Chapter 21 :

He alternated his gaze between his superior’s cold back and the faces of the citizens sending accusing looks their way, then let out a heavy sigh and spurred his horse forward.

The Second Princess, who had shut herself inside the carriage as though staging a silent protest, finally revealed herself only when they had left the capital and stopped by the riverside to rest.

The servants, who had been busy setting up tents and preparing to camp, looked at Thalia with tense eyes.

As though her claim that she intended to change clothes several times a day had not been an empty boast, she was wearing not the dress she had worn when leaving the imperial palace, but a silk dress embroidered with golden thread.

Around her slender, white-glowing neck was an expensive necklace that looked as though it could easily buy an entire castle, and on her wrists, as thin as birch branches, she wore splendid ornaments studded with diamonds.

Edrick, who saw her from afar, looked dumbfounded.

They were about to eat dinner and camp for the night.

For what reason had she dressed herself up so extravagantly?

Her utterly incomprehensible behavior already made him feel drained.

He swallowed a sigh, handed the reins to a squire, and approached the princess.

Then the woman, who had been looking around, sent him a fierce glare.

For an instant, Edrick felt his throat tighten.

Thalia, surrounded by the light of the setting sun, looked like a being made by mixing fire and gold.

Her wheat-colored hair, pushed by the strong river wind, formed rich golden waves around her face, and her flawless white-agate skin gave off a pale radiance even beneath the flame-like sunset.

Without realizing it, he took a step back.

Everything that formed the woman was so excessively delicate that it felt as though she might shatter at any moment and scatter sharp fragments in every direction.

As he swallowed dryly at an inexplicably chilling premonition, an irritated voice flowed out from between her blood-red lips.

“I don’t like this place. Move the campsite.”

Only then did he come back to his senses at that absurd order.

He stiffened his back.

This woman was a poisonous mushroom with only a dazzling appearance.

If he let himself be bewitched by her beautiful looks and lowered his guard, he would suffer for it.

Taking on a businesslike attitude, he replied bluntly,

“This is the campsite the Guard selected for safety. We cannot search for another location at this point.”

“Who asked for your opinion?”

The woman cast him a frost-sharp gaze.

“I ordered you to move the campsite. You simply need to obey my command!”

He had to take a moment to steady his breathing and gather his patience.

“All decisions regarding this expedition rest with Sir Siarkan. I will say it again. We cannot leave the procession as we please.”

“So all I need is Varkas’s permission?”

The woman cut him off impatiently and immediately turned around.

It seemed she had been looking for an excuse to pick a fight with Sir Siarkan from the beginning.

Edrick hurriedly followed after the princess.

He simply could not understand this woman, who seemed desperate to cause trouble from the very first day of the journey.

With his long stride, he overtook her at once.

“What exactly is it about this place that displeases you so much?”

“I just hate everything.”

The woman snapped as she strode forward.

“I hate being close to the water, and I hate being close to the forest. There will be insects swarming everywhere.”

“How are we supposed to camp somewhere without water? And griffins and harpies sometimes appear around this area. The forest serves as a natural barrier in the event of an attack by large monsters...”

“What safety? I have already been bitten in two places by flying insects! If I spend the night in a place like this, the bugs will devour every bit of my skin.”

“And what about that noise coming from the forest? I already hate the sound of leaves rustling, so how am I supposed to sleep if even the birds are crying like that?”

Edrick looked down at the princess with a face of utter disbelief.

Not even a spoiled five-year-old would throw such a tantrum.

He desperately suppressed the irritation rising inside him.

“We will have to camp for the next few days. If you do not begin adjusting now...”

“Then we can simply move the campsite! Why should I force myself to endure something I hate?”

The woman shouted in a shrill voice and charged across the camp like a racehorse that could only see straight ahead.

He had to clench his fists tightly to keep himself from stopping her by force.

“Everyone is exhausted from marching all day. We cannot dismantle the tents and wander around searching for a new campsite for such an absurd reason. Stop saying childish things and return to your carriage at once to rest.”

When he stepped in front of her and spoke with deliberate severity, her chillingly beautiful face twisted faintly.

A moment later, with a sound like the crack of a whip, a stinging pain flared across his right cheek.

He glared at the woman with a fierce look.

From the moment he had been assigned as this woman’s guard knight, he had expected some light slapping.

But it felt filthier than he had vaguely imagined.

“How dare you order me around.”

As he barely swallowed the humiliation, the woman grabbed him by the collar and hissed savagely into his face.

“I am the Emperor’s daughter, and you people exist for my convenience. If I tell you to walk all night, then it is your fate to walk until dawn. So stop overstepping and get lost.”

The woman shoved him hard and began walking along the riverside again.

Edrick stared silently at the small back of her head with a stiff face.

If he followed his feelings, he would have slung that ill-mannered woman over his shoulder, just as his superior had done, and thrown her back into the carriage.

But he did not have the backing that would allow him to lay hands on a member of the imperial family without permission and avoid punishment.

Staring hard at her rapidly receding back, Edrick let out a bitter sigh.

Could he handle that wicked woman’s tyranny until this journey ended?

The back of his head was already throbbing.

Throughout the entire walk along the river, Thalia felt a prickling gaze behind her back.

She cast a sharp look over her shoulder.

She saw the people who had been secretly watching her flinch and quickly turn their heads, pretending to be doing something else.

It was not very different from their usual reaction.

Had people not always treated her like a powder keg that might explode at any moment?

But today, the gazes that cautiously kept their distance yet still secretly clung to her felt strangely suspicious.

‘There must be spies Senevier planted among them.’

She examined the faces of the attendants one by one.

Perhaps all of those people were spies.

Mother was more than capable of that.

Her thoughts began to leap in increasingly unreasonable directions.

For many years, Senevier had worked hard to destroy Gareth’s base of support.

Perhaps she intended to use this opportunity to remove every obstacle blocking her son’s path.

Her heart beat unsteadily.

If Mother’s targets were Gareth or Ayla, Thalia did not care.

If necessary, she was even willing to take part in her plan.

But if, by any chance, the one Senevier was aiming for was Varkas...

Having thought that far, Thalia anxiously looked around at the rows of military tents standing densely together.

She had to separate her campsite after all.

If there was physical distance between them, Senevier’s spies would find it harder to carry out their schemes overnight.

She quickened her steps.

Not long after, she found Tork, the warhorse Varkas cherished, tied in front of a large tent.

Thalia passed by the gray stallion, which recognized her and snorted loudly, then stepped into the dim tent.

The inside of the tent was arranged as neatly as a temple.

Thalia swept her gaze over the candlestick giving off faint light, the luxurious storage cabinet, and the stand displaying armor, then found a dark shadow cast behind the partition and walked forward without hesitation.

“I want to move my campsite somewhere else. But my excellent knight says I cannot go anywhere without Sir Siarkan’s permission. It seems your subordinates think the commander of the Roem Knights ranks above the imperial family. How did the imperial guard become such a pathetic group that does not even understand hierarchy...”

Thalia, who had been pouring out only what she wanted to say as she pulled back the partition, stiffened in the next moment.

Varkas was shirtless, wiping moisture from his face with a towel.