Ch#76
Flinching, she lifted her head and met a face frozen in a cold expression. Varkas looked down at his younger brother with a sharp gaze and spoke in a low, heavy voice.
“You’ve grown up quite ill-mannered.”
The boy’s youthful face soured instantly.
Varkas released the boy’s hand as if shaking it off and turned his gaze toward the middle-aged man standing beside the stairs.
“How exactly have you been teaching him etiquette?”
“I have no excuse, Young Family Head.”
The man, who possessed a stubborn impression, bowed his head deeply in apology.
Seeing this, the boy suddenly raised his voice.
“If you have something to say, say it to me! Why are you taking it out on an innocent person?”
Varkas’s ice-cold eyes immediately snapped back to him.
The boy, who had been shouting so boldly, flinched and lowered his gaze.
“It’s not like it wears out or anything. You could at least let us see her face.”
At his grumbling, Thalia’s eyes flared. Her temper flared at the way he spoke of her as if she were some kind of rare animal on display.
“How dare you treat me like a spectacle…!”
Just as she was about to snap back, long fingers blocked her vision.
Varkas pulled her hood tight to cover her eyes and continued up the stairs.
Thalia looked utterly dumbfounded.
She couldn’t understand why he was trying so hard to hide her. Was his intention to block her from having any friction with his family?
She pushed the hood back and shot him a fierce look.
“What has gotten into you? You should at least introduce me!”
“You’ve been suffering from a fever throughout the entire journey,” he countered in a calm tone as he strode across the vast marble hall. “First, recover your strength. I will introduce you as much as you like once you are well.”
“I’m perfectly fine…!”
She tried to argue, but a dry cough scratched its way up her throat.
Thalia covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking. Her throat, parched from the fever, stung as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper.
He let out a small sigh.
“Don’t waste your energy needlessly and just get some sleep.”
With that, he pulled the hood back over her head.
Thalia, who had been glaring at him with a scowl, eventually let her head hang weakly.
As he said, her strength was at rock bottom after suffering for days. Inwardly, she felt a sense of relief at being able to postpone the uncomfortable encounter. However, unable to honestly admit those feelings, she grumbled pointlessly.
“You’re really annoying.”
He didn’t offer a single response and silently climbed the stairs.
A man who appeared to be the butler followed hurriedly and guided them to a large bedroom located on the second floor of the main castle.
A moment later, the view of a spacious room decorated far more luxuriously than her bedroom in the Separate Palace unfolded before her eyes.
Thalia looked around with wide eyes. A chandelier densely embedded with crystals hung from the high ceiling, and golden candlesticks were placed at regular intervals throughout the room.
The walls were lined with furniture so magnificent they wouldn’t have been out of place if presented to the Emperor; at a glance, they seemed to be the handiwork of Dwarves.
In addition, tapestries with unique patterns, shields engraved with the Si’eikan family crest, animal furs, and white porcelain were decorated here and there.
As she was examining them carefully, Varkas walked over to the large bed in the middle of the room and carefully set her down.
“You will be using this room from now on.”
Thalia instinctively grabbed his sleeve.
“And you?”
Varkas, who had been reaching for the bell pull beside the bed to summon the servants, paused and looked down at her.
In an instant, heat rushed to her cheeks.
Thalia hurriedly added, “I don’t mean we should use the same room….”
“Do not worry. I intend to use a separate bedroom,” he said calmly.
Thalia relaxed her shoulders in relief. She had been anxious the whole time, fearing the moment she would have to show him her legs.
He straightened his posture and continued in a steady tone.
“This is the bedroom that has been used by the lady of the Si’eikan family for generations. It should be more than adequate for Your Highness.”
“If I use this room, where will the current Grand Duchess stay?”
“The position of the Grand Duchess of Si’eikan has been vacant for the past ten years.”
His blunt reply momentarily left her speechless. His family history, which she had overheard while living in the Imperial Palace, belatedly flashed through her mind.
Varkas’s biological mother had ended her short life due to childbed fever after giving birth to him.
The second Grand Duchess who came after her also passed away in an unfortunate accident, and she heard that the Grand Duke’s health had deteriorated from the shock.
In such a situation, it would have been difficult to welcome a new Grand Duchess.
