Chapter 17 :

Thalia sent a wary look at the boy, who was staring up at her with bright, clear eyes.

“What brings you here?”

“I secretly left the castle to meet you, Sister.”

The little boy spoke so cheerfully that it almost seemed bold.

Thalia frowned.

Her younger brother, Asros, who had just turned six, was an eyesore to her.

They had the same parents, but their circumstances were as different as heaven and earth.

This innocent-faced little boy was the legitimate son born between the Emperor and Empress after they had officially become husband and wife, while she was nothing but the seed of a sordid affair.

Watching Asros receive his baptism amid the blessings of many people, Thalia had been seized by jealousy sharp enough to pierce her heart.

She could not help hating that tiny newborn, who could not even open his eyes properly.

Senevier, who had keenly read those feelings in her, never allowed her eldest daughter, who had become of little use, to approach her precious son.

Because of that, Thalia could only see her younger brother’s face at official events.

This was the first time she had faced the child this closely since the day of his baptism.

She furrowed her brow and looked around.

“Did you come all the way here alone? If Mother finds out...”

“I didn’t come alone. I came with Berens.”

The little boy spoke clearly, then turned and pointed to one side of the corridor.

Only then did Thalia notice the man in black standing where the shadows lay thick.

He was the ghost-like man who had once stood by her side.

Now he was at Asros’s side, sending her a wary gaze as though he would act immediately if she tried to harm the boy even a little.

Bitterness rose in her throat.

The man’s black eyes seemed to be saying that she could never become important to anyone.

Thalia hid the twisted feelings inside her and asked in a stiff tone,

“Why did you come looking for me?”

“I heard that you would soon be leaving on a long journey. So...”

“I’m leaving on a long journey?”

Thalia cut off her younger brother’s words in a shrill voice.

Perhaps startled by her sharp reaction, the boy hesitated for a moment, then continued cautiously.

“Mother said that you would be going on this pilgrimage too...”

Thalia stared blankly down at her younger brother’s face, then suddenly burst into harsh laughter.

Her younger brother flinched and took a step back.

Even in the eyes of this innocent child, did she look insane?

Thalia, who had been clutching her stomach and laughing, bent toward her young brother and asked in a deliberately gentle tone,

“What else did Mother say?”

Asros hesitated for a long while.

He seemed to have finally realized that he was making his sister feel terribly unpleasant.

But the boy was not the type to be intimidated by someone and swallow what he wanted to say.

“She said you might soon get married. She said a man called Count Serian submitted a proposal...”

The boy, who had been speaking calmly, flinched and closed his mouth.

Apparently, she must have been making a truly terrible expression.

The man, who had been silently watching from a short distance away, stepped between Asros and her.

Was he worried that she might lose her reason in anger and strangle this little child’s neck?

Thalia pretended not to see the man guarding against her and only stared down at her younger brother’s innocent face.

“So did you come to congratulate me? Since your sister, the trouble of the imperial family, is finally going to marry and leave the imperial palace, did you come to exchange a joyful farewell?”

Perhaps feeling the sharp thorn hidden in her gentle voice, the boy’s shoulders trembled.

He protested with a wronged expression.

“If you get married and leave, it will be even harder to see you than it is now... So before that, I wanted to talk to you. We are siblings with the same mother.”

A faint longing lingered in the boy’s voice.

“I always thought it would be nice if we could become close, like First Sister and Brother. But if you get married, we might never get the chance. That is why I came here.”

Thalia looked down at his large eyes filled with expectation without feeling anything.

Because of this boy, she had fallen into becoming a completely worthless existence.

The Empress and the Emperor, and the lovely, intelligent prince born between them.

She was nothing more than an ugly stain they wanted to erase from that perfect picture.

The more Asros shone, the deeper the darkness surrounding her became.

The fact that she envied this little child to death was miserable.

In truth, even facing him like this was horribly unpleasant.

Thalia gave a merciless sneer to the boy whose eyes were shining with an absurd expectation.

“Are you hoping that I will throw myself into serving you, the same way the First Princess does everything she can to make her twin brother Emperor?”

“That isn’t what I meant...!”

“Even if you do not bother stepping forward yourself, Mother must have already planned everything about how to use me for your sake. My marriage was surely arranged because it would benefit you. So, little brother, throw away those useless expectations.”

Asros seemed to have little resistance to open hostility directed at him.

Just from the look on his face, at a complete loss, she could tell how thoroughly protected this child had been while growing up.

This child had probably never experienced spending the night in fear.

Perhaps today’s meeting would become his first wound.

Thalia let a sharp smile form on her lips.

“I have not the slightest intention of becoming your kind and devoted sister. Because I dislike you just as much as I dislike those twin siblings of ours.”

The boy’s large eyes grew wet with shock.

To that pitiful face, Thalia added mercilessly,

“If you understand, will you disappear now?”

Asros pressed his lips together as though trying hard to swallow his tears, then turned without delay and left through the empty corridor.

The man in black also followed the boy and disappeared soundlessly.

Thalia locked the door and walked back to the window.

The sky, which had been tinged blue just moments ago, was now gradually turning a pale purple.

The workers who had been busily moving luggage also left the manor one by one to rest, and the knights must have already returned to their quarters, because not a single one could be seen.

Thalia, who had habitually brought her index finger to her lips, paused at the stinging pain.

Dark-red fresh blood was flowing out from between the split nail.

When she saw it, the poison that had been slowly leaking from her heart rose all the way to her throat.

Desperately swallowing the scream that felt as though it might burst out at any moment, she picked up the cloak hanging on one side of the room and draped it over her thin surcoat.

Then, without even taking a single maid with her, she left the detached palace.