Chapter 38
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 38
“Let go of me!”
Thalia lashed out, her boot connecting with his shin. However, her brother wasn’t about to fall for the same trick twice. Gareth swiftly shifted his weight to dodge the blow, then seized her arm, twisting it with brutal force. He let out a thin, mocking cackle right in her face.
“I had my suspicions, but to think… the Imperial family’s greatest nuisance actually harbors feelings for an Eastern noble!”
Thalia looked up at him, her eyes wide with sudden dread.
It felt as if the blood in her veins had turned to ice. She scrambled to pull her shattered composure back together.
“Don’t talk nonsense. Who would ever—”
“Exactly. It is nonsense. A mere bastard, forgetting her place and daring to covet the heir of the Sieorkan Grand Duchy!”
Gareth shook with laughter, clearly delighted to have finally caught a weakness in the sister he had always considered a thorn in his side. He gripped her chin with one hand, exhaling a breath thick with the stench of alcohol and a cloying, fishy musk directly into her face.
“Blood will tell, after all. Then again, where else would the temperament of a vulgar whore go? Lusting after another woman’s man is simply in your nature.”
Thalia glared at him, her eyes burning with a cold fire. Gareth, looking down at her venomous expression with a smirk, released her with a rough shove. He added with a slimy grin, “Don’t even dream of it. Barkas is not someone a creature like you would ever dare to look at—”
“You’ve forgotten one thing, brother. Flowing through me isn’t just the blood of a ‘vulgar whore,’ but also the blood of a man who bedded a girl young enough to be his daughter while his own wife was heavy with child.”
In an instant, the smile on the Crown Prince’s face vanished as if it had never existed. Looking straight up at his hideously distorted features, Thalia continued slowly.
“Now that I think about it, that shameless man’s blood flows through your body too, doesn’t it?”
She saw the muscles in his massive frame go taut with tension. She knew she should stop here, but she couldn’t let it end with him simply holding her secret over her head. Thalia mirrored his earlier behavior, flashing a sharp, mocking smile right in his face.
“Since you’ve dug up my secret, why don’t I unearth one of yours?”
A faint trace of anxiety flickered in Gareth’s eyes. Watching him with a look of pure derision, Thalia leaned in and whispered softly into his ear.
“There’s a rumor circulating among the maids. They say His Sublime Highness the Crown Prince seeks out women with deep honey-colored hair and sea-blue eyes every single night.”
The color drained from Gareth’s bronzed face. Thalia flashed a smile of pure malice at his deathly pale countenance.
“I think I know who the woman in your dreams is… the one you saw the night you first became a man and soiled your bed. Shall I take a guess?”
His entire body convulsed as if he had been electrocuted. A thought crossed her mind that if she didn’t stop now, he might actually kill her. But, as always, she listened to the devil’s voice whispering in her ear, egging her on.
“There’s no need to tremble like that. I’m a good sister, so I’ll keep your secret to the very end—the fact that the Crown Prince has inherited Emperor Darian’s blood very, very strongly.”
The moment she finished speaking, a heavy impact sent her head snapping to the side.
Thalia collapsed to the ground, clutching her face, which felt as if it were on fire. Her vision swam, the world tilting in a violent concussion. As she tried to push herself up, Gareth lunged on top of her and began to strangle her with both hands. It felt as if her eyeballs were about to pop from their sockets.
Thalia resisted desperately. She raked her sharp nails down his forearms and kicked at his rock-hard body, but her frail strength was utterly powerless against him.
After thrashing like a fish out of water, Thalia’s limbs eventually went limp. Just then, the grip that had been tightening around her throat as if to crush her bones suddenly vanished.
Thalia twisted her body convulsively, gasping for air with ragged, desperate wheezes. Through a vision blurred by tears, she saw Barkas holding Gareth’s arm.
Barkas, looking down at her with a face like a cold mask, shifted his gaze to Gareth.
