Chapter 25 :

“I am always attentive to Her Highness.”

Varkas spoke in a tone so courteous that it was difficult to find fault with.

“I only meant that Her Highness the Princess is resting comfortably, so there is no need for concern. Please do not take offense.”

Gareth glared at Varkas in irritation, then strode into the wide hall.

There was no point getting worked up against this stone-like man.

It would only make him look ridiculous.

He clicked his tongue lightly and crossed the hall, which was decorated as well as any noble’s banquet hall.

“Thank you for attending, Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.”

As he approached the long table covered with a pure-white tablecloth, the abbot sprang to his feet and welcomed him.

“Now, please sit here.”

Gareth took the seat the abbot had stepped aside from and looked over the table.

The abbot seemed to have no intention whatsoever of pretending to live a life of poverty.

The wide table was full of silverware, golden goblets, and luxurious dishes flavored with all kinds of spices.

Gareth swept his satisfied gaze over all of it, then nodded to the dozen or so priests seated around the table.

“I am grateful for such a welcome. Now, sit.”

No sooner had his words fallen than the monks pulled out their chairs and sat down all at once.

Only Varkas, who had attended as his guard, stood quietly behind him like a shadow.

Curious gazes flew toward him.

They seemed surprised by the unusual appearance of the Imperial Knights’ commander.

Gareth faintly furrowed his brow.

Varkas always drew more attention than necessary, so it was not particularly unusual.

Even so, Gareth felt a slight irritation at people paying more attention to Varkas than to him.

It was something he had experienced endlessly whenever he had this man in attendance, but the displeasure did not easily disappear.

Trying not to reveal his annoyance, he raised his goblet high.

“I express my gratitude to the abbot for preparing such an enjoyable occasion.”

The priests’ gazes gathered on him again.

As though savoring that, Gareth paused for a moment, then spoke slowly.

“I hope this time will hold meaningful significance for everyone...”

Just as he was about to finish his toast with plausible words, a golden ghost abruptly intruded into his view.

Gareth froze and stared blankly at the entrance of the hall.

For a moment, he thought that nightmare of a woman, Senevier, had appeared.

He gripped the goblet roughly and swept his gaze over his half-sister from head to toe.

As if she did not even know the basic rule that one should dress simply in a monastery, Thalia Roem Ghirta was dressed so splendidly that she would have stood out at once even in an imperial banquet hall.

And in an extremely vulgar and low manner at that.

He clenched his teeth in contempt.

Thalia, whose thin dress revealed every fresh curve not yet fully ripened, slowly walked toward the table.

The monks looked as though they might faint at any moment.

Some of them were even staring with their mouths hanging open, as though completely bewitched.

Unable to overcome his anger, Gareth sprang to his feet.

“How dare you... come here looking like that!”

Wine overflowed from the goblet he slammed down with a bang.

Without even thinking to wipe his damp hand, he pointed at her.

“Did you not hear my warning not to appear before my eyes?”

“Ah, of course I heard it.”

The woman, who naturally pulled out the chair right beside him and sat down, wore a coquettish smile on her lips.

“How could I stay still when my elder brother wants to see me? Unable to refuse the earnest request of the great Crown Prince, I even dressed myself with great care like this.”

Then, as if showing off, she ran one hand down the hem of her dress.

He glared at his half-sister with an incredulous expression.

“What nonsense are you...”

“Surely my elder brother does not mean to say he doesn’t know my crooked temperament... Since you personally sent even the commander of the Imperial Knights to deliver such a message, did it not mean you were dying to see your little sister?”

Her pure cobalt eyes, unmixed with any impurity, narrowed bewitchingly.

“When His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince makes such an earnest request, as his younger sister, I must naturally live up to his expectations.”

He had to gather every scrap of self-control he had to keep from striking the woman across the face.

As though provoking him further, Thalia continued slowly.

“Ah, it is nice to see my elder brother’s face like this. Are you enjoying yourself as well?”

“...I was enjoying myself until you appeared.”

At the words he spat out through grinding teeth, Thalia burst into laughter.

“In that case, it was worth dragging my tired body all the way here.”

