Chapter 77
Lucas looked disgusted.
Ever since hearing the news of Varkas’s marriage, his younger sister seemed to have gone completely insane.
Raina, who had harbored a quiet admiration for the relationship between Ayla and Varkas, had clumsily created a romance story in her head. And in that story, Thalia Roem Ghirta seemed to appear as the villainess of the century who had torn apart two devoted lovers.
Raina’s eyes burned with fighting spirit, just as they had when she first followed the mounted warriors out to hunt a manticore.
“Just you wait. I’ll make that woman leave this place on her own two feet. We’re going to save Brother from the witch of the Taren family!”
What on earth was clouding her eyes so badly that Varkas Raedgo Siarkan looked like someone in need of help?
Sometimes he wanted to open the lid of her head and look inside.
He swallowed a sigh and picked up the coat draped over the back of the chair.
“Well, do your best.”
“Are you saying you’re going to run away by yourself like a coward?”
“Didn’t you see Brother wrapping that woman up tightly and carrying her away earlier? I have no intention of getting on the future Grand Duke’s bad side over something useless.”
“That is all that woman’s cunning trick! Haven’t you heard the rumor that women of the Taren family steal men’s souls with wicked magic?”
Raina foamed at the mouth.
“She must have pretended to be weak to draw out his sympathy! Brother simply couldn’t bear to ignore such a sight!”
He shook his head. There was no point saying anything to Raina in that state.
With a deep sigh, he stepped toward the door, and Raina shrieked loudly.
“Where are you going!”
“I’m going riding! I feel suffocated, so I’m going to get some air.”
“No! Don’t you know Brother’s welcome banquet is soon?”
He left the room without even pretending to listen.
The central hall was crowded with servants carrying luggage.
Pale-faced workers who seemed to be from the central region piled large crates like a mountain on one side of the wide hall, while the servants of Raedgo Castle opened the boxes and recorded their contents.
Even at a glance, they were treasures enough to make one’s eyes widen.
I guess the rumor that she’s terribly extravagant is true.
He looked over the clothes and various ornaments filling the chests, then went outside through the back door.
He was about to go straight to the stable when he saw the warriors of the Wolfram Lancers, who had left to assist Varkas, gathered in a crowd at the training ground in the backyard.
Lucas found a familiar face among them and immediately turned his steps.
“Tyrone!”
The man, loosely wearing only a single loose tunka and drinking wine, looked back at him over his shoulder.
“Ah, the second young master.”
He wiped his wet lips and spoke in his characteristic languid tone.
“Have you been well?”
“So well I got sick of it.”
Lucas plopped down on the steps surrounding the training ground, snatched his bottle, and drank it down in one breath.
“What’s the situation in the capital like?”
“As expected, chaotic.”
As if not offended by his rude behavior, the man calmly shrugged and continued with a composed face.
“This marriage seems to have shaken not only Marquis Oristein but most of the conservative nobles as well. Sir Siarkan had quite a hard time calming them down.”
“What about the First Princess and the Crown Prince?”
“I did not get to meet Her Highness the First Princess. I heard she has shut herself in her room. It makes sense. She was abandoned right before the wedding… She probably won’t appear in public until a new marriage partner is decided. And as for His Highness the Crown Prince…”
Tyrone folded his arms before his chest and furrowed his brow as if choosing the right words.
“He was certainly full of venom, but surprisingly, he was accepting the situation calmly. He must have judged that pretending to agree to this marriage and strengthening his unity with Sir Siarkan would benefit him more than becoming completely estranged from him.”
At those unexpected words, Lucas tilted his head.
“That’s surprising. I thought he’d try to go to war with the East, saying he would make him pay for betraying his sister… The rumors were everywhere that he didn’t hesitate at anything when it came to the First Princess.”
As he furrowed his brow, recalling the rough impression of the Crown Prince he had met when visiting the capital a few years ago, Tyrone burst into laughter.
