TFM 76

Chapter 76

***

Startled, she looked up and met a face that had turned cold and stern. Varkas looked down at his younger brother with a sharp gaze and continued in a low voice.

“You’ve grown up to be quite ill-mannered.”

The boy’s youthful face twisted into a pout.

Varkas released his hand as if brushing it away and turned his gaze to a middle-aged man standing beside the stairs.

“How did you teach him manners?”

“I am deeply ashamed.”

The stern-looking man bowed his head in contrition.

Seeing this, the boy suddenly raised his voice.

“If you have something to say, say it to me! Why are you taking it out on an innocent bystander?”

Varkas’s icy gaze immediately turned to him.

The boy, who had been shouting defiantly, flinched and lowered his gaze.

“It’s not like it’s going to wear out. You could at least let us take a look at her face.”

At his grumbling words, Talia raised the corners of her eyes. Her blood boiled at the tone that treated her as if she were some kind of rare animal.

“How dare you treat anyone like a spectac…!”

Just as she was about to snap back, a long finger blocked her view.

Varkas pulled his hood tight over her eyes and walked straight up the stairs.

Talia looked utterly dumbfounded.

She couldn’t understand why he was going to such lengths to hide her. Was his intention to prevent her from clashing with his household?

She pushed the hood back and shot him a fierce glare.

“What are you playing at? You could at least introduce me!”

“You’ve been suffering from a fever the entire journey.”

He replied in a calm tone as he crossed the spacious marble hall.

“First, take care of yourself. I’ll introduce you whenever you’re feeling better.”

“I’m fine………………!”

Just as she was about to retort, a dry cough scratched at her throat.

Talia covered her mouth and slumped her shoulders. Her throat, parched from the fever, stung as if it had been scraped with sandpaper.

He let out a small sigh.

“Don’t waste your energy on this. Just go to sleep.”

With that, he pulled the hood back over her head.

Talia, who had been glaring at him with a scowl, soon let her head droop listlessly.

Just as he said, she was completely drained from being sick for several days. Deep down, she felt relieved that this uncomfortable confrontation had been postponed. But unable to honestly reveal her true feelings, she grumbled pointlessly.

“You’re really annoying.”

He didn’t respond, simply climbing the stairs in silence.

A man who appeared to be a butler hurriedly followed behind him and led him into a large bedroom located on the second floor of the main building.

A moment later, the scene inside the spacious room—decorated far more lavishly than any bedroom in the palace—unfolded before her eyes.

Talia looked around with wide eyes. A chandelier studded with crystals hung from the high ceiling, and golden candlesticks were arranged in a regular pattern throughout the room.

The walls were lined with furniture so magnificent it would not have looked out of place as a gift to the emperor; at first glance, it appeared to be the work of dwarves.

In addition, tapestries with unique patterns, a shield engraved with the Shiokan family crest, animal furs, and white porcelain were scattered throughout the room as decorations.

As she was carefully examining them, Varkas walked over to the large bed in the center of the room, gently set her down, and said,

“You may use this room from now on.”

Talia instinctively grabbed his sleeve.

“And you?”

Varkas, who was about to ring the bell by the bed to summon a servant, paused and looked down at her.

Instantly, a flush rose to her cheeks.

Talia hastily added,

“I didn’t mean we should share the same room…….”

“Do not worry. I intend to use a separate bedroom.”

He said calmly.

Relieved, Talia relaxed her shoulders. She had been anxious the whole time, fearing the moment would come when she would have to show him her legs.

Straightening up, he continued in a matter-of-fact tone.

“This is the bedroom traditionally used by the matriarchs of the Shiokan family. It will be more than adequate for Your Highness.”

“If I use this room, where will the current Grand Duchess stay?”

“For the past ten years, the position of Grand Duchess of Shiokan has been vacant.”

His flat reply left her momentarily speechless. Memories of his family history, pieced together during his time at the imperial palace, belatedly flashed through her mind.

Varkas’s birth mother had died of puerperal fever shortly after giving birth to him.

She had heard that the second Grand Duchess, who had  married to his father afterward, had also passed away in an unexpected accident, and that the shock had even caused Grand Duke Shiokan’s health to deteriorate.

It must have been difficult to welcome a new Grand Duchess under such circumstances.

She let out an awkward, clearing-of-the-throat cough.

“Ah, right. That’s right.”

