Chapter 115
Just then, a fierce wind swept in.
Beyond her hair whipping wildly in the wind, Senevier’s figure blurred hazily.
Thalia, who had been frozen like a stone statue, lowered her gaze to the rippling pond.
More than the news she had delivered, Senevier’s attitude of treating her pain as entertainment gouged at her heart.
Suppressing the turmoil inside her, she forced out a calm voice.
“Surely you didn’t come all this way just to tell me that worthless rumor? Her Majesty the Empress seems more idle than I thought.”
“Of course not.”
As if her interest had cooled at Thalia’s dry reaction, the corners of the Empress’s lips lowered.
“I told you, didn’t I? I wanted to see with my own eyes how you and your husband were actually getting along. And if possible, I intended to try persuading Grand Duke Siarkan.”
A sigh tinged with disappointment slipped between her lips.
“But it did not work at all. It seems your husband is determined to make Gareth the emperor no matter what.”
“Then what exactly did you expect?”
Thalia burst into a nervous laugh.
“Did you think he would change his position just because he married me?”
“I cannot say I had no such expectations at all.”
Senevier answered indifferently as she looked at the castle walls dyed by the sunset.
A fallen leaf blown in by the wind brushed against her cheek.
Senevier snatched it up, twirled it between her fingertips, then crumbled the leaf as she continued speaking.
“Varkas always showed an emotional response only when it came to you. I noticed long ago that something about you provoked him. So I expected you to shake him a little more actively.”
After letting the crumbled leaf scatter into the wind, Senevier turned her head toward Thalia.
Reading reproach in her eyes, Thalia’s face hardened.
The Empress, who had been looking at her disappointing daughter with a condemning gaze for a while, turned her head toward the knights waiting in the distance and added.
“In truth, your husband does seem to care about you quite a bit. It was rather refreshing to see him wary that I might harm you.”
“But unfortunately, it seems he does not consider you important enough to break an old promise.”
Thalia looked up at her with a bloodless face, then forced herself to hold together her expression, which was about to collapse.
It was something she already knew.
There was no reason to be hurt anew at this point.
She lifted her head stiffly.
“I… don’t care in the slightest who Varkas supports. Whether Gareth becomes emperor or Asros becomes emperor has nothing to do with me. So don’t even think about dragging me into Mother’s fight!”
“You are already part of this fight.”
Eyes like an abyss suddenly drew close right before her.
The Empress leaned close toward her and spoke as if engraving the words into her mind.
“That was decided on the day you were born. Do you think Gareth, once he becomes emperor, will tolerate your existence?”
Thalia moved her lips, unable to find words to refute her.
Senevier declared in a cold tone.
“Gareth will not care in the slightest that you are the Grand Duchess of the East. That child will try to destroy you, even if it means making an enemy of House Siarkan. Varkas Raedgo Siarkan seems to believe he can stop Gareth, but he does not realize that to do so, he will have to kill him with his own hands.”
Words close to prophecy burrowed between the bones of her spine.
Before she even had time to refute them, Senevier continued pressing forward.
“Your husband is as good as blind when it comes to emotions. Trapped inside a fortress called reason, he can never see human madness. That man cannot see Gareth’s hatred or Ayla’s love. He does not understand how destructive hatred can be, or how far love can make a person ugly. Your husband will inevitably contribute to the destruction of you, me, and Asros.”
Thalia stepped back as if denying that fact.
Then strong fingers tightened around her skin.
Senevier gripped her daughter’s shoulders firmly and finally brought out her real point.
“So, Thalia, you must help me.”
“What… what exactly can I do? I have no power at all—!”
“You will give birth to the heir of the grand ducal house.”
Thalia’s eyes froze.
At the abrupt statement, every thought evaporated from her mind.
Even as the roaring sound of the wind felt far away enough to make her dizzy, Senevier’s demands continued.
“And you will make that child Asros’s friend. Just as your husband is loyal to Gareth, your son will become my son’s faithful vassal.”
“S-stop saying such ridiculous things!”
Thalia twisted her body to shake her off and shouted.
“I wasn’t enough, so now you intend to use even a child who hasn’t been born yet for Mother’s ambition? Why should I do that? Why should I—!”
“Because that is also the way for you to survive.”
Senevier’s tone grew even harsher.
“Why do you not understand that if Asros fails to become emperor, you are finished as well? Gareth is your enemy too. For the past ten years, you persistently tore open those children’s wounds. Surely you did not believe you could escape all that karma simply by leaving the imperial palace, did you? After even taking Ayla’s fiancé from her?”
“That was because Mother made me—!”
“You decided everything yourself.”
A fierce voice cut off Thalia’s protest.
“Even if it were not my demand, you would have to bear a child eventually. If you cannot produce an heir, not only Gareth but even the eastern nobles will urge a divorce. When that time comes, how do you think your husband will act?”
A sharp sneer hung at the end of Senevier’s lips.
“Answer me, Thalia. Will Varkas Raedgo Siarkan protect you even if he must turn his back on the Crown Prince, Ayla, his own blood relatives, and his vassals?”
After being frozen by that cruel question for a moment, Thalia shouted as if struggling desperately.
“If Varkas wants a divorce, then he can do that! If Gareth wants to kill me… then tell him to do it! It’s not as if I was born because I wanted to be…”
Thalia, who had been howling like a cornered beast, swallowed her breath the next moment.
The contempt seeping into Senevier’s eyes instantly stole away her will to resist.
The woman who had once been Thalia’s entire world glared at her with a face full of disgust and spoke.
“Do you know this? Many beasts abandon weak offspring. That is how they increase the chances of survival for themselves and their other young.”
Thalia faced those swamp-like eyes with a devastated expression.
The threat Senevier had long whispered only with her eyes had finally been spoken aloud.
“But unlike animals, humans cannot abandon their own children so easily. That is why I have not abandoned you until now.”
Fingers as soft as flower petals settled on Thalia’s pale cheek, which looked as if all life had drained from it.
Only then did Thalia realize she was crying.
Imitating the gentle touch of a kind mother comforting her daughter, Senevier softly recited into her ear.
“You will not believe it, but Thalia, I do have emotions too. On the day you were born, I felt them. You, who looked just like me, were beautiful, and watching you grow was enjoyable. Those feelings made it impossible for me to abandon you, even after you had outlived your usefulness.”
Beyond the tears that kept welling up, her mother’s figure distorted.
But the voice ringing in her ear only grew clearer.
“So do not disappoint me any further.”
Thalia bit her lip.
The salty taste of bitter tears and the fishy taste of blood spread across the tip of her tongue.
The sobs blocking her throat made it hard to breathe.
“You understand what I mean, don’t you?”
When she barely managed to nod, lips as cold as ice touched the corner of her eye.
Would it feel like this to be kissed by a corpse?
Endlessly looking up at Senevier’s face, which bore a satisfied smile, Thalia lowered her gaze to the garden where dusk had settled.
Their shadows, tangled together in the twilight, stretched out long like a malformed monster.
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