Chapter 28
28화
It must have been just a few months before her sixteenth birthday.
Anxious about the fact that she would soon be of age, she had been pestering him more than usual, badgering him to help her pick out clothes and accessories. It was a pathetic attempt to capture his attention.
Barkas, who usually would have ignored such demands, seemed exhausted by her persistent nagging and dutifully offered his opinions.
Perhaps he had grown generous at the thought that he would finally be free of her in a few months. She resented him so much she wanted to kill him for it. Yet, she felt a desperate sense that she would do anything if only she could keep him tethered to her.
Because the end, which had felt like it would never come, was fast approaching.
“How about this as a dress for the coming-of-age ceremony?”
Dressed in a flamboyant silk gown brought in from the south, she leaned her upper body toward him ostentatiously.
As always, Barkas merely cast a dry gaze her way. Her face grew increasingly hot under that calm stare.
He was now moving from nineteen toward twenty, and his body, having shed the last vestiges of boyhood, had filled out firmly, beginning to boast a mature masculinity. Had it not been for those eyes, as indifferent as a dead man’s, he would have looked like an angel descended from the heavens.
Talia deliberately raised her voice to hide her foolishly fluttering heart.
“I’m asking you what you think!”
“……It looks like a child who has stolen an adult’s clothes.”
Finally, his firmly set lips parted.
Her eyes flared. The man added another remark as if he found the whole thing tedious.
“It suits you terribly.”
Her face flushed crimson as she glared at him. However, since she was the one who had sought the blunt man’s opinion, she found it difficult to argue.
Staring at him with venomous eyes, Talia stomped her feet and retreated behind the changing screen. There, she began to rummage wildly through the mountain of discarded clothes. She was determined to make this corpse-like man blush, no matter what.
After a long while, she picked out a much more daring outfit. It was a provocative dress with a neckline plunged so precariously deep it was almost scandalous. Talia hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was a bit much, but soon hardened her resolve and quickly slipped into it. Looking into the mirror, she saw a breathtakingly beautiful girl reflected back.
She examined her reflection from every angle with a satisfied look. Her body, once as gaunt as a birch tree, had begun to transform little by little starting from the age of fourteen. Her flat chest had budded and begun to swell to the size of apples, and her once-shapeless hips had gradually gained curves.
Talia was quite proud of her changes. She felt infinitely elated at the thought that she was approaching the perfect beauty possessed by Senevia. Once he realized what she possessed, Barkas would surely change his mind. Soon, she would become the most beautiful woman in the world.
Buoyed by hope, she dashed out from behind the screen.
“How about this?”
Barkas, who had been staring out the window with a look of boredom, turned his head toward her. At last, something that could be called an emotion flickered across his face. However, it was not a particularly positive one.
Frowning as he scanned her from head to toe, Barkas spoke somewhat irritably.
“The first dress.”
Taking a deep breath, he added bluntly.
“Go with that one.”
His voice was dry, devoid of even a shred of the admiration or agitation she had hoped for. Yet, Talia’s heart felt like it would burst simply because he remembered the very first outfit out of the dozens she had shown him.
She put on a deliberately suggestive smile.
“What’s this? You acted like you didn’t care…… but I guess you were watching closely?”
He offered no response. He looked as though he simply wanted this tedious fashion show to end as quickly as possible.
His insolent attitude sparked a momentary flash of spite, but Talia decided to be generous and let it slide. Even if it was hard to change his attitude right away, hadn’t she resolved to show him her changing self little by little?
Talia hummed to herself as she pulled out the first dress she had worn.
It was a delicate and elegant velvet surcoat, densely embroidered with elven needlework. This garment would never leave her wardrobe for the rest of her life. Because it was the one that had caught Barkas’s eye.
She quickly changed back into it and spun around in front of him with a flourish.
“You mean this one, right?”
He gazed at her quietly. He didn’t even seem to find it strange that a woman who had been throwing tantrums all day was suddenly as giddy as a drunkard. Perhaps to him, there was little difference whether she was raging like a monster or giggling like a madwoman.
But Talia wanted to believe that his attitude toward her had changed.
And with good reason—his once indifferent gaze had started to linger around her face for longer periods. That wasn’t all. The way he spoke to her seemed to have become softer than before.
Sensitively noticing those subtle shifts, Talia felt a thread of expectation stir in her chest.
Could it be that Barkas was also reluctant to part with her? Having been together for such a long time, perhaps he had grown fond of her, even if only out of habit. Talia clung pathetically to that futile hope.
“If I dance in this dress, I’ll look just like a fairy queen, won’t I?”
At her question, a small crease appeared between his brows.
Was he sick to death of her endless questions? No. Perhaps he was thinking of an answer. She decided to think of it in a positive light.
“Don’t just stand there like a statue; come and practice with me.”
Talia grabbed his arm and pulled before he could even respond. The man, who in the past wouldn’t have budged an inch, allowed himself to be dragged along as if he had no choice.
See? Talia felt triumphant. Something really has changed.
She spun around, pulling harder on the man who was acting stiffly as if he had no intention of cooperating. Then, her foot caught on a chest sitting on the floor, and she lost her balance. Instinctively, Talia grabbed his arm.
Barkas let out an unintelligible exclamation and hurriedly wrapped his arm around her waist.
However, the room was such a mess that there was nowhere proper to step. The tangled heap of clothes snagged even his ankles, and they ended up collapsing together onto the carpet in a heap. Talia let out a small curse.
“I told you that you should have cleaned the room immediately!”
Barkas, who had met with disaster while trying to protect her, arched an eyebrow. He was a guardian knight, not a servant. He could not be forced to do trivial tasks like tidying up. Even though she knew this perfectly well, Talia vented her irritation for no reason.
“If I have even a single bruise on my bottom, I won’t let you hear the end of it. You useless knight!”
As she grumbled and tried to push herself up, she felt a sharp sting on her scalp. Talia glared at him in disbelief.
“Did you just pull my hair?”
A short sigh escaped his lips.
“It seems your hair is caught in my sleeve button.”
He then pulled the arm he had wrapped behind her back slightly forward.
As another sharp pain shot through her scalp, Talia let out a scream and pounded on his chest.
“It hurts, you idiot!”
He stopped moving and looked down quietly into her eyes, which were beginning to well up with tears. Though she felt a twinge of guilt inside, Talia maintained her glare.
Exhaling another low sigh, Barkas wrapped his arm behind her back again. Then, he began to move his hand carefully, as if trying to untangle the knotted hair.
Talia sat between his knees, her eyes darting around nervously. Belatedly, she realized the impropriety of their proximity and posture.
The faint scent of soap and mint wafting from his body made her heart pound so violently it felt like it might explode. She feared the sound might even reach Barkas’s ears.
