Chapter 8
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 8
From that day on, Thalia spent every spare moment wandering the rear garden. However, by the time a massive elm tree was planted where she had found the dying bird, and the once-shabby garden bloomed with vibrant flowers, she still had not seen him again.
Thalia felt a hollow sense of loss, as if she had misplaced a treasure found only by chance. If only I had ignored my nanny’s call back then...
Her father, who was supposed to visit her, never showed his face that evening, and her mother did not seek her out either. Surrounded by cold, indifferent maids, Thalia spent her days eating tasteless meals and wallowing in regret.
She should have followed that boy. She felt that if she had pleaded, he might have given in and taken her with him. Whenever she lay tucked inside her cold blankets, she yearned for the large, warm hand that had once shielded her.
Perhaps he was nothing more than an illusion created by her own loneliness. Just as Thalia began to succumb to those doubts, the boy appeared before her eyes once more.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Thalia had finally found him.
The seasons shifted before she realized it. She turned nine, and the sky began to pour down scorching heat instead of rain.
As Thalia walked through the long corridor leading to the Emperor’s private chambers, a thunderous shout drew her attention. She turned toward a large arched window. In a wide clearing bleached white by the summer light, apprentice knights in black surcoats were swinging wooden swords.
Even though there were nearly thirty trainees, Thalia’s gaze flew to him naturally, like a moth drawn to a flame.
His faded flaxen hair shimmered with a faint silver light under the intense sun. It was her first time seeing him without his hood, but she recognized him instantly. It was the boy from the early spring rain.
She leaned over the windowsill to get a better look.
The blue-eyed boy moved with a clean, precise grace that set him apart from the others. Every time his long, supple limbs struck with power, she felt as if she could hear the very wind being sliced apart.
“That person... do you know who he is?”
The old servant escorting her to the Emperor cast a disinterested glance toward the window.
“They are trainee knights practicing to join the Imperial Guard. All of them are sons of prestigious noble families.”
The servant didn’t seem to care which specific boy she was curious about. He shot her a dissatisfied look as she lingered.
“His Majesty is waiting. Let us move quickly.”
Reluctantly pulling herself away, Thalia walked down the corridor, which felt as silent as a tomb. It was her first time meeting her biological father in the months since she had entered the Imperial Palace, but she felt no excitement.
In the past, even when she had seen the Emperor from a distance during his visits to House Taren, she never felt like he was her father. The stoic man had shown little interest in her, and Thalia, in turn, simply disliked the man who monopolized her mother’s affection.
That sentiment remained unchanged even after her name was formally entered into the Imperial Family Registry.
Entering the vast, luxurious room, Thalia glared warily at the man of massive build standing with his back to the light. After a long silence, the man—who sat behind a desk as imposing as a fortress wall—spoke without looking up from his documents.
“From now on, you must learn the etiquette of the Imperial Family.”
He pressed his seal onto the parchment.
Thalia waited for him to lift his head and look at her. But even after a long while, his gaze never reached her.
She couldn’t understand it. Why would a man who supposedly loved Senevia so passionately refuse to even look at his own daughter, who was her mother’s spitting image?
The man continued indifferently, his quill scratching against the paper.
“I have secured several excellent tutors for you. From now on, come to the Main Palace before noon to attend your lessons. You will have to do your best to catch up on the studies you’ve missed.”
He didn’t seem to require an answer. The man waved a hand, dismissing her, and thus, the reunion between father and daughter after a year came to an end.
Thalia trudged back the way she came, searching for the boy outside the window. However, the training had ended; only the brilliant white summer sunlight drifted over the empty clearing.
From that day on, every time she went to her lessons, she stole glances at him in the clearing. She liked watching the faint beads of sweat form on his statue-like face and the slight flush that rose to his pale cheeks from the exertion.
Sometimes, she would talk to him in her mind.
Hey... what happened to that bird? Did it die? Did you bury it? Or did it get healthy and fly far, far away?
She wanted to look into his eyes from up close and talk to him, just as they had in the rain. She wanted to see if those silver crowns were still hidden in his pupils.
Just as that impulse grew uncontrollably strong, a deep shadow fell over her.
Thalia spun around, startled. Her mother, whom she hadn’t seen for a fortnight, stood on the boundary between light and shadow.
It was a face she used to see every day, yet for a moment, Thalia’s heart stopped.
Senevia, adorned with the meticulous care befitting an Empress, looked as if all the beauty a human could imagine had been gathered into one person. Even the elf mages who visited House Taren could not rival her.
“What were you looking at so intently?” Senevia asked, looking down at her daughter.
Thalia snapped back to her senses and quickly pulled away from the window. For some reason, she felt a sharp reluctance to speak about the boy.
However, Senevia seemed to realize immediately where her daughter’s gaze had been fixed. Turning toward the window, the Empress looked down at the tall, blonde boy and smiled meaningfully.
“That is the son of Grand Duke Sieorkan.”
Thalia looked up, surprised. She had guessed he was high-born, but she hadn’t expected him to come from such a prestigious house.
The Empress’s deep blue eyes shone, as if she were peering straight into her daughter’s soul.
“Do you want that boy?”
Thalia’s face turned beet red. She couldn’t find the words to respond.
Just by seeing her daughter’s expression, Senevia had her answer. She burst into a laugh and leaned down to kiss Thalia’s cheek.
“I can give him to you as a gift, if you wish.”
The whisper sounded eerie, like the wind whistling through a dark forest at midnight. Straightening her posture, Senevia wore a picture-perfect smile.
“But not for free. If you want a reward, you must first satisfy your parents’ hearts.”
Sensing a faint hint of rebuke, Thalia hurriedly clutched the history book she had tossed onto the windowsill. She turned and ran. She could feel Senevia’s gaze clinging to the back of her head like a spiderweb.
This was the mother she had missed every single night. So why was she running away?
She had intended to throw a fit the moment she saw her, to say she hated studying and to pour out all her resentment. She wanted to ask why her mother wouldn’t stay with her.
But Senevia, now the Empress, no longer felt like her mother. She had transformed into something strange and terrifying, and Thalia didn’t dare act like a spoiled child.
That night, Thalia tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
She hadn’t been particularly happy with House Taren, but at least then, she had Senevia as an ally. Her mother had been more like a best friend and a comrade-in-arms than a parent. Even if the whole world pointed fingers at them, they could endure it as long as they were together.
But now, Senevia stood tall as the Empress, and Thalia was left alone in an unfamiliar place among strangers.
The loneliness seeped into her very bones. She desperately yearned for someone to be by her side—someone to hold her in warm arms and look at her with gentle eyes.
That was why she made her choice. She would go and meet the boy she had only watched from afar.