She let out a dry, awkward cough.
“Ah, right. That’s how it was.”
“I will call for a healer. Take some fever reducers and get some sleep.”
As if concerned by her raspy voice, he poured a glass of water and handed it to her.
She took it and was taking a sip when she heard a presence at the doorway.
Turning her gaze, Thalia spotted a middle-aged woman with a dignified expression and pushed herself up.
Varkas, who pressed down on her shoulder to keep her still, turned to look at the woman. The woman, who had been casting an inquiring glance toward Thalia, bowed politely.
“It has been a long time, Young Family Head.”
It was a gentle voice that didn’t match her stiff impression.
The woman continued softly, “His Grace the Grand Duke has commanded that I bring the Young Family Head to his room immediately.”
“Tell him I will be there shortly.”
Varkas replied calmly and looked down at Thalia with a steady gaze.
“Then, I shall take my leave.”
“…Do, don’t I have to go with you?”
“Your Highness can visit him separately later. I will explain things well, so do not worry yourself.”
Then, before she could catch him, he left the room.
Thalia stared blankly at the closed door before climbing out of bed and staggering toward the window.
Through the transparent glass, a panoramic view of Kalmore came into sight.
The city surrounded by castle walls, the small and large villages sprawling beyond, and the green meadows…. As she pushed the window aside, a chilly wind brushed harshly against her face.
She gazed at the plains meeting the blue sky, then turned her head at the sound of a strange, distant echoing.
A birch forest glowing white was visible at the end of the hill. In that moment, a strange emotion—she couldn’t tell if it was excitement or fear—surged within her.
‘This is where I will live from now on.’
She took a deep breath.
The scent of the cold, dry wind that had been faintly lingering on Varkas filled her lungs.
In that moment, she knew she would come to love this land.
Lucas sat slumped in his chair, tapping his feet against the floor.
His younger sister, Raina, who was a year younger than him, glared at him and shrilled.
“If I get treated like an uneducated brat because of you, you’re taking responsibility!”
“Well, you are an uneducated brat.”
A pillow stuffed with goose feathers flew straight at his face.
Raina had spent hours painstakingly braiding her thick hair with the single-minded goal of looking good for her older brother, even bringing out her late mother’s jewelry and a silk Tunka to adorn herself.
Yet, far from being able to strike up a conversation, she hadn’t received even a glance from him.
Raina poured all that resentment onto her easy-target brother.
“Brother Varkas was educated like royalty in the capital! He is a noble among nobles, proficient in Imperial Palace etiquette! How could you use the slang of commoner kids in front of someone like him!”
“Noble among nobles, my foot.”
He sat bolt upright.
“Didn’t you see earlier? He didn’t even properly greet the people who had been waiting days for his arrival and just brushed past. Is that the etiquette of the Imperial Palace?”
“That’s because you offended Brother’s mood first!”
“What did I do that was so wrong!”
Lucas jumped up from his chair, huffing.
“I just wanted to check that woman’s face! You were curious about what kind of person she was too.”
“I’m not curious about that woman’s face at all!”
Raina threw down the jade jewelry dangling from her neck, her reddish-brown eyes flashing sharply.
“Why would I check the face of that vulgar woman who tarnished Brother’s honor? I’m sure she’s just like her vulgar mother!”
“…I thought you told me not to speak like an uneducated person.”
“I said to be careful in front of Brother Varkas!”
Raina’s eyes gleamed as she roughly let down her hair, which had been pulled back tight.
Having ridden horses every single day since she was six, Raina had tan skin and long limbs, making her look like a dashing boy when she wasn’t dressed up.
His sister threw off her long, heavily embroidered coat and sat cross-legged on the bed.
“Listen carefully. You must never treat that woman poorly in front of Brother. If you bully her openly like that, our naive Brother will end up feeling pity for her! On the contrary, we’ll just become the wicked siblings!”
“…Naive?”
Lucas muttered as if he found it absurd.
Ignoring his remark, Raina continued her lengthy speech.
“That’s why we have to harass her as discreetly as possible! If we poke at her just a little, she’ll go running to Brother and badmouth us. Then, she becomes the wicked woman who slanders her kind and cute siblings, and we become the poor, pitiful ones!”
