Chapter 12 :

Chapter 12

She got out of bed and stood before the mirror, staring for a long while at her gaunt appearance.

I look just like the sewer rat that was in my stew.

As she had that thought and let out a breathy laugh, the maid who helped her dress every morning entered the room.

“You are awake early. Come here. I will help you wash.”

“No need.”

At the cold reply, the maid’s sharp eyes twisted slightly.

She looked down at Thalia with an overbearing gaze and began lecturing her.

“Your Highness has a duty to maintain perfect composure at all times and in all places according to imperial law. Childish tantrums are...”

“Nanny!”

At the sharp cry, the maid flinched and closed her mouth.

Thalia swept past the maid and violently shook the bell beside the bed.

“Nanny! Nanny!”

Then the nanny, who had been sleeping late in the next room, hurriedly opened the door and ran inside.

Thalia pointed at the nanny and said arrogantly,

“From now on, Nanny will be in charge of all my grooming. Mother said yesterday that it was fine for me to do that. So you may leave now.”

“But...”

“Are you saying you intend to defy the Empress’s command?”

When Thalia snapped sharply, the maid, who had been looking down at her with a doubtful expression, went outside.

It seemed she had no intention of helping with Thalia’s dressing if it meant arguing over it.

Thalia shouted fiercely at the nanny, who was rubbing her swollen eyes with a half-asleep face.

“You heard that, didn’t you? From now on, washing and dressing me will all be your responsibility. Get yourself together and do your job properly.”

“Yes, young lady...”

The nanny answered half-heartedly while yawning widely.

Thalia raised her arm and mercilessly slapped her plump cheek.

The nanny, who had suddenly been struck across the face, looked at her in surprise.

Thalia convincingly imitated the expression her mother often made when her anger reached the top of her head.

“How many times must I tell you to call me ‘Your Highness’ before you understand?”

The nanny’s brown eyes widened.

Thalia looked straight into those eyes and emphasized each word as though chewing it up and spitting it out.

“From now on, if you call me young lady, know that you will be slapped.”

Then she pressed the stunned nanny into beginning her grooming.

Because the nanny was so terribly slow with her hands, several hours had passed by the time the dressing was completely finished.

Having barely eaten properly for weeks, Thalia felt as though she might collapse at any moment, but she left the room with her back held perfectly straight.

In the corridor stood a gloomy-faced man dressed in black.

Thalia froze in surprise at the sight of a stranger guarding her door, but soon recalled what her mother had said.

Apparently, this ghost-like man was the “useful guard.”

Thalia jerked her chin once at the man as though telling him to follow, then walked toward the dining room.

As though they had been waiting for her to come down for a long while, several servants sent displeased looks her way.

Thalia ignored their glares and sat at the end of the long dining table.

Then she gave an arrogant jerk of her chin.

“Bring the food.”

Even after hearing her command, the servants lingered with indifferent faces before soon bringing plates filled with various dishes.

A maid in her mid-thirties supervised all of it.

At her direction, the servants set down the silver plates in order, and finally, a bowl of soup was placed before Thalia.

Thalia stared into the bowl.

The pale, cloudy broth was full of beans and meat.

It looked normal on the outside, but it was obvious that the contents were not.

Thalia picked up her spoon and stirred through the thick liquid covered in white cream.

When she scraped up the bottom of the bowl, this time a sparrow with its neck broken came out.

Perhaps they had picked up something that had been dead for quite some time, because she could see several thread-thin maggots wriggling in the eye sockets of the decaying bird.

Her insides twisted as though she might vomit at any moment.

But Thalia desperately hid any sign of agitation and shouted sharply at the maid who had brought the soup.

“You! Come here and sit down.”

The woman, who had looked bewildered at the sudden order, soon sent her a wary gaze.

After hesitating for a moment, she spoke in a stiff tone.

“I apologize, Your Highness, but I have much work to do.”

Then she tried to turn around and leave the dining room just like that.

She was the woman who always stood nearby and watched quietly after setting out the food, as though enjoying Thalia’s reaction.

Seeing how she was trying to leave in haste today, she must have instinctively sensed that something bad was about to happen.

Thalia sprang up from her seat and grabbed the brass pitcher on the table.

Then, with all her strength, she struck the head of the insolent maid who had dared to ignore the imperial princess’s order and turned her back without permission.

Even if it was the strength of a scrawny child, being hit in the head with a metal object could not have been a light blow.

The maid let out a sharp scream and collapsed onto the carpet as though falling headfirst.

Not only the maid who had been struck, but all dozen or so servants in the dining room froze as though paralyzed.

Some of the maids even screamed and covered their mouths.

But Thalia paid no mind to the shocked gazes of the people.

She gestured arrogantly toward the man standing like a shadow on one side of the dining room.

“Seat this woman beside me immediately.”

The man, who had been standing still and staring only at her face, slowly walked over and lifted up the half-dazed woman.

The woman, who belatedly came to her senses, struggled desperately, but there was no way she could overpower a trained man.

The maid, dragged over as though being hauled along, was forcibly seated in front of the table.

Thalia returned to her own seat and stared at the woman sitting beside her.

Perhaps her scalp had been torn after being scraped by the spout of the pitcher, because dark-red blood flowed down the woman’s temple and made two long streaks over her pale cheek.

Thalia paid no mind to that gruesome sight and pushed the bowl of soup containing the dead bird in front of the woman.

Her confused eyes went down to the soup before her, then returned to Thalia.

Thalia forced the spoon into the fingers damp with cold sweat.

“In recognition of your hard work preparing my meals every day, today I intend to share my meal with you. Considering my sincerity, make sure you finish every last bit.”

“Y-Your Highness, I...”

“Eat.”

Thalia spoke coercively as she dragged the maid’s hand over the bowl.

“You brought this for me to eat, didn’t you? What reason could there be that you cannot eat it?”

“I-I only...”

The woman’s lips trembled as she sent a pleading look around her, asking for help.

But everyone seemed frozen and at a loss because of the sudden situation.

Thalia barked savagely,

“Hurry up and eat!”

The maid flinched violently, then roughly shook off Thalia’s hand.

Then she tried to rise and run away.

But the man was holding her firmly from behind, so she seemed unable to move at all.

The woman, who looked back and forth between the man’s gloomy face and Thalia’s face with a terrified expression, soon began to sob and beg.

“I-I... I was... wrong... There will never... never be anything like this again. So please, just this once, forgive me...”

“If you cannot empty this bowl completely, you will not be able to walk out of here on your own two feet.”

The woman’s face turned deathly blue.

Her eyes dropped to the waist of the man holding her.

She had clearly seen the sword hanging there.

She gasped harshly and cried out desperately.

“Please, please... mercy...”

“I am showing mercy right now.”

Thalia said apathetically.

“I could kill you right here and now. But I am giving you a chance to live, am I not?”

The woman’s body began to tremble.

Thalia pushed the soup containing the rotting bird carcass in front of her.

“If you understand, put all of it into your mouth.”