Ch#213
The knight, blinking blankly, exchanged glances with his comrades before stepping forward to face the Grand Duke.
Baredon, who had been standing still watching the scene, resumed his pace as if pushed by the urging of the messengers. In an instant, the backs of the Grand Duke and Edric Luvon receded from his vision.
Just what kind of conversation were they planning to have?
He cast a curious gaze their way for a moment, but soon straightened his head.
He did not have the luxury to expend mental energy on matters that did not concern him. Was he not already overwhelmed just fulfilling the duties assigned to him?
Shaking off even the last vestige of interest, the young man silently led the messengers toward the main castle.
A week later, the cavalry units sent by the lords from various parts of the East converged on Kalmor.
Flags of various colors representing each house fluttered vigorously across the fields surrounding the ramparts, and thousands of iron-clad horses filled the vast hills.
Varkas, overlooking the magnificent military force from atop the castle tower, descended the stairs and headed for the training grounds. Raedgo Castle was also teeming with armed mounted warriors and horses draped in barding.
He walked past the soldiers lined up in orderly ranks and scanned the supply wagons lined up in front of the castle gates. Four-wheeled carriages piled high with military rations, weapons, and various war supplies formed a long queue extending outside the castle.
“Your Excellency, all preparations for the expedition are complete.”
Around the time he had finished a circuit of the training grounds, Beirop, having completed the perimeter patrol, approached and delivered his report.
Varkas looked up to gauge the position of the sun and gave instructions in a flat tone.
“Distribute meals to the soldiers in advance. To move toward the destination without rest, it would be best to replenish their strength before departure.”
“Understood.”
As the knight hurried off to relay his command, Varkas left the barracks and made his way toward the annex.
Unlike the outskirts of the castle, which were no different from a chaotic marketplace, the rear garden was desolate to the point of being eerie.
He stepped through the layers of accumulated snow and approached the building located at the northern end of the inner court.
“You have arrived, Your Excellency.”
The guards standing at the door offered a disciplined greeting.
Passing them to enter the building, Varkas headed straight for the stairs. However, he stopped in his tracks upon spotting Edric Luvon sitting perched on a long sofa in the drawing room.
“What are you doing here?”
The man, who had been poking at the logs with a poker, stood up awkwardly with a flustered face.
“What do you mean… Did you not ask me to guard Her Grace, the Grand Duchess?”
Varkas narrowed his eyes. To be precise, he had asked him to protect her after he had departed.
Varkas sent a dissatisfied look toward the man who had packed his bags and arrived the moment the word was given, even before he himself had left. He then pulled a leather pouch from his breast and tossed it over.
“It’s just as well, since I won’t have to seek you out separately. I shall pay you a year’s worth of wages in advance.”
“There is no need to go that far…”
“There is no telling when I might return. It will be easier for both of us if it is settled beforehand.”
Cutting off the man’s formal refusal with finality, Varkas turned and ascended the stairs.
Deciding to keep Edric Luvon by her side was a somewhat impulsive decision. He had wished for someone she might find even slightly familiar to be in this castle once even he had gone.
In a span of less than a year, she had lost those she was close to one after another. Two healers, and the wolf she had cherished so dearly…
Though that woman, the nanny, still remained, that woman possessed not a shred of affection for Talia.
Had he not strictly forbidden her from any service other than preparing meals, fearing his wife would stop eating again out of shock if she found out?
Rather than keeping that loathsome woman by her side, it was better to let her find some solace in Edric Luvon.
Varkas stopped in the middle of the hallway and stared at her bedroom door with shadowed eyes. A maid who had been dozing in the waiting room opposite jumped to her feet with a startled face.
“Y-Your Excellency, you are here.”
“How is Her Grace?”
“I served her meal this morning as you instructed. However, she did not eat much…”
The maid lowered her head with a gloomy expression.
Varkas tapped his temple with his fingertip before pulling the bedroom door handle. With the sound of creaking hinges, the interior of the disheveled bedroom was fully revealed.
He slowly scanned the carpet, which bore dark stains as if an ink bottle had been hurled, and the mottled quilt that reeked of wine. He then spotted Talia huddled in a small ball in a corner of the room and approached her.
Though she must have sensed his presence, she did not stir. He looked down silently at the woman who remained motionless with her face buried in her knees, then bent down and caught her chin with one hand, lifting it up.
Hostile blue eyes shone vividly within the face forced upward.
Meeting those blade-like eyes—which he had become more than accustomed to—he spoke calmly.
“I heard you did not eat properly again. Have you grown tired of the food that woman makes now?”
“…”
“If that is the case, tell me. I will leave instructions to dismiss her and hire a new cook.”
She slapped his hand away so harshly it made a sharp sound.
“I am not livestock. I have no obligation to shove everything you bring me down my throat.”
His eyes narrowed.
Perhaps thanks to his persistent feeding of food and medicine over the past few weeks, color had begun to return to her pale complexion, but she was still dangerously thin.
Had he not periodically cast recovery magic on her, she wouldn’t even have had the strength to resist like this.
Varkas swallowed a sigh and lightly lifted the woman’s body. At that, she began to struggle fiercely, like a wild animal caught in a hunter’s trap.
He forcibly seated the woman—who continued her pitifully futile resistance—in front of the fireplace, then gripped her small chin and brought his face close to hers. He spoke each word clearly, as if hammering them into her mind.
“I plan to be away from the castle for a while.”
The woman, who had been huffing with her chest heaving violently, froze.
He added, threateningly, in a low, sunken voice.
“Do not even think about ruining your body with foolish acts just because I am not here. If word reaches me that you have started a hunger strike again, even I do not know what I might do then.”
“Let me go!”
Pressing down harder on the woman who tried to shake off his hand, he spoke as if reprimanding her.
“Mark my words. I will not tolerate any more trouble arising because of you.”
The woman’s face distorted sharply. She spat out the words through her blood-stained lips.
“Go out there and rot.”
A cold sneer hung on the corner of Varkas’s mouth.
“Wonderful. A wife pouring curses upon her husband on the eve of his departure.”
Her face, which had been flushed red with anger, turned pale in an instant.
The woman’s shoulders heaved as if she were about to retort, but in the next moment, she cast her eyes down and bit her lip. Varkas, looking down at her expressionlessly, let out a dry laugh and stood up.
“I shall see for myself just how well your prayers work.”
At his sarcastic remark, the woman’s face crumbled miserably.
Glaring at him with eyes rimmed with red, she muttered in a voice laced with a metallic rasp.
“Just get lost already. Go, and never come back.”
Varkas, who had been staring down at that face as if transfixed, finally left the bedroom. The moment he closed the door behind him, the sound of something breaking echoed from within. It seemed she was taking her anger out on objects again.
Exhaling a faint sigh, Varkas gave instructions to the maids standing in the hallway in a calm tone.
“I will have a priestess on standby downstairs at all times, so if her condition worsens, take action immediately.”
“W-we will keep that in mind.”
He soon descended the stairs and left the annex.
At that moment, he felt something cold brush against his cheek.
He lifted his head. Faint, white-glowing clouds were scattering light snow. Varkas brushed it off with an indifferent hand and began to walk once more.
