TFM 1

Prelude 

***

Steady footsteps echoed through the darkness. Gareth, who was sitting on a garden bench and staring at the pond, turned his head and looked at the corridor.

Varkas, neatly dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Knights, was walking out of the long arcade that connected to the garden. His appearance reminded him of a snake slithering lazily through deep, dark water.

He sometimes wondered why.

Light blond hair the color of faded flax, silvery blue eyes, skin like plaster…

Why did a man made up of only dim colors like old parchment exude such a dreary mood?

His presence always sent a chill down his spine for no reason.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

The man put his hand on his chest and bowed. Gareth roughly waved one hand with an annoyed expression.

“Stop the unnecessary formalities.”

Even though he was a member of the Imperial Knights, the man was soon to succeed Grand Duke Shiokan and rule the eastern region. He was definitely not someone he could treat lightly. However, Gareth nodded to him as if he were a lowly subordinate.

“How long are you going to make me look up at you? Sit down.”

The man’s face did not change at all despite his rude attitude. He sat down on the marble chair with an indifferent expression, neither displeased nor submissive.

The Crown Prince carefully examined his exquisite facial features that did not seem human. It wasn't hard to tell that he was not in a particularly good mood, despite his seemingly normal demeanor.

Was something not going well? Narrowing his eyes, Gareth asked a probing question.

“How did the interrogation go? Did you fail to find out who was behind it?”

“I found out everything I could find out.”

The man, who had pulled down the top of his overcoat with one hand, answered in a monotonous voice.

"But I doubt it's the answer Your Highness wants."

Gareth raised one eyebrow.

“Tell me more.”

“The drug in Her Highness’s glass did not come from the Empress’s palace.”

“Is that so?”

“The imperial apothecary prescribed it to a maid working in the main palace. It’s not even considered a poison in the first place. It only causes vomiting and stomachache when taken in large quantities at once, so they don’t strictly manage it.”

“So you’re saying that the maid in the main palace suddenly lost her mind and put the drug in my sister’s glass?”

The Crown Prince burst into laughter as if it was ridiculous. However, the tendons in his thick neck were taut. It was a sign that the Crown Prince was furious to the core.

However,Varkas' gaze was endlessly dry as he looked at Gareth whose face was flushed with anger.

"The maid didn't put the drug in."

"Then who is the culprit!"

Gareth shouted, losing his patience.

"Stop dragging it out and just tell me the conclusion! If the Empress wasn't scheming or the maid wasn't causing trouble, then who dared tamper with my sister's glass?"

"It was the second princess."

Gareth froze at the bluntness of the answer.

"That woman?"

The Crown Prince's face distorted fiercely. He was like boiling lava when the Empress was mentioned. But when the illegitimate child that woman had brought home was mentioned seemed to have swallowed the filthiest thing in the world. A grinding sound of teeth escaped his tightly clenched jaw.

"That crazy woman would be enough. When it comes to my sister, she's a bitch who can't tell right from wrong because her eyes are rolled back with jealousy..."

Varkas showed no reaction to the vulgar insults that only a swindler would say. Gareth, who had been staring at the man, couldn’t let go of his anger and hung on to the Empress.

“Even so, isn’t it too early to be certain that Senevere… that bitch… wasn’t involved in this incident? It’s quite possible that she encouraged her daughter…”

“If that were the case, she would have used proper poison instead of this kind of mediocre drugs.”

Varkas said calmly. His pale eyes shone brightly in the darkness.

“If it were the Empress, they wouldn’t have gotten caught for sloppy cleanup like this.”

Gareth fell silent, unable to find the words to retort. He was annoyed that he had been cut off mid-sentence, but the contempt in his voice satisfied him.

He was more than satisfied that this young man, who was indifferent to everything, was sharpening his blade when it came to Talia Roem Guirta, the stain on the royal family. This man felt like he was once again on his… own side.

“Sure… Senevere would not jeopardize her position with something so foolish."

Gareth said, his mood somewhat lifted.

“Talia, she’s shot herself in the foot. I knew she’d do something someday.”

He smiled like a mischievous child, just like when he swept through the Academy.

“I’m sure she’s lost her mind because my sister stole you. How long has that bastard who doesn’t know her place been wooing the heir to the Grand Duchy? The fact that the knight she treated like a toy has become the companion of the ‘real’ legitimate princess must have really driven her crazy.”

The man didn’t say anything back. Varkas Raedgo Shiokan was a man who didn’t say more than was absolutely necessary. So his silence wasn’t all that strange.

But Gareth sometimes found the man’s silence unbearable. This was the case right now. He stared at Varkas as if demanding an answer.

“Anyway, this time she won’t be spared punishment. If I’m lucky, I can even frame her for attempted poisoning…”

“It won’t go as you wish.”

