TFM 31

Chapter 31

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*Past

The man's large hand slowly stroked her belly over the soft fabric. It felt like he was touching something that belonged to him.

"You use the same perfume as your mother. Senevere’s hair smelled like this too. Once you're intoxicated by this scent, it's like an addiction... you just... just... can't stop seeking it out."

His hand groped its way up toward her chest.

Talia instinctively twisted her body, trying to escape his arms. But the man didn't budge an inch.

Holding her tightly from behind, he pressed his damp, hot lips against the skin below her earlobe. It felt like a caterpillar clinging to her skin, sucking out her juices.

Talia, stiff and wiggling, soon began thrashing like she was having a seizure.

The man knocked her down and brutally pinned her to the soft carpet.

She flailed her limbs like a drowning person. The table toppled over, sending the puzzle tower built over hours crashing down. Crawling desperately over the debris, she struggled to escape the beast pinning her down, but he grabbed her ankle and yanked her down.

Talia looked up at him with eyes filled with terror. A primal fear washed over her at the realization someone could so easily render her helpless.

"Stay still... just stay still."

The man held both her wrists with one hand and cupped her chin with the other.

She strained desperately to twist her head, but couldn't move an inch. He pressed her cheek, forcing her mouth open, then shoved his thick tongue inside.

Nausea made her throat clench painfully. It felt like a giant slug had crawled into her mouth.

She didn't have the courage to bite off that horrible thing. She sniffled back tears and sobbed painfully. He grunted, his massive, muscular body writhing as he gasped for breath.

"Ah…. Senevere…… How I've longed for you………………."

The man's hand crawled beneath her skirt. The sensation of his hard palm groping her bare skin made her whole body tremble violently.

A terror akin to death washed over her. She felt his long, hard fingers invade the deepest part between her thighs.

The searing pain inside her made Talia gasp like a fish out of water. The man pressed his sticky, glue-like lips against hers and growled hoarsely.

"There's no need to tremble like that. The pain will be brief. Your Highness will soon be moaning with pleasure too..."

Then, suddenly, the weight crushing her vanished as if it had never been there.

Talia instinctively crawled into a corner and curled up. For a moment, she couldn't properly comprehend what had happened.

Only after several seconds did she realize that Varkas, clad in Roem Knights' armor, was gripping the man's skull with one hand, mercilessly crushing his face.

The scene was so unreal she momentarily froze. Half of the man's once handsome face was scraped raw against the rough wall surface, soaked in blood, and a groan of agony escaped his grotesquely gaping mouth.

"Let... let go... me..."

Varkas grabbed the man's hair roughly and slammed his head against the wall without mercy. With heavy thuds, the man's face was horribly crushed. Talia barely stifled a scream.

"Talia."

His gaze fixed on the blood-soaked face, he spoke quietly.

"Go to your room."

The voice was so calm it was hard to believe it came from the man who had just committed such a brutal act. Because of this, Talia didn't immediately realize the words were directed at her. Only when she met his eyes—blue, heavy with ash-gray clouds—did she realize he was speaking to her.

"Talia Roem Guirta."

His voice was eerily still. Varkas, who dared to speak the princess's name so casually, added slowly.

"Didn't you hear me tell you to go to your room?"

Talia remained crouched in the corner, staring blankly up at him. Then, an explosive shout erupted from his mouth.

"Now!"

In that instant, a sensation like sparks flying across her entire body spread.

She bolted from the study like a horse struck by a whip. Rushing into the bedroom, she dove under the thick blankets, only to feel a stinging ache spread across her entire body.

She roughly rubbed her burning skin. It felt as if a slimy tongue and hard hands were still crawling over her flesh. Trying to erase the sensation, she frantically stroked her neck, chest, and thighs, then began pounding her own body with her fists.

It was horrific. That man, the body he had groped, the fact she had exposed herself to Varkas like that—everything was horrific.

She beat her thigh so hard it bruised, then buried her face in the pillow and let out a beastly wail.

How long had she been like that? She sensed another presence besides her own. She jerked her head up.

Varkas stood tall in the doorway. As always, his elegant bearing showed not a hint of disorder.

"You will never see that man again."

He stated it matter-of-factly. Talia blinked blankly, then blurted out a trembling question.

"………………Did you kill him?"

Varkas’s brow twitched faintly.

After a brief silence, he spoke again.

"He will be permanently exiled. For the rest of his life, he will never set foot in the capital, nor any major city……."

At that moment, the last thread of her sanity snapped completely. Talia grabbed the pillow and hurled it at his face.

"Why! Why did you spare him! You should have killed him! You should have killed him horribly! Cut off those filthy hands that touched my body………! That filthy tongue that violated me…………!”

Talia, screaming wildly like a madwoman, suddenly clutched her throat and began to shake violently. A suffocating sensation overwhelmed her, as if someone were choking her.

"If you let that bastard live, he'll come back... he'll come back to trample me again. He'll try to defile me. That... that man said so. Like he's addicted, he can't help but keep... keep searching for me..."

A sudden sob burst from her tightly constricted throat.

Talia clasped her tear-streaked face in both hands, gasping for breath. Then, like someone consumed by rage, she began hurling objects at him indiscriminately.

"Useless bastard! I don't need someone like you! Get out! Get out of here! Disappear from my sight...!"

Talia, who had been wildly hurling books and dolls, suddenly stopped breathing. A candlestick she had snatched up in a panic had flown toward his head.

The heavy metal object scraped roughly across Varkas’s forehead and temple before clattering loudly to the floor.

Talia watched as crimson blood stained his pale cheek and neck, her mouth opening in a gasp.

A strange sound, like a sigh—ah... ah...—escaped her throat. Varkas, who had been watching her with a cold gaze, slowly turned away.

Instantly, a chill spread through her entire body as if she'd been doused with ice water.

Talia scrambled off the bed, frantically trying to grab him. But Varkas had already left the room.

Staring blankly at the corridor shrouded in thick darkness, Talia soon collapsed, sinking to the floor. She wished she could sink into the earth and disappear.

Varkas had saved her. Yet she had taken her frustration out on him. It was no wonder he was disgusted. It was only natural he was sick of her. Burying her horribly contorted face in the carpet, she wept hot tears.

After that day, Varkas never showed himself before her again. Only months later did Talia see him again, attending the ceremony appointing the commander of the Imperial Knights.

From afar, she watched him kneel on one knee before the Emperor, reciting his oath of allegiance in a calm voice.

Her father drew the Imperial Sword and placed it upon his shoulder. Then, in a solemn voice, he proclaimed that the position of commander of the Imperial Guard had been bestowed upon him.

Though it was an overwhelmingly weighty position for a young man barely approaching twenty, no one questioned his qualifications. Varkas slowly turned and descended the steps. Sunlight streaming through the glass windows poured down like a torrent onto his composed face.

She etched every detail of that moment onto her retinas.

Varkas, his back straight, cut through the crowd. His cool profile passed her by indifferently.

Watching his back stride steadily away, beyond her reach, she murmured softly.

Goodbye.

Having spoken those words, she thoughtlessly added.

Don't go.

Talia frowned, feeling tears welling up. Soon, his figure vanished completely from her sight.

Seven years ago, the boy her mother had given her as a gift left her side like that.