Chapter 161
For an instant, her mind went completely blank, but Thalia deliberately lowered her voice and tried imitating the way the maids spoke.
“I am a maid. Can’t you tell just by looking?”
“Where are you assigned?”
“I work in the main castle.”
Despite her calm reply, the soldier did not easily let go of his suspicion.
The man bent down as if trying to check her face and continued questioning her.
“Why is a maid of the main castle going outside the castle at this hour?”
“I’m on my way to the market urgently on the head maid’s errand.”
Thalia turned her head the other way to avoid the man’s gaze and snapped in an irritated tone.
“So stop bothering me and let me go already. I said it’s urgent! If I end up getting scolded because I’m late, are you going to take responsibility?”
“First, take off your hood. I can’t let you out without confirming your identity...”
“Oh, seriously! If you’re that suspicious, you can just check with Head Maid Areta! If you say Yvonne, she’ll know. I’m already annoyed to death because I was sent on such a bothersome errand...!”
When she accurately mentioned the head maid’s name, his suspicion seemed to ease, and the man sighed and gestured with his chin.
“Damn, you’re awfully shrill. Fine. Go.”
Thalia immediately turned around.
But when it came time to move her feet, she grew tense, afraid he might recognize her unnatural gait.
She stepped forward as naturally as possible and watched the soldier’s movements over her shoulder.
Fortunately, he already seemed to have lost interest in her and was busy checking the baggage carts.
Not missing that chance, Thalia diligently moved her stiff legs and went down the slope.
Soon, the wide road leading to the walled city and a green meadow spread out before her eyes.
Thalia walked along the well-maintained gravel road, then, once she judged that Raedgo Castle had grown somewhat distant, she turned south.
After moving through the grass for a while, a wide meadow where sheep and horses were being grazed and a white birch forest came into view.
Perhaps because it was late, there were not many people coming and going.
Facing the damp wind, she pushed through the grass rising to her knees and moved forward.
Beyond the open field, the gray sky drew closer and closer.
Between swirling clouds, the sun pouring out red light sank toward the west.
In another hour or two, it would be completely dark.
Only then did fear strike her.
She had no idea where she should spend the night tonight.
“Should I go to a human settlement first?”
Perhaps she could spend the night somewhere like a barn.
She turned toward the pale wall rising beyond the hill.
She intended to look for a place to stay in a small village formed outside the city.
But before she could reach any human settlement, the surroundings began to darken rapidly.
Thalia suppressed her rising anxiety and dragged her heavy legs forward.
Because increasingly strong pain was rising from her pelvis and knees, her speed grew slower and slower.
In the end, the sun set before she could even reach the area near the wall.
Feeling her breathing gradually quicken, she desperately rolled her eyes in search of light.
In the distance, she could faintly see soldiers holding torches making their patrol.
How long had she limped after that light?
In her vision, now accustomed to the darkness, she spotted a small vegetable garden and a barn that seemed to have been built to store farming tools.
Thalia staggered toward it.
If she did not lie down somewhere immediately, she felt she would collapse where she stood.
Feeling around the dark space in search of a place where she might rest, Thalia found a pile of straw stacked in one corner of the floor and crawled toward it before lying down as if falling.
The dry hay reeked with a musty smell of dust, but at that moment, she did not care in the slightest.
Curled up tightly in a space that might be crawling with rats and insects, Thalia looked up at the pitch-black ceiling and breathed hard.
Perhaps because she had suddenly overexerted herself, the muscles in her calves and thighs ached terribly.
Her knees and pelvis also throbbed more than usual.
As she groaned softly in the darkness, Thalia fumbled beneath her tunic and touched her thighs.
Because no bandages had been wrapped around them, the uneven scars touched her fingertips directly.
She felt over the skin that seemed to have been stitched back together messily, then pressed hard on the hardened muscles and tried massaging them.
But once the cramps had begun, they showed no sign of subsiding easily.
“I should have brought medicine...”
She chewed on her lip, overwhelmed by dismay.
Just then, the surroundings grew noisy, and hurried footsteps came from somewhere.
Feeling the hair on the nape of her neck stand on end, she quickly raised her upper body.
She was about to crawl into a corner and hide when bright light poured over her face.
Thalia looked up in terror.
A man as huge as a mountain, dressed in armor, stood holding a torch.
He tilted the flame to shine more clearly on her face, then shouted over his shoulder.
“I found her!”
Her heart pounded rapidly.
Thalia curled up as much as she could like a mouse driven into a corner and quickly looked around.
On one side of the cluttered space where farming tools were piled, she saw another exit.
Just as she was about to throw herself toward it without time to think deeply, a black shadow entered along with heavy footsteps.
In that instant, a chill swept over her as if all the blood in her body had frozen.
Thalia looked up with a terrified expression at the dark outline of the man standing with the light behind him.
Feet encased in black sabatons slowly approached.
For some reason, that restrained gait swelled the fear she felt even more.
“Thalia Roem Siarkan.”
It was a voice so soft it sent chills down her spine.
Thalia barely raised her eyes and faced him.
The fire held in the knights’ hands faintly illuminated one side of his cold, chilled face.
She could not tell what in his calm appearance, seemingly no different from usual at first glance, made her hold her breath.
The man spoke with a chilling calmness.
“It is time to go home now.”
Thalia unconsciously moved her body backward.
Seeing that, a cruel light flashed in the man’s eyes.
“Do you wish to test my patience further?”
His low voice seemed to rake along her spine.
Thalia rolled her eyes, searching for a way out, but in the end, she let both arms hang down.
***
Throughout the entire return to the castle, he did not say a single word.
Thalia also did not bother opening her mouth.
She had no particular desire to make excuses.
As she was carried like baggage in his hands, she closed her eyes and ignored every commotion surrounding her.
Then at some point, she seemed to truly lose consciousness.
Waking from a light sleep, Thalia realized she was lying on Varkas’s bed and looked around in confusion.
At that moment, a sharp pain rose in her leg.
Thalia groaned while clutching her cramped calf and fumbled toward the shelf.
Before long, she found the glass bottle containing painkillers.
Just as she grasped it and tried to open the lid, a large hand suddenly reached out from the darkness and caught her wrist.
Thalia flinched and stiffened.
Only then did she realize that someone was sitting in one corner of the room.
When she turned back with startled eyes, she saw Varkas sitting upright in the thick darkness.
He was looking down at her with eyes that were strangely calm.
“Does your leg hurt?”
Thalia answered by pressing her lips shut and lowering her eyes.
Then she felt the hand binding her wrist tighten painfully.
“I truly cannot help asking. With that body, where exactly were you trying to go?”
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