Chapter 132
He grew worried that she might fall ill from being exposed to such cold wind.
He leaned his shoulder against the window frame and followed her movements with his eyes.
Her gait was now much more stable.
When she walked slowly at a steady pace, it was almost difficult to notice that her leg was uncomfortable.
However, that condition did not last long.
Her weakened muscles would spasm with even a little strain, and after about ten minutes, her gait also became visibly unnatural.
Though she did not show it outwardly, the pain seemed to remain as well.
Varkas, who had been tapping his fingertips against his arm with his arms crossed, finally picked up the coat he had taken off.
It seemed he would only feel reassured if he checked her condition at her side.
He walked around the solid wood desk and crossed the carpeted room.
Just as he opened the door and stepped into the corridor, he happened to encounter Daren coming up the stairs.
“Your Grace.”
The man, clutching a small piece of paper that looked like a telegram in one hand, strode toward him.
At the unpleasant premonition, Varkas narrowed his brow.
“What is it?”
“The intelligence agents sent to the North have sent an urgent dispatch. It would likely be best to hold an emergency meeting.”
The man, with a hardened expression, held out the rolled-up piece of paper.
Varkas received it and quickly read through the coded message, which had been made by mixing the script of the East and the imperial common tongue.
The content written in the report was clear.
The North was preparing for war.
And quite seriously at that.
“Is there still no word from those planted in the capital?”
“No, not yet.”
That meant the North’s suspicious movements had not yet reached the central region.
It also meant House Heimdal was moving very carefully.
He roughly raked up the hair fallen over his forehead.
“This alone is not enough information. We must be careful not to let rumors spread before we grasp the exact situation. Select reliable staff officers and gather them at the assembly hall.”
“Do you have anyone in mind?”
“Beirov, Rugen, Rabomir… That should be enough.”
When he named the subordinates he had kept an eye on, Daren stroked his chin and nodded.
“They are all tight-lipped fellows. Those men should handle the matter carefully. I will have them wait in the conference room soon.”
As the man turned away, Varkas pushed the telegram into the inner pocket of his coat and immediately descended the stairs.
His mind had instantly filled with the unstable political situation in the northeast.
He considered several possible scenarios.
By principle, he had to report the current situation to the imperial family.
But would that truly be a wise response?
There was no way House Heimdal had begun such a dangerous tightrope walk without any collateral.
There was a high possibility they had already won over not only key officials of the imperial family but also many nobles.
If even a single traitor emerged among the princely houses, the order of the Empire would collapse in an instant.
Now was the time to gather information and quietly tighten Balto’s throat beneath the surface.
Feeling a tingling sensation spread from his temple to between his brows, he rubbed around his eyes.
At that moment, a cool, beautiful voice came from nearby.
“Varkas?”
Varkas, who had just left the great hall and was heading toward the military affairs office, came to a sudden stop.
His wife, who had been walking in the rear garden just a moment ago, was now sitting near the pavilion in front of the main castle.
She sprang up from her seat.
“What are you doing at this hour? I naturally thought you were outside handling official duties…”
The woman, who had been moving hastily, stumbled badly.
He quickly caught her waist.
As he held the slender body that felt almost weightless in his arms, he felt his throat tighten and his mouth grow dry.
He looked down with displeasure at her reddened face.
When the faintly flushed nape of her neck and earlobes entered his eyes, his body reacted in an unwelcome way.
Ignoring it, he straightened her unsteady body.
“Please be careful.”
“I’m usually careful. It’s because you suddenly appeared.”
She grumbled softly with her eyes lowered.
It was the same prickly tone as usual, but somehow she looked lacking in energy.
He tidied her disheveled collar neatly and lightly placed the back of his hand against her flushed cheek.
“Your fever has not completely gone down yet. Why are you outside instead of resting in your room?”
“It’s suffocating to stay only inside the bedroom. The smell of burning firewood makes my throat sting too…”
He narrowed his brow.
Indeed, since they had begun lighting fires, her light coughs had become more frequent.
It seemed he would have to prepare a heating device using magic stones before long.
“Even so, do not stay outside too long. The air is cold.”
“Then when am I supposed to use this coat?”
She glared at him as if dumbfounded.
After a brief pause, Varkas answered calmly.
“Could you not use it when you go out with me?”
Perhaps it was an unexpected answer, because her eyes, resembling the autumn sky, grew a little wider.
As if hiding traces of agitation, she lowered her long eyelashes and said indifferently.
“You’re busy beyond belief. Who knows when you’ll be able to make time separately?”
“Soon…”
He was about to say that he would make time, but remembered the news that had flown in from Balto and closed his mouth.
As he rubbed his brow, feeling something close to irritation, the woman who had been watching his expression took a step back and spoke bluntly.
“Forget it. You don’t need to worry about me, so go take care of your own business.”
Then she turned toward the entrance of the main castle.
He caught her almost reflexively.
His image was reflected once again in her widened eyes.
“I will escort you to your room.”
“Forget it. I can walk on my own…!”
Ignoring her words, he lifted her small body in one swift motion.
After sending him an annoyed look for a moment, the woman soon leaned her head against his shoulder with a resigned expression.
He firmly supported her back and nodded to the quarter-dwarf standing awkwardly some distance away.
“Go to the military affairs office and tell them I will come in about one hour, so they should wait.”
“Y-yes, understood.”
Passing the woman, who bowed with a flustered face, he entered the hall, and the gazes of the busy servants flew toward him.
Ignoring the looks as if they were watching a rare spectacle, he strode up the stairs and noticed a maid pacing near his bedroom.
“What are you doing?”
When he approached her and spoke, the young maid, who had been stamping her feet in front of the door, startled and bowed.
“I greet Your Grace. This morning, Her Highness, the Grand Duchess said she wished to eat fresh fruit, so we hurriedly procured some goods from the market. However, she seemed to have stepped away for a moment, so I was waiting.”
He lowered his gaze to the tray in the maid’s hands.
Inside the silver bowl were a cluster of wild grapes and a few pieces of pear with their skin neatly peeled.
She usually mainly ate fruit or drinks mixed with honey, but even then, it had been at the level where the woman called her nanny had to plead with her before she barely put them to her mouth.
Since he had never once heard her say with her own mouth that she wanted to eat something, he felt pleased.
He adjusted her in one arm and took the bowl with his other hand.
“Thank you. I will take care of it, so you may withdraw.”
Then he opened the door and entered the bedroom.
“Did you want fruit?”
After setting her down on a chair thickly layered with cushions and bending down before her, he saw her anxious-looking face.
Thalia, stiffening her mouth as if hiding her feelings, spoke primly.
“That’s not the fruit I said I wanted.”
“Then what did you want to eat?”
The woman could not answer quickly and only tore at her clothes, then finally mumbled softly after a long while.
“Strawberries…”
A crease formed around his eyes.
It was a fruit whose season had long since passed.
As if she knew that fact very well, she hurriedly added defensively.
“I only told them to try looking for them if they could find any. I didn’t make unreasonable demands or throw a tantrum. Just telling them to go to the market and ask around isn’t an excessive order.”
“You may order that kind of errand as much as you like.”
He spoke in a firm tone.
At her attitude, as if she were watching his reaction, something like impatience surged up in him.
Does she think I will scold her over something as small as that?
Feeling the sensation that had been tightening his throat move down to his solar plexus, he lightly lifted her chin.
“Do you want strawberries?”
“I just suddenly thought of them…”
“It will be difficult today, but I will obtain them within a few days.”
The woman, who had been avoiding his gaze, slowly met his eyes.
He added somewhat urgently.
“If there is anything else you want to eat, please tell me anything.”
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