She felt the beads of sweat gathered on her forehead trickle down and wet the corners of her eyes.
It might be a medicine that caused terrible pain.
Perhaps it might even be deadly poison.
Even though she could not shake off such suspicions, Thalia parted her lips.
He tilted the medicine bottle and poured the bitter liquid into her mouth.
When she coughed weakly and reflexively turned her head to the side, he grasped her chin and pushed the medicine bottle forward again.
Thalia looked up at him as she helplessly swallowed the liquid seeping into her mouth.
She could see the firelight flickering over his pale eyes, which seemed covered by a veil.
Thalia tried to find some remnant of emotion in those inorganic eyes, but soon let her arms and legs fall limp.
She strained her eyes and struggled desperately not to let go of consciousness somehow, but her mind gradually grew hazy, and her vision blurred rapidly.
Thalia slowly blinked her eyelids, then soon sank into a deathlike silence.
She could not tell how much time had passed.
It felt as if only a few seconds had passed, and yet also as if an entire lifetime had gone by.
Thalia, who had been staring blankly into empty space, frowned at the regular sound of horse hooves and the rattling of wheels.
As her vision, which had been blurry as if fogged over, gradually became clearer, the scenery inside the dim carriage came into view.
For a moment, she wondered if everything had been a dream.
The terrifying monster appearing, Varkas leaving her behind and running to save Ayla, and her nearly dying after being caught by the wyvern—perhaps all of it had been a nightmare from last night.
As if denying that thought, an intense pain spread from her knee to her waist.
Thalia crushed her lower lip between her teeth and clutched her knee, which stung as if it were burning.
Beneath her thin chemise, she felt the texture of rough cloth.
As Thalia groped at it with her fingertips, she realized that her entire left leg was wrapped in thick bandages and opened her eyes wide.
When she lifted the hem of her skirt, she saw pieces of cloth, mottled with blood and pus that had seeped out, stuck messily to her thigh and side.
Thalia touched them with trembling hands, then pulled her skirt back down and raised her upper body.
Inside the spacious carriage, a thick sheet stuffed full of cotton had been laid out, and cushions and a summer blanket lay scattered everywhere in a tangled mess.
After looking around at them blankly, she grabbed the handle installed on the wall and struggled to pull herself up.
But her leg would not obey her, so it was not easy to stand.
Thalia tried to straighten her leg, which had gone stiff as lead, but unable to withstand the severe pain running along her spine, she collapsed with a thud.
A scream burst from her mouth on its own at the pain stabbing through her whole body.
“Are you all right!”
As if he had heard the sound, the carriage suddenly stopped moving, and the door flew open.
Thalia looked up with narrowed eyes at the man standing with the light behind him.
The guard knight, whose normally slightly tousled hair was now even more disheveled, was looking down at her with worried eyes.
He climbed into the carriage and rummaged through a small box placed in the corner.
“The pain must be severe, right? The healer prepared painkillers here. If you drink this.......”
“Why didn’t you cast healing magic on my body?”
At the question thrown out like an interrogation, the man flinched and turned his head.
Thalia pulled the sheet toward herself and shot him a wary look.
“Did my elder brother give an order not to treat me?”
“N-no, that is not it.”
The man hurriedly waved his hands.
“The healer urgently set the bones and healed part of the wounds, but...... Your Highness’s injuries were so severe that they could not be treated all at once. They said it would be better for your prognosis to leave it to a specialist healer at the Imperial Palace, so......”
Thalia glared at the fumbling man with distrustful eyes, then lowered her gaze and stared at her leg.
Vaguely, she recalled how a large rock had crushed her knee and thigh.
Certainly, if they had simply healed the wound as it was, she would have lost the use of her leg forever.
Even as she reluctantly acknowledged that fact, Thalia did not stop complaining.
“So you’re telling me to stay like this until we reach the Imperial Palace?”
“It must be painful, but please endure it a little longer. We are planning to move to Gillian by the fastest route possible.”
Thalia looked at him with narrowed eyes, then turned her gaze out the window.
Across the vast plain where faint sunlight poured down, she could see knights stretched out in a long line.
Among them, Thalia unconsciously searched for ash-gray blond hair, then shuddered at herself and firmly closed the curtain.
Just moving for a moment brought on a deep fatigue.
“How remarkable that elder brother accepted the suggestion to return to the Imperial Palace.”
“A considerable number of deaths occurred due to the wyvern attack. He could hardly openly oppose the argument that we must return as soon as possible, if only to hold funerals for them.”
When she looked back in surprise at the unexpectedly cynical reply, the knight, belatedly realizing the sarcasm in his own tone, hurriedly changed the subject.
“More importantly, you do not look well. Please take the medicine first.”
The man held out the lid of the medicine bottle in front of her face.
Thalia stared down at it, then waved one hand as if annoyed.
“I don’t need it, so take it and leave. I need to rest now.”
“...If you cannot trust me, I will call Sir Siarkan for you.”
Thalia, who had been lying down on the bed, looked at him with a hardened face.
For a moment, her heart sank as if she had been suddenly attacked.
As if to hide it, Thalia put a cold sneer on her lips and snapped icily.
“Do I look like I trust that man?”
“But Your Highness, you......”
“I trust no one.”
Thalia fiercely cut off his words.
Then, facing that irritatingly honest face, she added as if chewing and spitting out each word.
“Especially not that man.”
“.......”
“So stop saying presumptuous things and get lost.”
The man, who seemed about to say something more as his lips moved, let out a small sigh and went outside.
A moment later, the carriage that had been stopped began moving again.
Thalia pulled the thin summer blanket up to her shoulders.
The pain that had briefly settled began to grow savage again, and a sensation like her skin was sizzling came over her.
Tossing and turning as she swallowed her groans, Thalia shut her eyes tightly as if fleeing from the pain.
By sunset, the plump mage came to cast recovery magic on her.
Thalia silently accepted his touch.
Another person’s hands touching her was dreadful, but she no longer had the strength left to refuse.
“I will burn incense that dulls the senses. The pain should ease considerably.”
Perhaps he had heard that she had refused medicine, for the mage placed a small incense burner at the entrance and lit it.
A heavy, stuffy air filled the carriage in an instant.
Thalia had been about to snap at him not to do anything useless, but when she felt her taut nerves gradually loosen, she relaxed her shoulders.
The bone-piercing pain slowly subsided, and her consciousness blurred.
It seemed he had burned herbs with a sleep-inducing effect.
She welcomed the drowsiness that came over her.
But her sleep did not last long.
Not much time passed before the pain began to grow intense again.
Thalia woke with a groan and lifted her eyelids with difficulty.
It seemed she would have to call the mage and order him to burn more incense.
Rubbing her throbbing head, she struggled to raise her upper body, when suddenly her breath caught in her throat.
Thalia looked around the thick darkness with dilated eyes.
She could not tell what had startled her.
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