Chapter 17
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 17
Thalia fixed a cold, wary gaze on the boy. He stared back with eyes that were far too bright, far too clear.
“What are you doing here?”
“I snuck out of the castle to see you, Sister.”
The boy spoke with a cheerfulness that bordered on audacity.
Thalia scowled. Her younger brother, Athros, who had just turned six, was a constant thorn in her side.
Though they shared the same parents, their circumstances were as different as heaven and earth. This innocent-faced boy was the legitimate prince born to the Emperor and Empress, while she… was she not merely the byproduct of a shameful scandal?
Watching Athros receive his baptism amidst a sea of blessings, Thalia had been consumed by a piercing jealousy. She couldn’t help but loathe the tiny, red creature who could barely open its eyes.
Senevia, keenly sensing those emotions, had never allowed her eldest daughter—now deemed a useless vestige—to approach her precious son.
Consequently, Thalia only ever saw her brother’s face at official events. This was the first time she had faced him this closely since the day of his baptism.
She furrowed her brow and scanned the area.
“Did you come here all by yourself? If Mother finds out…”
“I’m not alone. I came with Berens.”
The boy spoke firmly and turned to point toward the shadows of the corridor. Only then did Thalia spot the man in black standing in the deep gloom.
He was a ghost-faced man who had once been hers. Now, he stood by Athros, his eyes wary and sharp, as if ready to strike the moment she attempted to cause the boy even the slightest harm.
Bitterness rose in her throat. The man’s dark, cold eyes seemed to confirm what she already knew: she would never be important to anyone.
Hiding her twisted thoughts, Thalia asked in a stiff tone, “Why have you come looking for me?”
“I heard you’ll be leaving on a long journey soon. So…”
“I’m leaving on a long journey?” Thalia interrupted, her voice turning shrill.
Startled by her sharp reaction, the boy hesitated for a moment before continuing cautiously.
“Her Majesty said you would be going on a pilgrimage…”
Thalia stared blankly at her brother’s face before suddenly bursting into a jagged, harsh laugh. Athros flinched and took a step back. Did she look like she had lost her mind, even to the eyes of this innocent child?
Clutching her stomach as she laughed, Thalia leaned toward her young brother and asked in a feigned, honeyed tone, “What else did Her Majesty say?”
Athros hesitated. He seemed to have finally realized that his words were cutting his sister deep. However, the boy was not the type to swallow his words out of intimidation.
“She said you might be getting married soon. That a man named Count Serian sent a proposal…”
The boy, speaking calmly until then, suddenly flinched and fell silent.
Thalia must have been wearing a truly ghastly expression. The man who had been watching silently from a distance stepped between Athros and her. Was he worried she would lose her reason and strangle the little thing?
Thalia ignored the guard and stared intently at her brother’s innocent face.
“So, did you come to congratulate me? To share a joyful farewell because your sister, the imperial nuisance, is finally being thrown out of the palace?”
The boy’s shoulders trembled, perhaps sensing the sharp thorns hidden in her soft voice. He protested with a look of genuine grievance.
“If you get married, it will be even harder to see you than it is now… I wanted to talk to you before that. We’re siblings, born from the same mother.”
A faint longing flickered in the boy’s voice.
“I’ve always thought it would be nice if we could be close, like the First Imperial Princess and our older brother. But if you get married, that chance might never come. That’s why I came.”
Thalia looked down at his large, expectant eyes without a hint of emotion.
Because of this boy, she had been reduced to something utterly worthless.
The Empress, the Emperor, and the lovely, brilliant prince born between them—she was nothing more than an unsightly stain they wanted to erase from that perfect picture. The brighter Athros shone, the deeper the darkness surrounding her became.
It was miserable to realize she envied this child to the point of death. In truth, she loathed even looking at him.
Thalia threw a ruthless sneer at the boy whose eyes sparkled with impossible hope.
“Do you expect me to throw myself into serving you, just as the First Imperial Princess exerts every effort to make her twin brother the Emperor?”
“That’s not what I meant—!”
“Even if you didn’t ask, our mother has surely already planned exactly how to use me for your sake. My marriage was undoubtedly arranged because it benefits you. So, little brother, give up on your useless expectations.”
Athros seemed to have no defense against such blatant hostility. One look at his bewildered expression revealed how thoroughly protected his upbringing had been.
This child had likely never spent a single night in fear. She thought, with a twisted sense of satisfaction, that perhaps today’s meeting would be his first wound.
Thalia wore a sharp, cruel smile.
“I haven’t the slightest intention of being your kind, devoted sister. Because I hate you just as much as I hate our twin siblings.”
The boy’s large eyes welled up with tears from the shock. To that pitiful face, Thalia added mercilessly, “If you understand, then disappear.”
Athros bit his lip, trying to swallow his sobs, and turned away without delay. He hurried out of the empty corridor, and the man in black followed, vanishing silently into the gloom.
Thalia locked the door and walked back to the window. The sky, which had been blue just a moment ago, was now being dyed a pale, bruised violet.
The workers who had been busy moving luggage were leaving the manor one by one to rest, and not a single knight was to be seen, as if they had all retreated to their quarters long ago.
Habitually bringing her index finger to her lips, Thalia winced at a stinging pain. Dark red blood was seeping from the gap in her torn fingernail. At the sight of it, the venom that had been slowly leaking from her heart rose to her throat.
Desperately swallowing a scream that felt ready to burst, she grabbed a cloak hanging in the corner and threw it over her thin surcoat. Then, without a single maid to accompany her, she slipped out of the Annex Palace and into the night.