Chapter 37
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 37
Thalia’s lips trembled, the words for an excuse failing her. She wanted to maintain her usual brazen facade, but she was at her physical and mental breaking point; her mind simply refused to cooperate.
She quickly pulled up her hood to hide her face, which was contorted with agitation. She tried to brush past her brother as he blocked the entrance, but Gareth caught her wrist with practiced ease.
“I asked why you were rummaging through Barkas’s tent.”
“Let go!”
She shook her arm violently, but Gareth’s hand was clamped onto her like a vice. He yanked her toward him roughly, a low growl vibrating in his chest like an angry wolf.
“Tell me what kind of scheme you’re pulling now!”
Thalia bit her lip as his grip threatened to crush her very bones.
That man and his mindless, brute strength.
She lashed out, kicking her brother’s shin with everything she had. Perhaps because he wasn’t wearing his armor yet, Gareth let out a curse and recoiled.
Thalia didn’t miss the opening. She wrenched her arm free, dashed out of Barkas’s tent, and began to run.
She heard the sound of things being smashed behind her, as if Gareth were giving chase in a fit of rage. However, Thalia didn’t look back, weaving frantically between the rows of tents.
Before long, her carriage came into view. She leapt inside, bolted the door shut, and huddled in the corner.
A wave of anxiety washed over her, fearing that Gareth, in his towering fury, might try to tear the carriage apart. But even after a long time, there was no sign of a commotion. It seemed he had stopped his pursuit, likely conscious of the many eyes watching them.
Thalia let out a shaky sigh of relief and buried her face in her knees. Then, a sudden sense of disillusionment twisted her features. She felt a sickening loathing for herself, acting like the world’s biggest fool.
Why had she lost her senses and gone to check on him? It left a bitter taste in her mouth that she had shown Gareth such emotional instability.
He didn’t notice anything... did he?
Thalia gnawed on her lip before cautiously peeking out the window.
She saw the knights dismantling the tents. It didn’t seem like they had noticed the disturbance she’d caused. After pressing her face against the glass and scanning the perimeter, Thalia drew the curtains tight again.
As the sky brightened, the knights mounted their steeds and began to fall into formation. Among them, she spotted Barkas. She stole a glance at him through a sliver in the curtains as he inspected the front lines with his usual stoicism. When he began to approach her carriage, she hurriedly hid herself.
Was he going to interrogate her? Had Gareth already said something?
As she racked her brain for excuses, Barkas stopped near the carriage, barked a few instructions to the knights, and moved back to the front.
Thalia’s shoulders slumped in relief. Just then, the booming voice of a personal guard reached her.
“We depart shortly.”
She didn’t offer a reply. As if he hadn’t expected one in the first place, the knight said nothing more and urged his horse forward. Soon after, her carriage began to roll.
Thalia leaned back against the seat and watched the sky turn white through the gaps in the curtains. It seemed a tedious day was beginning, with nothing having changed after all.
*
The march that had begun at dawn was halted before the sun had even begun to set.
Gareth, his patience finally snapping, unilaterally declared that they would move no further today. Strictly speaking, the travel itinerary was the responsibility of Barkas, the commander-in-chief. However, there were few who dared to defy the orders of the Crown Prince.
In the end, with Barkas’s tacit consent, they set up camp in the middle of nowhere, just before the second holy site, Ulgram Hill.
It was a frustrating situation for the soldiers who wanted to leave the plains as quickly as possible, but for Thalia, it was a blessing. Having spent the entire day cooped up in a swaying carriage without eating or sleeping properly, her stamina had hit rock bottom.
She lay on the carriage seat, her eyes unfocused and dizzy. Then, a loathsome voice drifted in from outside.
“Your Highness, I have brought some fruit.”
Thalia furrowed her brows. It was a mystery why this knight continued to interfere after being snubbed so harshly yesterday. Unless he had some ulterior motive, why would he fawn over her to this extent?
She snapped at him sharply. “Piss off.”
