Chapter 148
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 148
“I’ve sent for a priestess, just to be safe. You need to be examined.”
Thalia felt her face flush with shame and glared up at Barkas. “It’s nothing. I just lost my footing for a moment.”
“You were struggling with back pain only yesterday. Stay still.”
Barkas tightened his grip on the squirming woman, casting a frigid glare toward Edric.
The man, who had been awkwardly shifting his gaze in embarrassment, flinched and went rigid. His reaction was as if Barkas had leveled the point of a sword directly at his throat.
“It would be best if you left now. This is no time for idle chatter, is it?”
“...I was actually just about to depart.” The man swallowed hard, his voice tense and strained.
Barkas watched him with an expressionless face for a moment before stepping toward the exit. “Then be on your way. I’ve instructed the stable master to prepare a decent horse for you. Use it for your journey.”
“Ah... thank you for your consideration.”
Despite Edric’s polite bow, Barkas left the drawing room without a word of response.
Thalia glanced over his shoulder at the man standing there as if frozen, then looked up at Barkas. Meeting his steady, blue-gray eyes, she instinctively shrank back. His face was as calm as usual—so why had she felt that sudden, piercing chill?
“What were you talking about with Rubon?”
“Just... nothing much.”
Barkas’s eyes narrowed at her evasive answer. “Define ‘nothing much,’” he pressed, his voice rasping.
Thalia shifted her gaze awkwardly. There was no real reason to hide her conversation with Edric Rubon, but she worried Barkas might be displeased if he knew she had been prying into matters behind his back. After a moment of hesitation, she murmured an excuse.
“We were just exchanging greetings.”
“...”
“He’s always been a bit of a busybody. It seems he was worried about how I’ve been doing...”
When the silence stretched on uncomfortably, she added a few more words, and a sharp glint momentarily flashed in Barkas’s eyes. Only then did Thalia realize he was in a foul mood, though she couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason.
Was he angry because her carelessness had nearly put the baby at risk?
As she watched him anxiously, Barkas climbed the stairs and muttered in a dry tone, “It seems you two were quite close.”
“I only had him as a personal guard for a few months, that’s all,” Thalia snorted reflexively. “That man just likes to meddle. He’s the most persistent nag I’ve ever met! Honestly, he’s better suited to be a nanny than a knight.”
For some reason, the longer her disparagement went on, the colder his expression became. He had treated Edric so harshly that she assumed they were on bad terms, but was he actually a cherished subordinate?
She kept her mouth shut and watched him warily. Before she knew it, they had arrived at their bedroom. Barkas nodded to a servant standing in the hallway.
“Open it.”
The servant, who had been wiping the windows, dropped his rag and immediately threw the doors open. Barkas stepped inside, set her down on the bed, and naturally helped her out of her coat.
“How is your back?”
“It’s fine. I slept well yesterday, so it hurts less than usual.”
Normally, he would have shown at least a hint of relief at her words, but the man remained silent. Barkas stared intently at her stomach with a pensive look before slowly straightening up. He poured her a cup of the herbal tea the healers had prepared in advance.
In the meantime, the priestess and two healers, who had rushed over at Barkas’s summons, began their examination. Naturally, both she and the child in her womb were perfectly fine.
The priestess, who looked as though she had been dragged away from the castle chapel mid-prayer, spoke with a sigh. “You have entered a stable period now, so there is no need for absolute bed rest as before. In fact, moving around a little—as long as you don’t overexert yourself—will help alleviate the back pain.”
Thalia glared at Barkas as if to say, See?
Barkas, looking down at her with his arms crossed, frowned. “What exactly do you mean by ‘not overexerting’ herself?”
“Whatever level Her Highness finds manageable,” the priestess replied, her expression a subtle mix of a smile and a grimace as she packed her things.
After being badgered for the past few weeks, she seemed to have come to view the Grand Duke of Sieorkan—a man everyone else feared—as just another young husband fussing over his first child. She added gently, “Regular walks of ten to thirty minutes will also help ease the pelvic pain. However, you must always have someone by your side to support you. If you were to fall and the impact hit your stomach, the fetus could be harmed.”
The priestess shot her a reproving look. Thalia hugged her stomach, looking slightly guilty.
Once the priestess left the room, the healers began their work. While Marisen set up a partition to apply ointment to her legs and change her bandages, Tiuran placed cushions behind her back and helped her into a comfortable position. When the commotion finally ended, Barkas sent them all out at once.
Thalia realized he had stayed behind because he had something to say, and her expression grew tense. The man looked down at her in silence for a long time, arms crossed, before finally speaking.
“Your Highness is now the Grand Duchess of the East and my wife.”
Thalia looked up at him, bewildered. Can’t he see my swollen belly? She blinked blankly, wondering why he was stating something the whole world already knew, when Barkas added coldly, “I cannot tolerate you idling about with men as you did in your thoughtless teenage years. Please conduct yourself as befits a Grand Duchess.”
Thalia’s face flushed red at the sudden accusation. Anger surged to the top of her head in an instant.
“I was merely having a brief conversation with my former knight. How exactly did I misbehave?”
“Being alone in a room with a man who is not your kin is inappropriate in itself. Surely you know that much.”
It was true. A married noblewoman was expected to be accompanied by attendants at all times, especially when meeting a man who wasn’t her husband. However, Thalia, who had allowed no one but her nanny and Barkas by her side since childhood, couldn’t stand having people trailing after her. It made her feel as though she were being watched.
She glared at him with defiant eyes. “Don’t talk as if I were having some secret tryst. There are over two hundred people living in this castle! There were servants passing by right outside the drawing room.”
“And every one of them likely saw Your Highness with a young man from the outside. Does it not occur to you that they might start wagging their tongues?”
“If anyone dares to run their filthy mouth, I’ll have their tongue ripped out!” Thalia shouted fiercely. She was so frustrated that her eyes began to sting. She began to lash out at the man, who stood there as stiff and cold as an icicle. “I’m a cripple and I’m pregnant! Who do you think would even want anything to do with me? Even if I threw myself at them naked, no one would blink an eye! They’d be more likely to run for their lives!”
“Do not speak of yourself that way,” Barkas rasped, leaning toward her.
Thalia flinched, startled. Since their marriage, he had rarely taken such a threatening stance. Perhaps realizing he had frightened her, Barkas took a step back and took a deep breath. Soon, his voice returned, much calmer.
“...I was being overly sensitive. I apologize if I offended you.”
It was a formal apology, meant more to end a pointless argument than a sincere expression of regret. Thalia lowered her eyes, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Seeing the rims of her eyes redden, Barkas sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. He pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair.
It felt like being slapped and then soothed, but Thalia didn’t push him away. A significant sense of relief washed over her as Barkas shifted from that cold, icy antagonist back into her devoted protector.
“...We shall go for a short walk after we eat.”
Barkas made the suggestion once he was sure she had calmed down. Thalia shook her head, remembering what Edric had told her.
“Forget it. Go do your work. I’m just going to take a nap.”
Barkas’s lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but he simply laid her down on the bed and left the room. She listened to his receding footsteps before quietly getting up and approaching the window.
Beyond the vast castle courtyard, she could faintly see the back of Edric Rubon as he led his horse away. Soon, the man mounted and began to gallop across the wide hills. She saw snow clouds creeping in above him. She watched the knight’s retreating figure for a long time, praying it wasn’t an ill omen.
* * *
Winter passed in the blink of an eye. Thalia no longer had the luxury of worrying about Northern rebellions or wars. As her belly grew larger, the pain radiating through her lower body reached an unbearable level.