Ch#54
“What does it matter to you if my lips turn purple or green!”
She slammed his coat onto the ground and raised her voice, only to hear him sigh once again.
Her eyes stung with hot tears. He smiled for Aila, yet he did nothing but sigh whenever he was with her. She couldn’t stand the sight of him.
“Even if I freeze to death here, I’ll make sure it doesn’t cause you any trouble, so just go to your precious twin siblings’ birthday banquet! Go and flatter them to your heart’s content!”
“Even if you stay out here all night, Your Highness will not freeze to death. At most, you’ll catch a bad flu.”
“Then I’ll just die of the flu!”
As she screamed at him, he brushed back the damp hair clinging to his eyes with a somewhat rough motion.
Thalia flinched at the gesture, which clearly betrayed his irritation. However, when he spoke, his voice was as level as ever.
“What exactly do I have to do for you to stop playing the tragic heroine?”
His biting tone made Thalia’s eyes flare with renewed anger.
He was always so polite to Aila, yet he never missed a chance to be sarcastic with her. It was infuriating.
Glaring at him with smoldering eyes, Thalia reached up and pulled a pearl ornament from her intricately braided hair. Without a moment’s hesitation, she flung it into the shimmering lake.
“Go get that back. Then I’ll stop.”
Varkas’s eyes narrowed.
Thalia expected him to explode in anger with a cold face or to turn his back on her and walk away without a second thought. If he did, she planned to stay right here until she collapsed.
Let him feel the weight of a guilty conscience when he found her dead body.
But as always, Varkas did not act according to her expectations.
Right before her eyes, he began unbuttoning his uniform jacket one by one.
Thalia’s eyes widened, but she soon snorted. He was just bluffing, thinking she would stop him. There was no way he would actually jump into the water.
Feigning composure, she watched as he stripped off his knight’s uniform, laid it under a tree, and removed his calf-high boots.
So, he wants to take this all the way?
Varkas even unbuckled the sword belt from his waist, standing by the water’s edge in a thin shirt that was nearly translucent and light cotton trousers. He stood there for a moment, silently staring out at the lake as the drizzle fell.
Just as she thought—he was definitely playing hardball, expecting her to cave first.
But as she was scoffing inwardly, he suddenly plunged into the water with a loud splash.
Thalia bolted upright.
The gray surface of the water swallowed his body in an instant. Her expression went blank before she scrambled to the edge, peering into the dark depths.
“Varkas?”
The lake remained still.
There was no sign of the eighteen-year-old boy who had grown so intimidatingly tall since turning sixteen. She raised her voice.
“Varkas!”
In the middle of the drizzling rain, only her voice rang out across the water.
Thalia began to scream in earnest.
“D-don’t play around!”
Just then, a gust of wind swept across the surface.
The lake rippled for a moment, but there was still no sign of him.
Suddenly, her breath hitched in her throat.
Without a second thought, Thalia threw herself into the water. After only a few steps, the water reached her waist.
She thrashed her arms against the surface, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Varkas! Varkas! Where are you!”
She felt the sensation of slippery mud and branches beneath her feet.
She took a few more steps toward the deeper part. Before she knew it, the water had risen above her chest.
She clawed at the ice-cold water, letting out ragged sobs.
“I-I was wrong! So please, just come out!”
As she wailed in a state of total panic, the water nearby surged violently, and a tall figure rose from the depths.
Thalia stared at him with frozen eyes.
Varkas shook his head to clear the streaming water and turned toward her. His blue eyes shimmered faintly beneath lashes soaked with water.
“Here.”
Varkas lightly gripped her shoulder with one hand and held something out to her.
Thalia stared down at it vacantly.
“Are we finished now?”
Lying in his palm was the pearl ornament she had thrown away.
A hollow laugh escaped her lips despite herself.
Thalia covered her forehead with one hand, letting out soft, fitful chuckles. Then, in the next moment, her face contorted as if she were possessed, and she snatched the pearl ornament and hurled it far away again.
Even after seeing her discard what he had gone to such lengths to retrieve, he showed no reaction.
Gearing at that calm face, Thalia lost her temper and swung her hand at him.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Just to scare me!”
Even after being slapped across the cheek, he remained silent.
For some reason, that composure only made her more feral.
Thalia began to pummel him with her fists.
“You just held out until I said I was sorry! You mean jerk! I hate you so much!”
“That’s enough.”
Varkas suddenly grabbed both of her wrists and lowered his voice.
She looked up at him with eyes brimming with tears. Seeing her expression of utter grievance, an exasperated sigh escaped him.
“You’ve filled your quota for the day. Now stop throwing a tantrum and get out of here.”
“No! I’m never listening to you! I’m going to stay here and drown, so you just go!”
Ignoring her shrieks of rage, he dragged her out onto the shore.
Even as he did, Thalia continued to beat against his back. Varkas watched her with disbelief, shaking his head as he picked up his discarded coat. He wrapped it tightly around her and tied the sleeves securely so she could no longer use her fists.
Thalia struggled to break free, but when her arms wouldn’t budge, she kicked him in the shin.
“Are you insane, tying up a princess? You thug!”
“Look who’s talking.”
Exhaling a long breath, Varkas hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of grain.
Thalia let out a series of squawks like an angry duck.
“I’m royalty, you idiot! Where does a knight get off treating a princess like this!”
Silently gathering his sword and clothes, Varkas trudged through the rain.
Thalia, who had been struggling violently like a wild animal and spewing all sorts of curses, eventually went limp.
He didn’t set her down until they reached the Separate Palace. Thalia glared at him, huffing and puffing, but she soon collapsed from exhaustion.
And that evening, just as she had predicted, she came down with a terrible flu.
Varkas pulled up a chair and sat by her side while she was burning with fever, quietly reading a book.
She couldn’t describe how infuriating that peaceful sight was.
Driven by spite, she picked a fight, saying, “I bet you wish I was sick every day,” to which he replied while turning a page, “Occasionally, it’s not so bad.”
Staring at him with fever-bright eyes, Thalia buried her face in the covers, thinking foolishly that “occasionally” was better than nothing.
Inwardly, she was happy that he had stayed by her side instead of attending Aila’s birthday banquet. Because of that, she could generously forgive his slightly mean attitude.
She tried to force herself to sleep, hiding the smile that kept creeping up.
Even though she was suffering terribly from the fever, she strangely kept wanting to laugh.
It was always like that when she was with Varkas. It was painful, suffocating, and infuriating, yet at the same time, her heart would swell beyond control. Sometimes, he felt like someone very close to her.
Perhaps we are actually something like friends?
Amidst such brazen delusions, the years they spent alone together piled up.
While it might have been a period of suffering for him, those days were like jewels to her.
Because of his presence, she had been able to endure each day of her crushing loneliness.
But now, those memories of the past were no longer a comfort; they had become an unbreakable shackle, holding her fast.
