The Forgotten Meadow · 17. May 2025

TFM 11

Chapter 11

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After that day, Talia was unable to eat most foods. She couldn't trust what might be inside.

The nanny was frustrated because she didn't understand what was going on; she just assumed Talia was being picky.

Without explaining anything, Talia survived on the fruit and bee honey that her nanny brought her in small portions as snacks.

Solitude and loneliness were no longer an issue. In the most colorful and luxurious place in the world, she had to fight hunger.

Some days she was so hungry that she reluctantly touched the food brought by the servants. But the food always turned out to be bugs, rats, and sometimes a wiry ball of hair that she couldn't recognize as belonging to anyone.

After this happened a few times, it got to the point where she couldn't put anything in her mouth. Within a few weeks, she became emaciated and unsightly.

At this point, even the dull nanny seemed to realize that something was going wrong. She went straight to the Empress and raged that her only daughter was going to die.

Thankfully, Talia was able to see her mother's face for the first time in months.

"How did you become like this?”

These were Senevere’s first words, who had seemed oblivious to her daughter's existence.

Talia’s eyes turned red as she looked at her mother, who, in contrast to her broken self, was as vibrant as summer flowers. The sight of her mother's almost innocent face made anger surge inside her.

She was going to be angry with her. She was going to yell at her, tell her how she could be so selfish. But when she opened her mouth to speak, sobs burst out.

Talia sobbed like a newborn baby and told her mother everything that had happened. She recounted every horrible atrocity committed by the servants of the palace and every cruelty she had been forced to endure. Until she was finished, Senevere sat by her bed and listened in silence.

Talia thought she was keeping silent to keep her anger in check. That she was at a loss for words for the horrible things that had happened to her only daughter.

So Talia waved her arms wildly and demanded.

"Mother, please stop them from hurting me! You have to take action right now to make sure no one hurts me ever again!”

"Why should I do that?"

Senevere said, shaking her head.

Talia was stunned by the unexpected answer. There was nothing but pure curiosity on Senevere’s face. She looked as if she truly couldn't understand why a child so tired of abuse would ask her for help.

"Talia, this palace is yours, and all the servants in this castle belong to you. You are nine years old. What if you throw a tantrum to your mother because you can't handle your own things?”

Talia was rendered speechless.

Senevere cupped my cheek with one hand and sighed in genuine disappointment.

"You're the Emperor's daughter, and I really don't understand why you're letting yourself be taken advantage of by insignificant people. It's embarrassing that my daughter is so naive and weak."

"Oh, mother..................."

Senevere looked thoughtfully at the candle in the window. Her eerily beautiful face showed not the slightest hint of anger at the abuse her daughter had suffered, just a hint of disappointment, frustration, and pondering how she could best enlighten her pitiful child.

Talia felt as if she were dealing with an insect that had taken on the form of a human being.

After a long moment of thought, Senevere snapped her fingers.

"Let’s try this. I'll leave you with a bodyguard you can use. He's a man who’s been training for a very long time. He'll be quite useful if you treat him well."

And with that, as if all matters were settled, she turned and left.

Talia clutched at the hem of Senevere’s dress urgently.

"I don't want him! I want to be with my mother!"

At her desperate cry, a look of disillusionment flashed across Senevere’s face. Talia paled with shock.

Senevere leaned down toward her daughter, removing her fingers from the hem of her dress one by one. Then she clicked her tongue in sincere disapproval.

"Talia, this all started with me, and do you know why people don't put rats in my soup?"

Talia froze like a mouse before a snake, unable to respond.

Senevere spoke softly.

"Why my bath water is always warm and fragrant, why my table is always bountiful.......... Why they never dare to do to me what they do to you…Do you want mother to tell you that secret?"

Her blood-red lips brushed against her ear.

"They wouldn't dare to do such a thing because they are afraid of me. Some of them even harbor feelings of reverence for me. Of course, there are an immeasurable number who feel disgust and contempt. But even they see me as an object of vigilance, not harassment, because I am a very real threat."

She looked into her daughter's eyes. Talia could see something sinister twinkling in Senevere’s eyes.

Senevere straightened up and offered one last piece of advice.

"Remember. The strong and beautiful are feared and envied. But the beautiful and weak are easy prey, especially in this palace. If you don't want to be mercilessly trampled by the many beasts that will come after you in the future, you'd better not let on that you're weak."

With those last words, she walked away. Leaving her fragile, frail daughter behind.......

That night, Talia thought about her words over and over again.

The weak are trampled. And Senevere seemed to have no intention of protecting her young daughter from being trampled to death.

Could this be the state of mind of a defeated soldier who has lost even his last stronghold? Her entire body shook with the fear of what she knew would be worse to come.

Even if she was to be treated even more harshly than she was now, no one would protect her. Even her own mother had turned her away, and would the Emperor pay any attention to his unworthy bastard child.

She curled up in her quilt, biting her nails nervously. Her mind flashed back to the feet of the servants she'd seen when she'd vomited on the floor of the dining room.

The indifferent feet that bustled around her as she lay in a miserable heap.......... It wasn't hard to imagine those feet crushing her like a lowly insect.

Her eyes burned as if they were on fire. Her mother was right. Sooner or later, she would be crushed into nothingness.

And it was all because she believed herself a sinner. Her guilt had made her weak.

When she began to adopt a helpless attitude, as if she deserved whatever was done to her, they instinctively realized that she would not resist. From her cowering gestures, from the timid look in her eyes, from the way she stammered............. They had found a weakling and began to be as cruel as their hearts desired.