TFM 96

Chapter 96

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“Please let me know if there’s anything you need.”

As Talia scanned the room with a critical eye, the old man, standing by the door, spoke up. Varkas, who had taken off his coat and hung it next to the wall-mounted fireplace, made his request in his characteristic indifferent tone.

“I’d appreciate it if you could bring me some water for washing and some hot wine.”

“I’ll bring them right away.”

As the man withdrew, Talia slumped down onto a chair cushioned with velvet.

She was completely exhausted from touring various cities and villages since early morning. Pretending to adjust the damp hem of her skirt, she gently rubbed her aching knees.

Varkas, who had been watching her out of the corner of his eye, spoke quietly.

“I’ll have a healer come for you. You should rest for the rest of the day.”

Talia frowned.

“What about you?”

“I plan to have a meeting with the lord. It might run late, so please go ahead and rest.”

“As if you ever didn’t.”

Talia snapped at him somewhat sharply.

They had shared a room for the past few days, but she had never once seen him go to bed.

Varkas always worked until dawn, and sometimes even stayed up all night with local lords. It was almost as if all the tension she had felt whenever she entered the room with him had been for nothing.

Talia, who had been glaring at him with her lips tightly pressed together, soon flopped down onto the bed.

“I’ll rest on my own, so you just go do your work.”

Varkas, who had been quietly watching her, let out a small sigh and opened the door to leave.

Before long, servants from the castle entered the room carrying a tray of wine and fruit, as well as a wooden tub filled with hot water.

Talia called for her nanny, washed herself lightly, and ate a few pieces of honey-soaked fruit with her wine.

Just as she was about to ask the healer to light some sleep-inducing herbs, a rather boisterous laughter drifted in from outside the door. It seemed the knights had started a drinking party.

Talia, who had been wearing a bored expression, suddenly stiffened her shoulders. A high-pitched laugh had mingled with the raucous noise.

She urgently shook her nanny awake; the nanny had been dozing off in front of the fireplace.

“Nanny, does the lord of this castle have any daughters?”

“How would I know that?”

The nanny replied, sounding somewhat bewildered.

Talia snapped at her irritably.

“Didn’t you hear anything on the way here?”

“I don’t really know. I was summoned here as soon as we arrived.”

The nanny let out a heavy sigh.

“Anyway, do you think I can go back to my room now? I need to get some rest myself.”

Talia, who had been about to send her downstairs, bit her lip.

Seeing the exhaustion etched on her face, her scant sense of conscience pricked at her.

She must already be worn out from the unfamiliar journey, and having to attend to her bath on top of that must have left her utterly exhausted.

Talia nodded slowly.

“All right. You may go now.”

The nanny immediately stepped outside. Talia took the opportunity to glance down the hallway.

As the noise from outside grew clearer, her stomach churned with anxiety. This was despite the fact that she knew full well Varkas wouldn’t do anything foolish.

Biting her lip with a worried expression, Talia finally put on her coat and stepped outside.

As she walked down the stairs through the corridor, where flickering shadows danced, she caught sight of a group of men and women loitering in pairs.

She narrowed her eyes and scanned the men’s faces. Judging by their familiar features, they appeared to be mounted warriors of the Shiokan family.

One of them pulled a young woman—who looked like a maid—close by the waist and pressed his lips to her ear. The maid blushed and giggled.

Talia, watching the scene with disgust, turned and walked deeper into the hall.

Seated around a long table laden with food and drink were Varkas’s aides. They, too, were being served drinks by women who were practically naked.

It seemed the lord of this place had summoned a large number of prostitutes under the pretense of entertaining his guests.

Scanning the room with a grim expression, Talia quickened her pace and crossed the vast hall.

Her mind was consumed by a single thought: she had to drag Varkas out of this filthy place immediately.

“Your Highness!”

As she dragged her aching leg through the banquet hall, a familiar voice reached her ears from just a few paces away.

Talia whipped her head around and narrowed her eyes upon spotting a familiar face in the crowd.

It was a knight from the East named Tyron.

The man approached her, scratching the back of his head and offering an awkward smile.

“I heard Your Highness was going to retire early, so what brings you here…?”

“It was so noisy, I had to come out.”

Talia, who had been scanning the room for Varkas, flashed him a mocking smile.

“Did I interrupt your fun?”

“Hahaha.”

The man brushed off her question with an exaggerated laugh.

Talia shot him a cold glance before turning her attention back to the bustling banquet hall.

