Chapter 3 :

Chapter 3

It seemed her siblings had not arrived yet.

Gareth Roem Ghirta, the Crown Prince of the Empire and her half-brother, would always stand like a sovereign either at the center of the banquet hall or in the seat of honor on the second floor, where the entire hall could be seen at a glance.

And Ayla would stay by the Crown Prince’s side, looking supremely dignified and elegant.

‘But tonight, I might not be able to see Ayla Roem Ghirta.’

She picked up a silver goblet from a small round table and giggled softly.

When she recalled Ayla collapsing in the middle of the banquet hall not long ago, her face deathly pale, a cruel satisfaction bloomed in her chest.

The sight of her vomiting wine onto the marble floor had looked as though she were spilling out her heart.

It would have been nice if I could have truly made that happen.

With the sharpened tip of her fingernail, Thalia scratched the surface of the goblet until it made a screeching sound.

She did not know how desperately she had prayed inwardly while watching her half-sister convulse on the floor.

Just die like that, Ayla.

Please, never open your eyes again.

“Your Highness.”

Thalia, who had been immersed in gloomy thoughts, turned her head at the voice that came from nearby.

A man neatly dressed in a dark-green formal suit was standing upright with one hand placed over his chest.

His face was familiar.

Only after a long while did she remember that he was someone who often appeared at banquets hosted by her mother.

She could not remember his name.

She only vaguely recalled that her mother had called him Count Serian.

“It has been a long time, Your Highness. You grow more beautiful by the day.”

The man, who had been looking down at her with admiration in his eyes, bent at the waist and kissed the back of her hand.

A repulsive sensation swept over her, as though a damp caterpillar had touched her.

But Thalia deliberately showed him a smile.

“Did Mother ask you to keep me company?”

“Her Majesty the Empress is always concerned only for Your Highness.”

The man indirectly answered in the affirmative.

“But even if it had not been Her Majesty the Empress’s request, I would not have been able to stop myself from speaking to Your Highness. Look around you.”

He whispered into her ear as though telling her some great secret.

“All the men present here are looking at Your Highness. Like me, they wish to approach you, kiss this beautiful hand, and pour out fervent praise, but they are desperately swallowing that desire. They likely do not wish to fall out of favor with His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.”

“And you are different?”

“I have already earned his displeasure long ago, you see.”

He showed her a sly smile.

“Thanks to that, I was given the duty of attending Your Highness tonight, so I suppose misfortune has turned into a blessing.”

Thalia did not like men who clung to her while showing more interest than necessary.

No.

They belonged to the category of things she loathed.

However, having a plausible shield seemed better than enduring hundreds of stinging gazes alone.

Thalia accepted his escort with an attitude as though she were offering him charity.

“What did Her Majesty say? Did she ask you to rescue her pitiful eldest daughter, who would be standing apart like a black sheep?”

“Her Majesty commanded me to help Your Highness enjoy the banquet to the fullest.”

Thalia held back a snort.

The man led her toward the stage set up in front of the balcony and said,

“And she instructed me to attend you with all my effort so that you would stand out more than anyone else in the banquet hall.”

Those who had been dancing to the melodies of the lyre, lute, and organ awkwardly stepped back and sent sharp glares their way.

But the count paid them no mind and bowed to her ostentatiously.

“Would you grant me the honor of dancing with Your Highness?”

Thalia looked down uneasily at his slender hand, which did not have a single callus.

She had not the slightest desire to come into contact with a man she barely knew.

But the sharp gazes of the people and their whispering voices stirred defiance in her.

They must all be hoping I will disappear from this place.

Or else they must be hoping I will stay quietly tucked away in a corner, as though I am both here and not here.

But I will not let that happen.

Thalia took the man’s hand.

As though he had been waiting for it, he wrapped an arm around her waist and began to move across the stage with practiced skill.

Even Thalia, who extremely disliked coming into contact with others, could not help but admire the man’s excellent dancing skill.

Count Serian knew how to display perfect movements in time with the melody, and he had the talent to make his partner stand out in a subtle way.

Thalia had always liked dancing, but never before had her movements felt as graceful as they did in this moment.

And it seemed she was not the only one who felt that way.

She looked around over the shoulder of the count, who was skillfully turning her body.

She could see hundreds of pairs of eyes moving in unison as they followed her movements.

Everyone was unable to take their eyes off the imperial bastard whom they had looked down on so much.

Thalia felt triumphant.

Even before, whenever she appeared in public, people had pretended otherwise while secretly watching her every move.

However, that had been nothing more than an expression of contempt and wariness.

But this time was different.

They were looking at her the way they looked at her mother.

She could feel their gazes, filled with fear and fascination, tangling around her body like a twisted ball of thread.

It felt as though she had become Senevier.

The most powerful, dangerous, and beautiful being in the world.

But that sweet sense of victory lasted only a moment.

The music suddenly stopped, and the true stars of this banquet appeared.

“His Imperial Highness Gareth Roem Ghirta, the great Crown Prince of the Empire, and Her Imperial Highness Ayla Roem Ghirta, the First Princess of the Empire, are entering!”

With the chamberlain’s resounding cry, the two members of the imperial family passed through the entrance of the banquet hall with majestic steps and descended the marble staircase.

And in an instant, Thalia was pushed out of everyone’s attention.

Count Serian smiled bitterly and led her toward the terrace where wine and food were laid out.

“It is a pity our pleasant time was interrupted.”

The count made a sly remark, as though trying to loosen her stiff expression, but not a single word properly reached her ears.

Thalia stared at Ayla, who was dressed in a pure-white gown, with burning eyes.

She seemed to have completely forgotten the disgraceful display she had made in front of everyone a few weeks ago.

When Thalia saw that pretty face smiling elegantly beside her younger brother, her stomach grew hot with rage.

With a persistent gaze, Thalia examined their deep black hair, emerald eyes, and faces that seemed carved from ivory, one by one.

Dignity and confidence befitting members of the imperial family overflowed from them.

That was something Senevier and Thalia could never possess, no matter how hard they tried.

Senevier was a venomous snake who had dragged the young Emperor, once praised as a holy ruler, down into the mire of a sordid affair, and Thalia was the filth born from that snake’s belly.

Even if Senevier were to give birth to dozens of the Emperor’s sons in the future, that fact would never change.

Thalia quietly glared at her half-siblings, who were surrounded by people’s fervent attention, then turned toward the table where wineglasses were placed.

Then she discovered that those who had been looking at the Princess and Crown Prince with admiring eyes were glancing at her and exchanging subtle looks.

Every nerve in her body stood on edge.

She wanted to gouge out all of their eyeballs.

Do not compare me to them.

She desperately feigned an indifferent expression while suppressing the urge to scream those words, but beside her, the man whispered into her ear without the slightest tact.

“It seems the two of them intend to ignore Your Highness’s existence. What will you do? Shall you go first and request a greeting?”

She shot the man a venomous glare.

He tugged up the corners of his lips as though amused.

“Is that not why you came here?”

Thalia bit her lip.

Just as he said, she had appeared here in order to ruin her siblings’ mood.

In order to create a terrible discord in the place where they were being congratulated by everyone.

And Senevier would surely want that as well.

At last, Thalia steadied herself, tightly gripping the wineglass as she turned toward her half-siblings.

Then she stepped forward confidently through the crowd.

At that moment, Varkas Raedgo Siarkan appeared at the entrance of the banquet hall.

Thalia stopped all movement.

Her heart pounded as though she had been ambushed without warning.