The strong scent of water mixed with the sharp fragrance of mint flooded her lungs.
Talia looked up at him with trembling eyes. Varkas lowered his head toward her and spoke softly beside her ear.
“If Your Highness makes such a commotion, then there is no point in us sharing a room.”
The admonishing tone brought her back to her senses at once. Slapping his hand away, she hastily retreated backward.
As the distance widened, his smooth body gleaming like carved marble ca fully into view.
Talia imdiately lowered her gaze.
“Put so clothes on! Have you no sha?”
She rebuked him in a hushed voice, and a faint crease appeared between his brows.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Varkas straightened up and replied dryly,
“That is hardly sothing for soone who used to wander around the Imperial Palace half-naked to say.”
“When did I ever—!”
Talia raised her head indignantly, only to fall silent when she saw him pulling on a fresh shirt. Sliding his arms into the sleeves, Varkas threw out a remark laden with aning.
“Ever since you were approaching your coming-of-age ceremony, you began imitating the Empress in your own clumsy fashion.”
Talia's face twisted in humiliation.
The mory of those days, when she had desperately struggled to attract even a fragnt of his attention, ca rushing back, and with it rose an overwhelming sense of misery.
Snatching up the pillow beside her, she struck his back with all her strength.
“Now that I'm no longer in any condition to even dream of wearing those clothes, you must be absolutely delighted!”
Varkas, fastening the buttons of his shirt, turned toward her with icy eyes.
Still huffing angrily, Talia stiffened.
Ever since the accident, Varkas had silently endured all of her irritability. But it seed even his patience was beginning to wear thin.
After staring at her rcilessly, the man climbed onto the bed.
Almost instinctively, Talia rolled away toward the opposite side. She tried to escape, but a firm arm wrapped around her waist.
In an instant, she was forced back down.
Talia stared up at him with rigid eyes.
Whenever she lost control and lashed out, he was the kind of man who would firmly subdue her by force if necessary. Though his sowhat rough treatnt was not unfamiliar, her heart still sank.
Varkas brought his face close and said threateningly,
“You should start correcting that habit of yours.”
Talia looked up at him with frightened eyes.
His expressionless gaze fell upon her lips, sore from all the biting. He added slowly,
“And that habit of hurting yourself.”
Her faltering heart began to pound as though it might explode.
Whether it was fear or so other emotion, she couldn't tell.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“M-Move away.”
“......”
“D-Don't you hear ?”
Varkas did not budge.
Under his persistent gaze, her lips beca unbearably dry.
She tucked her scabbed lips into her mouth. Watching the motion with narrowed eyes, Varkas finally released her wrist.
But before she could make use of her freedom, he seized her chin.
Talia inhaled sharply.
The callused fingers forcibly drew out her curled-in lips. Damp fingertips brushed over the swollen flesh.
“Stop tornting your lips.”
Talia stared at him, her eyes filled with anxiety and confusion.
If anyone else had touched her that way, she would have taken it as a gesture of desire. Back when she had frequented Senevier's banquet halls, she had seen countless n desperate to lay their hands on her body.
But his indifferent face, devoid of even the slightest trace of lust, clouded her judgnt.
To her, the contact felt as though it were squeezing her heart.
To him, it seed to an absolutely nothing.
Talia exhaled a suppressed breath.
“I-I understand... just go away.”
At the pleading tone that escaped her, those eyes holding fragnts of silver lifted upward. His bottomless pupils seed capable of stealing away all reason.
Out of habit, Talia stuck out her tongue to moisten her lips.
Then her tongue brushed against his thumb.
Her face instantly turned scarlet.
Varkas was carefully observing her reaction.
As though trying to determine whether she truly disliked it.
Cold sweat broke out across her forehead, as though all her innermost thoughts had been laid bare.
Unable to bear the silence any longer, Talia hurriedly blurted out,
“M-My legs hurt.”
Varkas paused.
Turning her head to the side, she repeated in a strained voice,
“I woke up because they hurt. C-Call the healer.”
Only then did he finally withdraw.
Like an animal freed from a trap, Talia hurried to the corner of the bed.
Watching her thoughtfully, Varkas let out a short sigh and turned away.
“I prepared dicine in advance.”
“I don't need dicine. Sleepflower works a hundred tis better. If you call my healer, that woman will take care of—”
His cold gaze returned.
Talia trailed off and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
Picking up a glass bottle from the shelf, Varkas removed the stopper and held it out.
Staring at it as though it were her mortal enemy, Talia reluctantly accepted it.
Ever since her first day in the East, she had poured the dicine into flowerpots after forcing it down her throat.
Closing her eyes tightly, she swallowed the bitter liquid that seed capable of setting her tongue on fire.
Varkas naturally took the empty bottle from her and laid her back down on the bed.
His matter-of-fact attitude, as though dealing with a ten-year-old child, only made her thoughts more tangled.
What exactly had that behavior been just now?
Was he trying to frighten her?
Or...
“You should sleep now. If you're to keep up with tomorrow's schedule, you'll need plenty of rest.”
His hand straightening the blanket cut off her thoughts.
Talia stared at him as though he were a viper that might strike at any mont.
Whether he noticed her vigilance or not, Varkas lowered the lamp's fla and walked toward the corner of the tent.
There, he sat down at a table and opened what appeared to be a ledger.
It seed he was reviewing the financial records.
Wondering when he intended to lie beside her, Talia secretly watched his emotionless figure.
But as the night deepened, he never moved from the desk.
In the end, she was the one who succumbed to exhaustion first.
At so point, Talia drifted into sleep.
The next morning, she opened her eyes alone inside the empty tent.
It was a morning that made all the anxiety she'd felt over sharing a bed with him seem ridiculous.
Still drowsy, Talia slowly looked around the dim tent bathed in dawn light and let out an empty sigh.
He had promised from the very beginning that nothing would happen.
Then why had she been so anxious?
“My lady, you're awake?”
As she carefully inspected the place beside her, wondering whether he had left behind any traces, her nurse's voice ca from outside.
Talia staggered out of bed.
“I'm awake.”
A mont later, the nurse entered the tent with quick steps, balancing a large tray on her head.
“Did you sleep well last night?”
She seed to be in an unusually good mood.
Smiling brightly, the nurse set down the tray piled with food and chattered happily,
“I've brought breakfast. I think you'll like it this ti, my lady. Last night the steward here prepared a splendid al for us, and everything was delicious.”
Frowning, Talia looked down at the gilded dishes.
There was porridge made from various grains, coarse white bread, pungent cheese, and sticky jam piled high.
The sight alone made her stomach churn.
“Forget it. Just bring so ad.”
“No, my lady. His Grace the Grand Duke gave quite the scolding and ordered to make sure you eat properly. Would you really be all right with being punished by His Grace?”
Picking up a piece of bread and examining it suspiciously for any flies, Talia cast a doubtful glance at her.
This was the nurse who firmly believed that, deep down, the Emperor cherished the daughter born out of wedlock.
No doubt she was once again assigning excessive aning to so casual remark.
Talia replied crookedly,
“Then where has that Grand Duke of yours gone so early in the morning?”
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