TFM 9

Chapter 9

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Talia had been more carefully groomed than ever since she'd opened her eyes. She endured the maids scrubbing her skin with stiff, hard brushes until it was raw, and she endured their insistent combing of her hair until her scalp tingled.

When she was done, she pulled out the velvet dress that had been given to her the day she left House Taren, the first gift from her maternal grandfather, who had always given her a disapproving glance.

She looked in the mirror and saw the reflection of a little girl with a face like an angel. If Senevere was back to nine years old, she thought, this was what she would look like.

She stared into her mother's deep blue eyes in the mirror and left the room with a determined look on her face. But the boy who always trained at the same time was nowhere to be found today.

After wandering the castle's courtyard for a long time after escaping the servant, Talia's shoulders slumped with disappointment, and her eyes narrowed as she wondered if she would never see him again.

She didn't know why she was so obsessed with someone she'd only spoken to once.

Actually, she knew why. He could have ignored a muddy girl on a day like that, in the pouring rain, but he didn't.

He waded into the pit, getting his clothes and shoes dirty, to pull her out.

He picked her up in his warm arms, her body chilled by the rain, and looked her in the eyes for a long time.

His wrapped his arms around the dying, ugly bird and carried it back to his abode.

It was enough to give her hope.

Talia walked nonstop along the outskirts of the building that rose so high it almost touched the sky.

The palace was like the belly of a giant monster. It was so vast and complex that even after months of living here, there were endless places she had never seen before.

She wandered for a while through the flower and tree-lined gardens, then through a large clearing to the back of the main palace.

Her legs throbbed and ached from the nonstop movement from early morning to noon. Blisters had formed, and the soles of her feet burned with each step, as if they had been touched by fire.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and looked up at the blue sky through the lush foliage.

She straightened up, intending to return to the palace, when she caught sight of a boy's slender back through the tall birch trees. Talia's eyes lit up with joy.

She recognized him instantly, even though he was a good distance away: his back was straight, and his agile, graceful movements were as silent as water as he walked.

Talia immediately began to run after him. But no matter how fast she sped up, she couldn't close the distance between them.

She realized that the boy was in quite a hurry. She wondered where he was going so quickly.

She tried to call out to him, but she was out of breath and couldn't find her voice. In the end, she lost him.

Talia slumped against the tree, her back against the trunk, her face pale. The needle-like sun beat down on her sweaty face.

She squinted her eyes and looked up through the lush foliage, and before she knew it, she heard a faint laugh mingling with the wind. It sounded like a small bird chirping.

Talia straightened and walked slowly toward the sound.

She made her way through the dense birch trees and leafy bushes to a beautiful flower bed of lavender, marigolds, and white narrowleaf flowers, a white marble gazebo, and a small fountain. It was a lovely garden, like a fairy palace.

Talia gazed mesmerized at the golden particles floating about, until she spotted the boy sitting on one knee in front of a marble chair.

He wasn't alone; across from him sat a lovely girl who looked to be about his age. She had silky dark auburn hair and rosy cheeks.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of the boy's mouth as she chattered nonstop, and the sight of her made Talia’s chest tingle as if she'd been stabbed with a sharp point. It was as if she'd been robbed of a treasure that had belonged to her.

Talia knew such feelings were irrational.

From her vantage point, it seemed like they had known each other for years. She, on the other hand, was just a stranger.

So she decided to approach them and politely introduce herself. She wanted to somehow break into the warm air surrounding them, and most of all, she wanted to make the boy's blue eyes and thin smile turn toward her.

As if driven by an overwhelming impulse, she stepped out from behind the bushes and stepped in front of the spouting fountain, where the boy's beautiful silver-blue eyes and a pair of clear green ones flew toward her.

Talia, who had never interacted with children her own age, felt her mouth go dry for a moment.

But she was the Princess of the Empire. She thought they wouldn’t dare to refuse to be her friends.

She lifted her chin in an impish gesture of greeting.

"Hello?"

The boy stared at her, unmoving.

Didn’t he recognize her? She was covered in dirt when they first met, so perhaps he was not used to seeing her all dressed up like a princess.

She was about to tell him a story about how he had helped her a few months earlier, when the girl, who had been sitting there in a daze, let out a shrill scream.

"No! No! Not here!"

Her voice was desperate, as if she was facing her worst nightmare.

The girl, staring at Talia with horrified eyes, threw herself at the boy.

"Please, Varkas, get her out of here, don't let her set foot in this place, don't let me ever see her again!"

A pair of slender arms went around the boy's neck.

He wrapped his arms protectively around the girl's sobbing back and cast a cold gaze over narrow shoulders that trembled violently. Talia stumbled backward.

His voice was raspy and demanding.

"Get out of here now!"

Staring blankly into his icy face, Talia turned and started running.

It was as if she had been doused in ice water from the crown of her head. She couldn't think, as if her brain was numb.

She ran and ran, until something grabbed her by the hair as she neared her home. Her head snapped back, her body tilted sharply, and before she could comprehend what had happened, a heavy impact hit her.

She rolled on the grass, clutching her throbbing stomach.

"How dare you set foot in that place!"

An angry, gruff voice bellowed from overhead.

Talia looked up, panicked. A boy she'd never seen before was glaring at her.

With his dark black hair and fiery green eyes............. she could tell he looked eerily similar to the girl she'd seen earlier, but she had no idea how long he'd been following her, or why he was so angry.

She was frozen in place, stunned by the unexpected blow, when the boy kicked her in the stomach once more.

"Die!"

She curled up into a ball and coughed, her eyes white with shock.

The boy kicked her again and again, like a small ball.

"Die, die, die, die!"

His screaming cries pierced her eardrums like long, long nails, and the boy's curses and violence did not cease until the servants who witnessed the scene came running in alarm.

Talia crawled on the floor like an insect to escape the ferocious kicks. When the beating didn't seem to deter the boy, who was still being held by the arms by two servants, he roared like an animal.

"Get out of this world, you filthy bastard!"

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