Ch#209
209
Varkas, looking down at her with clenched teeth, shouted toward the doorway.
“Bring food, now!”
The maids lingering in the hallway scurried down the stairs in a panic.
Before long, they carefully entered the room carrying trays laden with various dishes.
Varkas forcibly pulled the limp woman up into a sitting position and propped her upper body against a pillow. He then picked up a bowl of white porridge from the tray and thrust it into her hand.
“Stop this childish behavior and eat.”
Her unfocused eyes drifted down toward the bowl.
When she showed no reaction, Varkas, growing anxious, added a threatening edge to his voice.
“If you won’t eat on your own, I’ll force you.”
But Talia remained motionless, slumped like a doll with its strings cut.
Eventually losing his patience, Varkas snatched the spoon and scooped up some porridge. As he brought it to her lips, she turned her head away as if even moving was a chore.
He grabbed her face, forcing her jaws open. It was only when he tried to shove the porridge inside that a violent reaction finally erupted.
“No!”
With a desperate cry, she shoved his arm away.
The spoon, knocked back by her unexpected resistance, clattered to the floor. The bowl of porridge, pushed aside in her struggle, overturned on the sheets and spilled its contents.
Varkas stared at the mess with stony eyes before immediately picking up another vessel.
Inside the small porcelain cup was a fermented goat milk drink that she used to enjoy as a dessert. He shoved it toward her mouth and barked an order.
“Drink.”
She clamped her mouth shut and twisted her body away.
He caught her as she tried to escape, pinning her against the headboard. With his other hand, he squeezed her cheeks to force her mouth open. He poured the liquid in bit by bit, but Talia refused to swallow.
The liquid she wouldn’t let pass her throat trickled down, soaking her mouth and chin.
A flame of fury surged within him.
Varkas drained the rest of the cup into his own mouth. Then, holding her thrashing body firmly to prevent her escape, he crashed his lips against hers.
Only then did a spark of rage flicker in the depths of her hollow eyes.
Possessing a strength one wouldn’t expect from someone who had starved for days, her slender hands clawed wildly at his chest and neck.
He paid it no mind and thrust his tongue deep into her mouth. A muffled groan escaped through her forcibly opened throat.
Ignoring her distress, he forced her to swallow the liquid he held in his mouth. As the veins in her neck bulged with the effort of resisting, she bit down on his tongue.
Thanks to him holding her jaw, it wasn’t a deep wound, but the sharp taste of blood filled his mouth.
Varkas finally pulled back. Seizing the opening, she twisted away and crawled toward the edge of the bed. He snatched her shoulder just as she was about to flee and pinned her back down onto the sheets.
She panted heavily, glaring at him through her tangled hair.
Her face was now drenched in a cold sweat.
Stains of the pale liquid and blood were smeared across her lips and chin, and the sticky drink clung white to her heaving chest. She looked like some sort of supernatural creature that enchanted humans only to devour them alive.
Looking down at her with shimmering eyes, Varkas asked in a low, strained voice.
“Tell me. What do I have to do to make you eat?”
Suddenly, a dry, airy sound escaped her chapped lips. It took a moment for him to realize it was the sound of laughter.
As if she had exhausted all her energy in the previous struggle, her limbs went limp, and she exhaled a faint, raspy breath.
“You sound as if you’d actually listen to me….”
“…….”
“I won’t be fooled again. Never.”
The light that had burned so fiercely in her eyes vanished once more.
Staring into the void with eyes like an abyss, she murmured, her wet eyelashes fluttering downward.
“Just leave me alone.”
His heart gave a small convulsion at the sight of her utter resignation.
Varkas immediately slid his arm behind her neck and pulled her upright again. No matter what she said, he was determined to make her eat.
Cupping her cheeks with both hands, he forced her to look at him. However, she didn’t budge, her eyes squeezed shut. It was only after several seconds that he realized she had completely collapsed and lost consciousness. He roared toward the door.
“Bring a priest, immediately!”
Urgent footsteps echoed the moment the order was given.
Varkas lifted her with one arm and cleared away the ruined blankets and sheets. Seeing this, a quick-witted maid brought out fresh linens and spread them over the bed.
After laying her back down, Varkas took a wet towel from a basin on the shelf and wiped her face. Throughout it all, Talia remained limp and unconscious, like a corpse.
It was only after a priest, brought in by the maids, cast a recovery spell that she opened her eyes again.
“Using recovery magic to replenish strength is merely a temporary measure. If you do not consume sufficient water and food, your body will only grow weaker.”
The priest spoke to her in a solemn tone.
Talia kept her gaze fixed out the window, saying nothing. The priest gave a small, awkward cough and glanced tentatively at Varkas.
Varkas gave a sharp nod toward the door, signaling him to leave. The priest gathered his things and hurried out of the room without delay.
Once even the maids had withdrawn, Varkas held a plate of preserved fruit in front of her again.
“Eat.”
She looked back at him with an expression of pure loathing.
Without blinking, Varkas picked up a piece of pear preserved in honey and brought it to her lips.
“If you want to repeat that struggle from earlier, go ahead and resist. Whether you thrash or faint, I intend to repeat this until you eat properly.”
The woman, staring intensely at him, finally opened her mouth. A terrible sense of relief washed over him, nearly causing his grip to falter.
Steeling his trembling fingers, he hurried to slide the fruit between her lips.
She chewed it a few times, then suddenly spat it out onto the sheets.
Varkas’s face hardened into a cold mask once more.
She turned to him with a mocking smile.
“Seeing you try so hard makes me want to eat even less.”
He clenched his fists so tightly he could feel his nails piercing the skin of his palms.
As if to provoke the man who was barely restraining himself, she added in a hoarse voice.
“Go ahead, try shoving it in. I’ll just spit it all back out.”
Then, she let out a hollow, mad giggle. That empty, dry sound shattered his reason in an instant.
Doing exactly as she provoked, Varkas snatched another piece of fruit from the plate. As he forced it into her mouth, she bit down hard on his finger.
He saw blood seeping from where her small teeth sank into his flesh, but he didn’t care. An obsession bordering on madness consumed him in an instant.
“Swallow it.”
She glared at him, her teeth still clamped firmly on his finger.
Varkas, breathing heavily against her defiant face, spoke through gritted teeth.
“Are you really going to starve yourself to death over a damn wolf cub?”
Those words were the fuse that set her off.
As he tightened his hold on the woman who was thrashing like a trapped beast, he noticed the bruises forming on her skin and let go, cursing under his breath.
At that same moment, his cheek stung. He glared at her with eyes as cold as ice. The woman who had just slapped him was clutching her chest, gasping for air.
“What do you… what do you know? Khan was my everything. Because of Khan, I finally… I finally stopped hurting… I actually wanted to live….”
Hot tears drenched her face.
Hunched over and trembling violently, she suddenly lunged at him.
“And you took that away! I begged you so much…! I begged you to save him…!”
A scream that sounded more like a desperate shriek tore from her throat.
