Varkas, who was handing a bundle of parchment containing the identities of the dead to the priest, turned his head and looked at her. Thalia hurriedly dropped her gaze.
Under the summer sunlight, her own appearance, exposed in every detail, felt newly shabby, and she could not proudly lift her head.
“It seems Her Highness the Second Princess must receive treatment urgently, so please omit the palace-entry procedure.”
The mage of the Taren family, who had stopped in front of Varkas, spoke politely.
When no immediate answer came, Thalia raised her eyes again. Varkas, a faint crease between his brows, was staring intently at her face.
Did it seem strange that a woman who used to make a fuss just from another person’s touch was staying quiet?
Varkas, his eyes narrowed, looked over her deathly pale face as if dissecting it, then slowly lowered his gaze.
His cool eyes lingered for a moment on the hands wrapped around her back and the backs of her knees, then moved down to her calves hanging limply below her skirt. As if he had noticed the dark red stain that had formed on the bandages, the furrow between his brows deepened.
A questioning look immediately flew toward the mages of the Taren family.
As if ignoring it, the mage added gently.
“His Majesty will also understand that Her Highness the Second Princess is heading straight to her quarters.”
“Yes. Hurry and take that child away.”
In place of him, who remained silent, a clear voice abruptly gave an answer.
Turning her eyes toward the direction the voice had come from, Thalia found Ayla crossing the chaotic open ground while leading a group of maids, and her face hardened.
Ayla stood side by side next to Varkas and looked down at her as if with pity.
“She has just endured a hard journey with an unwell body, so it would be best for her to receive treatment and rest as soon as possible.”
Thalia clenched her teeth. Humiliation flooded in at that lukewarm gaze filled with pity. If she had not been in a state where she could not move even a finger, she would have gouged out those eyes without mercy.
Whether she knew what was boiling inside Thalia or not, Ayla, wearing a gentle smile, placed her hand on Varkas’s forearm.
“I will explain things well to His Majesty.”
Then she turned gracefully and urged Varkas on.
“Come, let us go in now. His Majesty is waiting.”
Only then did the man who had been standing without the slightest movement slowly move his legs. Thalia foolishly kept her gaze on his retreating back, then soon lowered her eyelids.
The mages passed through the Main Palace and entered a wide garden thick with flowers. Before long, a grand building decorated splendidly swallowed her up.
Thalia was seized by the feeling that she was being sucked into the intestines of a gigantic monster.
The mages crossed the marble hall in an instant, climbed the stairs, and stepped into Senevier’s study. After passing three or four large bookcases displaying hundreds of books, a secret passage hidden between the pillars was revealed. The mages entered it as if they were used to it.
Before long, Senevier’s laboratory appeared.
Thalia frowned at the strong smell of aromatic oil and various medicinal herbs that made her head spin.
“Lay her down over here.”
The mage, who crossed the laboratory in an instant with wide strides, flung open a door beside a display cabinet.
It was a room she had visited this place several times but had never once entered. The man carrying her laid her down on the bed in the middle of that room.
Thalia looked around with eyes filled with anxiety.
The cleanly organized room was full of oddly shaped tools she had never seen before in her life.
After examining them, she turned her eyes back to the two mages. They were laying out equipment on the table whose purpose she could not guess.
Was this how a calf felt when entering a slaughterhouse? Cold sweat soaked the nape of her neck. If she had not been under magic, she would have screamed.
“I will examine the wound first.”
One mage said as he took a place near her legs.
Thalia stiffened rigidly as she felt the hem of her skirt being lifted.
The man, who unwrapped the bandages with a businesslike touch, clicked his tongue lightly.
“The condition is more serious than I expected.”
With hands as cold as ice, he carefully palpated her knees and added.
“The fact that the bones were clumsily set may actually become a problem. If the wound is allowed to heal like this, the nerves will become paralyzed, and you will never be able to use your legs again.”
“Honestly, the poor skill of human mages…”
The mage, who muttered softly, picked up a small knife from the table.
“What choice is there? We will have to set them again.”
At that moment, a rough sob burst from her tightly constricted throat.
Only then did the mage see her face, which had turned blue with fear, and lower the cotton cloth wrapped around his lower face, lifting the corners of his mouth.
“There is no need to worry so much.”
It seemed to be an action meant to reassure her, but Thalia instead felt her blood run cold. It looked less like a human smile and more like a fish imitating a human expression.
The man kept babbling.
“It will be difficult to return them to exactly the same state as before, but I will at least make sure there is no problem with walking.”
She barely moved her lips.
Stop.
If she could not become the same as before, there was no reason to endure this process.
She wanted to shout that, but only rough sobs leaked from her mouth.
The man raised the cotton cloth again and gave an instruction.
“It would be best to burn sleep herb.”
The mage who had been examining the equipment on the table brought a small brazier to her bedside and burned a bundle of thoroughly dried medicinal herbs.
Thalia immediately stopped breathing. But she could not hold out for long. Unable to endure the sensation of suffocation, she inhaled the smoke, and her vision instantly grew distant.
Thalia, who had been trying to put strength into her eyes and clear away the pale curtain, soon fell asleep as if fainting.
***
Raindrops fell onto the lake.
She realized that she was dreaming. The scenery of an old memory had unfolded before her eyes.
Fourteen-year-old Thalia was crouched beneath a huge, beautiful tree, glaring at the gray surface of the water, where rain was pouring down, as if it were her sworn enemy.
Beside her, Varkas approached, soaked through with rainwater.
“Is the game of hide-and-seek over now?”
She glared at him with venomous eyes.
As if he had searched every corner of the Imperial Palace grounds, even his clothes and hairstyle, which had not had the slightest disorder, were now a complete mess. But Thalia’s mood did not improve in the least.
She reached out, grabbed a handful of soggy mud, and threw it at him.
“Go away! I don’t even want to see the sight of someone like you!”
An ugly stain appeared over the velvet uniform embroidered with splendid patterns, but Varkas did not even blink.
His calm reaction only made her burn hotter with anger. Thalia continued throwing clumps of mud.
“Get lost! Go to Ayla instead!”
“I would very much like to.”
After letting out a short sigh, Varkas bent one knee beside her and continued.
“But until Your Highness turns sixteen, I am unfortunately tied down.”
Thalia glared at him with an overwhelmed face.
Miserably, she felt as if she were about to cry. To hide it, she put strength into her eyes and deliberately twisted the corners of her mouth in an irritating way.
“It’s horrible that I have to see your face for two more years. Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.”
“I hate you more than anyone in the world. You give me chills. You make me nauseous. You disgust me.”
“Are you finished?”
“I’m not finished. You smell like a horse.”
His eyebrows rose slightly.
Thalia flinched and lowered her eyes. Since Varkas had spent his childhood in a monastery, he was obsessive about cleanliness.
He always smelled of refreshing soap. He himself must have known that well, so he would know very well that her criticism was close to a groundless complaint.
But instead of pointing that out, Varkas dropped the coat he had been holding in one hand onto her shoulders and straightened his body.
“I will hear the rest of your insults at the detached palace. Please get up now. Your lips have turned purple.”
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