted the cup with a reluctant face.
When she forced herself to swallow the liquid filling the cup, he moved the tray aside.
“I will call a maid, so start getting ready to leave.”
While he gave her some privacy, Thalia washed herself lightly with Nanny’s help and changed into clean new clothes.
Since the bandage had been freshly wrapped the previous evening, there seemed to be no need to call the healer separately.
Thalia draped a fur-trimmed coat over her shoulders, shook off Nanny’s support, and went outside alone.
The weather was perfectly clear.
Thalia looked up at the cloudless sky, then lowered her gaze and surveyed the peaceful scenery of the village.
She saw horses freed from their saddles grazing on the wide meadow. The cavalrymen who had returned after completing the subjugation were gathered in the open space and eating.
As Thalia was about to pass them and head toward the carriage, she discovered a strangely shaped shadow stretching near her feet and stopped walking. Not far away, she saw a long pole erected.
Thalia lifted her head without thinking and, when she came face-to-face with the large head hanging from its end, her spine stiffened.
At the sight of the face gone gray and pale, as if every drop of blood in the body had been poured out, her stomach, already abused since morning, convulsed.
Thalia covered her mouth with her sleeve. The food she had forced down felt as if it might surge back up at any moment. Even so, she could not tear her gaze away from the face twisted in terror.
Public executions were regularly carried out even in the capital, but this was the first time she had actually seen a beheaded corpse.
Overcome by a strange curiosity, she stared intently into the clouded pupils. She thought perhaps she might be able to glimpse hell through them.
According to doctrine, impure beings would fall into a pit of fire. And since she herself was an impure being, there was a high chance she would go to hell.
If possible, she wanted to see in advance the world she would go to after death. Captivated by that thought, she moved closer to the pole, but a strong forearm blocked her sight.
Thalia sharply turned her head.
Varkas was looking down at her with an indescribable expression.
And it was not only Varkas. As if they found the sight of her staring as though entranced at a beheaded corpse unsettling, everyone was sending her uneasy looks.
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