Gareth clenched his teeth so hard his jaw felt as though it might crack.

Every time this woman laughed like that, it was hard to resist the urge to ruin that grotesquely beautiful face.

Gareth clenched his fists so tightly his shoulders trembled, then spoke as though chewing up and spitting out each word.

“How much longer do you intend to act out? Do you want to test just how far I can endure you?”

“What a hurtful thing to say...”

The woman placed her elbow on the table and leaned her body askew.

Chandelier light poured down over her pitifully thin shoulders and prominent shoulder blades.

The monks’ gazes also poured toward the exquisitely crafted female body that looked as though it had been carved from ivory.

Snake-like bitch.

Gareth breathed harshly through his teeth, seized by intense disgust.

As though sensing his anger rising to the limit, the corners of Thalia’s mouth lifted sharply.

“I merely answered the invitation. I don’t know why you’re huffing and puffing as though I did something. Don’t you think you are being too harsh to such a lovely youngest sister?”

The woman turned her head toward the abbot seated opposite her, as though asking for agreement.

At the sudden question, the monk’s face stiffened in bewilderment.

Perhaps finding that innocent reaction amusing, the woman curved her eyes in a strange, sensual way.

Seeing her act coquettishly like a prostitute made nausea surge up in him.

He roughly snatched her arm.

“You seem to be in heat. If you need someone to sleep with, choose one of your attendants. Do not think of playing around with the monks... If you dirty the imperial name with some filthy scandal, I will make sure you cannot carry that pretty face around for the rest of your life.”

At the vicious threat, the woman’s eyes flashed.

“What exactly are you going to do?”

Thalia tilted her head close as though picking a fight and spoke fiercely.

“When my elder brother says things like that, it makes me want to live up to your expectations so badly I could go mad.”

He could no longer endure it.

He reached out to twist that neck, so slender there seemed to be barely a handful of it.

At that moment, a heavy hand settled on his shoulder.

“Your Highness.”

Gareth flinched and lifted his head.

Varkas Raedgo Siarkan was looking down at him with a calm face.

It was the same emotionless face he was sick of seeing, one that showed not even the trace of a feeling.

Yet for an instant, Gareth felt as though he had been threatened.

Even though that could not possibly be true.

“Everyone is waiting for Your Highness’s toast.”

As though telling him not to be swept up in Thalia’s provocation, Varkas pressed firmly down on his shoulder.

Gareth knocked the hand away somewhat roughly.

His fingertips trembled with the unresolved urge for violence.

As though hiding it, he clenched his fist tightly and glared at the woman’s enchanting face.

Thalia Roem Ghirta was deliberately scratching at him.

He could not let himself be swept along by it.

Repeating that inwardly, Gareth calmed his boiling anger and flung the woman’s arm away.

Then he picked up his goblet again and cried out in an exaggerated tone, as though acting in a play.

“We have delayed long enough with useless squabbling. Now, let us eat. Once again, I express my gratitude to the abbot for preparing such a fine occasion... and I hope today will be a meaningful day for everyone.”

The monks, their faces frozen as they looked back and forth between the Crown Prince, the bastard princess, and the commander of the Imperial Knights standing firm behind them, awkwardly picked up their goblets.

Only Thalia Roem Ghirta watched the scene with her arms crossed, as though mocking it.

Just as that defiant attitude was about to make his temper flare again, Varkas bent over Thalia’s head.

“Please observe the basic etiquette of a guest, Your Highness the Princess.”

Then he gently opened the woman’s hand and placed a silver goblet in it.

Thalia, who had stiffened as though startled by the sudden contact, shot him a venomous glare.

Gareth thought the woman would immediately throw the goblet.

Perhaps because they had clashed over every little thing since childhood, Thalia had always seemed especially eager to devour Varkas whole.

But contrary to his expectations, Thalia, who had been glaring like a poisoned cat, soon straightened herself.

He narrowed his eyes.

Backing down at a warning of this level was unlike Thalia Roem Ghirta.

Was she not a woman who always ran wild without knowing limits?

Instead of obediently yielding to Varkas’s pressure, it would have been more like her to foam at the mouth and lunge at him.

‘What scheme is she hiding?’