“More importantly, where is Varkas?”

“His Excellency is in his office on the third floor. Lord Darken requested a private audience.”

Talia, who had been scanning the hall thoroughly, snapped her head around.

“Just the two of them?”

Only then did the man seem to realize why she had been searching the hall so intently, and an amused smile played on his lips.

“Yes, His Excellency has dismissed all the maids, so please don’t worry.”

Instantly, her cheeks flushed as if he had read her every thought.

Talia raised her voice.

“Who said I was worried!”

She spun around, but the man followed her immediately.

“You mustn’t go alone. I’ll escort you to your room.”

“I don’t need that.”

“You do.”

The man said firmly.

“If anything were to happen to Her Highness the Grand Duchess, the responsibility would fall entirely on us. Come on, let’s go.”

Without giving her a chance to refuse, he grabbed her elbow.

Talia reflexively shook his hand off.

“I told you I don’t need it.”

Startled by her intense reaction, deep furrows formed on the man’s forehead.

Talia left him behind and hurried back the way she had come, as if fleeing.

As she climbed the dimly lit stairs again, her thighs and calves began to cramp.

It seemed she had overworked her legs all day long. It was getting late, but she felt she should call a healer to cast a recovery spell.

She walked down the long corridor, lightly tapping her thighs—which were still twitching slightly—with her fists. Then, hearing a strange moan, she stopped in her tracks. Turning her head toward the sound, she saw a strangely shaped shadow flickering at the end of the corridor.

It took a few seconds before she could make out that it was a man and a woman pressed together as if they were a single body. The food she had barely managed to force down her throat threatened to come back up.

She swallowed her nausea and backed away.

Just then, her eyes met those of the boy who had been kissing the voluptuous maid with such intensity.

Talia stifled a scream.

The figure cavorting in the hallway was none other than Varkas’s younger brother.

Talia, who had been hesitating, turned around in a fluster. In doing so, she lost her balance and collapsed heavily to the floor.

A heavy impact sent a sharp pain shooting from her knees through her hips and into her lower back. She let out a stifled scream, her eyes welling up with tears.

“Sister-in-law!”

Seeing this, Lucas shoved the maid aside and rushed over in a single bound.

Talia fiercely swatted away the hand reaching out to help her up.

“Don’t touch me!”

Lucas flinched and stepped back.

Staring at him with an icy glare, Talia groaned as she struggled to her feet.

Leaning on the wall with one hand, she took laborious steps forward, while Lucas, frozen in place, muttered with a look of indignation.

“Is this because of what you just saw? I didn’t suggest doing that first. She was the one who sweet-talked me, saying she’d give me a good experience, so I just went along with it.”

Her ears were about to bleed from his rambling.

Talia shot him a look filled with disgust.

“Who said anything? Why are you spouting off about things no one asked about and polluting my ears?”

Lucas’s face flushed bright red.

He clenched his jaw and glared fiercely.

“Why are you making such a big deal out of just a kiss? You’re the one who does way worse with my brother every night…………….”

Talia lashed out with her hand like a whip.

As if he’d anticipated the attack, Lucas immediately grabbed her wrist.

“Ha! Do you think I’m just going to take this forever? Hit me one more time and I won’t hold back any longer……!”

The boy, who had been lowering his voice menacingly, suddenly fell silent. It seemed he had noticed her face, flushed red as if on fire.

He blinked blankly, then muttered as if in disbelief.

“No way… you two haven’t done anything yet… Ugh!”

Lucas doubled over in pain after being kicked in the shin.

Talia rained punches down on his back.

Lucas, who had been taking the blows helplessly, shoved her against the wall.

“You bitch! That’s exactly why my brother hasn’t laid a finger on you yet!”

As if boiling with rage, he growled ferociously.

Talia flinched as if she’d been stabbed.

The boy, gazing down at her with blazing eyes, added cruelly.

“Could it be that my brother can’t forget his ex-fiancée? He enjoyed it so much with her that he just can’t bring himself to….”

She didn’t want to hear another word.

Talia dug her fingernails—which she had started growing again a few days ago—into his moving lips.

With a cry of “Ow!” Lucas grabbed her arm.

Seemingly quite taken aback by her frenzied attack, his slender body toppled backward.

Talia straddled his stomach, opened the boy’s filthy mouth—which was practically a cesspool—and grabbed his slick tongue with her fingers. Her sun-kissed face flushed until it felt like it would burst.

***

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