“Before power, even a pig will count on an abacus. It is true that the Crown Prince cares terribly for his sister, but surely she is not dearer than the imperial throne. In fact, he seemed more worried that his support base would be shaken than about the humiliation suffered by the First Princess.”
Lucas frowned.
He, too, had been educated for several years at an academy in the capital, but he could never quite adapt to the values of the central region’s nobles.
In the East, bonds between blood relatives tended to be stronger.
Though she was an annoying younger sister, if Raina had been abandoned before marriage, they would have risked even war to repay that humiliation.
Suddenly, he felt pity for the First Princess.
She had, in effect, been betrayed not only by her fiancé but also by the younger brother she had trusted.
Perhaps Raina was right. Perhaps women with the blood of the Taren family possessed a dangerous magical power that made men abandon even faithfulness.
He recalled the deep blue eyes that had been beneath the hood.
Those two eyes, rippling with faint heat, were like living jewels.
No. Even the finest lapis lazuli could not compare to them.
His attempt to remove the hood had been purely unconscious. The moment he met her eyes, his hand had moved on its own.
He asked in a slightly lowered voice.
“What kind of person does the Second Princess seem to be?”
A deep crease formed between the man’s brows.
After hesitating briefly, he answered.
“I’ve only spoken with her once, so I don’t know well either. But it seemed certain that, just as the rumors say, she is no ordinary personality.”
“More than Raina?”
“Surely not more than the young lady.”
He said it jokingly. But perhaps even he was not certain, for shallow wrinkles gathered near his eyes.
Lucas felt his curiosity swelling even more.
What kind of person was she, to make this slippery man, smooth as an eel, make such a face?
“What about her appearance? Is she really that pretty?”
At the question he blurted out, the man, who had been taking the bottle back from his hand, paused and sent him a probing gaze.
For some reason, Lucas felt guilty.
He scraped the floor with the heel of his shoe and pretended to be distracted.
The man silently observed him, emptied the last sip of alcohol into his mouth, and answered indifferently.
“Enough to become a problem.”
Then, with a thoughtful expression, he added meaningfully.
“So perhaps that is why Sir Siarkan keeps her so carefully hidden.”
***
When she opened her eyes, deep darkness had settled all around.
Thalia gasped roughly and clutched her throat. It felt as though someone were strangling her.
As she scratched at her skin to tear away the shapeless fingers, Thalia crawled to the head of the bed and shook the cord attached to the bell.
A short while later, she heard the door open.
Thalia turned her head.
When a familiar silhouette entered her sight, her blocked breathing opened at once. It seemed her body had recognized him before her head could.
“Are your legs cramping?”
Varkas, who had lit the lamp by her bedside, bent over the bed and asked.
Thalia took a long deep breath and shook her head from side to side.
“I was just thirsty and called a maid.”
His eyes narrowed. It seemed he did not believe her.
While checking her fever by placing one hand on her forehead, Varkas gave an order in a blunt tone to the maids who arrived belatedly.
“Get medicine from the healer.”
Then he personally poured water into a glass and handed it to her.
She felt briefly irritated at him openly ignoring her words, but because she was grateful that he had come running at once, she accepted the glass without complaint.
When she took a sip of cold water, her hazy mind became much clearer.
She set the glass down and looked him over with eyes from which the feverish haze had faded.
Varkas was wearing a loose coat, like the men of this place wore, over a fitted tunic.
At the unfamiliar clothing, something stirred inside her for a moment.
She glanced at the outline of his chest plainly visible between the folds of his clothes, then lowered her eyes with an uncomfortable expression.
“What are those clothes? They’re strange.”
“…They are traditional clothing of the East.”
“Don’t wear that from now on. It doesn’t suit you.”
In truth, it suited him terribly well.
The man who was always dressed sharply and without a gap looked somewhat provocative in loose clothing that seemed as though it might come undone at any moment.
For some reason, that bothered her.
She spoke forcefully.
“You look extremely undignified. If you walk around dressed like that, the retainers will look down on you. So don’t wear it.”
Varkas looked down at her face silently, then slowly nodded.
“I understand.”
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