Ch#104
104
There was no time to react.
Through the gap created by her startled gasp, a slick tongue and a thick, honey-like liquid slid inside.
Thalia, who had expected a bitterness so intense it would make her stomach ache, widened her eyes at the unexpected flavor.
A sweet liquid infused with the scent of flowers wrapped softly around her tongue. As she swallowed the mouthful, the flesh that had been pressing against the tip of her tongue slowly withdrew.
“I heard you went so far as to skip dinner.”
A reproachful voice tickled her swollen lips.
Thalia looked up at him with a dazed expression. Ever since she had started pestering him for kisses under the pretext of taking her medicine, they had shared lips almost every night, but this was the first time he had initiated it.
No, to be precise, this is the second time.
She flushed crimson, recalling their confusing first night.
Varkas, watching her quietly, brushed his calloused thumb against the corner of her mouth.
“Do you want more?”
Her heart convulsed at the whispering voice.
Thalia pulled away from him instantly, as if she had been burned.
“W-what did you just feed me?”
At her stuttered question, he gestured with his eyes toward the shelf beside the bed. A small silver pitcher and a bowl filled with various fruits sat there.
“It is a drink made from fermented goat’s milk. People in the East often have it as a breakfast substitute.”
The monotonous explanation only further tangled her already confused mind. However, he looked perfectly composed, as if feeding her by mouth was of no great consequence.
Perhaps, to him, it truly wasn’t.
Just as he had fed her medicine by mouth when she refused to take it, he might have simply been ensuring she ate.
Yes. That must be it.
Is he not a man who is profoundly broken in some way? Just as he had unilaterally catered to Aila’s whims, he was merely following her demands this time.
Thalia, struggling to calm her heart, forced a cold expression onto her face.
“Who asked you to feed me my meals too?”
His sharp eyes narrowed at her edged voice.
Yet, he didn’t seem offended. Varkas, stroking his chin with a pensive expression, placed the tray in front of her.
“Then, eat for yourself.”
With that, he rose and walked to the window. Thalia watched him pour water into a basin to wash his face and neck before lowering her gaze to the tray.
Suddenly, she felt an impulse to bite her own tongue. If she had kept resisting, he would have fed her himself. Cursing her own pathetic thoughts, she picked up a piece of bread.
It was warm, as if freshly baked. While she tore the steaming bread into small pieces and pushed them into her mouth, Varkas returned to the bed, changed into fresh clothes.
“Is the food not to your taste?”
Varkas asked, frowning as he saw the mangled pieces of bread.
Thalia hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.
“It’s… fine.”
“Then eat properly. Stop acting like someone who holds a grudge against food.”
Thalia’s eyes flared at his tone, which sounded like he was coaxing a finicky child.
She wanted to snap back, asking how she was supposed to eat when she didn’t know what was in it. But when she met those eyes staring intently at her, the thorny words crawled back down her throat. She didn’t want to pick a pointless fight with a man who had returned from a night of grueling battle and immediately seen to her meal.
Thalia eventually picked up a small piece of bread that looked as if it had been fried in oil.
Closing her eyes tight, she took a large bite, and her teeth sank into hot meat seasoned with spices.
A sudden wave of nausea surged.
The taste of the greasy meat itself wasn’t the problem. Rather, it was the intense revulsion at the fact that she was putting something unidentified into her mouth.
Surely it wasn’t something like a lizard, a bat, or a frog. As she crushed the soft flesh with her teeth, she bit into something crunchy. It seemed to be nuts. No. Perhaps it was an insect. The finely minced meat was mixed with all sorts of ingredients that seemed to have been sautéed in oil.
Her stomach twisted painfully at the thought that there might be something filthy or foreign inside.
Moving her jaw mechanically, as if chewing mud, Thalia couldn’t bear the disgust and simply swallowed what was in her mouth.
Seeing this, Varkas quickly poured water into a cup and handed it to her.
“Drink.”
Thalia snatched the cup desperately.
As she gulped down the ice-cold water, the food that had been clogging her throat washed down her esophagus.
She shuddered at the sensation, feeling as if she had swallowed gravel, when a sighing voice drifted down from above.
“That terrible eating habit of yours simply won’t be cured.”
Thalia looked up at him with startled eyes.
She was a bit taken aback because she had never imagined he would care about what she ate.
“It’s just… I don’t have much of an appetite today.”
He creased his brow at her defensive excuse. He seemed aware of the fact that she ate even less than priests practicing asceticism.
Exhaling another small sigh, Varkas poured the goat’s milk drink and handed it to her once more.
“It would be best to gradually increase the variety of foods you can eat. You cannot live on honey and fruit forever.”
Thalia stared blankly up at the man giving her such uncharacteristic nagging before taking the cup with a reluctant face.
When she forced down the liquid filling the cup, he moved the tray aside.
“I will call the maid, so prepare to depart.”
While he stepped out, Thalia washed lightly and changed into clean clothes with the Nanny’s help.
Since her bandages had been changed the previous evening, there seemed to be no need to call a healer.
Draping a fur-lined coat over her shoulders, Thalia brushed off the Nanny’s support and stepped outside alone.
The weather was exceptionally clear.
Looking up at the cloudless sky, Thalia lowered her gaze to take in the peaceful village scenery.
She saw horses, freed from their saddles, grazing on the wide meadows. The cavalrymen, having finished their subjugation, were gathered in an open space, eating.
As she tried to pass them toward the carriage, Thalia noticed a strange shadow stretching out at her feet and stopped. She saw a long pole erected not far away.
Thalia reflexively looked up and froze as she came face-to-face with a large head hanging at the top.
At the sight of the face, pale and ashen as if every drop of blood had been drained from the body, her stomach—already overworked since morning—began to cramp.
Thalia covered her mouth with her sleeve. It felt as if the food she had forced down would surge back up at any moment. Even so, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the face distorted by terror.
Public executions were held regularly in the capital, but this was the first time she had seen an actual decapitated corpse.
Gripped by a bizarre curiosity, she stared intently into the clouded pupils. She felt as if she might be able to glimpse hell through them.
According to doctrine, impure beings are cast into a pit of fire. And as an impure being herself, she was highly likely to go to hell.
If she could, she wanted to see the world she would inhabit after death in advance. Caught in that thought, she moved closer to the pole, but a powerful forearm blocked her view.
Thalia snapped her head around.
Varkas was looking down at her with an indescribable expression.
It wasn’t just Varkas. Everyone was casting unsettling glances her way, as if the sight of her staring at the decapitated head as if possessed was chilling.
