In an instant, Varkas arrived in front of the carriage and set her down on the seat as though throwing her.
Thalia rubbed her throbbing backside and glared at him with eyes full of resentment.
Then she froze when she saw his face, hardened dangerously.
Varkas, who had been looking down at her with an expression as though his patience had reached its limit, spoke as though grinding the words between his teeth.
“Did I not warn you not to cause any more troublesome problems?”
After hesitating for a moment, Thalia shot him a rebellious glare.
“Why should I listen to you? Who do you think you are?”
“I am surely more of something than a princess in name only.”
A cold sneer hung on Varkas’s lips.
Thalia flared up and sprang to her feet.
She felt as though she would not be able to endure it unless she slapped that arrogant face.
But Varkas was one step faster.
Bending over her, Varkas blocked the movement of both her arms and looked down at her with dry eyes.
That dry gaze, devoid of even a trace of pity, swept over her cheek, where blood vessels had burst, and her neck, which was surely bruised black.
A sigh escaped his lips, as though he was sick and tired of her.
“Are you truly acting this way because you do not understand anything? No one here will actively protect you. If His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince truly sets his mind to it, no one can guarantee your life.”
“Why do you care?”
Thalia shouted sharply.
“Aren’t you the person who would feel most relieved if I disappeared from this world?”
“I cannot bring myself to deny that.”
Even though it was the answer she had expected, Thalia felt pain as though her heart were bleeding.
He continued in a voice cruelly calm.
“But I cannot allow His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince’s position to become endangered because of you. So if you wish to harm yourself, please do it with your own hands.”
Thalia forced strength into her eyes, which were growing hot.
He slowly straightened.
The face that had been sharpened with tension was now covered once more by the solid mask of a knight.
He added in a businesslike tone,
“For now, I will call a healer. Recover yourself, then rest.”
Thalia answered by picking up the goblet lying on the floor and throwing it at him.
The silver goblet struck his chest and rolled onto the ground.
After sending her a cold gaze as though he was disgusted, Varkas soon left the carriage.
Thalia slammed the door shut.
The tears she had desperately held back finally flowed down her cheeks.
Afraid that even the sound of her sobs might leak outside, she hurriedly covered her mouth.
The sob caught in her throat choked her.
She wanted to suffocate just like that.
***
At the top of Ulgraam Hill, only the white temple said to have been built by Emperor Darian to commemorate Osiria’s independence stood alone.
The pilgrims stopped before it and looked up at the magnificent building shining pure white with awe in their eyes.
Even after many long years, the temple had been preserved almost perfectly.
They fell into religious ecstasy as they looked over the prayers carved into the walls and the statues of several heroes.
However, the Crown Prince seemed to feel no particular emotion toward the relic left behind by his ancestor.
Gareth leapt down from the saddle and swept an indifferent gaze over the arched entrance.
“Is this the second holy site?”
“That is correct, Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.”
One of the attendants answered in a tense voice.
The attendants, who knew very well that his mood had hit rock bottom since the day before, all watched the Crown Prince’s expression with intimidated faces.
Only Varkas maintained his usual calm attitude.
“They say there is no resident priest here. We will prepare the ceremony ourselves.”
Varkas approached the Crown Prince and spoke.
The Crown Prince, who had been glaring at him with a strange hostility in his eyes, turned sharply and replied,
“Then stop dawdling and get it done quickly.”
No sooner had his order fallen than the attendants parked the carriages near the temple and began unloading the bundles.
The attendants of the First Princess and Second Princess, who had arrived later, also joined them.
While the soldiers swiftly set up tents, the servants took out the incense burners, sacred plates, silver pitchers, and candlesticks to be used in the ceremony from the chests and began polishing them until they shone.
Once the general preparations were finished, the maids immediately helped dress the Crown Prince and the First Princess.
Edrick, who had been watching the scene from a short distance away, approached the carriage where Thalia was shut inside.
If she was to take part in the ceremony, it was about time to suggest that she prepare herself as well.
But strangely, the words would not come out.
He looked at the firmly closed door and scratched the back of his head rather roughly.
When he recalled the Second Princess as he had seen her last evening, his stomach twisted uncomfortably.
Edrick let the arm he had raised to knock fall weakly and looked toward the Crown Prince’s tent, which had been set up a short distance away.
While the servants brought out a large tub in front of the tent, filled it with water, and lit a fire, the Crown Prince was leaning back in a chair and leisurely sipping wine.
That peaceful sight left a bitter taste in his mouth.
‘He beat his own sister to that state, and yet he does not seem to feel even the slightest guilt.’
He had heard rumors that the Crown Prince struck the Second Princess, but he had never imagined it was to that extent.
He clenched his fist as he recalled the sight of that woman with her fragile body, barely a handful, being struck in the face by a man as large as a mountain and struggling as she was strangled.
It was fortunate that Sir Siarkan had been nearby at the time, or else a terrible tragedy might have occurred.
Edrick looked down at his palm, damp with cold sweat, then soon turned around.
In any case, Thalia Roem Ghirta would obviously insist on not participating in the ceremony.
There was no need to waste his energy for nothing.
Just as he swallowed a heavy sigh and was about to head toward the temple, a rattling sound came from behind him.
“Hey, you.”
Edrick flinched and turned his head, then widened his eyes when he saw Thalia standing at the entrance of the carriage with her arms crossed.
The woman, wearing the same arrogant expression as usual as though nothing had happened, stepped down from the carriage and jerked her chin.
“Call the maids.”
“...Pardon?”
As he merely blinked blankly, the woman sent him an irritated look.
“You’re ugly, stupid, and deaf too? I’m going to prepare myself, so call the maids at once!”
Edrick stood there dumbfounded at the verbal abuse he had never heard in his life, then soon turned and gathered the personal maids the Empress had assigned to her.
For some reason, seeing Thalia proudly ordering him around made a sigh of relief escape him.
The healer had cleanly treated her wounds the night before, but since she had gone through a harsh ordeal after practically starving all day, he had worried she might collapse sick in bed.
Thankfully, she seemed fine.
Well, of course.
She was a woman who had narrowly survived and still mocked the Crown Prince without showing any sign of shrinking back.
There was no way her spirit would break that easily.
Edrick let out a hollow laugh, then ordered the servants to draw water and told his subordinates to straighten their uniforms.
Since the Second Princess had finally seemed willing to participate in the traditional ceremony of the imperial family, he intended to properly attend her as her guard knight.
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