Gareth was still glaring at his half-sister as if he wanted to tear her apart. He looked driven mad by a sense of frantic resentment. His expression, playing the victim even now, was so pathetic that a raspy laugh burst out of Thalia amidst her dry coughing.
Gareth’s face turned a deep crimson as he raised a fist.
“You damn bitch…!”
But his hand never reached her.
Barkas, who had gripped the man’s thick, muscular forearm as easily as if he were twisting a child’s wrist, glared at Thalia with sharp, piercing eyes. He looked utterly fed up with her, seeing how she was still itching to provoke her brother even after nearly dying.
“Escort the Princess back to her quarters.”
He issued the command to the personal guard who had come running, his face pale with fright. The knight immediately moved to support her.
Thalia coldly brushed his hand away and stood up unsteadily. Then, with a nonchalant expression as if nothing had happened, she patted the dust off her skirt. Gareth, watching this with burning eyes, bellowed at Barkas.
“Let go of me this instant!”
“Stop this at once!”
Aila, who had been watching the scene from a short distance away, finally found her voice. Her face was white with shock, as if this were the first time she had witnessed her brother’s violent nature up close. She hurried to her brother’s side and spoke in a stiff, trembling tone.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing? You are the Crown Prince of this Empire! How could you commit such an outrage…!”
“Stay out of this!” Gareth growled like a beast.
Aila flinched and took a step back. She seemed genuinely shaken that her brother, who had always acted like a docile puppy toward her, had finally bared his teeth. Thalia spoke mockingly toward her half-sister.
“She’s right. Sister, don’t meddle in our business.”
Aila’s emerald eyes flashed sharply as she glared at her. Then, seeing Thalia’s wretched state, she stiffened. Thalia touched her swollen cheek with one hand and gave a strange, haunting smile.
“It was just a light spat between siblings. Isn’t that right, brother?”
When she tilted her head as if seeking agreement, the sound of teeth grinding echoed through Gareth’s clenched jaw. She stepped toward the fuming Gareth. A knight stepped forward to block her, but she ignored him and looked straight up into her half-brother’s dark green eyes.
“Actually, we’re close enough to share secrets, aren’t we?”
His face was now so red it looked ready to explode. He looked as if he wanted to chew her up and swallow her whole. However, perhaps because he didn’t want to risk his foul secret being exposed in front of Aila, he forced his body to relax and spoke in a strained voice.
“……Get your hands off me.”
Barkas, who had been silently observing Gareth’s face, released his grip. He must have been applying considerable pressure, as clear handprints were left on the tanned skin. Gareth clutched his arm, rubbing it, and glared back and forth between Barkas and Thalia with eyes full of hostility before spinning around and heading toward the campsite.
Thalia giggled as she watched him walk away like a defeated soldier, but then she felt a cold gaze on her. She wiped the smile from her face and lifted her head high. A stoic, expressionless face that was always difficult to read was looking down at her.
However, Thalia could clearly read the disillusionment and anger within his icy eyes. He grabbed her arm with his gauntleted hand and nodded toward a knight.
“Escort Her Imperial Highness the First Imperial Princess to her quarters.”
Then, after a stiff bow to the frozen Aila, he led Thalia away through the trees as if he were escorting a criminal.
Her face twisted into a venomous scowl. No matter what anyone said, she was an Imperial Princess. He, a vassal of the Imperial family, had no right to drag the Emperor’s daughter around like a stray dog.
Thalia violently wrenched her arm from his grasp.
“You insolent bastard! Let go of me this inst—”
In that moment, her body was hoisted into the air. Thalia let out a sharp scream. Barkas, who had slung her over one shoulder like a piece of luggage, strode through the tents, ignoring the shocked stares of the onlookers.
Thalia’s face turned bright red as she struggled like a trapped beast. But no matter how much she pounded his back with her fists or kicked savagely, Barkas didn’t even flinch.