TFM 16

Chapter 16

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Ayla glared at Senevere with suspicion.

The most Talia could do was to annoy her with her unseemly antics.

But Senevere was not one to get the Emperor involved in such a futile endeavor. She must have something else up her sleeve.

Ayla retorted, her tone somewhat stiff.

"Isn't it usually when a woman of the imperial family is on pilgrimage that she is about to be married? And why would you send Talia at this time?"

"Because Talia may be getting married soon, too."

Senevere said cheerfully.

Ayla frowned. She hadn't heard any rumors of Talia's marriage before today.

Even if she had been born out of wedlock, Talia was a princess in the imperial lineage. She was not in a position to proceed with the marriage without a word. Senevere must have made up a story to get her to join Ayla on this trip.

As Ayla stared into the Empress's face with her suspicions, she heard Varkas's cold voice.

“What a coincidental timing for the marriage to take place.”

The blatant sarcasm didn't dampen Senevere’s spirits.

"How fortunate for the imperial family that it has come at all. The marriage proposal has not been made for long, so there is no official engagement yet, but His Majesty and I are thinking positively."

A wry smile tugged at the corners of Varkas's mouth.

"Can you tell me who that lucky winner is?"

"I'm sure you've heard the name before, Count Verdein Serian, head of the House of Serian. A formal proposal of marriage came in a few days ago."

Senevere said, a benevolent smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"It's been a while since the child’s coming-of-age ceremony, so she's old enough to marry, and I think he's a good match."

Ayla swallowed the laughter that threatened to burst forth. Verdein Serian was one of the Empress's most ardent followers.

Rumor had it that he had once held the record for the longest period of time as a lover of Lady of Taren. How could she marry her daughter to such a man?

The image of Talia in the ballroom with Count Serian flashed through her mind, and Ayla felt a surge of disgust. The mother who would marry her daughter to her old lover, and the daughter who would follow her mother's wishes, must both be mad.

"Now that the matter has come to pass, hasten her traveling arrangements."

The emperor, who gave his instructions in a firm tone, as if he wanted to end the story, gestured for them to leave.

Varkas stared up at his monarch with an unreadable expression, then slowly rose from his position, nodded his head in silence, and turned to leave the room.

Ayla, who had been glaring at Senevere with wary eyes, looked back at him with a puzzled expression. She hadn't expected Varkas to back down so easily.

She bowed to the Emperor, then hurried after him.

"Are you really going to take Talia with us like this? Her marriage is just an excuse, and Senevere must be up to something terrible."

"I'm sure she is."

He replied nonchalantly, then trudged down the stairs.

Ayla, who was staring after him in a daze, gathered up the hem of her skirt and quickly caught up with him, grabbing his arm and exclaiming in a rather heated tone.

"Is that all? You don't know what the Empress is going to do by sending Talia, and you just blindly..............!"

"What do you want me to do?"

The man who had stopped walking shot her a sour glance. Ayla flinched. She realized his mood had hit rock bottom.

This was the same man who had smiled at her only an hour ago. But now he was a stranger again, staring down at her with a cold stare. He said sneeringly.

"Do you expect me to rebel against His Majesty's command?"

"I merely................"

"He is the monarch of this empire, and I have sworn allegiance to the imperial family. There is no other way but to obey. Isn't that what your imperial family has consistently demanded of nobles like me?"

Ayla stiffened at the unexpectedly blunt words. The man looked down at her with an impassive gaze, then turned and began walking again.

She watched his back as he walked away without a moment's hesitation, and a wave of fear washed over her. Ayla rushed to him and threw her arms around his strong waist, just as she had done when she was a little girl.

"I'm sorry, I was just being insecure and lashing out at you, so please don't turn around so coldly."

The strength slowly drained from the man's body as he stood motionless, and with a faint sigh, he turned to face her and hugged her. Then he stroked her hair gently, as he had done when they were children.

"You have nothing to be afraid of, Your Highness, whatever the Empress is plotting, it will never come to harm."

Ayla lifted her head and looked up into his face. The man who had turned away with the face of a stranger had somehow transformed back into the loyal knight. She felt her disorganized emotions snap back into place in an instant.

Her pride, dignity, and authority as a Princess were nothing in the face of a man who could so easily shake her to the core and then calm her with a few soft words.

Ayla clung to the cold embrace that had never warmed after all these years, staring longingly into the pale blue eyes.

What was he looking at, she wondered, those bottomless, empty eyes that always seemed to wander off into the distance.

"I swore to the late Empress that I would protect both you and your brother to the best of my ability."

He said, tucking a few strands of hair that clung to Ayla's cheeks behind her ear.

"I intend to keep that promise no matter what, so you have nothing to worry about, Your Highness."

After studying his face for a long moment, Ayla finally nodded.

Yes, as long as this man was on her side, there was nothing to worry about. Nothing.

***

After she trimmed the broken nail, she felt empty.

Talia glanced down at the pink nail that had begun to grow delicately over her fingertip, wondering how many more weeks it would take to grow long enough to drive deep into  the flesh.

The pride she felt at having wounded the crown prince was short-lived. His noble brother would have gone straight to the priest to have his hand healed. She, on the other hand, had just lost a secret weapon that she had spent weeks refining.

'I would have used it on Ayla instead................'

How many times had she fantasized about driving her nails into Ayla’s bright green eyes whenever she looked at Varkas?

Talia scratched at the wound where her nail had broken off.

The barely-there scab ripped open, oozing blood. Her nerves were on edge. She stared at her reddening nails, then slipped her index finger into her mouth, sucked a little blood away, and stood up from the window.

There was no sign of Varkas today, no reason to stay glued to the glass in the blazing sunlight.

She trudged across the room, poured cold water from a basin on the shelf, and washed her sweaty face lightly. Then there was a knock on the door. The nanny had brought in another snack.

Talia wiped her face dry with a clean linen and called softly.

"Come in."

But it wasn't a quarter-dwarf with short stature and chubby limbs who opened the door, but a small boy with dark auburn hair and bright green eyes.

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