Chapter 68
Thalia tore at the hangnail beside her fingernail.
The sweat beading on her forehead slowly flowed down her temple.
Varkas took hold of her shoulders and slowly turned her body. She felt long, firm fingers cup one cheek.
Unable to bring herself to meet his eyes, Thalia kept her gaze on the tip of his chin. Soon, Varkas’s face lowered.
His lips, startlingly warm and soft, lightly touched near the corner of her mouth and then moved away.
It was a kiss as light as a breeze. Merely the bare minimum contact carried out according to formality.
That fleeting contact, hardly even worthy of being called a kiss, seemed to slice her heart into tiny pieces.
“With this, I announce that all rites have ended.”
With the priest’s final declaration, formal applause rang out.
Thalia looked up at him with trembling eyes. His expressionless face, whose thoughts she could not read at all, was silently studying her.
What on earth was he looking at so closely?
Varkas, who had been digging into her with a persistent gaze, soon turned toward the audience seats. Only then did Thalia release the breath she had been holding.
With one arm around her waist, he crossed through the guests.
Between their slow steps, ghost-like faces passed by.
Gareth with his eyes shining eerily, the Emperor looking troubled, Senevier wearing a satisfied smile…
Countless shadows flowed past like a river, and soon, the dark sky scattering rain appeared before her eyes.
“Bring my coat.”
Varkas, who had stopped at the chapel entrance, spoke to the waiting knight.
The knight immediately held out the outerwear he had been carrying over his arm.
Varkas draped it over her shoulders, bent slightly, and lightly supported her body with one arm.
To keep herself from falling backward, Thalia hurriedly wrapped her arms around his neck. His soft hair, scented with fragrant soap, brushed the tip of her nose.
With one hand lightly wrapped around her back, he began walking slowly through the rain.
Thalia watched the soft, silver-shining raindrops cover his face in white, then turned her gaze to the garden where an ominous shadow had settled.
“…Where are we going?”
“I have prepared a temporary residence outside the Imperial Palace.”
He answered while moving at a relaxed pace.
“We will stay there until we depart for the East.”
Thalia wore a confused expression.
Was this how a wedding originally ended?
Senevier must have prepared a grand wedding reception. Had the entire Imperial Palace not been bustling for days, decorating the banquet hall and preparing food?
There must also be guests who had come to meet him. Was it all right to leave as they pleased like this, leaving all of that behind?
“We have done enough. There is no reason to remain as a spectacle any longer than this.”
The voice filled with coldness pulled her consciousness back to reality.
He was right.
This marriage was nothing more than a vulgar source of gossip.
The crippled illegitimate Princess and the switched bride, the pitiful groom who had gone from an object of envy to an object of sympathy overnight…
She knew without needing to hear it what words would be exchanged about them.
There was no reason for Varkas to endure such humiliation. No matter how much of an Emperor he was, he could not force that degree of sacrifice upon the man who would become the ruler of the East.
He passed along the path where muddy water had gathered and stopped before a carriage engraved with the crest of House Siarkan. The attendant sitting on the coachman’s seat ran over at once and opened the door.
Varkas stepped lightly inside and set her down on the seat covered with thick cushions.
Thalia looked at Varkas, who had become soaked in such a short time, with unfamiliar eyes.
Varkas sat across from her, loosened the ceremonial clothes constricting his neck, and let out a long breath tinged with fatigue.
A drop of water gathered in his hair flowed down his straight forehead and settled near his eye. His gaze, which felt dry despite being wet, stretched straight toward her.
“How are your legs?”
Thalia twitched her lips.
It grated on her that he cared about her legs more than necessary.
Gareth’s voice, mocking her by saying she had taken the place beside him for the price of one leg, circled her ears.
She chewed the tender flesh inside her mouth.
I know too.
I know, so why do you keep reminding me?
“They are still attached just fine, so stop caring.”
When she snapped irritably, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Thalia turned her head toward the window to avoid that sharp gaze. But wet fingers immediately turned her head back.
“I asked whether there is pain.”