“I’ll have a healer come for you. Please take some fever-reducing medicine and get some rest.”

Perhaps concerned about her hoarse voice, he poured her a glass of water and handed it to her.

As she took it and took a sip, she heard a sound coming from the doorway.

Talia turned her gaze and, upon seeing a dignified-looking middle-aged woman, sat up straight.

Varkas, who was pressing down on her shoulders, turned his head to look at the woman. The woman, who had been casting a searching glance at Talia, then bowed respectfully.

“It has been a long time, Young Master.”

It was a gentle voice that didn’t quite match her stern appearance.

The woman continued softly.

“His Highness the Grand Duke has ordered that you be escorted to his chambers immediately.”

“Tell him I’ll be there shortly.”

Varkas replied calmly and looked down at Talia with a composed gaze.

“Very well, I shall take my leave now.”

“………Aren’t I supposed to go with you?”

“You may pay His Excellency a separate visit later. I’ll explain everything, so please don’t worry.”

With that, he left the room before she could stop him.

Talia stared blankly at the closed door, then got out of bed and staggered over to the window.

Through the transparent window, the entire panorama of Kalmore came into view.

The city surrounded by castle walls, the large and small villages spread out beyond it, and the green meadows…. As she slid the window open, a cool breeze swept roughly across her face.

She gazed at the plain stretching up to the blue sky, then turned her head upon hearing a strange, faint sound echoing from somewhere.

A forest of birch trees, glowing white, came into view at the edge of the hill. In that moment, a strange emotion—whether excitement or fear, she couldn’t tell—swept over her.

“This is where I’ll be living from now on.”

She took a deep breath.

The scent of the cold, dry wind, faintly lingering on Varkas’s body, filled her lungs.

In that moment, she knew she would come to love this land.

***

Lucas slumped in his chair, kicking the floor idly. His younger sister, Raina, who was a year his junior, glared at him and snapped. “If I get treated like an uneducated brat because of you, you’ll be held responsible!”

“You are an uneducated brat, aren’t you?”

A pillow stuffed with goose down flew at his face.

Driven by the single-minded desire to impress her older brother, Raina had spent hours painstakingly braiding her thick hair and had even dug out their late mother’s jewelry and a silk tunka (traditional Eastern attire) to dress up.

But instead of getting a chance to speak to him, she didn’t even catch a single glance from her older brother.

Raina dumped all the blame on her easy-to-bully older brother, who was just a year older.

“Brother Barkas was educated in the capital like royalty! He’s the noblest of nobles, well-versed in the etiquette of the imperial palace! What do you think you’re doing, using the language of commoners in front of someone like that?”

“The noblest of nobles can freeze to death.”

Raina bolted upright at the hateful words.

“Didn’t you see what happened earlier? He didn’t even properly greet the people who’d been waiting for him for days on end—he just walked right past them! Is that imperial court etiquette?”

“That’s because you were the one who upset him first!”

“What did I do so wrong?”

Lucas jumped up from his chair and snapped back.

“I just wanted to see what she looked like! You were curious about her too, weren’t you?”

“I’m not the least bit curious about what a woman like that looks like!”

Raina flung the jade ornaments dangling from her neck and glared at him with piercing auburn eyes.

“What good would it do to see the face of that vulgar woman who tarnished my brother’s honor? She’s bound to be just like her vulgar mother!”

“…Don’t talk to me like someone who hasn’t learned a thing.”

“I’m just telling you to watch your tongue in front of Brother Varkas!”

Raina roughly untangled her tightly pulled-back hair, her eyes flashing with intensity.

Having ridden a horse every single day since she was six, Raina had tanned, brown skin and long limbs; when she wasn’t dressed up, she looked just like a tall, handsome boy.

She tossed aside even her flowing coat, embroidered with elaborate patterns, and sat cross-legged on the bed.

“Listen carefully. You must never treat that woman poorly in front of our brother. If you torment her so openly, our naive brother will end up feeling pity for her! And we’ll just look like a bunch of mean-spirited younger siblings!”

“………… Naive?"

Lucas muttered, looking utterly dumbfounded.

Ignoring his remark, Raina continued her lengthy speech.

"That’s why we have to torment her as discreetly as possible! If we stir things up even a little, that woman will rush straight to our brother and badmouth us. Then she’ll be the villain slandering his kind and cute younger siblings, and we’ll be the poor, pitiful victims!"

***

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