Chapter 52
52
Swept up in a bizarre emotion that words couldn’t describe, Talia watched the castle gates draw closer.
Soon, she would be liberated from this agonizing pain.
Not by some quack healer busy walking on eggshells around Gares, but by the first-rate mages of the Empress’s Palace. They would surely restore her to her former, perfect self.
Wetting her parched lips, she cautiously lowered her gaze to examine her body.
Wrapped in a thin, cream-colored dress, her physical state was far from beautiful, even by the most generous standards.
The crude outline of thick bandages wrapped from her thigh to her ankle showed hideously through the thin fabric of her skirt. While the burns on her palms had been neatly healed by magic, her fingernails were still stained a dark reddish-black with bruises.
Having practically fasted throughout the journey, her gaunt, haggard appearance only added to her wretched state.
Suddenly, a wave of anxiety washed over her.
Will everyone laugh at me when they see me like this?
The image of the maids cackling and saying she got what she deserved flashed through her mind, bringing a cold sweat to her spine.
Talia quickly pulled the curtains over the window. If she heard even a single person snickering that she had been struck by divine punishment, she felt she might lose her mind.
She pulled a thin linen blanket tangled on the floor over her head.
A moment later, she heard the sound of the carriage passing through the gates.
Poking her head out from a gap in the blanket, Talia listened to the various noises outside. The clatter of hooves and the thunderous shouts of the infantry echoed loudly, and the slow melody of the funeral dirge grew even more somber.
Muffled within that was the low murmur of the crowd. It sounded like thousands of winged insects buzzing at once. Feeling her nerves fraying, Talia pulled the blanket back up to the top of her head.
After some time, the carriage, which had been rolling slowly over the gravel path, came to a halt. The surroundings grew even more frantic. It seemed as though every servant in the Imperial Palace had swarmed out.
She huddled in the corner of the carriage, waiting for the commotion to die down. She intended to stay holed up there until Gares and Aila went to have their audience with the Emperor according to protocol. She didn’t want to show her wretched appearance to their followers.
Talia rubbed her throbbing legs and held her breath.
Then, without warning, the door swung open, and a dark shadow invaded the carriage.
Talia looked up, her eyes widening at the familiar silhouette standing against the sunlight. Her nanny, waddling into the carriage, threw her plump arms around her in a fierce hug.
“Oh, my poor lady. Look at the state of you.”
She cupped Talia’s face in her large hands, inspecting her from every angle while tears large as chicken droppings streamed down her face.
“How did you get so thin? Not only are you hurt, but your face has practically wasted away…”
Talia stared blankly up at her for a moment before her face crumpled, and she lunged to embrace the woman’s neck.
She buried herself in the nanny’s ample bosom like a young animal seeking its mother, and the nanny stroked her back up and down.
At the touch—as gentle as if she were soothing an infant—tears finally burst forth. Talia buried her face in the cinnamon-scented, curly hair and let out a broken sob.
“Nanny, I… it hurts so much. I feel like I’m going to die.”
“Don’t you worry. Lady Senevia will have you fixed right up.”
The nanny wiped the tears from Talia’s cheeks and pointed toward the carriage entrance. Talia flinched, noticing a strange man standing at the door.
The man, his lower face covered with a white cloth, scanned her slowly with dark gray eyes rimmed in gold.
At the gaze that felt as though he were inspecting merchandise, Talia instinctively clung to her nanny. Patting her back soothingly, the nanny spoke in a comforting tone.
“As soon as Lady Senevia heard you were injured, she called for the mages of the Taren family. They will return you to the way you were.”
With that, she firmly detached Talia’s hands and stepped aside to let the mages enter.
Watching the shadow approach her, Talia scrambled backward. A defensive reflex, now habit, reared its head.
“I—I can walk on my own. Back off.”
“With those legs?”
The lean man leaning toward her tilted his head. Talia flushed with humiliation.
“I have no problem getting to the Empress’s Palace!”
The man’s eyes narrowed behind his veil. A strange sense of unease washed over her.
The man, appearing deep in thought as he stroked his chin, suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her leg.
Talia let out a scream as a blinding pain seared through her. He squeezed the wound so hard that blood seeped through the bandages.
“If we let you walk on legs like these and the wounds burst, we are the ones who have to suffer for it. Do not be needlessly stubborn.”
Talia looked up at him with shocked eyes.
Releasing her leg, the man gestured to his companion waiting opposite him.
“You carry her.”
The man immediately reached down and slid his arms under her back. Goosebumps erupted over her entire body, as if she had been touched by a snake.
Talia twisted her torso to avoid his hands and swung her arms.
“Don’t touch me!”
The man, struck in the jaw, muttered something in a harsh, metallic rasp. Recognizing it as the language of the elves, Talia froze.
From beneath his hood, she saw unnaturally long, pointed ears, skin like plaster, and grayish hair tinged with blue. He wasn’t a half or a quarter-blood; he was undoubtedly an Origin Elf.
Knowing all too well how inhuman they could be, Talia was paralyzed with terror.
The two men, discussing something in their own tongue, pinned her arms down firmly from both sides. Talia opened her mouth to scream.
In that instant, a cold, damp hand covered her eyes, and the strength drained from her entire body. It felt as if her bones and muscles had completely melted away.
“Making me waste mana for nothing.”
The man grumbled as he pulled his hand away from her face. Talia looked up at him, her pupils dilated.
She wanted to scream and ask what he thought he was doing, but only a wheezing sound escaped her throat.
Straightening his posture, the man gave an order to the one sitting opposite him.
“She won’t be able to move now. Come, move her to the treatment room.”
The man who had been struck in the jaw immediately obeyed the command.
Hoisted up like a sack of grain, Talia sent a pleading look toward her nanny for help. But as always, the nanny was insensitive to her fear.
“Just bear with it for a little while, my lady. Everything will be fine.”
The nanny wiped her eyes with her sleeve and hopped down from the carriage. The man carrying Talia followed her out.
As the intense sunlight flooded her retinas, Talia winced.
After blinking several times, she saw soldiers belonging to the Empress’s Palace surrounding the carriage.
As she scanned them with uneasy eyes, she spotted her personal knight looking restless beyond the wall of soldiers.
When he tried to push past the soldiers of the Empress’s Palace to reach her, a Taren mage stopped him firmly.
“Your mission is over. We will look after the Princess, so stand down.”
“But I am her personal knight. I must attend to her…”
“Since Her Highness has ended up in this state, your qualifications have already been effectively revoked, have they not?”
The knight fell silent, lost for words. Clicking his tongue, the mage gave him a light shove with one hand and then crossed the cluttered clearing where the baggage wagons were lined up.
Talia looked around in despair. Before long, she spotted a head of faint flaxen hair among the knights waiting at the entrance of the Main Palace. Instinctively about to call his name, Talia snapped back to her senses and bit her tongue.
Barkas would never step forward for her.
In truth, she didn’t even know why she felt the urge to ask him for help.
These were mages sent by Senevia. They wouldn’t do anything to harm her.
Repeating that to herself, she tried to suppress her anxiety, but the man carrying her began walking toward him.
Talia tensed as Barkas’s face grew closer.
