Chapter 7
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 7
His hands were stark white—nearly as pale as her own, yet shaped with an incredible, elegant beauty.
Thalia instinctively started to reach out to him, but the bird huddled in her palms twitched its wings. She caught herself and hurriedly shook her head.
“I can’t. My hands are full right now.”
Beneath a hood heavy with rainwater, the boy’s eyes narrowed. His gaze dropped to her hands, which she held clasped tightly against her chest.
“Is it important?”
Thalia hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “No... not really.”
“Then throw it away.”
“It might not be important, but I can’t just throw it away.”
A furrow creased the boy’s smooth brow at her sharp retort. He looked annoyed, and for a moment, Thalia feared he might simply turn and leave her there.
Then, defying his cold demeanor, he leaned down and scooped her mud-stained, rain-soaked body into his arms.
Thalia let out a small shriek at the unexpected move. As she began to struggle, he tightened his grip around her back and said bluntly, “Stay still.”
Thalia obeyed immediately.
She loosened her grip just enough to ensure the bird wasn’t crushed while he began to climb the slick, muddy slope. His movements were as agile as a cat’s.
Yet, even with his nimble grace, there was no escaping the filth. He frowned down at his ruined trousers, his boots, and the sodden hem of his robe.
“This is the worst.”
“...I’ll compensate you,” Thalia murmured, guilt gnawing at her. “I can buy you a new outfit, something much more expensive than that one. Truly. I’m the daughter of a very, very important person. I’ll have the attendants give you a generous reward, too.”
She had spoken out of a sincere desire to make amends, but for some reason, he seemed offended.
Taking a few more steps to avoid the piles of earth near the pit, the boy said flatly, “For such a little thing, you’re remarkably arrogant.”
Thalia’s face flushed. Normally, she would have slapped any boy who dared speak to her with such insolence. No one was permitted to address the Emperor’s daughter in such a manner.
Yet, for some reason, she couldn’t find her voice. Even with the cold rain lashing her forehead and cheeks, her face felt like it was burning.
The boy came to a halt beneath a massive, sprawling tree that Senevia hadn’t yet managed to uproot. In the sudden quiet, the bird let out a faint chirp. As he leaned down to set her on the ground, the boy paused, his gaze falling once more to her clasped hands.
“What are you holding?”
He seemed to have finally succumbed to curiosity.
After a moment’s hesitation, she carefully opened her palms to show him.
“A bird?” he muttered, his voice laced with skepticism.
It was a fair reaction. With its bedraggled, mud-caked wings and exposed pink flesh, the tiny chick looked more like a sewer rat than a bird.
Thalia’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. The bird was the one that looked hideously pathetic, yet she was the one who felt small.
“It’s only because it fell in the mud. Originally...”
It might have been prettier.
She stopped herself. The scrawny brown bird likely hadn’t been very pretty to begin with. It was probably just a common starling, the kind seen everywhere.
But the boy seemed inclined to show kindness to the wretched thing. Supporting her with one arm, he guided her hands toward the warmth inside his hood.
Thalia’s eyes widened. Where his skin brushed her fingers, he was as warm as a hearth. Seeking that heat, the bird pressed itself into the hollow beneath the boy’s collarbone.
“Your fingers are like ice. How long were you standing out there?”
The boy, who had been staring down at the bird tucked under his chin, turned his head toward her. Because of the close quarters, Thalia found herself looking directly into blue eyes framed by dark, rain-soaked lashes from mere inches away.
Up close, his eyes were breathtaking. They looked as if shards of silver had been scattered across a clear winter sky.
Staring blankly at them, Thalia whispered without thinking, “You know... there are silver crowns in your eyes.”
The boy’s eyes widened slightly.
His lips parted as if to say something, then closed again. Thalia realized that this nameless boy was also looking deep into her eyes.
What does he see in mine?
As Thalia wondered, a familiar voice called out from the distance.
“My Lady!”
It was her nanny. The woman still wasn’t used to the title 'Your Highness' and was often scolded by Thalia’s mother or the other maids for the slip-up. But it was a hard habit to break, and her desperate voice echoed like a refrain through the garden.
“I... I have to go now,” Thalia murmured softly. For some reason, she hated saying those words. Perhaps the boy hated hearing them, too.
He stood motionless for a long time before slowly, almost reluctantly, setting her down on her feet.
As his arms left her, Thalia felt a chill seep into her very bones. Only then did she realize how warm his embrace had been. After a moment of hesitation, she held the young bird out to him.
“Will you take it with you?”
Because my hands are too cold, and you are so warm.
Before she could say it aloud, he leaned down and carefully took the bird from her. He held it against his porcelain-white cheek and pulled his hood forward to shield it from the rain.
Watching him intently, Thalia asked, “Will that bird... live?”
“...Yes.”
Those blue eyes, containing their silver crowns, lingered on her face for a long time.
“It will live.”
His face remained expressionless, yet Thalia felt certain he was smiling.
She finally turned and began to run through the rainy garden. She ran past uprooted roses and shrubs, past mounds of earth that looked like small graves. After a while, drawn by some instinct, she looked back. He was still standing there, motionless beneath the great tree.
Why wasn’t he leaving?
Perhaps he was waiting for the rain to subside. Or perhaps he was watching her go.
Thalia was suddenly seized by an impulse to run back to him. She wanted to take shelter from the rain by his side. She wanted to sit with him before a warm fireplace and watch the bird recover its strength.
But while she hesitated, her nanny burst from the building. Her round face was flushed from the long search.
“Where on earth have you been! Do you have any idea how long Lady Senevia has been searching for you?”
The nanny gripped Thalia’s hand with her plump fingers and pulled her roughly toward the annex.
“And look at the state of you! You’re supposed to meet His Majesty soon; how could you get your clothes so filthy!”
“...I fell while I was walking.”
“Good heavens, walking? In this weather!”
The nanny cried out in exasperation and marched toward the corridor connected to the Annex Palace. Thalia was practically dragged along, looking back over her shoulder one last time.
But he was nowhere to be seen.