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Her words, quiet and slow, trailed off into nothing.
Varkas studied her slender face framed in hearthlight, his gaze dissecting her every feature. After a long hesitation, she looked up and met his eyes.
“Of course, you need not agree. I only ask that you give it some thought….”
“Stop wasting time and state your business.”
His tone was biting, fueled by an inexplicable irritation at her excessive caution. Her lips pressed into a rigid line.
He expected a flash of raw emotion to break through her surface. Yet her dark eyes, tinged with navy blue, revealed nothing at all.
After a heavy silence, she spoke again.
“I heard you must return north once Raina’s engagement is concluded. Is that true?”
Varkas hesitated for a second before giving a slow nod.
“It is. As soon as affairs here are settled, I must return to the front.”
A noticeable shadow fell across her face.
Varkas felt a sudden, inexplicable dryness parching his throat and wetted his lips.
“The Commander-in-Chief cannot leave his post vacant for long. I must remain in the theater until the rebellion is entirely crushed.”
“Then….”
She chose her words with deliberate care.
“When you depart, could you take Edric with you?”
Varkas narrowed his eyes at the unforeseen request.
Gauging his reaction, she added cautiously,
“If it does not breach protocol, I would have you appoint him as your aide.”
“Why would you concern yourself with such matters, Princess?”
“Well….”
Flustered by his curt response, she lowered her eyelashes before speaking evenly.
“He sometimes spars with the men during drills… and they say his talent is wasted merely standing guard over me….”
· · ·
“Besides, you assigned him to me because you feared I might cause another scene. I have no desire to invite further trouble. I wish only to live quietly, as I do now.”
As her voice faded, a log in the hearth cracked sharply.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her still face, Varkas let out a dry, hollow laugh.
“Did you come all this way merely to ask for something so trivial?”
The sharp edge in his voice made her fingers twitch against her lap. Yet the gaze she turned on him remained as still as a fathomless lake.
“If it is not too much trouble, I would ask you to consider it. There is no reason for someone confined to the castle to keep a senior knight of the Roem Knights as her guard.”
Varkas smoothed the sneer from his lips, his eyes fixed on her face.
The woman who had once sworn never to forgive him until the day she died was now looking at him with cold detachment, free of any lingering passion. He could not understand why that unreadable calm grated on him so.
He rose from the bed and stepped toward her. Her stiff fingers clenched her skirts as if struck by sudden dread. A bitter smirk curled his mouth.
“I had no idea Your Highness was so thoughtful as to worry over the future of a mere guard.”
At the blatant sarcasm, her knuckles blanched white.
Looking away, she replied,
“I do not care about his future. I simply wish to be rid of unnecessary surveillance.”
He searched her eyes relentlessly, trying to weigh the truth in her words. She had always been difficult to fathom, but now he could not even begin to guess what lay beneath.
Swallowing a sigh, he straightened his posture.
“I did not post Edric Luvon to spy on you. That man is….”
He had meant to say he wanted someone at her side with whom she might feel at ease, but the words died in his throat. He could not bring himself to admit that another man had brought her comfort.
Turning toward the sideboard, he unstoppered a bottle of wine left by the servants. He took a silver goblet resting upside down on the tray and spoke flatly.
“Very well. I will give it favorable consideration.”
As if relieved, her tense shoulders softened.
“…Thank you.”
With that quiet murmur, she rose slowly to her feet.
Watching her walk toward the door without a second glance, Varkas let out a breath and poured the dark red wine into his glass.
Just then, a faint voice reached him from behind.
“And….”
When he turned, she was standing awkwardly with one hand grasping the brass latch, struggling to find her words.
“There is one more thing I wish to ask.”
Varkas lifted his chin in a terse gesture, permitting her to continue.
Fingering the latch in hesitation, she finally spoke.
“About Raina…. If possible, could you permit her to remain in Kalmor after her marriage?”
His hand stopped halfway to his lips.
Furrowing his brow to divine her motives, Varkas cast a sharp, probing look at her.
“Did someone prompt you to intervene?”
“No. Nothing like that. It is just… she seemed pitiable, so I thought to speak.”
He set the goblet down with a thud and strode toward her, unsettled by her baffling behavior.
“It seems you have turned into a saint over the past few months.”
She drew back, leaning against the door frame.
Closing the distance between them, he pressed her like an interrogator.
“Have you forgotten how insolently Raina has treated you all this time?”
“…Even so, she is little more than a child. The worst she has ever done is spread a few rumors.”
Dropping her gaze to the floor to avoid his, she murmured quietly,
“Besides… I understand why she acts that way.”
What followed was barely a whisper.
“She is somewhat like me. So… I cannot bring myself to hate her entirely.”
Varkas stood frozen, looking down at the crown of her head.
How long the silence lingered, he could not tell. At last, she turned the latch and slipped quietly into the corridor.
“I have said my piece. I will take my leave now, so please rest.”
He reached out instinctively as if to stop her retreat down the darkened hall, but let his arm fall empty. The maids waiting in the shadows fell into step behind her.
Watching her disappear, Varkas pulled the heavy door shut and sank into a chair.
Beyond the window, the night was deepening. Wetting his dry throat with the wine he had poured, he leaned his head back against the cushion and closed his eyes.
He felt certain that tonight, as on so many nights before, he would face the dawn through another endless bout of insomnia.
On the fourth day after the engagement ceremony, the nobles who had lingered at Raedgo Castle to socialize took their leave for their respective domains.
In the interim, Varkas saw to the task of selecting a southeastern estate to grant Lucas as his new fief.
With most formalities waived under the pretext of wartime necessity, the transfer of the lands was swiftly concluded without friction.
Shortly after Lucas departed Kalmor with his retainers, Varkas began his own preparations to return to the front.
Though there was no immediate crisis demanding his haste, having confirmed she was faring well, he saw no reason to linger.
True to her word, she was living a quiet, peaceful life, and he had no desire to disturb it. It was time for the uninvited guest to withdraw.
After summoning his vassals and firmly declaring the complete restoration of all rights and privileges due to the Grand Duchess, Varkas led his cavalry out toward the northern border. Riding among the ranks of armor behind him was Edric Luvon.
“Was it truly wise to leave without so much as a parting word?”
Clad in the black iron armor bearing the crest of the Shearkan house, Edric reined his mount alongside him and spoke.
Varkas answered only by driving his spurs into the horse’s flanks. The heavy thunder of iron shoes shook the sleeping earth awake.
END