Chapter 29 :

Thalia awkwardly fidgeted with her hands and spoke in a rough voice.

“If you break even a single strand of my hair... I won’t let you off.”

He gave no answer.

But his movements seemed to become a little more careful.

At the touch that almost seemed to be caressing her hair, Thalia swallowed dryly.

Between the open collar of his shirt, she could see his thick Adam’s apple and collarbones that stood out gracefully like the wing bones of a bird.

She could vividly feel his flexible yet strong forearm shifting with his movements, and she was far too aware of his long legs, covered in wool trousers, positioned right beside her thighs.

Thalia lowered her head deeply to hide her reddened face.

“Is... is it still not done?”

Was it really something that could take this long, simply freeing hair caught on a button?

Or was she so tense that this moment felt unrealistically long?

Sweat began to seep from her palms.

She rubbed her hands against the pile of clothes on the floor.

Then she was startled when she saw that even the inside of her wrists was flushed.

Surely my whole body has not turned red, has it?

How ridiculous would I look if it had?

She raised her voice irritably.

“That’s enough, just cut it off!”

Unlike a man who was always quick and agile in everything, Varkas fumbled for quite a while before lowering one hand to his waist.

She stiffened when she saw him draw a dagger.

He wrapped his arm around her back again.

Thalia unconsciously gripped the hem of his clothes tightly.

“B-but don’t cut off too much of my hair...”

Before she could finish speaking, there was a soft snap, and the faint pressure on her scalp disappeared.

Worried that he might have cut off a clump of her hair, Thalia hurriedly turned around.

Fortunately, there was no severed lock of hair to be seen.

Instead, a gleaming golden button lay on the floor.

She picked it up and examined it closely.

The crest of the Roem Knights was engraved on the finely crafted button.

She turned her head again and looked up at him.

Varkas had already risen to his feet and was sheathing the dagger at his waist.

“How long do you intend to sit there?”

Varkas, who was straightening his disheveled clothes, spoke bluntly.

Thalia awkwardly rose to her feet.

For some reason, she felt embarrassed.

She deliberately cleared her throat and held the button out to him.

“Here, this.”

“I do not need it. Throw it away.”

Varkas replied half-heartedly and glanced out the window.

Before they knew it, the red sunset had dyed the sky.

He turned his head again, looked around the room that had become a complete mess, and spoke as though tired.

“May I withdraw now?”

Thalia nodded without protest.

He gave a light bow of his head and immediately left the room.

Thalia quietly listened to his footsteps fading away, then quickly ran to the side of the bed and took out her jewelry box.

Then she placed his button deep inside the box.

That night, she could not sleep because of a strange excitement.

Emotions she could not identify made her chest ache.

She thought over his words, his actions, and his eyes again and again.

Maybe.

No.

That could not be.

But maybe.

Chaotic thoughts filled her head.

It felt as though her brain might explode.

And yet, for some reason, she found herself smiling.

She tossed and turned all night, soaked in happiness.

But it did not take long for those absurd fantasies of adolescence to shatter.

A few days later, she heard the news of Varkas and Ayla’s engagement.

It felt as though she had awakened from a daydream.

No, it was worse than that.

It felt as though she had floated all the way up to the clouds in an instant, only to plunge straight down to the ground.

She immediately rushed out of the detached palace and headed for the training ground.

At noon, he would come to her in order to fulfill his duty as her guard knight, but she could not wait until then.

Thalia crossed half the imperial palace in one breath and stormed into the wide open ground where the knights were training.

She could feel the people who saw her casting wary gazes, but in that moment, she did not care at all.

Thalia anxiously moved her eyes, searching for the pale, shining ash-blond hair.

Then, realizing that the people filling the training ground were not regular knights but preliminary trainees, she turned around.

If he was not in the training ground, there was a high chance he was handling paperwork in the office.

She headed toward the military office located right beside the training ground.

As expected, Varkas was in the office.

But it did not seem he had been handling paperwork.

Thalia, who had been pulling the doorknob, stopped moving when she heard a delicate sob.

Through the gap in the open door, she saw Varkas standing with his back to the window and a woman burying her face in his chest as she burst into tears.

Frozen by a sight she had never even imagined, Thalia watched as the mysterious woman lifted her head and looked up at him with desperate eyes.

“You don’t love that woman, do you?”

It was a pitiful voice that made Thalia feel nauseous.

The woman clung to him desperately, as though begging.

“You’re only marrying her for political reasons, right? Please, tell me that’s true.”

Suddenly, Thalia’s throat tightened.

The fact that there existed a woman who could plead with him like that made her feel as though she had been struck on the head.

With an anxious heart, she examined his face.

At last, his firmly closed lips opened.

“I do not understand what meaning my answer would hold for you.”

His voice was so dry it made her shudder.

Without realizing it, Thalia hunched her shoulders.

Varkas looked down at the woman with a face like a lifeless wax doll, then tilted his head as though he could not understand.

“Whether it is for political reasons or not, what difference does it make? I have promised to take Her Highness the First Princess as my wife, and I intend to fulfill that promise.”

The woman’s slender back visibly stiffened.

She was probably feeling pain as though her heart were being torn apart.

But the man did not stop there.

“I do not know what you expected of me, but I made it clear from the beginning that I had no intention of answering your feelings.”

The blood drained from the woman’s nape.

As though he did not find her pitiable, he let out a tired sigh and added,

“I would prefer not to have such uncomfortable meetings in the future. Since my engagement has been officially decided, I wish to avoid unnecessary scandals.”

The woman staggered backward and collapsed to the floor as though her strength had left her.

A fleeting look of annoyance passed over Varkas’s face.

At that emotionless face, where not even the slightest trace of pity could be found, Thalia felt goosebumps rise.

That expression, those eyes...

Everything was chillingly familiar.

Thalia hurriedly left that place.

If she had been only a little faster, the one sitting there sobbing would not have been that woman, but herself.

Just imagining that scene made chills run down her spine.

If Varkas looked at her with those eyes while she begged for his love, she might have died on the spot.

No.

She definitely would have died.

Because of that, Thalia became truly afraid of him.

She was sincerely afraid of him, a man who could drive her to death with only a few words.

Naturally, her attitude toward Varkas became even more defensive than before.

Rather than the object of her unrequited love, he was closer to a natural enemy.

If she could not completely restrain this feeling, she would live in terrible pain from now on.