Chapter 20 :

Unable to endure the resentment surging up inside her, Thalia raised her hand once again.

A moment later, with a sharp slap, a stinging pain spread through her palm.

Thalia, who had naturally assumed she would be stopped again, flinched in surprise.

But the person who had actually been slapped wore an indifferent face.

“I will consider this enough payment for the sin of laying my hands on Your Highness’s body without permission.”

He tapped his smooth cheek, which did not even bear a handprint, with the tips of his gauntleted fingers as he spoke.

“But I have no intention of indulging your childishness any further. Please remember that I am no longer your guard knight.”

Then he withdrew from the carriage and closed the door.

Thalia stayed pressed against the back of the seat without moving for a while, then looked outside through the window.

Perhaps Varkas had already left, because he was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, all she could see were the servants unloading luggage from the baggage wagon and the foolish guard knight urging them on.

She wanted to leap out immediately and make an example of those who had ignored her command, but if she did that, Varkas would not stay still.

He never tolerated cruelty toward those beneath one’s station.

When she recalled the icy gaze he had given her on the day she had hacked apart the hair of a maid who had buried her face in the coat Varkas had taken off, her fingers curled inward of their own accord.

Thalia drew the curtain shut irritably.

Then she clasped her burning palm and curled up tightly on the seat.

How long had she stayed like that?

With the sound of a trumpet announcing the start of the journey, the carriage slowly began to move.

It seemed the journey that would surely become a lifelong nightmare had just begun.

Thalia stared for a moment at a single ray of light seeping in through the gap in the window, then drew the curtain even more tightly shut.

Then, burying herself in the dim darkness, she fell into the thought of how wonderful it would be if this procession led straight to hell.

If they all entered the grave together like this, and everything ended, there would be nothing happier than that...

***

The imperial family’s pilgrimage procession was scheduled to follow the traces of Darian, the first emperor who founded the Roem Empire, moving from north to west, then from west back to north, along the winding current of the Silviska River.

In the era when this continent was divided into ten kingdoms—Wedon, Drystan, Balto, Kwon, Osiria, Ribadon, Arex, Balis, Dumnos, and Siar—Darian Roem Ghirta, a royal of Kwon, migrated to the central region to escape the invasion of the Balto Kingdom and became the adopted son of Lord Valender, the leader of the Osirian people and his maternal uncle.

Afterward, Darian united the many tribes of Osiria and gathered powerful supporters from each nation to carry out a movement to unify the Ten Kingdoms.

And after fighting dozens of wars over twenty years, he achieved the great feat of uniting the ten kingdoms into one and building a vast empire.

The grand procession that began from the imperial palace was a sacred ritual retracing his footsteps and an important event that displayed the descendants of the great Emperor to the people of the Empire, widely proclaiming the dignity of the imperial family.

Therefore, the scale of the march was unbelievably splendid and majestic.

With the Crown Prince seated atop a massive golden horse at the head, around one hundred Imperial Guards crossed the city center powerfully, carrying flags embroidered with the crest of the Empire.

Behind them, the carriage carrying First Princess Ayla Roem Ghirta and her guard continued the march.

Citizens who had gathered in the streets to see Darian’s descendants poured out thunderous cheers.

The Roem Knights, who had carried on hundreds of years of history and tradition, led the procession with solemn faces, wearing white combat uniforms embroidered with the Empire’s crest over armor made of Oricon, known as the divine mineral.

To their right, an infantry unit carrying silver shields engraved with the crest of the Guard advanced at a steady rhythm.

The disciplined march of the soldiers made the citizens’ excitement grow even stronger.

Women crowded along the roadside scattered colorful flower petals toward the knights, and minstrels sang songs blessing Darian’s descendants.

As though responding to the citizens’ cheers, the First Princess opened the window and revealed herself.

The people all let out exclamations at once.

Could there be anyone else in the world as suited to the position of princess as Ayla Roem Ghirta?

Her graceful, upright posture like a lily, her clear skin tinged with pink, her glossy dark brown hair, and her large emerald eyes...

People craned their necks like turtles to see even a little more of her lovely appearance.

Among them, there were even those who followed the carriage as though bewitched.

If the guard knights had not surrounded it, the First Princess’s carriage would have been completely encircled by the enthusiastic citizens.

The people, seized by intense excitement, poured out words of blessing toward the lovely princess without pause.

However, when an almost excessively splendid carriage appeared after hers, the festive atmosphere quieted as though cold water had been poured over it.

The knights looked around with tense eyes.

The people who had been cheering loudly enough to lose their voices only moments ago were now quietly holding their breath and whispering something into one another’s ears.

It seemed they had realized that the infamous Second Princess was seated inside the carriage.

Those who had crowded along the main road slowly stepped back and sent gazes mixed with curiosity and hostility.

Some even made the sign of the cross or spat on the ground.

The knights let out bitter sighs.

It was not unreasonable for them to react that way.

Among the citizens living in the capital, there was no one who had not heard of Thalia Roem Ghirta’s cruel nature.

The Emperor’s bastard child, who had caused a stir throughout the entire Empire from the moment she was born, continued to cause sinister incidents day after day even after becoming an official princess, throwing the capital into an uproar.

There were more than one or two servants who had worked in her detached palace and been driven out half-dead.

Among them, there had even been some who died untimely deaths.

Naturally, the people of the Empire could only look at the Second Princess coldly.

“How about drawing back the curtain and at least greeting the people?”

Unable to keep watching, the guard knight Edrick Lubon approached the carriage and carefully suggested it.

But no reply came from inside.

He looked at the window draped with thick curtains with displeasure.

The Second Princess had shut herself inside the carriage ever since the procession began and had not shown even the tip of her nose.

Apparently, she was thoroughly sulking over the quarrel she had had with Sir Siarkan.

He swallowed the sigh rising to his throat.

‘Her face is pretty enough, so if she showed herself even a little, people’s reactions would change...’

In some ways, he thought she was truly a woman with no sense of tact.

If she acted even a little more amiably, there would be more than a few men willing to give her their liver and gallbladder.

But Thalia Roem Ghirta behaved as though she had made up her mind to be hated.

She tormented the people around her with such a sharp attitude that even her beautiful appearance, which took after her mother completely, lost its shine.

How many guard knights had already fallen away because they could not endure that dreadful temper?

Sir Siarkan, who had stayed by her side for seven years, almost seemed like a saint.

‘Though it does not look like he just endured it meekly all that time...’

Recalling his superior throwing the Second Princess into the carriage like a piece of luggage, Edrick turned his gaze forward.

Among the knights marching in perfect order, he could vaguely see Varkas with his black hood pulled low.

It seemed that man, too, had grown utterly sick of Thalia Roem Ghirta.

In some ways, it was almost astonishing.

Just how badly had she behaved for that stiff, rigid man, who was bound together by loyalty to the imperial family, to take such extreme action?

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.

Perhaps the Second Princess had an innate talent for provoking other people’s hostility.