Chapter 50
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50
Thalia’s face contorted hideously as she struck his cheek with a violent crack.
“You insufferable bastard! You just have to interfere every single time, don’t you!”
His blue eyes flickered faintly in the darkness, but the face looking down at her remained as frigid as ever. That unshakable composure was loathsome.
Thalia dug her nails in, raking them down his cheek. Without so much as a flinch, Barkas caught her wrist and surveyed the chaotic campsite. His icy gaze swept over the pale, terrified faces of the maids, the bewildered knights, and finally, the woman sobbing as she clutched her burned cheek.
A dry sigh escaped his lips.
“Take her to the healer.”
With a slight jerk of his chin toward the woman, Barkas turned away. Thalia thrashed wildly, letting out a piercing shriek.
“By whose authority?! That woman is a criminal! Her head should be struck off this instant!”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw people rushing toward the commotion, whispering as they watched her. She no longer had the strength to maintain her dignity. She screamed loud enough to shake the entire campsite.
“You damn bastard! What kind of knight are you?!”
Barkas didn’t even blink. Silently cutting through the rows of tents, he walked straight into his quarters and dropped her onto the wide bed.
Thalia, barely realizing she had been dragged into his bedroom, was consumed entirely by her boiling rage.
“You’ve never once protected me properly! Always! Always, you just let me be broken and torn to pieces! You had no intention of saving me this time either, did you? You wanted me to die! That’s why—that’s why you left me behind! You didn’t come for me right away! I know everything!”
Ignoring her as she shrieked at the top of her lungs, he pinned her wrists to the bed and forced her hands open. Blood and fluid oozed from her palms, which were raw and red with burns. Barkas looked down at them, his brow furrowed, before picking up a small glass bottle from a shelf.
Seeing him pour an unknown liquid onto her hands, she let out another scream.
“No! Stop it! Just leave me alone!”
He silently applied the medicine to her wounds and wrapped them tightly with white bandages. Thalia, who had been pummeling his shoulders with her free hand the entire time, finally exhausted her strength and went limp. Barkas looked down at her with dry eyes before slowly straightening his back.
“I will bring you a sedative.”
Thalia, breathing raggedly with half her face buried in the pillow, lifted her eyes to look at him. Barkas walked calmly to a shelf on one side of the tent and examined a medicine bottle.
Looking at his straight back, the image of him running toward Aila flashed in her mind. A burning pain surged through her. Thalia forced out a twisted voice.
“It sickens you that I’m still alive and breathing, doesn’t it?”
She saw his hand, which had been searching the shelf, falter and stiffen. After standing still for a long moment, he turned his head so slowly it felt unnatural. Facing that refined countenance—one that looked as if every emotion had been distilled out of it—something inside her shattered into dust.
A bleak smile played on Thalia’s lips.
“How disappointing it must be for you. It was such a perfect chance for the thorn in your side to finally disappear from this world.”
The tears she had been holding back finally overflowed and soaked her cheeks. His cold face blurred, wavering as if submerged under a thin layer of water. He strode toward her and leaned down. A cold glass bottle touched her lower lip.
“Drink. It will make things a little easier.”
“I don’t want it.”
“……”
“I don’t want anything from you anymore.”
Barkas set the bottle down. Just then, the lamp light flickered and dimmed, casting a dark shadow over his face.
It didn’t matter. She didn’t need to see his face to know his expression. He would have that same indifferent look, or perhaps a gaze tinged with fatigue and annoyance.
She turned her back on him. The man watched her in silence for a moment before finally leaving the tent.
Listening to the receding footsteps, Thalia reached down and felt her legs. A chill ran down her spine at the sensation—they felt as hard and unresponsive as blocks of wood.
Cripple.
She hurriedly banished the word that flashed through her mind.
That can’t be. It’s just nonsense spread by people who hate me.
There were countless brilliant healers in the Imperial Household. And her mother... her mother surely knew mages who practiced the forbidden arts as well. Surely, they would fix her, no matter the cost or the method. When that happened, she would flaunt her perfect body in front of those who had mocked her.
Clutching her throbbing knees, Thalia eventually closed her eyes.
* * *
The grand pilgrimage procession that had begun at the Imperial Palace had transformed into a somber funeral march.
The members of the Imperial entourage wore black robes instead of their red surcoats, and the knights likewise draped dull-colored sashes over their armor. The wagons that had once been filled with precious wine, silk, and treasures of gold and silver now carried thirty-four solemnly prepared corpses. Musicians played low-pitched dirges at regular intervals.
Thalia, listening blankly from inside her carriage, felt her subsided pain flare up again. She reached out, fumbling for her incense burner. The brass pot, cold to the touch, was filled with nothing but piles of ash.
Muttering a short curse, Thalia struggled to lift her body from where it lay slumped on the cushions. She opened a chest installed beneath the seat and pulled out a new incense candle. It was a solid mass made of dried Ice Herb, Evening Primrose, Mandrake leaves, and Red Shard Flowers.
She placed it in the pot and lit it using a magic stone, causing a thick, hazy smoke to billow out. Thalia felt her mind being shrouded in a heavy fog and slumped back onto her blankets.
Since the return journey began, Thalia spent most of her time intoxicated by painkillers. Submerged in the acrid smoke, tomorrow became today, and today became yesterday. In her half-conscious state, she was vaguely aware of a mage coming to check her condition or a personal guard bothering her with food, but their presence always remained on the surface of her consciousness.
The only one who pulled her back into the painful reality was Barkas.
Looking up at the shadow that appeared as the carriage door opened, Thalia narrowed her bleary, unfocused eyes. Her carriage, which had been at the very tail end of the procession, had for some reason been moved to the front section and was now under the intensive protection of the Imperial Knight Commander. It seemed he felt the need to personally monitor her to ensure she didn’t cause any more trouble.
Barkas stepped into the carriage and leaned over her as she lay sprawled like seaweed. She felt his cold fingers brush a few strands of hair away from her sweat-drenched forehead.
“Do not burn the incense so frequently. You will develop a tolerance quickly at this rate.”
“……”
She stared at his face as if looking at a long-overdue assignment. The man, who had been silent as if waiting for her reaction, let out a faint sigh.
“We plan to camp here for the night.”
The sun had set and the carriage had stopped, so of course they were planning to spend the night here. She couldn’t understand why he was explaining things that didn’t need to be said. Was he not a man who kept his silence even when words were necessary?