Ch#93
93
“He’s touring the estate with the local caretaker. He’s just taken office, so I imagine there are countless things for him to look over, don’t you think?”
The nanny answered distractedly as she set the table.
“Now, stop daydreaming and come sit down. You need to eat quickly and get ready to depart as well, My Lady.”
Thalia swallowed a heavy sigh and pulled out a chair at the table. She still had no appetite, but she didn’t want to argue with her nanny, who seemed to be in a good mood for the first time in a long while.
“I’m only going to eat a little.”
“I’m sure you will.”
With a wide smile, the nanny cut the food into bite-sized pieces and placed them on her plate.
Thalia took a piece of bread the size of a fingernail and tore it into even smaller fragments, checking to see if any foreign substances were mixed in. Once she was certain the food was safe, she forced the pulverized bread down her throat along with some sticky jam. She intended to end her meal there, but the nanny handed her more meat cooked in a mysterious brown sauce and a steamed egg.
She couldn’t bring herself to touch the gamey-smelling meat, so she barely managed to finish the single egg before rising from her seat. Just then, she sensed someone else approaching from outside the tent.
“Your Highness, I have come to check your condition.”
It was the healer Senebier had assigned to her. Thalia replied in a listless voice.
“Come in.”
Upon receiving permission, a middle-aged woman with neat features entered. she asked kindly.
“How is the pain today?”
“It’s not so bad today.”
Thalia replied bluntly as she perched on the edge of the bed. The woman naturally knelt before her and began to unwrap the bandages on her legs. As the mottled scars were revealed, the nanny immediately turned her head away.
Thalia tried her best to ignore it, looking down at her own legs with indifferent eyes. After the healer applied a thick, cream-like substance over the scars, she began to rewrap the bandages.
“The skin might get irritated, so I’ll wrap them a bit loosely today.”
“I don’t care, wrap them tight. Make sure they don’t come undone.”
“Do you intend to add even more scars?”
The healer scolded her in a stern tone. Thalia glared at her with sharp eyes for a moment, but soon bit her lip and shook her head. With a faint smile lingering on her lips, the woman finished wrapping the bandages loosely and added soothingly.
“I’ve tied the knots securely so they won’t come loose, so do not worry.”
Instead of answering, Thalia felt the bandages. They certainly didn’t seem like they would come undone unless she tore them off with her hands. As she let out a small sigh of relief, the woman pulled a small incense burner from the bag she carried at her side.
“I’ll burn some herbs for you before you leave. It will make the carriage journey easier to endure.”
She then placed a bundle of dried medicinal herbs into a porcelain jar. Thalia reached out and caught her hand to stop her.
“That’s enough.”
The healer’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Will you be all right? The pain will worsen while you’re in a jolting carriage.”
“I’ll just endure it. Varkas…”
She started to say that Varkas disliked the smell of burning herbs, but she shut her mouth. She didn’t want to get caught caring about what he thought. This was true even though there was no one left to mock or ridicule her feelings.
Thalia snapped at her as if to brush it off.
“When I say it’s enough, it’s enough.”
The healer sent her a worried look for a moment before sliding the burner back into her bag.
Thalia stood up, washed her face lightly, and changed her clothes with the nanny’s help.
When she stepped outside after finishing her preparations, her vision was filled with the sight of jagged rows of tan tents and people busily moving between them.
Thalia shrunk her shoulders at the unfamiliar landscape. Children running barefoot through the grass, women crouching in front of large fire pits baking bread and roasting meat, men riding horses with their chests bared… Everything was utterly alien to her.
“You’re finally up.”
As she stood dazed, looking around, she heard a familiar voice from somewhere.
Turning her head, Thalia frowned as she spotted a slender boy with golden-brown eyes. Varkas’s strange younger brother was perched on a large chest, glaring at her.
“Are all members of the Imperial family as lazy as you? Everyone has been waiting with bated breath for you to finish getting ready.”
Thalia arched her eyebrows. At her look, a flicker of intimidation passed over the arrogant boy’s face.
“I mean, the sun is already high in the sky, and you hadn’t even shown your face…”
“What happened to your manners?”
Thalia snapped coldly. The boy shrugged and replied shamelessly.
“I don’t even use formal speech with my own father.”
“Are you proud of being an unfilial brat?”
The boy’s expression crumpled instantly.
“Who are you calling an unfilial brat?! I’m just a bit free-spirited!”
Thalia didn’t feel he was worth dealing with and turned away. He quickly chased after her.
“Is your personality always this rotten? No, I mean, how did you even end up like this?”
“…”
“Rumor has it you used to whip your maids and kick them out for no reason, and that you even poisoned the First Princess’s cup. Is all that true?”
Thalia, who had been walking slowly, came to a dead stop. As if fearing he might be struck, the boy took a step back.
She glared at him in silence, then slowly curled the corners of her mouth upward.
“That’s right. It’s all true.”
The boy’s golden-brown eyes went wide. Meeting his eyes directly, Thalia continued in a low, measured voice.
“I whipped my maids whenever I was bored, and I did indeed put drugs in my half-sister’s cup.”
The boy’s pupils shook violently. He seemed unable to tell if she was being serious or just blustering. Thalia stepped closer to him, thrusting her face forward threateningly.
“Do you think that’s all? I even sharpened my knife every night, planning to rip that pretty little face of yours to shreds.”
She could see the fine hairs standing up on his smooth, glowing cheeks. Leaning toward his earlobes, which had turned red as if blood were rushing to them, Thalia whispered gloomily.
“So you’d better be careful too. I have nothing to lose.”
When she pulled back and straightened up, she saw a face painted with horror. Thalia gave a mocking snort for him to see, then limped away toward the carriage.
After spending a night in the pastures near Raedgo Castle, they traveled east to tour a fairly large village before turning north.
As they moved along the dirt roads connecting the villages, large and small campsites were visible here and there. It seemed a significant number of the Khan people still adhered to a nomadic lifestyle. To raise hundreds of livestock, a life of moving between pastures each season would have been inevitable.
On the other hand, the settlers living in the villages lived lives similar to those of the Imperial citizens. They resided in houses built of stone and earth, tilled fields, and some opened workshops to create handicrafts or traded food in the marketplaces.
The wool market, in particular, was highly developed, and high-quality fabrics and felt made from sheep’s wool seemed to be one of the East’s core sources of income.
Large-scale markets were held in the major cities, and hundreds of merchants flocked from all over the Empire to purchase expensive textiles. Naturally, vast amounts of gold flowed into the trade exchanges. Varkas’s primary task was to grasp the operational status of these exchanges.
“The market is growing significantly every year. Not only various textiles but also trade in food and handicrafts is very active.”
The administrator standing beside Varkas continued his explanation in a calm tone.
“The entries here are the records of taxes collected this season. In addition, I have organized everything without omission, including rental income, tolls, and the profit status of the horse trading post operated directly by the Grand Ducal family.”
Varkas scanned through the thick ledger quickly. Thalia, watching him blankly, couldn’t stand the boredom and turned her gaze to the window. The city landscape, filled with well-maintained roads and dense stone buildings, filled her vision.
The East was truly a strange place. Those living in tents on the open plains and those leading Imperial-style lives within high fortress walls… It was as if two different worlds were intricately intertwined.
“It seems this will take a little more time. Would you like to go out and look at the trade exchange for a moment?”
Thalia, who had been staring blankly out the window, turned her head with a start.
