Ch#160
Talia pushed aside her half-finished bowl and rose from the bed.
Approaching the window, she saw about a dozen knights clad in golden armor lined up in the castle courtyard. They were the Roem Knights.
Judging by the fact that they had dispatched an entire elite unit rather than just one or two knights, it seemed they hadn’t come merely to deliver a message from the Imperial Palace.
Did they come to take me?
Talia stared blankly at the thought for a moment before shaking her head.
Even the Emperor could not forcibly take the Grand Duchess of the East. In truth, there was no reason to go that far. It was more likely that the conflict with the North had begun in earnest.
She, too, sensed that war was imminent. She was also aware that Barkas was being pressured from all sides because of it.
If a war of independence broke out in the North, it was obvious that the East would suffer a significant blow, both militarily and economically. Therefore, the Eastern nobles would feel the need to suppress the Northern rebellion early on. The lords of the regions bordering the North, in particular, must be gripped by a great sense of crisis.
It was highly probable that the conservative nobles were also watching Barkas’s movements with cold, judgmental eyes. After all, hadn’t his political standing already been narrowed due to his marriage to her?
Every circumstance was urging him to abandon her. And yet, why was that man still holding on to her?
Suddenly, the image of him holding her quietly under the moonlight flickered in her mind. She remembered the touch of his hand as he stroked her belly while she sat on his lap, and how he had personally prepared the rare fruits he had brought for her.
Moments that felt like love tried to spark a flame once more in a heart that held nothing but ashes.
‘No.’
Overwhelmed by a strong sense of dread, Talia whispered to herself.
If time continued to pass like this, she would undoubtedly harbor futile hopes again. And she would fall into the abyss of despair over and over.
I hate it. I don’t want to be in that much pain anymore.
“Your Grace, are you feeling unwell? Shall I call the healing sorceress?”
As she leaned her dizzy head against the cold glass pane, a maid asked with a worried face. Talia shook her head.
“No, I’m fine. I just…”
At that moment, the sleeping pills sitting on the shelf caught her eye. Talia added, somewhat impulsively, “I think I’m a bit thirsty. Bring me a bottle of wine.”
“Ah… Please wait a moment. I’ll bring it right away.”
Flustered by the sudden request, the maid searched the shelves only to find nothing but herbal tea and cold water, so she hurriedly left the room.
Talia instructed the remaining maid to stoke the fireplace higher. While the girl’s back was turned, she snatched the medicine bottle and hid it under her sleeve.
A short while later, the maid who had left returned with a pitcher of wine.
Talia uncorked the medicine bottle under the covers, then reached out with her other hand and snatched the pitcher of wine.
The maid gave her a bewildered look. Ignoring it, Talia opened the lid of the pitcher and leaned over it. Pretending to taste the wine with her fingertip, she poured the sleeping pills hidden in her voluminous sleeve into the vessel.
Fortunately, her long, veil-like hair and sleeves seemed to have perfectly concealed her actions. She hid the empty bottle under the blankets and looked up at the maids with a feigned look of suspicion.
“You two try it first.”
When the maids only blinked in confusion, Talia pressed them in a spiteful tone.
“What? Did you put something strange in here?”
Startled, the girls eventually poured and drank the wine. They seemed so accustomed to her picking fights for no reason that they didn’t suspect her of having an ulterior motive.
Talia accused them of only pretending to drink and forced them to have more. In the end, the maids had to drain a full glass of the potent wine each.
Watching them closely, Talia suddenly announced she had changed her mind, pushed the pitcher aside, and flopped down onto the bed.
She didn’t know what she was thinking, doing such a thing. She simply followed a vague impulse and held her breath under the covers for a long time. When she cautiously lifted her head, she saw the maids slumped on the floor, leaning against the wall.
Since she had recently developed a tolerance to sleep-grass and had the medicine prepared in a high concentration, both of them appeared to be completely unconscious.
Climbing out of bed, Talia examined their condition closely and, in an act of mercy, covered them with a blanket. Then, she peered into the waiting room used by the servants through the side door next to the bedroom.
Fortunately, it was empty; the healing sorceress had likely gone to the apothecary.
She entered without hesitation and rummaged through a chest next to a small cot.
Before long, she found a brownish-gray wool tunic and a pair of leather shoes.
She shed her nightgown, threw on the slightly loose tunic, and stepped into the stiff shoes. Then, she meticulously braided her hair into a single strand and found a shabby cloak to wrap around herself.
With a dingy kerchief tied over her head and the hood pulled down low, she looked like a commoner woman through and through.
After checking her reflection, Talia stepped out into the hallway through the small side door next to the waiting room.
The hallway was deserted, as most of the servants had converged on the kitchen to prepare for the sudden arrival of guests.
She used the passages primarily used by the maids to head toward her own room, which had been vacant for a long time. Luckily, the bedroom was empty.
Approaching the dresser beside the bed, Talia unlocked it and searched thoroughly for anything worth taking. Since her expensive accessories were kept separately in a safe, she could only find a few jewels.
Having managed to find a few gold rings and pearl hairpins, Talia shoved them into her pocket and picked up the jewelry box she had brought from the Imperial Palace.
Opening the lid, she saw the moonstone that resembled Barkas’s eyes, the handkerchief he had bought her, and a gold button engraved with the crest of the Roem Knights.
She started to slide them into her leather pouch as a matter of course, then froze.
Why was she packing these things when she was about to leave everything behind?
Talia stared quietly at the traces of her pathetic lingering attachments, then put them back into the jewelry box and locked it tight. She pushed it deep into the dresser and left the room.
The sun had dipped noticeably lower.
She stepped cautiously into the darkened hallway. As she descended the narrow stairs leading to the back gate, she spotted servants busily carrying bathwater.
Everyone seemed to be frantic, trying to accommodate the guests who had arrived without warning. Thanks to that, Talia was able to slip out of the building without drawing the workers’ attention.
‘…What should I do now?’
Walking along a secluded path, she looked up at the cloudy sky with a sense of desolation.
No matter how ignorant of the world she was, she knew enough to realize how harsh it could be.
If she wandered aimlessly without a single guard, she wouldn’t last a few days before being robbed or becoming prey for monsters.
Even if by some stroke of luck she reached a settlement safely, there was no way she could earn a living, knowing how to do nothing.
She would probably end up begging on the streets and starving to death. She could easily imagine her own miserable end.
‘Still…’
At least he wouldn’t have to see her fall apart like that.
Talia moved forward slowly, limping.
If she kept moving south from Kalmor, she would reach the Bellamen Monastery. It was a place famous as a sanctuary for the displaced, so they would likely be generous enough to take in one woman of unknown identity.
If God took pity on her and she miraculously arrived there safely, she would choose to live a little longer.
But if she didn’t…
Talia stopped her thoughts there. She didn’t want to think about anything anymore. After walking for a long time, moving her legs mechanically, she finally saw the high stone walls and the iron-rimmed gate rising between the trees. Fortunately, no sentries were in sight.
She approached the gate, taking care to look as natural as possible. Pulling gently on the door handle, she saw three or four wagons lined up along the road. It seemed they had summoned peddlers in a hurry.
She glanced at a merchant talking to a sentry not far away and carefully slipped through the gate.
Just then, someone grabbed her shoulder firmly.
Startled, Talia turned her head and, seeing a soldier in a surcoat embroidered with the Sheikan family crest, hurriedly pulled her hood down further. She felt the man eyeing her suspiciously.
“Who are you? You don’t look like one of the castle maids…”
