Chapter 8 :

Chapter 8

After that day, Thalia wandered through the rear garden whenever she had the chance.

But she did not meet him again until a large elm tree was planted in the place where she had found the dying bird, and the shabby rear garden was filled densely with flowers of splendid colors.

Thalia felt a sense of loss, as though she had lost a treasure she had found by chance.

She wished she had ignored the nanny’s call back then...

Her father, who had supposedly planned to come meet her, did not appear that evening, and her mother did not look for her either.

Surrounded by cold maids, Thalia ate a tasteless dinner and regretted it the entire time.

I should have followed that boy.

If she had begged, somehow, she felt he would have pretended to give in and taken her with him.

Whenever she lay beneath the cold blanket, she missed even more desperately the large, warm hand that had wrapped around her.

Perhaps he had been an illusion created by her loneliness.

Around the time Thalia fell into that suspicion, the boy appeared before her eyes again.

No.

It would be more accurate to say that Thalia found him.

Before she knew it, the season had changed, and she had turned from eight to nine years old.

Instead of raindrops, scorching heat poured down from the sky.

While passing through the long corridor leading to the Emperor’s private chamber, Thalia was drawn by a loud shout and turned her head toward a large arched window.

In a wide training ground whitened by the summer light, squires dressed in black surcoats were swinging wooden swords.

Even though there were nearly thirty trainees, Thalia’s gaze naturally flew toward him like a moth that had found a flame.

His pale flaxen blond hair shimmered faintly silver under the intense summer sunlight.

It was the first time she had seen him without his hood, but she recognized him at once.

It was the boy who had appeared in the early spring rain.

She leaned her upper body over the windowsill to see him in more detail.

The blue-eyed boy was displaying movements so clean and precise that he was clearly distinguishable from the other trainees.

Whenever his long, supple limbs moved with elegance and power, she felt as though she could hear the sound of wind being cut.

“Do you know... who that person is?”

The old attendant who had followed to take her to the Emperor cast an indifferent glance toward the window.

“They are squires training to enter the Imperial Guard. They are all children of prestigious noble families.”

He did not seem to have the slightest interest in knowing whom she was curious about.

The attendant gave her a displeased look as she lingered.

“His Majesty is waiting. Please hurry along.”

Reluctantly pulling herself away from the window, Thalia walked down the corridor, which was as quiet as a tomb.

It was her first time meeting her biological father in several months since entering the imperial palace, but she felt no particular emotion.

Even in the past, when she had seen the Emperor from afar during his visit to the Taren family, she had not thought of him as her father.

The blunt-faced man had shown little interest in her, and Thalia had simply disliked that man who stole her mother’s affection.

That remained the same even after she was formally entered into the imperial genealogy.

Entering the spacious and splendid room, Thalia shot a wary gaze at the man with a powerful build standing with his back to the light.

How much silence had passed?

Beyond a desk as massive as a fortress wall, the man who had been sitting there like he was sleeping opened his mouth while keeping his gaze fixed on a parchment document.

“From now on, you must learn the etiquette of the imperial family.”

Then he stamped a seal onto the document.

Thalia waited for him to raise his head and look at her.

But even after a long while, his gaze never reached her.

She could not understand it at all.

Why did a man who supposedly loved Senevier so passionately hate even looking at his own daughter, who looked exactly like her?

The man, who had been scribbling something on the table with the hand holding a quill pen, continued indifferently.

“I have obtained several excellent teachers for you. From now on, come to the main palace before noon and take your lessons. You will have to do your best to catch up on the studies you have fallen behind in.”

It seemed her answer was not needed.

The man made a gesture with one hand, as though telling her to leave, and the reunion between father and daughter that had taken place after a year ended just like that.

Thalia trudged back the way she had come and searched for the boy outside the window.

But perhaps training had already ended, because only white summer sunlight drifted over the empty training ground.

After that day, whenever she went to take her lessons, she secretly watched him training in the training ground.

She liked watching faint beads of sweat form on the boy’s plaster-like face and a slight flush rise on his pale cheeks because of the intense exercise.

Sometimes, she even spoke to him inwardly.

‘You know... what happened to that bird?’

‘Did it die in the end?’

‘So did you bury it somewhere?’

‘Or did you let the healthy bird fly far, far away?’

She wanted to speak with him while looking into his eyes up close, as she had on the day they were drenched in the rain together.

She also wanted to check whether there was still a silver crown inside his eyes.

It was when that impulse had grown so strong she could hardly bear it.

While she was endlessly looking out at the training ground after pushing her history lesson aside, a dark shadow fell behind her.

Thalia flinched and turned around.

Her mother, who had not shown even the tip of her nose for fifteen days, was standing on the boundary between light and shadow.

It was a face she had once seen every day.

Even so, for a moment, Thalia felt as though her heart had stopped.

Senevier, adorned with the utmost care to suit the dignity of an Empress, looked as though every beauty human imagination could conceive had been gathered into one place.

Even the elf mages who had often visited the Taren family could not dare approach her beauty.

“What were you looking at so intently?”

Senevier asked as she looked down at her daughter.

Thalia, who had been looking up at her with dazed eyes, suddenly came to her senses and quickly stepped away from the window.

For some reason, she was reluctant to speak about that boy.

But Senevier seemed to have immediately noticed what had been at the end of her gaze.

The Empress turned her head toward the window, looked down at the tall blond boy, and smiled meaningfully.

“He is the son of Grand Duke Siarkan.”

Thalia looked up at her in surprise.

She had guessed that he might be the child of a high-ranking noble family, but she had not expected him to come from such an extraordinary house.

The Empress’s dark-blue eyes gleamed meaningfully, as though she could see straight through her daughter’s thoughts.

“Do you want that child?”

Thalia’s face flushed red, and she could not say anything in reply.

Just from seeing her daughter’s expression, Senevier seemed to have gotten her answer.

She burst into amused laughter, bent at the waist, and kissed her daughter on the cheek.

“If you want, I can give him to you as a gift.”

That whisper sounded eerie, like the sound of wind blowing through a dark forest deep at night.

Senevier straightened herself and drew a painted smile across her crimson lips.

“But not for free. If you want a reward, you must first satisfy your parents.”

Reading the faint hint of reproach in her voice, Thalia hurriedly hugged the history book she had carelessly thrown on the windowsill.

Then she turned and began to run.

She could feel Senevier’s gaze clinging to the back of her head like a spiderweb.

Her mother was someone she had missed every night.

Then why was she running away from her?

When she saw her mother, she had intended to throw a huge tantrum, saying she hated studying and everything else.

She had also planned to pour out all the anger and resentment that had built up, asking why her mother would not stay with her.

But Senevier, who had become the Empress of the Empire, no longer seemed like her mother.

It felt as though she had changed into something unfamiliar and frightening, so Thalia did not dare throw a fit.

That night, Thalia tossed and turned until late, unable to fall asleep.

Even when she had been with the Taren family, she had not been particularly happy, but back then, at least she had Senevier as a comrade.

Rather than a mother, she had been closer to a best friend and a fellow soldier.

Even if everyone in the world pointed fingers at them, Thalia could endure it as long as they were together.

But now Senevier stood tall as the Empress of the Empire, and Thalia was alone in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar people.

Thalia felt loneliness seep all the way into her bones.

She desperately wished someone would stay by her side.

If only someone would hold her in warm arms and look at her with gentle eyes, she felt she could give them anything.

That was why.

That was why she decided to meet the boy she had only watched from afar.