TFM 88

Chapter 88

***

As she raised her voice in a fit of anger, a look of displeasure flashed across the faces of the maids standing by on either side. But Varkas himself didn’t bat an eye.

Sliding his finger along her temple, he gently caressed her tingling earlobe. Talia looked up at him, her face flushed with embarrassment.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Your ears are red.”

His slightly rough fingertips gently traced the rim of her ear. Talia felt that tingling sensation run down her neck and slumped her shoulders. Varkas, who had been quietly gazing into her eyes, spoke in a reproachful tone.

“Are you receiving proper treatment? Or are you just taking sleeping potions again……………….”

“Are you my nanny or something?”

Talia pushed him away rather roughly. Unlike her, who had been mesmerized by his flamboyant appearance, his attitude—treating her like a seriously ill patient—made her feel a fresh wave of misery wash over her.

“I’m managing just fine on my own, so mind your own business. I’ve been doing just fine up until now.”

When she pointed out that he hadn’t shown his face for the past few days, his eyes narrowed.

Just as he was about to say something, a sinister voice came from deep within the room.

“How long do you intend to keep me waiting, Varkas?”

Talia turned her head to look at the large bed in the center of the room. A gaunt arm stretched out from the solid wood bed, draped with a thin canopy. He gave an order with a haughty flick of his finger.

“Bring your wife here.”

Talia narrowed her eyes. Even if he were a Grand Duke, he had no right to summon an imperial princess at his whim.

However, she knew full well that arguing with their leader in a gathering of Eastern power brokers would do her no good.

She scanned the men surrounding the bed and cautiously stepped into the room. Varkas naturally wrapped his arm around her waist. Realizing he was supporting her, Talia bit her lip.

Did this man see her as a child in need of his care? He had touched her without hesitation before, but since the wyvern attack, it seemed to have become even more pronounced.

“Come this way.”

Still practically in his arms, Talia approached the large bed. A stern-looking man who appeared to be a legal representative and a man in priestly robes quietly stepped aside.

Talia looked at the Grand Duke of Shiokan with a tense expression. The man bore a strange resemblance to Varkas, even though he didn’t seem to resemble him at all. Though his body, clearly ravaged by illness, reeked of death, his face—as if roughly hewn with a chisel—overflowed with authority, and his cold eyes, as if forged from molten steel, were filled with arrogance.

He scanned her carefully with a piercing gaze and spoke in a low, heavy voice.

“………………You resemble her (Senevere)to the point of being offensive. Did that woman create a homunculus of her own?”

Those words were tantamount to questioning her lineage. Talia cast aside any thought of maintaining decorum.

“If I weren’t of the Taren bloodline, people like you would have uncovered that fact long ago.”

She lifted her chin high and retorted sharply.

“Or are you admitting your own incompetence—that you can’t even handle a single woman of the Taren family?”

As if startled by her retort, the sound of rough gasps filled the room. The Grand Duke’s face, too, stiffened. He glared at her with eyes as sharp as needles, as if trying to pierce her face.

“You’re fearless. Don’t you know that I am the most powerful figure in this empire, commanding the strongest cavalry?”

Talia’s expression hardened. For a moment, her knees went weak under the Grand Duke’s overwhelming aura. Yet she put on a brave front.

“So what? Are you going to crush me with that cavalry?”

“Do you think I can’t?”

The man spat out the words with a sneer.

“Do you really believe that your authority, which was insignificant even in the Imperial Palace, can be guaranteed here in the East?”

The Grand Duke’s eyes glowed with a chilling, hostile light. He fired off a barrage of questions.

“If I decided right here and now to cut off your head, who could stop me? Would the Emperor really risk the empire splitting apart for your sake? Rather than go to war with the East, he’d simply turn a blind eye. Your mother might make a bit of a fuss, but that wouldn’t mean I’d end up in the dock. Your authority as an imperial princess is that insignificant.”

Talia felt cold sweat soak her spine. A fierce hostility surged within her toward the man who was casually exposing a truth she had consistently denied and pretended not to know.

She backed away like a cornered animal, yet glared at the Grand Duke with a vicious glare.

“Then go ahead and kill me! Do you really think my mother will settle for just a minor nuisance? She could use my death as an excuse to crack down on the conservative nobles—do you think she’d let that opportunity slip by? There’s no way she would.”

Talia let out a loud, derisive snort.

“Do you know what that means? It means the pitiful little life you have left will become very, very exhausting. Do you think you’ll find peace after you die? You’ll be cast into the fires of hell for killing a powerless woman just because you heard a few words.”

The Grand Duke’s face turned pale at the excessive vitriol. Without giving him a moment to breathe, Talia poured out her words right into his face.

“Do you think your suffering will end there? You’ll have a particularly agonizing time in hell. Because I won’t leave you alone for a single moment! Even in hell, I’ll torment you day and night to exact my revenge. I possess a very special talent in that regard. If you don’t believe me, just ask Varkas!”

She shot a glance at Varkas, as if to prompt him to say something, but he looked down at her with a very strange expression.

When he immediately failed to take her side, Talia’s face twisted in a look of betrayal. As expected, she couldn’t trust anyone. This place was nothing but a den of enemies.

Talia scanned the men with swords at their waists with a wary gaze, then turned away. Just as she was about to run off, Varkas grabbed her by the arm. Talia jumped up in surprise.

“Let go of me!”

Fearing he might be about to hand her over to the Grand Duke, she struggled to break free, but Varkas let out a heavy sigh and pulled her close to his chest.

Talia held her breath. With her immobilized, Varkas spoke coldly to the Grand Duke.

“I must correct one thing. If Your Grace attempts to harm Talia Roem Shiokan, I will stand in your way.”

Talia looked up at him in astonishment. He slowly finished his sentence.

“Are you willing to lose your heir forever over a trivial quarrel?”

The Grand Duke, who had been gaping in utter disbelief, twisted his face into a grimace. He looked as if he might breathe fire from his mouth at any moment.

However, what burst from his mouth was not a harsh shout but a violent cough. The man, his gaunt body shaking as he coughed, gasped for breath and let out a dry laugh.

“This is truly beyond belief.”

“Are you acting so insolently because you think I have no alternative but you?”

“If there is another alternative, you are free to put him forward.”

Varkas said in a tone that was eerily soft.

“I intend to do my utmost to assert my rights. If you wish for the East to split and fight, then so be it.”

A faint twitch ran through the wrinkles at the corners of the Grand Duke’s mouth. The man, who had been glaring at his eldest son with burning eyes, soon leaned his head against the headboard of the bed as if exhausted. Then he held out a hand toward his legal representative.

“Hand me the power of attorney.”

The frozen representative handed over the parchment document with trembling hands.

Gripping a quill, the Grand Duke signed the document in rough handwriting, then removed the ring from his finger. The legal representative immediately applied sealing wax to the end of the document. After affixing his seal to it, the Grand Duke tossed the parchment to Varkas.

“With this, all my rights are transferred to Varkas Raedgo Shiokan.”

Varkas accepted the power of attorney with an expressionless face. As if the matter were settled, the man lowered his eyelids and waved his hand dismissively.

“Now get the hell out.”

***

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