Chapter 48
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 48
Thalia felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead and sting the corner of her eye.
It might be a medicine meant to induce agonizing pain. Or perhaps, it was a deadly poison.
Despite her lingering suspicions, Thalia parted her lips.
He tilted the vial, forcing the bitter liquid down her throat. When she reflexively turned her head away, coughing, he gripped her jaw and pressed the glass back against her lips.
Thalia looked up at him, helplessly swallowing the liquid as it seeped into her throat.
Light flickered across his pale, veiled eyes. Thalia searched for a spark of emotion in that inorganic gaze, but her strength failed her. Her limbs went limp.
She strained her eyes, desperately trying to hold onto the fraying thread of consciousness, but her mind grew hazy and her vision blurred. Her eyelids fluttered once, twice, before she plummeted into a deathly silence.
*
She couldn’t tell how much time had passed. It felt like a few seconds, yet it also felt like a lifetime.
Thalia stared blankly into the void, her brow furrowing at the rhythmic clatter of hooves and the steady rattle of wheels. As her vision, once as thick as fog, gradually cleared, the interior of a dim carriage came into view.
For a moment, she wondered if it had all been a dream. The appearance of the terrifying beast, Barkas running past her to save Aila, nearly dying at the hands of a wyvern—perhaps it had all been a nightmare from the night before.
As if to shatter the illusion, a white-hot agony flared from her knee to her hip.
Thalia bit her lower lip and clutched her knee, which felt as though it were being branded.
Beneath her thin chemise, she felt the scratch of rough fabric. Fumbling over it with trembling fingertips, Thalia’s eyes flew open as she realized her entire left leg was wrapped in thick bandages.
When she pulled up the hem of her skirt, she saw scraps of cloth, mottled with blood and discharge, stuck haphazardly to her thigh.
She quickly pulled her skirt back down and forced her upper body upright.
The spacious carriage was padded with thick, quilted sheets, though cushions and light blankets lay strewn about in a disheveled heap.
After staring blankly at her surroundings, she grabbed the handle installed on the wall and struggled to pull herself up. However, her legs refused to obey.
Thalia tried to straighten her legs, which felt as heavy as lead, but the agonizing pain shooting up her spine forced her to collapse back down with a thud. A scream escaped her lips at the piercing pain racking her entire body.
“Are you all right?!”
As if hearing the sound, the carriage abruptly stopped, and the door swung open.
Thalia squinted, looking up at the man standing against the light. A personal guard, whose already disheveled hair was even more of a mess than usual, was looking down at her with a worried gaze.
He climbed into the carriage and rummaged through a small box in the corner.
“The pain is severe, isn’t it? The healer prepared some painkillers. If you drink this...”
“Why... why wasn’t healing magic used on me?”
The man flinched and turned his head at her accusatory question.
Thalia pulled the sheet closer, casting a wary gaze at him.
“Did my brother give orders not to treat me?”
“N-no, it’s nothing like that.” The man waved his hands frantically. “The healer set the bones and closed the worst of the gashes as an emergency measure, but... Your Highness’s injuries were so severe that they couldn’t be treated all at once. They said for the sake of your prognosis, it would be better to leave it to the professional healers at the Imperial Palace...”
Thalia glared at the stammering man with distrust before lowering her gaze to her leg.
Vaguely, she remembered a large rock crushing her knee and thigh. Certainly, if the wounds had been closed carelessly, she might have lost the use of her leg forever. Even as she grudgingly accepted that fact, Thalia did not stop complaining.
“So you expect me to endure this until we reach the Imperial Palace?”
“It must be painful, but please bear with it for a little longer. We plan to move to Gillian via the fastest route possible.”
Thalia watched him with narrowed eyes before turning her gaze out the window.
She could see knights lined up in a long row across the vast plains under the pale sunlight. Within that crowd, Thalia unconsciously searched for ash-blonde hair, then shuddered at herself and pulled the curtains tightly shut. Just moving her body for a moment brought on a wave of deep exhaustion.
“I’m surprised my brother agreed to return to the Imperial Palace.”
“The wyvern attack took a heavy toll. He couldn’t exactly refuse the demand for a swift return—not if he wanted to maintain appearances for the funerals.”
When she turned back with surprised eyes at the unexpectedly cynical reply, the knight, realizing the sarcasm in his tone too late, hurriedly changed the subject.
“More importantly, you look pale. Please take the medicine first.”
The man held out the cap of the medicine bottle. Thalia stared at it for a moment before waving her hand dismissively.
“I don’t need it. Take it away. I need to rest.”
“...If you cannot trust me, I will call Sir Sieorkan.”
Thalia, who was lying back down, looked at him with a stiff face.
For a moment, her heart plummeted as if she had been suddenly attacked. Masking it with a cold sneer, Thalia snapped frostily.
“Do I look like I would ever trust a man like him?”
“But Your Highness, you...”
“I don’t trust anyone,” Thalia fiercely cut him off. Then, looking at his annoyingly stubborn face, she spat out each word as if chewing them. “Especially not him.”
“...”
“So stop talking out of turn and get out.”
The man’s lips parted as if he wanted to say something more, but he let out a small sigh and stepped outside.
A moment later, the stationary carriage began to move again.
Thalia pulled the thin summer blanket up to her shoulders. The pain that had briefly subsided flared up again, bringing a sensation as if her skin were sizzling. Tossing and turning while swallowing groans, Thalia squeezed her eyes shut as if to escape the agony.
By dusk, a stout mage arrived to weave recovery magic over her.
Thalia silently accepted his touch. The thought of another person’s hand touching her was dreadful, but she no longer had the energy to refuse.
“I will light an incense candle to dull your senses. The pain will subside considerably.”
Perhaps having heard that she had refused the medicine, the mage placed a small incense burner at the entrance and lit it.
The thick air instantly filled the carriage. Thalia was about to bark at him to stop doing useless things, but she felt her taut nerves gradually loosen and relaxed her shoulders.
The bone-piercing pain slowly subsided, and her consciousness blurred. It seemed he had burned herbs with a sedative effect.
She welcomed the oncoming drowsiness. However, her sleep did not last long. Before long, the pain began to intensify again.
Waking up with a groan, Thalia struggled to lift her eyelids. It seemed she would have to order the mage to be called to light more incense.
She was painfully pushing her upper body up while rubbing her throbbing head when, suddenly, her breath hitched.
Thalia looked around the deep darkness with dilated pupils.
She didn’t know what had startled her.