Chapter 104
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 104
There wasn’t even time to react.
Through the gap of her startled lips, a supple tongue guided a liquid as thick as honey into her mouth.
Thalia, who had braced herself for a bitterness so intense it would turn her stomach, widened her eyes in surprise. Instead of medicine, a sweet liquid infused with the scent of flowers wrapped softly around her tongue. As she swallowed the pool of sweetness, the warmth pressing against her slowly withdrew.
"I heard you insisted on skipping dinner."
A low, reproachful voice brushed against her swollen lips.
Thalia looked up at him, her expression dazed. Ever since she had begun pestering him for kisses under the pretext of needing help with her medicine, they had pressed their lips together almost every night—but this was the first time he had initiated it.
No, to be precise, this was the second time.
She flushed crimson, the memory of their chaotic first night together rushing back.
Barkas watched her quietly before brushing a calloused thumb against the corner of her mouth.
"Want more?"
Her heart convulsed at his whisper. Thalia recoiled as if she had been burned.
"Wh-what did you just feed me?"
At her stammered question, he gestured toward the shelf beside the bed. A small silver pitcher and bowls filled with various fruits sat there.
"It is a drink made from fermented goat milk. Easterners often consume it as a meal replacement in the morning."
His monotonous explanation only further tangled the confusion in her mind. He looked perfectly composed, as if feeding someone mouth-to-mouth was of no consequence at all.
Perhaps, to him, it truly wasn’t.
Just as he had forced the medicine into her when she refused it, he might have simply been ensuring she ate.
Yes. That had to be it.
Was he not a man fundamentally broken? Just as he had unilaterally accommodated Aila, he was merely catering to her own demands this time.
Struggling to calm her racing heart, Thalia forced a cold mask onto her face.
"Who asked you to feed me my meals, too?"
His sharp eyes narrowed at her biting tone.
However, he didn’t seem offended. After stroking his chin with a pensive look, Barkas placed a tray in front of her.
"Then eat for yourself."
With that, he rose and walked toward the window. Thalia watched him pour water into a basin to wash his face and neck before lowering her gaze to the tray.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pang of regret. If she had kept insisting she wouldn’t eat, he would have fed her himself. Cursing her own pathetic thoughts, she picked up a piece of bread.
It was warm, as if freshly baked. While she tore the steaming bread into small pieces and pushed them into her mouth bit by bit, Barkas returned to the bed, having changed into fresh clothes.
"Is the food not to your liking?"
Barkas frowned at the mangled scraps of bread. Thalia hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.
"It’s... fine."
"Then eat properly. Stop acting like someone who holds a personal grudge against food."
Thalia’s brows shot up. He sounded like he was scolding a finicky child.
She intended to snap back, to ask how she was supposed to eat when she didn’t even know what she was consuming. But when she met his gaze, the thorny words died in her throat. She didn’t want to pick a pointless fight with a man who had just returned from a grueling night of battle and made sure she was fed first.
In the end, Thalia picked up a small pastry that looked as if it had been fried in oil.
Closing her eyes tight, she took a large bite. Her teeth sank into hot, spiced meat.
A sudden surge of nausea hit her.
There was nothing wrong with the taste of the savory meat itself. Rather, it was a visceral rejection of the unknown.
It couldn’t be lizard, or bat, or frog, could it? As she crushed the soft filling, she felt something crunchy. A nut, perhaps? Or maybe an insect. The minced meat was mixed with all sorts of ingredients sautéed in oil.
Her stomach twisted painfully at the thought that some foul, foreign object might be hidden inside.
Moving her jaw mechanically, as if chewing on mud, Thalia couldn’t bear the revulsion any longer and forced herself to swallow.
Seeing this, Barkas quickly poured a cup of water and handed it to her.
"Drink."
Thalia seized the cup. As she gulped down the ice-cold water, the food clogging her throat finally washed down.
She shuddered at the lingering sensation, feeling as if she had swallowed gravel, when a sighing voice drifted down from above.
"That dreadful eating habit of yours simply won’t be fixed."
Thalia looked up, startled. She had never imagined he would care enough to notice how she ate.
"It’s just... I don’t have much of an appetite today," she offered defensively.
He creased his eyes at her excuse. He seemed well aware that she ate even less than the ascetic priests.
Sighing softly once more, Barkas poured her more of the fermented goat milk.
"It would be best to gradually increase the variety of foods you can tolerate. You cannot live on honey and fruit forever."
Thalia stared blankly at the man offering such uncharacteristic nagging before taking the cup with a reluctant face. Once she had forced down the liquid, he cleared the tray away.
"I will call the maid. Prepare yourself to leave."
While he stepped out, Thalia washed and changed into clean clothes with her nanny’s help. Since her bandages had been changed the previous evening, there was no need to call a healer.
Draping a fur-lined coat over her shoulders, Thalia brushed off the nanny’s support and stepped outside on her own.
The weather was exceptionally clear.
Looking up at the cloudless sky, Thalia lowered her gaze to the peaceful village. She saw horses, freed from their saddles, grazing on the wide meadow. The cavalrymen, having returned from the subjugation operation, were gathered in an open space for their meal.
As she moved toward the carriage, Thalia stopped in her tracks. A strange shadow stretched across the ground. Nearby, a long pole stood tall.
Inadvertently looking up, Thalia froze. She was face-to-face with a severed head mounted on the tip.
The face was ashen, pale as if every drop of blood had been drained from the body. Her stomach, already fragile from the morning, convulsed.
Thalia clamped her hand over her mouth. It felt as though the food she had forced down would surge back up at any moment. And yet, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the features distorted by terror.
Public executions were common in the capital, but this was the first time she had seen a decapitated head up close.
Seized by a bizarre curiosity, she stared into the clouded pupils. She felt as though she might be able to glimpse hell through them.
According to the doctrines, impure beings were cast into the fiery pits. As an impure being herself, her path to hell was all but guaranteed.
If possible, she wanted to see the world she would inhabit after death. Possessed by that thought, she stepped closer to the pole, only for a powerful arm to block her path.
Thalia whipped her head around.
Barkas was looking down at her with an unreadable expression.
It wasn’t just him. Everyone nearby was casting uneasy glances her way. The sight of her staring at the decapitated head as if possessed was chilling to behold.