Ch#65
Episode 65
“The Imperial Palace is that kind of place. It’s crawling with monsters who will do anything for power. If you’ve decided to live here, you’d better steel your heart.”
Theoric said, patting him on the shoulder.
Edric, who had been frozen in shock, slowly raised his head to stare at his superior’s face.
“Does Sir Varkas know this as well?”
“Of course. It was the Commander himself who ordered the investigation into all of this.”
“Then why…?”
Edric trailed off, as if he couldn’t understand.
The man looked down at his face for a moment and shrugged.
“Well… there’s no way for us to know what he’s thinking.”
“…”
“But even if I don’t know for sure, there must be some reason he has to accept the marriage to the Second Princess.”
Edric furrowed his brow.
What could that reason possibly be?
As he wore a serious expression, trying to recall the face of the man whose inner thoughts were impossible to read, a heavy thud landed on his back.
Edric turned around, startled.
Sir Hart, who had struck his back with a thick palm, spoke in a light tone as if to clear the air.
“Anyway, don’t worry about the Second Princess anymore.”
Then he added somewhat seriously.
“The Second Princess will be leaving the Imperial Palace soon. Once that happens, you won’t have to run into her anymore. So shake off that uneasy feeling and focus on your own future.”
The last part was almost a reproach.
Theoric shook his head.
“You’ve already gotten on the Crown Prince’s bad side during the pilgrimage. You have enough of your own problems to worry about; why are you worrying about someone else?”
Edric’s complexion paled.
His shoulders grew heavy at having his own concerns pointed out.
Seeing his slumped posture, Theoric let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
“Well, look at that. I thought you had no interest in success because you acted so recklessly, but I guess that’s not entirely true?”
“That’s because… back then, I thought I had to fulfill my duty as a royal knight. Regardless of anything, I was her knight.”
A complex emotion flickered across Sir Hart’s face at the stubborn reply.
He stared intently at his subordinate’s face before letting out a long breath.
“I’ll tell you again: that role is over. It’s time for you to return to your place.”
Edric stared up at his firm face for a moment before turning his head to look at the castle walls rising high between the thick trees.
Between the deep green leaves, he could see the roof of the Separate Palace where the Second Princess resided.
She was someone he had served for barely two months.
If he hadn’t seen her get so horribly injured right before his eyes, she was likely someone he wouldn’t have cared about this much.
‘Sir Hart is right.’
His role as her guard was over now.
The cruel environment surrounding that woman was unfortunate, but there was nothing he could do.
‘Perhaps, it’s for the best.’
As Sir Hart said, this Imperial Palace was a place crawling with monsters blinded by power.
Furthermore, was she not a person who was thoroughly hated?
If she married Sir Varkas and left for the East, she would at least be able to escape the hostile people surrounding her.
Shaking off his vague guilt with a heavy sigh, Edric soon nodded.
“I understand what you mean.”
A bright smile appeared on Sir Hart’s lips, seemingly satisfied with the answer.
He draped an arm over his subordinate’s shoulder and spoke.
“Good. Then let’s get going and do what we need to do.”
As he was practically dragged away, Edric looked back at the roof of the Separate Palace once more. However, he soon straightened his head and walked forward with long strides.
Thalia lay on the bed and watched the floating dust.
The shimmering particles drifted slowly through the air, following the swaying currents, before settling softly onto her body.
She reached out her hand to send them back into the air and watched them descend slowly.
She didn’t know why she was doing such a strange thing.
She felt like a piece of seaweed.
Meaningless gestures continued, like aquatic plants swaying with the current.
Could it be that it wasn’t her leg that was injured, but her head?
While she was lost in such vacant thoughts, she heard the sound of a door opening and closing.
Thalia turned her eyes to look at the intruder.
The Nanny, who had burst in with an armful of fabric, sent her a fierce look.
“How can you still be lying there like that?!”
The piercing voice scraped unpleasantly against her eardrums.
Thalia pulled the blanket over her head. The Nanny quickly snatched it away and continued to pour out her shrill voice.
“Get up and wash right now! You caused such a fuss saying you wouldn’t leave your body to anyone else that all the maids were kicked out, so what are you doing now?!”
