Chapter 16
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 16
Aila glared at Senevia, her eyes clouded with suspicion.
What was the woman plotting? Why was she so insistent on having Thalia tag along? At most, the girl was a nuisance, capable of nothing more than petty, irritating pranks.
However, Senevia was not the type to involve the Emperor in a fruitless endeavor. There had to be a hidden motive.
Aila spoke up, her tone stiffening. "Is it not tradition for a lady of the Imperial Family to embark on a pilgrimage only when her marriage is at hand? Why are you insisting she go now?"
"Because Thalia may be wed soon as well," Senevia replied brightly.
Aila furrowed her brow. She hadn’t heard so much as a whisper regarding a marriage proposal for Thalia.
Regardless of her status as an illegitimate child, Thalia was still an Imperial Princess whose name was recorded in the Imperial Family Registry. Her marriage was not something that could be arranged in total secrecy. Senevia was undoubtedly spinning a tale just to force her into this trip.
As Aila fixed the Empress with a doubting stare, Barkas’s cold voice cut through the air.
"The timing of this marriage is certainly... convenient."
Despite the blatant sarcasm, Senevia didn’t lose her composure for a second.
"It is a wonderful thing; the Imperial House will be celebrating one joyous occasion after another. The proposal only arrived recently, so a formal engagement hasn’t been finalized, but His Majesty and I are considering it favorably."
A sneer curled the corners of Barkas’s mouth. "May I ask who the lucky man is?"
"You’ve likely heard his name. It is the head of House Serian, Count Verdein Serian. A formal letter of proposal arrived a few days ago." Senevia spoke with a benevolent smile gracing her lips. "It has been quite some time since the girl’s coming-of-age ceremony. She is at an age where she should be wed, and I thought it a fine match."
Aila choked back a hollow, bitter laugh. Verdein Serian was one of the Empress’s most devoted sycophants.
According to the rumors, he had once held the record for being the Empress’s longest-running lover. To marry her own daughter off to such a man—was she insane?
The memory of Thalia appearing at a banquet alongside Count Serian flashed through Aila’s mind, and a wave of revulsion surged within her. A mother who would marry her daughter to her own former lover, and a daughter who would follow such a mother’s will—they were both surely mad.
"Since that is how matters stand, hasten the preparations for the girl’s journey."
The Emperor gave a firm command, signaling the end of the conversation, and gestured for them to withdraw.
Barkas, who had been watching his sovereign with an unreadable expression, silently bowed his head and rose. He turned and exited the audience chamber without a word.
Aila, still reeling from Senevia’s words, turned toward him in bewilderment. She hadn’t expected Barkas to retreat so easily. She paid her respects to the Emperor and hurried after him.
"Are you really going to take Thalia along?" she hissed. "That marriage is nothing but a convenient excuse. Senevia is definitely plotting something terrible."
"I suppose so," he replied indifferently, his boots thudding rhythmically against the stone stairs.
Aila stared at his retreating back, dazed, before gathering her skirts and rushing to catch up. She grabbed his arm, her voice rising in agitation.
"Is that all? You don’t know what the Empress might do using Thalia, yet you’re blindly—!"
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
The man stopped in his tracks and cast a chilling gaze her way. Aila flinched. Only then did she realize his mood had hit rock bottom.
Only an hour ago, he had been smiling at her. Now, he was a stranger again, looking down at her with frigid eyes. He spoke with a mocking edge.
"Do you expect me to rebel against His Majesty’s command?"
"I only meant..."
"He is the sovereign of this Empire, and I am a man sworn to the Imperial Family. From the beginning, there has been no path for me other than obedience. Is that not what you and your fellow nobles have always demanded?"
Aila froze at his unexpectedly sharp words. The man looked down at her with dry, hollow eyes before turning to walk away again.
Seeing his back grow distant without a hint of hesitation, a sudden surge of fear washed over her. Just as she had done when they were children, Aila ran to him and threw her arms around his waist.
"I’m sorry! I was just anxious and took it out on you. Please, don’t turn away so coldly."
The tension slowly bled out of the man’s rigid frame. He let out a faint sigh and turned around to return her embrace. Then, just as he had in their youth, he gently stroked her hair.
"There is no need to be anxious. No matter what plot the Empress brews, no harm will ever come to Your Highness."
She lifted her head to look up at him. The man who had looked at her like a stranger had already returned to being her loyal knight. Aila felt her scattered emotions snap back into place in an instant.
A man who could shatter her composure so effortlessly, only to mend it with a few hollow words... In his presence, even her pride, decorum, and authority as a princess were futile.
Aila clung to his cool embrace—one that never grew warm despite the decade they had spent together—and stared longingly into his pale blue eyes.
What was this man looking at? His hollow, bottomless eyes always seemed to be wandering somewhere far away.
"I promised the former Empress that I would protect the two of you to the best of my ability," he said, tucking a few stray hairs behind Aila’s ear. "I intend to keep that promise no matter what. So, there is nothing for Your Highness to worry about."
Aila searched his face for a long moment before finally nodding.
Yes, as long as this man was on her side, there was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
* * *
Trimming her broken nail left Thalia feeling strangely empty.
How many more weeks would she have to wait for it to grow long enough to sink deep into someone’s flesh? She looked down at the pink nail bed just beginning to peek out from her fingertip with an impatient gaze.
The satisfaction of having wounded the Crown Prince had been fleeting. Her noble brother would have gone straight to a priest to have his hand perfectly healed. Meanwhile, she had lost the secret weapon she had spent weeks meticulously grooming for nothing.
I wanted to use it on Aila, if possible...
How many times had she imagined driving her nails into those verdant eyes whenever that woman looked at Barkas?
Thalia scratched at the wound left by the broken nail. The barely formed scab was torn away, and beads of blood began to well up. Her nerves grew increasingly frayed. She stared blankly at the reddening tip before putting her finger in her mouth to suck away the blood, then stood up from the window.
Barkas was particularly hard to spot today. There was no longer any reason to stay glued to the glass, enduring the stinging sunlight.
She trudged across the room, poured cold water into the basin on the shelf, and lightly washed her sweat-dampened face. Just then, a knock sounded. She assumed her Nanny had brought more snacks.
Thalia wiped her face with a clean linen cloth and called out listlessly. "Come in."
However, the person who opened the door was not the short, plump-limbed quarter-dwarf. Instead, it was a small boy with dark reddish-brown curls and bright, shining green eyes.