Chapter 162
Talia violently twisted her wrist, trying to wrench it free from his grip.
The smooth, expressionless face that had resembled a mask contorted with terrifying brutality.
"I'm asking you where you were trying to go."
Yanking her toward him, Varkas growled the words directly into her face.
Talia glared back with undisguised hostility.
Her cramped leg screamed with sharp pain, yet she forced herself to maintain an expression of complete composure.
"What does it matter where I was going?"
At that instant, she realized she had finally exhausted every last shred of his patience.
A harsh sound, like a broken brass instrument, escaped the thick vein bulging in his neck.
"Do you have any idea..."
His powerful fingers dug painfully into her skin.
Gripping her shoulder tightly with his other hand, he emphasized every single word as though carving them into her mind.
"...how dangerous what you did today really was?"
"If some filthy vagrant or criminal had found you first..."
His grip tightened.
"...did you even imagine what they would have done to you?"
Talia fought with everything she had not to shrink away.
Crushing that effort beneath his heel, he continued mercilessly.
"Rape. Murder. Robbery..."
His voice remained frighteningly calm.
"The fact that none of those happened before I found you is nothing short of a miracle."
"Stop exaggerating. I was only wandering around for half a day..."
"Exaggerating?"
Something sharp rose Β°β’ N π v π l i g h t β’Β° within his eyes.
The irregular silver flecks scattered through his irises looked like the fangs of some monstrous beast.
"Are you pretending not to know..."
His voice became utterly ruthless.
"...or are you truly such a fool that you can't even tell the way people look at you?"
Like a man determined to humiliate someone beyond recovery, he showed no mercy.
"Do you honestly think you could survive even a single day outside these castle walls?"
"Let go!"
"Let's say, by some unbelievable stroke of luck, you somehow made it through one night unharmed. Then what? What exactly were you planning to do after that? You can barely walk for a few hours before you're writhing in painβ"
"I said let go!"
A sharp crack rang through the room.
A searing burn exploded across her palm.
Only then did she realize...
...that she had slapped him across the face.
Talia stared blankly at the vivid handprint left on his cheek.
Then her face slowly twisted.
Rough, ragged breaths scraped their way up her throat.
"You said it yourself."
Her voice broke into fragments.
"This body can't even walk properly..."
She laughed bitterly.
"So what does it matter what happens to me?"
His grip tightened even harder.
Something violent flickered within his fractured gaze.
It was the first time she had ever seen him so furious.
Oddly enough...
...her fear gradually disappeared.
Part of her wished he would simply destroy her where she sat.
Speaking through clenched teeth, she continued,
"Even if I end up even more broken than I already am, I don't care."
Her eyes never left his.
"No matter what happens to me..."
"...it would still be better than staying beside you."
In an instant...
...the fierce light vanished from his eyes.
Looking directly into that bloodless face, she continued with exhausted disgust,
"So please..."
"...make it so I never have to see you again."
It was as though those words robbed him of every last ounce of strength.
The hand that had been crushing her bones fell away limply.
Silence suffocated the room.
Only the soft crackling of the fire echoed from the fireplace.
After a long while, a dry, lifeless voice escaped his frozen lips.
"Is that..."
"...truly what you want?"
Talia opened her mouth to answer yes.
But it felt as though invisible hands were choking her.
Not a single word came out.
Hot tears welled over her eyes.
Lowering her gaze to hide them, she gave a silent nod.
"If you never see me..."
His low voice drifted down over her.
"...do you think you'll be all right?"
Pain twisted through her heart.
Forcing open the knot in her throat, Talia squeezed out a single answer.
"Yes."
He said nothing.
Talia looked at the motionless man with eyes full of resentment.
Please...
Just stop already.
How much more horrible do I have to become before you'll finally abandon me?
She stared as though trying to carve his exhausted, haggard face into her memory forever.
Then she squeezed her eyes shut and spoke roughly.
"You once said..."
"...that if it was something you were capable of doing..."
"...you would grant me anything."
"..."
"You never once kept that promise."
Emotion closed around her throat.
She had to stop speaking for a moment.
Unable to bring herself to look directly at his face, she fixed her gaze upon her pale knuckles and continued with difficulty.
"So this once..."
"...please do what I want."
"I don't want to face you anymore."
Her voice trembled.
"I can't breathe..."
"...just from seeing you."
Silence descended once more.
After sitting without speaking for a long time, he finally opened his mouth.
"...I understand."
His face looked utterly hollow, as though nothing remained inside him.
Slowly...
...he stood.
Without thinking, Talia's hand moved after him.
She caught herself and clenched it into a fist instead.
As he pulled open the door, cold air swept into the room, slicing across her damp cheeks.
A moment later...
...he disappeared into the darkness.
Click.
The sound of the door closing resembled the blade of a guillotine falling.
Talia remained frozen for several seconds.
Then, as though possessed, she leapt from the bed.
She tried to chase after himβ
But her abused knees gave out beneath her.
She collapsed pitifully onto the carpet.
Looking down at the leg that continued twitching with tiny spasms, she let out a hollow laugh.
What exactly was I planning to do...
...by chasing after him now?
Still clutching her ruined leg, she laughed weakly.
Then slowly collapsed onto the carpet.
* * *
From that day onward, Varkas never appeared before her again.
At the same time, he did not seem to be preparing to send her either to the monastery or back to the Imperial Palace.
He simply kept her confined to her room...
...and left her there.
Perhaps he had merely pushed everything concerning her aside while dealing with the mountain of work that had accumulated.
Sitting on the windowsill, Talia gazed into the castle courtyard as a sunshower fell.
The Imperial Palace knights who had been staying at the Grand Ducal residence were mounting their horses one after another.
It appeared they had come to request military cooperation.
On one side of the broad training grounds, supply wagons loaded with weapons stood waiting beside several hundred eastern cavalry warriors.
Her eyes searched busily through the crowd.
At last...
...she found Varkas.
Resting her forehead against the glass, Talia stared fixedly at the man standing in the rain.
He looked...
...fine.
Just as always, he stood without a single opening in his defenses, coldly issuing orders to the knights.
Relief...
Pain...
She could no longer distinguish between the two.
Talia breathed onto the window until it clouded white.
Then she erased his reflection with her hand.
The man who had once fallen completely apart in front of her...
...was gone now.
She had no right to grieve over that.
After all...
...she was the one who had pushed him away.
She drew the curtains over the window.
Walking to the shelf, she lit the brazier and placed a handful of thoroughly dried herbs onto the flames.
As she felt her thoughts gradually melt into heavy sluggishness, she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.
Faint sounds of rainfall echoed through the haze created by the medicine.
She had no idea how much time had passed.
The rustling of fabric finally stirred her from her daze.
Blinking sleepily, Talia saw a maid placing something beside her bed.
A sharp herbal fragrance spread through the stale air.
"...What's that?"
The young maid flinched.
She looked at Talia with open caution.
Ever since Talia had drugged them and run away, the maids seemed to have branded her as completely dangerous.
Their attitude toward her had become far more rigid than before.
The girl took a hesitant step backward before answering awkwardly,
"I-It's marigolds."
"They're said to help calm the mind..."
Talia shifted her gaze toward the bedside table.
Inside a clear glass vase stood a handful of yellow flowers, still wet with rainwater.
She stared blankly at them.
Then the maid carefully added,
"His Grace the Grand Duke asked me to give them to you before he left."
Shock flashed across Talia's face.
"...Left?"