At the stiff voice, her shoulders tensed for a moment, but Thalia roughly slapped his hand away.
“If I say I’m fine, will that make you feel better?”
“…”
“But what should I do? Since that day, there hasn’t been a single day when it didn’t hurt.”
Staring intently at his mask-like face, she spat the words like a wasp stabbing with its stinger.
“So do not scrape at my nerves with pointless questions. It irritates me.”
The warm, soft lips that had touched her closed coldly.
After sealing his mouth with cruel words, the one whose throat tightened at his silence was herself. Thalia nervously bit her parched lips.
Still, coldness was better than pity. Ever since her legs had become like this, the lukewarm kindness pouring over her had been more terrible than anything.
To hide her anxiety, Thalia deliberately snapped irritably.
“What are you doing not setting off? Are we going to stay here until morning?”
Varkas looked silently at her, then soon turned and lightly tapped the carriage wall.
A short while later, the sound of reins being cracked came, and the carriage slowly began moving forward.
Thalia looked out at the rain-soaked garden through the fogged glass window. The unfamiliar scenery that had never once become her home quickly slid past beyond the pale film.
As she stared blankly at it, her body suddenly lifted, and the soft seat touched her back.
Thalia looked up in surprise.
After laying her down on the wide carriage seat, Varkas reached behind the backrest, took out a cloak embroidered with the emblem of the Roem Knights, and covered her body with it.
“We have a long way to go. Close your eyes during that time.”
Thalia reached out to throw it away. But Varkas was one step faster.
He grasped her hand and pressed it down against the seat. Then, looking down into her eyes, which had not yet fully cleared from the medicine, he threatened her in the rough tone he sometimes used during their teenage years.
“Stop being stubborn and sleep. Don’t make people uneasy with those unfocused eyes.”
At the threatening tone, Thalia flinched, but soon pulled his cloak up to the bridge of her nose. Varkas silently looked down at her, then let out a tired sigh and sat down on the seat across from her again.
For some reason, she felt like crying.
Thalia buried her face in the hem of the clothes that carried his scent and closed her eyes.
***
At some point, it seemed she had dozed off.
Realizing that the rattling sway of the carriage had stopped, Thalia held her throbbing forehead with one hand and rubbed her dry eyes.
When she barely opened her eyes, the sight of the empty carriage interior filled her retina. Thalia, who had been blankly blinking, flinched and raised her upper body. As she rolled her eyes, looking for Varkas with a frightened expression, a rough voice mixed with a metallic sound came from outside.
“What do you intend to do about Her Highness the First Princess?”
Thalia stiffened her shoulders and pressed herself close to the window. Beyond the glass window beaded with droplets, she could see the evening sky where the rain had already stopped. Beneath that reddish sky, there stood a large, rough-looking stone building and a dozen or so men.
It was not difficult to find Varkas among them. The man standing with the sunset at his back spoke dryly.
“With what intention are you asking?”
“Whether you truly intend to abandon her like this…”
“You say something strange.”
A sharp sneer split the damp, moisture-laden air.
“Was my engagement to her not made from the beginning to keep the Empress in check?”
“…”
“Marriage is not the only way to protect those two.”
“By that, you mean…”
Confusion entered the man’s voice. However, Varkas did not seem to have any intention of explaining in detail.
As if annoyed, he cut off the knight’s words.
“Was I in a position to be interrogated by you?”
“I-I apologize. I overstepped.”
The man hurriedly bowed his head.
Varkas looked down at him with cold eyes, then soon spoke flatly.
“Nothing changes. Continue monitoring the Empress’s movements as you have been doing until now. And if there is any chance that His Highness the Crown Prince might do something reckless, report to me immediately.”
“Understood.”
As if there was nothing more to say, Varkas turned his body.
Thalia hurriedly laid her head back on the seat. But before she could cover herself with the cloak and pretend to be asleep, the carriage door opened, and Varkas appeared.
Thalia looked up at him with frozen eyes.
No comments yet. Be the first to leave a review!