Translator: Nox

Chapter 5

“You truly never seem to realize that there are lines you shouldn’t cross.”

Barkas spoke in his characteristic monotone. However, his handsome face was frozen in a fierce grimace, his patience worn thin.

Talia twisted her arm, trying to break free from his grasp. But the iron grip of the trained knight was like a shackle. Standing before the Crown Prince and Aila like a faithful shield, Barkas pulled Talia closer and spat the words directly into her face.

“Just how far down do you intend to sink before you’re satisfied? Is showing us the very bottom still not enough for you?”

“I showed you the bottom?”

Talia tilted her chin up defiantly and let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

“Noble Young Lord Sercian, do you really think you know the first thing about the depths of human nature? Don’t act so high and mainty.”

She leaned in close to him, wearing a strange, suggestive smile. Unlike other men who would look dazed by her gaze or her scent alone, Barkas didn’t show a hint of agitation. His eyes held nothing but weary disgust.

Talia felt a sudden impulse to shove her fingernails—which she had meticulously sharpened every night—right into those icy eyes.

“From where you’re standing, I must look very lowly. But I still have a long way to go before I reach the absolute worst.”

She spoke while looking straight into his eyes. A distant abyss lurked within them.

This man would eventually push her into that very void. If that was the case, she would at least leave long claw marks on their future before she fell. That was only fair.

Her deep blue eyes shimmered with a venomous light. A dangerous glint flickered in Barkas’s eyes as he looked down at her malice-filled face. As they glared at each other as if ready to kill, a most pitiful voice drifted from behind him.

“Barkas.”

The man, who had been glaring as if he would pierce right through Talia, immediately turned toward his fiancée.

Aila wore an expression so sorrowful it would make anyone’s heart ache. She cautiously tugged at the hem of Barkas’s coat and spoke pleadingly.

“I… I want to change my clothes. Will you take me out of here?”

“…As you wish.”

Barkas wrapped an arm around Aila’s shoulders and turned away. As if Talia had been completely erased from his mind, his gaze never once strayed back over his shoulder as he led his fiancée out of the banquet hall.

Talia felt the madness that had possessed her drain away all at once.

In its place, despair, pain, and jealousy rushed in. Yet, even amidst the gut-wrenching agony, she maintained an air of composure.

Fashioning a triumphant smile as if she were the victor, Talia walked toward the terrace where the wine and food were served. People scrambled out of her way as if avoiding something repulsive.

Unbothered, she picked up a fresh glass with elegant movements. But before she could even take two sips, Count Serian, who had been watching their confrontation from afar, hurried over and snatched the glass from her hand.

“It would be best if you left the banquet hall immediately.”

“Why?”

She spoke nonchalantly, reaching for a plate of pomegranates.

“Didn’t you hear the First Princess tell me to enjoy the banquet to my heart’s content? I haven’t enjoyed myself enough yet.”

“I admire your nerve, Princess, but a dangerous beast is glaring at your back as if he’s ready to pounce at any moment.”

The Count gestured with his eyes toward the Crown Prince. Just as he said, Gares looked as if he were about to start a bloodbath then and there.

Thick veins stood taut against his sun-bronzed neck, and his tightly clenched jaw muscles twitched faintly. It was clear he was barely suppressing an explosive temper.

Normally, she would have provoked her brother further, goading him into committing some horrific act, but she didn’t have the energy left for that now.

Talia dropped her bravado and placed her hand on Count Serian’s forearm. They exited the banquet hall swiftly, though not fast enough to look like they were fleeing.

A carriage was already waiting in front of the garden. As the royal guard opened the door as if he had been waiting, Talia stepped up onto the footboard. But just as she was about to settle into the plush seat, someone violently shoved her.

Talia tumbled to the floor and looked up. Gares, having pushed past her guard, thrust his head into the carriage, his eyes flashing murderously.

“We are barely tolerating your existence.”

He growled, wrapping a rough, calloused hand around her throat. The royal guard, unable to bring himself to lay hands on the Crown Prince, could only shout, asking what he thought he was doing.

Ignoring the yelping knight, Gares squeezed her throat even harder with both hands. Talia instinctively kicked her legs and dug her nails into her brother’s veiny hands. But he seemed beyond the point of feeling pain, his mind consumed by rage.

Gares spat the words into her ear.

“And for a very long time, we have endured, and endured, and endured.”

The Crown Prince’s vivid green eyes burned like fire.

“So you don’t need to provoke us further, sister. We already hate you enough as it is…”

Gares finally released his grip and straightened up.

Talia clutched her neck with both hands and inhaled sharply. She struggled to breathe as fits of coughing racked her body. As she wheezed for air, her face flushed red, the Crown Prince’s sinister voice pierced her eardrums.

“Bear this in mind. Your mother’s arrogance and a filthy bastard like you strutting through the Imperial Palace—it’s all only temporary.”

With that, he kindly closed the carriage door himself and walked away.

Struggling to pull herself up, Talia noticed that two of her meticulously sharpened nails had snapped, and she furrowed her brow. Sticky blood pooled at the tips of the dangling nails. She stroked them with satisfaction and muttered in a raspy voice.

“…I’ll have to grow them out again.”

She would sharpen them even more keenly next time. So they could sink all the way to the bone.

A dry, wheezing laugh escaped her lips.

She didn’t even know why she was laughing.

The useless guard, who had hurriedly pulled the door open to check if she was safe, looked down at her with a look of utter dismay. To him, she must have looked insane. Perhaps he was right. She had surely gone mad a long time ago.

She lay on the dark floor of the carriage and giggled for a long while.

---

The entire Imperial Palace was in an uproar. In a few days, the First Princess and the Crown Prince were to set out on a pilgrimage. It was a custom that any descendant of Darian—the great Emperor who had unified the ten kingdoms—was required to perform upon reaching adulthood.

Usually, women departed before marriage and men after turning twenty. However, at the Crown Prince’s insistence that it was only natural for the two born on the same day to receive the god’s blessing on the same day, preparations were made for both.

To escort the two individuals whose status was second only to the Emperor and Empress, the elite units of the Imperial Knights were deployed. Naturally, the one appointed as the commander-in-chief of this expedition was Barkas, who served as the Commander of the Guard. Thanks to this, Talia often saw him busily moving about the inner courtyard through the windows of the Separate Palace.

Today, he was once again out in the drizzling rain, inspecting the condition of weapons, horses, and various travel gear. Talia leaned over the windowsill, watching him without so much as a blink.

Barkas looked up at the sky as if checking the time. The sight of the silvery rain softly veiling his face filled her vision.

It had been raining just like this on the day she fell in love with him.

Talia recalled that day.