Chapter 112
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112
Thalia reflexively studied Barkas’s expression.
A dry wind seemed to sweep across his cold features, which betrayed not even a flicker of emotion. Barkas looked up at the sun, shrouded behind a thin veil of clouds as if gauging the time, then cast a calm glance toward his adjutant.
“Tell the Wolfram Cavalry to prepare for immediate departure.”
“Understood.”
As Daren withdrew, Barkas turned away without hesitation.
Thalia moistened her lips, unsure of what to say. Should she offer him comfort?
Yet, Barkas truly seemed unfazed. Perhaps it was only natural. He had been sent to the capital when he was only five years old; there was no reason for him to harbor any affection for his father.
“It seems we must depart today. How are you feeling?” Barkas asked abruptly as he stepped into the hall.
Thalia replied in a tense voice, “I’ve rested well for the past few days, so I’m fine now.”
“You haven’t fully recovered yet.” His voice suddenly grew firm. “Traveling a long distance while you are unwell will be a great burden. If your condition worsens, tell me immediately.”
Thalia, stealing a glance at him, gave a weak nod.
He ascended the stairs at a pace that was neither slow nor fast. Through the windows lining the hallway, a leaden sky was visible. She found herself thinking that it might rain during the funeral.
*
The return journey was swift.
After riding diligently across the open fields, they arrived at Raedgo Castle two days earlier than expected. The gatekeeper, spotting them from afar, sounded a loud blast on the trumpet, and the drawbridge was lowered. The Wolfram Cavalry passed through the castle gates without delay.
“Welcome back!”
As they entered the courtyard, the waiting servants swarmed around Barkas all at once. Watching the scene through the carriage window, Thalia straightened her clothes and stepped outside.
The maids lined up at the entrance of the hall descended the stairs to greet her.
“You must be exhausted after such a long journey,” the head maid offered on behalf of the staff.
Thalia responded with a single nod and moved to stand beside Barkas. Barkas, who was receiving a report from the head butler, looked her up and down slowly.
“I must go see my father immediately. Will Your Highness come as well?”
Thalia hesitated for a moment. To be honest, she never wanted to face that cranky old man again. However, she didn’t want to leave Barkas alone either—even though she knew he felt no sorrow.
“……I’ll go with you.”
Perhaps surprised by her answer, Barkas looked down at her in silence for a moment before nodding toward his younger brother, who was standing some distance away.
“You come, too.”
Lucas, who had been standing still with a dark expression, mechanically followed his brother’s instruction. Thalia consciously ignored Lucas and followed Barkas.
As she forced her stiff legs to move and finally entered the main castle, the heavy scents of myrrh, frankincense, and sandalwood stung her nose. They were all fragrances burned for a patient on the brink of death.
“Lucas!”
Just as they reached the top of the stairs, a slender girl burst out of the Grand Duke’s bedchamber.
“Why are you only getting here now! Do you know how much I’ve had to—!”
The girl sprinted across the hallway and threw herself into Lucas’s arms. The boy, who had been standing stiffly, wrapped his arms around his sister’s shoulders, his eyes welling with tears.
Watching the scene with an uncomfortable expression, Thalia shifted her gaze to peer into the gloom-shrouded bedchamber. Inside the room, which was filled with a hazy smoke, stood high priests and vassals. Barkas strode inside and directed a question toward a priest.
“How is his condition?”
“……Regrettably, it seems unlikely he will last the night,” the old priest said in a somber voice, his face gaunt as if he had stayed up for days. “Please prepare yourselves.”
Upon hearing the priest’s words, the girl’s sobbing grew even louder. Thalia, standing awkwardly and shifting her gaze, quietly pressed herself closer to Barkas’s side.
As she cast a cautious look toward the curtained bed, she caught a glimpse of the frail old man. He looked so decrepit that it was hard to believe he was the same man who had lashed out with such a wicked tongue.
She had been staring at the man, who had become a wretched sight in barely a month, when someone violently tugged at her cloak.
“Why is this woman here!”
Laina Raedgo Sieorkan’s tear-stained eyes flashed with venom.
“I heard you cursed our father, telling him to rot in hell! How dare you show your face here! Get out! Get out this instant!”
The screaming girl tried to pull her roughly toward the door. Barkas firmly pulled his sister away and wrapped an arm around Thalia’s shoulder. Seeing this, the girl’s face grew even more feral.
“You’re just the same, Brother! Being bewitched by a witch like that—!”
“Stop it, Laina!” Lucas hurriedly pulled his sister to his chest and covered her mouth.
Laina Raedgo Sieorkan, huffing with a face full of sorrow, soon buried her face in her brother’s chest and began to wail at the top of her lungs.
It was then that a raspy voice, like metal scraping against stone, rang out.
“What is all this noise?”
Thalia jerked her head around.
The man, having lifted his wrinkled eyelids, was glaring at them with eyes that looked as if they were covered in frost. The sobbing girl rushed to the bed.
“Father! Are you awake?”
After staring at his daughter’s face for a moment, the old man’s eyes rolled as he slowly scanned the room. When he discovered Thalia standing on one side of the room, his eyes narrowed.
She stepped back behind Barkas’s back. She figured the old man wouldn’t want her there either.
Surprisingly, however, the old man remained quiet. After staring at her with dark eyes for a long time, the man finally turned his gaze toward his eldest son. A strange light flickered in his face, which had turned a dull, ashen gray.
“……I was waiting for you to come, Barkas.”
A dry cough cut off his words. Gasping for breath, the old man raised a hand as thin as a twig. In response to that silent demand, Barkas leaned over the bed.
The old man’s clouded pupils met Barkas’s cold face. In that moment, the old man, who had not lost his bitterness even at death’s door, crumbled.
“You…… must resent me.”
It was more of a statement than a question. Barkas neither agreed nor denied it, simply looking down at his father in silence. A violent turbulence rose in the old man’s eyes. He gripped Barkas’s sleeve fiercely with his skeletal fingers.
“Answer me just one thing. In your eyes…… what do you see?”
At the sudden question, everyone in the room held their breath. He desperately continued.
“In your eyes, surely something…… something else is visible, isn’t it? Tell me. You must know. What lies beyond death……”
It sounded as if blood might spray from his phlegm-filled throat at any moment. The faces of those surrounding the bed turned pale. It was as if the terror of the old man standing at the threshold of death had overwhelmed the room.
He pulled Barkas toward him with all his might, rasping out his words.
“Tell me! What on earth is behind this—!”
Only then did Barkas’s tightly closed lips open.
“Nothing.”
Not only the Grand Duke, but everyone who had been watching the confrontation in frozen silence, stopped breathing. Thalia also stared at him with eyes full of bewilderment.
Looking down calmly at his father’s pale face, Barkas added softly.
“I see nothing. So, be at peace.”
A tremor ran through the old man’s lips. The priest, finally coming to his senses, hurried to the bedside to comfort the Grand Duke.
“Your Excellency, please, you must cast away your fear. The messenger of the Gods will lead you to the world of rest.”
The old man, who had been staring obsessively at his heir, soon lost all his strength and went limp. Barkas, watching the scene with a quiet gaze, straightened his posture.
Thalia cautiously gripped his sleeve. She felt as if she had to. He looked down at her with blue eyes like glass beads before turning his gaze back to the bed.
Soon after, the priest began to recite the prayers in a solemn voice. However, the fear in the old man’s eyes did not easily fade.
The man, who had been gasping violently and muttering nonsense intermittently, finally entered eternal rest as the sun began to set.