Thalia glared at her with narrowed eyes.
She couldn’t understand what she was saying. She felt like she had been sleeping the whole time; had someone come in the meantime?
She looked around the room with unfocused eyes. Broken dishes and belongings were scattered everywhere. It seemed she really had thrown a fit.
“I told you to get up!”
The Nanny forcibly pulled her limp body up.
Thalia just stared blankly at the Nanny’s reddened face with eyes heavy with sleep.
Frustrated by her state, the Nanny beat her own chest with her fist.
“Just how many herbs did you burn while I was out? You can’t even walk properly as it is; how do you plan to walk into the wedding hall like this?!”
“Wedding hall?”
“You have to have the wedding ceremony!”
“Who’s getting married?”
The Nanny’s round face turned as red as a plum. She looked so furious it was funny.
Thalia let her half-loosened tongue wag carelessly.
“Congratulations on your wedding, Nanny.”
“The one getting married today is you, My Lady!”
The Nanny screamed like a goose with its neck twisted.
“You’re the one who said you’d do it, so why are you being like this?!”
Thalia furrowed her brows.
Now that she mentioned it, she had decided to marry Varkas.
When was it that she said that?
She didn’t know. Her sense of time seemed to have melted into the smoke and vanished.
After blinking her eyelids slowly with a dazed face, Thalia finally lowered her feet from the bed.
Anyway, today is my wedding day.
Then, I suppose I shouldn’t be staying like this.
She staggered behind the partition.
“I will help you only with bathing and putting on your undergarments. You must leave the rest to the maids of the Empress Palace.”
“…Okay.”
“You must absolutely not scratch or hit them.”
“Am I a cat? Why would I scratch people?”
The Nanny made a face as if she had put something inedible in her mouth.
When Thalia giggled at that foolish expression, the Nanny let out a deep sigh and stripped the nightgown from her body.
“Just hurry up and wash.”
Thalia stepped into the bathtub.
Soon after, a deluge of cold water poured over her head.
Thalia rubbed her stinging eyes while brushing away the hair covering her vision.
The Nanny seemed to be in a hurry.
After pouring an entire bottle of fragrant oil over her, the Nanny began to scrub her whole body vigorously with a large brush. It was a touch closer to washing a dog than attending to a princess’s bath.
However, Thalia accepted her service without much complaint. Thanks to her dulled senses, it didn’t even hurt that much.
“Now, come out.”
The Nanny, who had poured cold water over her head four times in a row, urged her impatiently.
Thalia stepped out of the tub, dripping with water.
The Nanny wrapped her body in a large towel to dry her off and, in the blink of an eye, dressed her in her undergarments and petticoat.
She realized for the first time today that the Nanny, who was usually slower than a slug, could move so quickly.
As Thalia watched in fascination, the Nanny wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and ran out of the bedroom to call the maids.
Thalia was soon surrounded by dozens of women.
No. It probably wasn’t dozens. Since one person looked like two, two like three, and three like four, it was likely fewer than that.
Regardless, in Thalia’s eyes, it looked like dozens.
She blinked her dizzy eyes and eventually lowered her eyelids.
A while later, the maids, having finished all the preparations, led her somewhere. It felt like being swept away into the vast ocean by a current.
When she regained her senses, she was already traveling somewhere in a large carriage.
Thalia looked out the window with hazy eyes.
The charcoal-colored sky and the massive Cathedral situated beneath it came into view.
The moment that blurred scenery entered her sight, an unexplainable anxiety reared its head.
She watched the entrance of the Cathedral, which had suddenly drawn close, drenching her in cold sweat before she grabbed the door handle.
She was about to kick the door open and jump out when the carriage came to a halt without warning.
Thalia stumbled and fell to the floor at the sudden stop.
Of all things, she hit her knee, causing a stinging pain to spread up to her hip. She bit her lip and swallowed a groan.
Just then, the carriage door swung open, and a deep shadow cast over her.
Snapping her head up, Thalia held her breath at the sight of Varkas, who looked as if he were shrouded in a gray veil.
Wearing a pure white formal suit with a cloak embroidered with his family crest draped loosely over it, Varkas leaned down toward her.
She felt his blue eyes slowly scanning her face.