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t eat because you didn’t know what was in the food? Fresh, unprocessed fruit should be fine.”
She was too exhausted to even argue, so she fell silent. Then, the knight rudely swung the carriage door open and thrust a tray of fruit in front of her face.
“I’m only doing this because I’m worried this journey will actually turn into a funeral procession. Please, stop being stubborn and at least eat this.”
She glared at him with an appalled expression before lowering her gaze to the silver tray. There were ripe red apples, plums, and green grapes. Thalia stared at them blankly, then muttered in a low voice, as if she didn’t even have the energy to be angry.
“How do I know you haven’t smeared poison on the skins?”
One would think he’d give up by now, but the knight didn’t budge. Letting out a heavy sigh, he picked up an apple from the tray. He took a large bite out of it and then held the fruit, now marked with his teeth, out to her.
“Satisfied?”
“Are you telling me to eat something you’ve already bitten into? It’s filthy—get it away from me!”
The knight looked as if he wanted to strangle her. Regardless, Thalia turned her back on him. In truth, she was ravenous, but she couldn’t bring herself to touch food handled by someone else. Even if she forced it down, she was certain she would just throw it back up.
“I’m done. Stop bothering me and just get lost.”
“Is 'get lost' the only thing Your Highness knows how to say?”
The knight’s words, which were increasingly crossing the line, sparked a surge of irritation. Thalia bolted upright. A brief wave of dizziness hit her, but she stood her ground, forcing strength into her legs to avoid showing any weakness.
Once her vision cleared, she left the knight, who was watching her warily, and stepped out of the carriage.
The sky was already shifting from deep blue to a pale orange. After staring at the horizon for a moment, Thalia moved toward the edge of the campsite to avoid the prying eyes of the camp. She wanted to find a place where no one was and rest in silence. However, she knew if she strayed too far, the knights would immediately follow.
After a moment of deliberation, Thalia headed toward a dense forest a short distance away from where the baggage wagons were parked. At this distance, they could still see her with the naked eye, so they wouldn’t feel the need to hover around her under the guise of protection.
Thalia sat down with her back against a large tree and took a deep breath of the cool evening air. After some time, the faint sound of laughter reached her.
Thalia’s eyes snapped open. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who had sought out a secluded spot; she saw Aila walking leisurely through the sparsely spaced spruce trees.
Thalia’s face contorted. She was exhausted in both body and mind. She didn’t think she could endure seeing that face brimming with happiness.
She stood up abruptly to leave, but then another person, hidden behind a tree, came into view.
It was the man who, until this morning, had made her pray just for him to be alive.
Thalia stared with hollow eyes. Barkas, holding Torque’s reins in one hand as he quietly followed Aila, looked more peaceful than she had ever seen him. Having seen nothing but his cold expressions or furrowed brows until she was sick of them, that serene face felt foreign.
Does he always look like that in front of Aila?
As she watched him blankly, Aila tugged on Barkas’s arm, then stood on her tiptoes and tilted her head up. Thalia, realizing what she was asking for, held her breath.
She didn’t want to see it. She didn’t want to witness a scene that she would be unable to excise from her mind for the rest of her life—one she would chew over and over again in the dark.
Even as she screamed internally, Thalia couldn’t tear her eyes away. Perhaps, deep down, she wanted to see him coldly refuse her. But Barkas, like a devoted hound, responded to Aila’s wish.
Seeing him lean his head down toward her, Thalia turned and began to run. But before she could get far, someone caught her.
Her eyes widened in surprise. Gareth, his cheeks flushed as if he had been drinking, was gripping her arm and looking down at her intently. Thalia hurriedly lowered her head to hide from his observant gaze, but he had already seen the moisture in her eyes.
“Don’t tell me you...” Gareth muttered, letting out a hollow laugh.
Thalia twisted her arm violently to escape him, but the Crown Prince didn’t budge. Gareth looked down at her face, which was still unable to hide its emotional turmoil, as if she were a rare spectacle. Then, he finally burst into a roar of laughter.
“So, that’s what it was?”