Varkas cut off the Crown Prince’s words for the second time. Gareth’s eyes immediately turned fierce. However, the man’s eyes were still, unwavering as he looked at the next emperor of the empire.

“First of all, there is only circumstantial evidence, not hard evidence. If that woman decides to evade, it won’t be easy to prove that she is the culprit.”

“Then we bring in the maid who provided the drugs as a witness…!”

“Do you think you can put Senevere’s eldest daughter on trial with just the testimony of a mere maid?”

While Gareth was struggling to find a rebuttal, Varkas continued calmly.

“Secondly, even if it is clearly revealed that this incident was the work of the second princess, it is difficult to impose a severe punishment with a drug that only causes stomachache. If she insists that it was a light prank, it will end with a sentence of confinement at best.”

“A light prank?”

Gareth, who had been silently listening to him, finally exploded. He angr stood up from his seat and grabbed the next Grand Duke by the collar.

"Do you know what humiliation the woman who’s to be your wife was subjected to in front of everyone? A girl who has never showed up disheveled collapsed in vomit in a banquet hall! How can you call that a lighthearted prank when Ayla was so distressed?!"

The Crown Prince's tanned face flared to a color that was recognizable even in the darkness as he recalled the events of the day. He gritted his teeth and sneered.

“Yes, I was distracted that I overlooked it, but when Ayla fell, I saw Talia, that bitch, laughing from afar! I wouldn’t be satisfied even if I tore the limbs off of that filthy bastard…!”

“Your Highness.”

Gareth flinched and let go of his hands. Varkas didn’t even raise his voice, but his back suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Gareth took a step back and watched Varkas’s expression.

The man calmly straightened his disheveled clothes.

“That woman is not someone that Your Highness should be so concerned about.”

His voice was monotonous, as if he was talking about the obvious fact that night comes after the sun sets.

"At best, that's all she does, tormenting people with her nasty pranks. You're supposed to be the ruler of an empire, and you shouldn't be bothered by such petty pranks."

He spoke as if he was soothing a child.

Ordinarily, Gareth would have exploded with indignation at the reprimand, but knowing full well that he had crossed the line first, he remained silent.

The man slowly stood up from his seat. Despite the disrespect of leaving without asking the Crown Prince’s permission, the man’s actions were as natural as flowing water.

“I have sent the Princess some medicine to calm her stomach. Also, from now on, I plan to strictly supervise all the drinks and food served on her table.”

“So, we just cover it up and move on?”

“If Your Highness insists on finding out the truth of this incident and punishing the second princess, I won’t stop you. However, I'd like to be left out of it."

Gareth turned red at the man’s indifferent response. Varkas seemed to be trying to dismiss this incident as nothing more than a mischievous prank by a reckless woman obsessed with speculation.

As he said, if the Crown Prince and the heir to the Eastern Duke were to get angry about such a trivial incident, it would only hurt their own reputation.

However, Gareth felt a strong repulsion at his coldness. It wasn’t just because of his indifferent attitude toward his sister. Gareth shot him with a suspicious look.

“You’re not protecting that woman, are you?”

Returning to the way he had come, Varkas stopped and gave him a cold look over his shoulder.

Just then, a breeze blew from the lakeside, gently ruffling his ash-blond hair. However, his expression did not dim in the slightest. A smile, sharp like a well-honed blade, filled the corners of his mouth. It was the first expression to appear on his otherwise masked, serene face.

“Me, that woman?”

Varkas let out a small laugh, as if he had heard an interesting story. However, his blue eyes were flashing with raw anger.

Gareth was speechless for a moment. He knew that this man hated Talia. But he had not known that he harbored such strong hostility.

This was a man who had been thoroughly castrated of his emotions by the priests. In fact, Gareth had never seen him show emotion in over a decade.

What on earth had that woman done to make this stone-like man bare his teeth?

Gareth stared at him curiously.

He had heard tales of the man's many insults during his time as Talia Roem Guirta’s guard, but he had never thought Varkas would be affected by them.

Wasn't he too noble to be swayed by the hysteria of a bratty young woman? He had thought Talia Roem Guirta was nothing more than a nuisance and an annoyance to him. But it seemed that was not the case.

Varkas spoke with a bitter glint in his blue eyes that did not even feel a single bit of warmth.

“I just don’t want to get involved with that woman again.”

Then, as if he had nothing more to say, he turned around and went back the way he had come.

A sinister smile appeared on Gareth’s lips as he watched him quietly moving away like a water snake gliding across a lake.

'Talia, I don't know what she's done, but it's good for me.’

Now that the man who should be his strongest supporter hated his enemy, their alliance would be even stronger.

Gareth rose from his seat with a satisfied expression.

***

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