Thalia could not find an excuse and only moved her lips.
She wanted to put on her usual shameless attitude, but physically and mentally, she had reached her limit, so her head would not work properly.
She pulled at her hood and quickly hid her face, which had fallen apart from agitation.
Then, just as she tried to pass by her brother, who was blocking the entrance, Gareth swiftly grabbed her wrist.
“I asked why you were rummaging through Varkas’s tent.”
“Let go of me!”
She shook her arm violently, but Gareth’s hand clung like glue and would not come off.
He yanked her body roughly and growled like an angry wolf.
“Tell me what kind of filthy trick you were trying to pull!”
At the grip that felt as though it was squeezing her bones, Thalia bit her lip.
What a stupid brute who only has strength.
She kicked her brother’s shin without mercy.
Perhaps he was not wearing any armor yet, because Gareth muttered a curse and jumped up.
Not missing that chance, Thalia quickly pulled her arm free.
Then she rushed out of Varkas’s tent and began running fiercely.
From behind her, she heard things breaking wildly, as though Gareth was chasing after her.
But Thalia did not look back and ran madly between the tents.
Before long, her carriage came into view.
She jumped inside, locked the door firmly, and curled up in the corner of the carriage.
Worry surged over her that Gareth, his anger boiling to the top of his head, might try to destroy the carriage.
However, even after a long while, there was no sign of a commotion.
It seemed he had stopped chasing her because of the gazes around them.
Thalia let out a sigh of relief and buried her face in her knees.
Then, suddenly seized by revulsion, she twisted her face.
She was sick of herself for acting like the greatest fool in the world.
Why had she lost her reason and checked on his safety?
It also bothered her that she had shown Gareth such an emotionally shaken side of herself.
That man could not have noticed anything, could he?
Thalia chewed at her lips, then carefully looked out the window.
She saw the knights dismantling the tents.
It did not seem they had noticed the commotion she had caused.
Thalia pressed her face close to the glass window and rolled her eyes around, then drew the curtain shut again.
As the sky grew bright, the knights mounted their horses and began forming the procession.
Among them, she could see Varkas as well.
Thalia secretly watched him through the gap in the curtain as he inspected the front line, just as he always did, then hurriedly hid herself when he approached the carriage she was riding in.
Had Gareth told him something, and was he coming to question her?
As she squeezed out all kinds of excuses in her head, Varkas stopped near the carriage, gave some instructions to the knights, and then moved back to the front.
Thalia’s shoulders drooped with relief.
Just then, the guard knight’s booming voice rang out.
“We will be setting off soon.”
She gave no answer.
As though he had not expected one in the first place, the knight rode ahead without saying anything else.
Soon, the carriage she was riding in began to move as well.
Thalia sank her back into the seat and looked up at the sky turning white through the gap in the curtains.
In the end, it seemed another tedious day was about to begin without anything happening.
The march that had begun at dawn stopped before the sun had even fully tilted westward.
Gareth, whose patience had reached its limit, had unilaterally declared that they would travel no farther today.
Strictly speaking, the schedule for this journey was under the authority of Varkas, the commander in overall charge.
However, there were not many who would dare defy the future emperor’s command.
In the end, with Varkas’s tacit approval, they had to set up camp in an open field with the second holy site, Ulgraam Hill, just before their eyes.
It seemed to be an unsatisfying situation for the soldiers, who had wanted to leave the plain behind as quickly as possible, but for Thalia, it was fortunate.
After spending the entire day shut inside the swaying carriage without eating or sleeping properly, her stamina had hit rock bottom.
She lay on the carriage seat and blinked her dizzy eyes.
Just then, a painfully tiresome voice came from outside.
“Your Highness, I brought a little fruit.”
Thalia furrowed her brow.
The knight’s behavior felt incomprehensible to her, coming to interfere again after being humiliated like that yesterday.
Unless he had some hidden scheme, was there any reason for him to try so hard to curry favor with her?
She snapped sharply,
“Get lost.”
“You said you couldn’t eat because you didn’t know what might be in the food, didn’t you? Fresh, unprocessed fruit should be fine.”
