Ch#71
The dry look in his eyes made her mouth go bone-dry.
Thalia bit her chapped lips with her fingertips and lowered her gaze.
She didn’t know what to say.
As she stood there with her mouth clamped shut as if she’d been struck mute, eyes darting back and forth, a monotonous voice reached her ears.
“Your nanny is in the next room. Call her if you need her.”
Thalia looked up at him again.
Varkas spoke calmly as he slid his arm into his shirt sleeve.
“We are scheduled to depart for the East in one week. I will summon workers, so if you have luggage to take, please have it packed in advance.”
“S-so soon?”
As she stammered with a flustered expression, Varkas, who had been fastening his shirt buttons, turned his gaze back to her.
His eyes, shrouded in a thick fog, carefully measured her face.
“Is there any reason to stay in the Imperial Palace longer?”
Thalia looked up at him, appearing at a loss for words, before slowly shaking her head.
Varkas watched her for a moment, then approached the side of the bed with disciplined strides. Her heart shriveled tight at the sudden proximity of his face.
Thalia instinctively fixed her gaze on his lips. Between the narrow gap of his slightly parted mouth, she saw his red tongue.
That had been inside her.
Was that reality, or a dream?
While she was lost in such thoughts, her chin was lifted, and transparent blue eyes came right before her.
“Is it frequent for the pain to suddenly intensify like it did yesterday?”
Her shriveled heart cracked open with a sharp sound this time.
Thalia brushed his hand away roughly. A surge of irritation rose within her at being treated like a critically ill patient.
“I don’t know. Who cares?”
“If there is an issue, we should seek additional treatment—”
“Even the mages of the Taren family couldn’t do anything about it. How do you intend to treat it?”
When she raised her voice, unable to withstand the anxiety, his lips pressed into a firm line. Those red lips, forming a sharp curve, captured her attention once again.
What mattered now was the fact that last night, that mouth had ransacked her as it pleased. So why was he fussing over something like her leg?
Thalia moved her dry lips.
“More importantly… about yesterday…”
Why did you do that to me? Was it really just to give me the medicine?
She tried to ask, but shut her mouth again.
Perhaps the contact of their lips had lasted only a fleeting moment. It was possible her messy mind had distorted the memory as it pleased.
She swallowed hard and caught a glimpse of his expression.
As if he weren’t even curious about the words she had left hanging, Varkas straightened his posture and spoke in a flat voice.
“I have stationed a healer in the room next door. If you feel unwell, call them immediately.”
Is that all?
Don’t you have anything else to say to me?
While she rolled the questions around the tip of her tongue, his calm voice continued.
“I plan to stay at the Imperial Palace until the day of departure.”
Thalia looked up at him with an expression as if she had been struck over the head.
A cool finger descended upon her forehead.
Her skin pricked as if touched by a blade.
When she instinctively recoiled, Varkas, who had been brushing a stray hair from her face, withdrew his hand.
Dark shadows fell over his face as he stood with his back to the window.
“For the time being, you won’t have to face me. So please, make yourself comfortable.”
Thalia opened her mouth urgently.
She felt like she had to say something, but her throat burned, and she couldn’t make a sound.
He slowly turned away and picked up the coat he had hung on the wall.
Thalia could only stare blankly at his back as he crossed the room.
Varkas, gripping the doorknob, looked back at her over his shoulder. His lips parted slightly as if he were about to say something. However, in the end, he left without saying a word.
Click.
Thalia, staring vacantly at the closed door, lowered her feet from the bed. A stinging sensation shot up through her bones. Ignoring the searing pain, she approached the doorway and turned the handle.
Varkas must have already gone down the stairs, for only silence hung in the hallway.
With a hollow face, she locked the door again and went to the side of the bed.
The only trace of him left in the room was a single set of neatly folded formal clothes.
She picked up the garment that had been folded meticulously on the shelf and buried her face in the smooth fabric.
Instead of the scent of peppermint, a heavy fragrance of roses seeped into her nose.
Perhaps because he had been holding her all day, the satin, adorned with elaborate embroidery, was only steeped in the thick smell of the scented oils the maids had slathered on. For lack of anything better, she threw it over herself and lay down on the cold bed.
She recalled the wide embrace that had held her tightly while she writhed in pain.
Since he had to look after a patient all night, it must have been the worst night for him. Where in the world would there be a man who would welcome such a grueling and bothersome first night?
Thalia bit her trembling lip hard.
In the first place, this was a marriage she had accepted to satisfy a childish sense of revenge. Since she had made him sick of her from the very first night, she ought to be pleased.
Struggling to calm her bitter heart, she looked up at the white, glowing window. Beyond the transparent pane, the sunlight dawned brightly.
Suddenly, the thought occurred to her that this was the first morning she was greeting as Thalia Roem Si’eikan.
Thalia murmured with a bleak face.
“How will my life unfold from now on…?”
Before she knew it, the day to head East was upon her.
Thalia, who had begun grooming herself from early morning at the urging of the maids, looked out the window with tired eyes.
In the wide courtyard, more than twenty wagons stood in a line. Stacked atop them were silks wrapped in linen, craftsmanship made by Dwarves, dresses woven by the Elves, and chests filled with rare jewels.
Half were wedding gifts sent from the Imperial Palace, and the other half were things she had obsessively gathered over many years.
Thalia, who used to look down at her treasures with indifference, soon closed the curtains.
Just a season ago, she had been frantic to obtain rare dresses and accessories. She had wanted Varkas to regret his engagement to Aila upon seeing her shining more brilliantly than anyone else.
But now, she didn’t care about jewels or clothes. In any case, she could never become as elegant as Aila, nor as beautiful as Senebier.
Decking herself out in such a body would only make her look miserable and pitiful.
Thalia sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her aching knee.
Whether the effect of the painkiller she took at dawn had already worn off, the pain that had been quiet began to rear its head again.
She placed a new incense candle in the brazier where the embers had died out. Just as she was about to light it, a knock sounded from behind her.
“Highness, Lord Si’eikan has arrived.”
At that moment, her senses, which had been blurred as if submerged in water, woke up vividly.
Thalia hurriedly put down the incense candle and stood up.
As she approached the door and pulled the handle, she saw the maids lined up along the wall.
Thalia scanned them.
“…Where is Nanny?”
“She has already boarded the carriage.”
Thalia, who had been anxious that the nanny might say she wanted to return to the Imperial Palace, let out a sigh of relief.
“Wait just a moment. I’ll be right out.”
As she turned to grab her outer garment, an older maid spoke up urgently.
“Lord Si’eikan asked me to deliver this to you.”
Thalia looked down with furrowed eyes at the trailing garment the maid held out.
It was a loose, hooded cloak that covered the entire body. It seemed he had brought it for her to hide her limping gait.
Her ears burned with humiliation, but Thalia put it on without a word.
The long hem covered her down to her toes. She likely looked as if she were draped in a curtain.
She felt the surface of the smooth fabric, then gestured with her chin toward the maids.
“Let’s go now.”
