Ch#60
Episode 60
Thalia stood with both feet planted on the floor, straightening her back as much as she could.
A sharp, stinging pain radiated from her knees up to her back. It seemed she had injured something when she fell earlier.
She wanted to collapse right then and there, but she feigned composure and looked straight up at her biological father.
It was a face she hadn’t seen in nearly half a year. Even then, she had only caught a fleeting glimpse of him from a distance. Encountering him now felt like facing a total stranger.
The man before her seemed to feel the same. The Emperor, showing a hint of discomfort, looked away and spoke.
“I heard you went through a difficult ordeal.”
His voice was flat, as if he were discussing someone else’s business.
“I heard your body has even been flawed.”
Thalia sent a look of pure hostility his way.
This man was no different from a stranger. Rage welled up inside her at the thought of such a person callously mentioning her private shame.
“Is that why you summoned me? Out of curiosity?”
Thalia let out a sharp laugh and added mockingly, lightly smoothing her skirts.
“Would you like to see for yourself? To see exactly what kind of flaws are on my body?”
The man’s thick eyebrows furrowed violently.
Contrary to her expectation of a fierce scolding, Virus Roem Guirta remained silent, staring intently at her face. He looked as if he were seeing his daughter’s face for the first time in his life.
“There is no need for me to confirm it with my own eyes.”
The man spoke bluntly before turning his gaze toward Varkas. An instinctive sense of unease washed over Thalia as she watched his eyes, which seemed tangled with all sorts of complex thoughts.
Why on earth had he summoned both her and Varkas at the same time?
As she glared at him with suspicious eyes, the Emperor, after a long pause, suddenly spoke words of reproach.
“Varkas Raedgo Sheikan, I trusted you and entrusted the safety of my children to you. And the result is right here before my eyes.”
Thalia felt the blood in her body turn ice-cold.
The Emperor, tapping the armrest of his chair with his fingertips, continued in a heavy tone.
“Due to your failure to protect her, the Second Princess not only suffered critical injuries but also sustained permanent physical damage. Do you acknowledge that the responsibility for this lies with you?”
Varkas’s gaze briefly met hers before drifting away.
“I acknowledge it.”
There was no emotion in his voice.
No sense of injustice, no guilt, no hint of swallowing an excuse. It was a voice so calm it sounded as if he were merely stating a plain fact.
“I will humbly accept any punishment.”
Thalia took a step forward without realizing it.
Varkas did nothing wrong.
She tried to shout those words, but her mouth stayed shut.
Did he really do nothing wrong?
She looked down at her legs, which had begun to twitch faintly, then turned her gaze back to his face. The image of him running away from her overlapped with his current expression. Perhaps it was that sight, one she would never be able to forget for the rest of her life, that robbed her of all words.
“Since you admit it so readily, this conversation will be quick.”
The Emperor let out a heavy sigh.
“The marriage alliance between the Count’s house and the Second Princess has fallen through due to this accident. It will likely be difficult to find her another marriage prospect befitting the status of the Imperial Family in the future. Since she is a child with many flaws in various ways…”
The Emperor spoke as if she weren’t even in the room. He glanced once at her pale face and continued slowly.
“You must take responsibility for that. Break your engagement with Aila Roem Guirta and take the Second Princess, Thalia Roem Guirta, as your wife.”
Thalia stopped breathing.
Unable to fully comprehend what she had just heard, she looked up at the Emperor with vacant eyes before turning toward Senebier.
A smile like a snake that had just swallowed its prey was etched on the Empress’s face.
Suddenly, a chill ran down her spine, and a cold sweat broke out all over her body.
Thalia dropped her head, not daring to check Varkas’s expression.
There was no way Varkas would accept such an absurdity.
He was the son of a high lord.
No matter how much of an Emperor he was, he had no right to make such a demand of the heir to the Duke of the East.
Naturally, he would exercise his right to refuse.
Thalia gripped her skirts tightly with trembling hands.
After several seconds passed, he opened his mouth.
“If Her Highness the Second Princess also agrees, I shall do so.”
Thalia snapped her head up.
He looked down at her with a piercing gaze, adding slowly as if rolling each word on the tip of his tongue.
“I shall take Her Highness as my wife.”
For a moment, it felt like her heart had stopped.
Thalia stared at his lips with dazed eyes.
Was that really what had come out of his mouth?
Could she have misheard him?
Yes. Surely, she was hearing things.
There was no way Varkas would say something like wanting to marry her.
“So he says, Princess.”
The Emperor’s low voice brought her consciousness, which was floundering in confusion, back to reality.
“If you agree, the position of the Grand Duchess of Sheikan will be yours. Now, what will you do?”
His voice was laced with heavy cynicism.
Only then did Thalia realize that the Emperor was hoping she would refuse.
Though he was making this proposal because he couldn’t withstand the Empress’s pressure, inwardly, he surely didn’t want his illegitimate child to be joined with Aila’s fiancé.
Perhaps Varkas was saying those words because he expected her to throw a fit and say she hated the idea.
No. That must be it.
Suddenly, her mind became calm.
If she accepted here, the man she had craved her whole life would be hers.
However, was that truly what she wanted?
She looked down at her legs hidden beneath her skirts.
The mere thought of showing this body to him made her stomach twist.
If she were to see even a hint of disgust or rejection on his face, she truly wouldn’t be able to stay sane. She might break and crumble even further.
Thalia looked up at him again.
He was a man who always looked away and turned his back on her.
The man who saved Aila, not her.
The man who would never love her, even if he died.
Could she live her whole life by the side of such a man? Did she really want to crawl into that kind of pain?
“I, I…”
Thalia opened her parched lips.
There was no way she could endure such a thing. She didn’t want to be hurt anymore.
She was about to say so when Senebier’s face, stripped of its smile, caught her eye.
The Empress’s eyes were silently warning her that she would never be forgiven if she disappointed her.
Her stomach tightened painfully.
“I…”
She looked back and forth between Varkas’s face, the Emperor’s face, and Senebier’s face. Their faces blurred together in a dizzying mess.
Thalia felt an intense wave of vertigo and clutched her head.
Before she knew it, her forehead was drenched in sweat. She wiped it away repeatedly with her sleeve, but the droplets that trickled down stung as they seeped into her eyelids.
She was wiping them away somewhat irritably when her vision suddenly lurched and her legs gave out.
She gasped sharply at the impact of her body hitting the floor.
A shrill scream echoed from afar. It seemed Senebier’s maids were making a fuss.
Lying prone on the floor, she strained her eyes against a vision as blurred as frosted glass. Through the hazy veil, she could faintly see Varkas’s face, frozen cold.
Was the fact that his complexion looked paler than usual just an illusion created by her lingering, foolish love?
Yes. It must be.
Was he not the man who had shown no emotion even after seeing her in such a wretched state? Why would he ever turn pale because of her?
A sudden wave of fatigue washed over her.
Thalia, who had been struggling with all her might to keep him within her fading sight, finally let everything go.
The news that the engagement between the future Grand Duke and the First Princess had been broken, and that the Second Princess was set to take her place, spread like wildfire throughout the Imperial Palace.