Too tired even to answer, she closed her mouth.
Then the knight rudely flung open the carriage door and held out a tray of fruit before her face.
“I’m worried this will turn into a funeral procession at this rate. Please stop being so stubborn and eat at least this.”
She stared at his face in disbelief, then lowered her gaze to the silver tray.
There were ripe red apples, plums, green grapes, and the like.
Thalia stared blankly down at them, then muttered in a subdued voice, as though she had no strength left to be angry.
“How would I know if poison hasn’t been smeared on the peels?”
By this point, he might have given up, but the knight did not budge.
The knight let out a heavy sigh and picked up an apple from the tray.
Then he took a large bite and held out the apple with the bite mark toward her.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“Are you telling me to eat something you already bit into? That’s disgusting. Get it away from me!”
The knight looked as though he wanted to strangle her.
Whether he did or not, Thalia turned her back on him.
In truth, she was terribly hungry, but she did not want to put food touched by someone else into her mouth.
Even if she forced it into her stomach, it was obvious she would throw it all up.
“I said I’m fine, so stop bothering me and please get lost.”
“Are the words ‘get lost’ the only ones Your Highness knows how to say?”
At the knight’s increasingly overstepping words and behavior, irritation surged up inside her.
Thalia sprang to her feet.
For a moment, dizziness swept over her, but she braced strength into both legs, unwilling to show weakness.
When her vision soon cleared, she left the carriage, ignoring the knight who was watching her expression.
The sky had already shifted from deep blue to pale orange.
After looking at it for a moment, Thalia avoided the glances cast her way and moved toward the edge of the campsite.
She wanted to go somewhere no one was and rest quietly.
But if she left the group, knights would immediately follow her.
After hesitating briefly, Thalia headed toward the dense forest located a little away from where the baggage wagons had been parked.
At this distance, they would be able to confirm her location with the naked eye, so they probably would not hover around under the excuse of guarding her.
Thalia sat with her back against a large tree and breathed in the cool evening air deeply.
How long had she been like that?
A faint laugh came from nearby.
Thalia’s eyes snapped open.
It seemed she was not the only one who had sought out a deserted place to rest, because between the sparsely standing spruce trees, she saw Ayla walking leisurely.
Thalia’s face twisted.
Her body and mind were both utterly exhausted.
She did not think she could bear that face full of happiness.
She sprang to her feet.
Just as she was about to leave, another person who had been hidden behind the trees came into view.
It was the man who, as recently as that morning, had made her pray that he would please be alive.
Thalia stared at him with vacant eyes.
Holding Tork’s reins in one hand and quietly following Ayla, Varkas looked more peaceful than she had ever seen him.
She had grown sick of seeing only his cold expression or the crease between his brows, so that tranquil face felt unfamiliar.
Did he always make that expression in front of Ayla?
As she stared at him blankly, Ayla pulled on Varkas’s arm, stood on tiptoe, and lifted her head.
Realizing what she was asking for, Thalia stopped breathing.
She did not want to see it.
She did not want to take into her eyes a scene that she would never be able to cut out of her mind for the rest of her life, a scene she would chew over again and again.
Even as she screamed that inwardly, Thalia could not tear her gaze away from the two of them.
Perhaps she wanted to see him coldly refuse.
But Varkas responded to Ayla’s wish like a faithful hunting dog.
The moment Thalia saw him lower his head toward her, she turned and began to run.
But before long, someone caught her.
She lifted her eyes in surprise.
Gareth, whose cheeks were flushed as though he had been drinking, was holding her arm and staring down at her.
At his gaze, which seemed to be observing her, Thalia hurriedly lowered her head.
But he had already noticed the moisture gathered around her eyes.
“Don’t tell me you...”
Gareth let out a hollow laugh and muttered.
Thalia twisted her arm violently to break free from him.
But the Crown Prince did not budge.
Gareth looked down at her face, where the emotional turmoil had not yet been fully erased, as though it were some rare spectacle.
Then at last, he burst into loud laughter.
“So that was it?”
No comments yet. Be the first to leave a review!