Chapter 259

Varkas released Lucas’s arm, straightened, and spoke in an indifferent tone.

“You’ve improved quite a bit in the meantime.”

“That’s like hitting someone once and then patting them on the head.”

Lucas grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder joint. Varkas helped his younger brother to his feet, then gestured toward the priest waiting outside the training ground.

“Treat this brat.”

“Shouldn’t you get treated too, Brother?”

Lucas said, glancing at the corner of his mouth.

Varkas took the Tunka from the squire and draped it over his shoulders, then wiped the trace of blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and replied as though it were nothing.

“Using healing magic for something this minor would be a waste. Don’t worry about it.”

Apparently, those words wounded his pride. Lucas wrinkled the bridge of his nose, clicked his tongue with a tch, and vaulted over the fence. Then, lightly pushing aside the priest who approached to treat him, he quickly made his way through the soldiers.

As Talia stared after him, she suddenly felt a chilling gaze upon her. Turning her head without thinking, she met the blue eyes quietly looking up at her and stiffened with a start.

Her heart dropped with a thud at the look in his eyes, as though he had seen through the fact that she had been standing here anxiously watching the entire time. Talia unconsciously faltered and took a step backward, then hurriedly turned away when she saw him begin walking toward her.

“I’ve seen enough. Let’s go somewhere else now.”

With that, she seized Tiuran’s sleeve in one hand and started walking along the stone steps surrounding the training grounds.

Only after they had put some distance between themselves and the sparring ground did she glance back. By then, Varkas had already left the enclosure and was heading toward the main building of the drill grounds. It seemed her blatant avoidance had extinguished even his desire to follow her.

Her expression clouded with an emotion she could not tell was relief or disappointment. Tiuran, who had been cautiously watching her reaction, carefully spoke.

“I have an ointment that works very well on wounds. Why don’t you take it to His Grace?”

She took a small container made from animal bone out of a pouch attached to her robe and held it out.

Talia stared down at it for a moment before abruptly turning her head away and replying curtly.

“You take it to him. I’m going back to my room to rest.”

“......Then I’ll tell him that Your Highness sent it.”

“Don’t do anything unnecessary!”

Sharp thorns rose in Talia’s voice.

She glared at Tiuran with displeasure in her eyes.

“If you say even one word about me to that man, I won’t forgive you.”

“......I apologize if I overstepped.”

Tiuran lowered her eyes and bowed politely. A faint sense of guilt stirred within her at the sight, but Talia deliberately pressed her lips together and turned away coldly.

“Just go give him the ointment. I’ll get some air by myself and then go back to my room.”

Before Tiuran could say anything in response, she started toward the inner castle gate.

As she passed through the arched entrance, the brilliant sight of the garden filled her vision, intense summer sunlight shattering into countless fragments across it. As she slowly crossed through the garden, Khan, who had been sitting quietly in her arms like a doll, suddenly began to squirm. Apparently, being trapped in her embrace was starting to feel stifling.

She set Khan down in front of the walking path.

“Do you want to walk on your own from here?”

As though responding to her voice, the wolf pricked up his ears, then immediately turned and darted into a flower bed thick with marigolds.

Startled by his sudden behavior, Talia was just about to pick him up again when Khan bit through the marigold stems, tore off a whole bunch of flowers, and trotted back toward her.

At the adorable sight of Khan wagging his tail with a bright yellow bouquet held in his mouth, a radiant smile spread across Talia’s face.

“Are those for me?”

As though answering her question, the wolf placed the flowers at her feet. Talia picked up the bunch of marigolds, their stems crushed from his teeth.

Had he remembered what she had told him about these flowers before? It might have been nothing more than coincidence, but the thought that Khan had understood her feelings made something deep inside her chest ache with emotion.

“Thank you.”

She kissed the wolf on the forehead in gratitude, and his tail began wagging even faster. Talia giggled as she looked down at him, then swept Khan into her arms and showered his soft face with kiss after kiss.

She liked that she could always be honest with Khan. Why was it so difficult to reveal her heart this way to anyone else?

She looked over her shoulder at the inner castle gate connected to the drill grounds. When she remembered the tranquil eyes that had looked up at her, a sharp pain pierced her chest.

Would the day ever come when she could honestly show him her heart as well?

Lost in those futile thoughts, she soon gave a bitter smile and turned away.

* * *

In the end, Talia did not attend the farewell banquet.

She had never had the courage to face Varkas in the first place, but by evening, the pain in her leg had grown so severe that she could not possibly get out of bed.

After tossing and turning until late in the evening, she eventually took the painkiller Marisen had prepared and fell asleep as though she had fainted.

By the time she regained consciousness, dawn was already breaking beyond the window.

Talia stared blankly at the sky, then abruptly scrambled to her feet and hurried toward the window.

Dozens of mounted warriors, fully prepared for departure, stood in formation before the castle gates. Talia stared intently at Varkas standing before them, then hurriedly snatched up a shawl and threw it over her shoulders. After shutting Khan inside the room when he tried to follow her, she ran through the dark corridor with a limp. She passed through the second-floor passage connected to the outer castle and climbed the tower, where a rough wind swept violently over her body.

Ignoring the gusts that wildly tangled her hair, Talia approached the battlements. Through the opening, she could see him even more clearly.

She forgot even to breathe as she watched him give some sort of instructions to his adjutant.

Standing in the pale light of dawn, Varkas was overwhelmingly beautiful. The bluish light of daybreak flowed along his sharp jawline, broad shoulders, and wide back. Even though he was clad in somewhat rugged eastern-style armor, he looked incomparably noble and elegant. As she engraved his dignified figure deep into her eyes, he raised his head as though he had sensed her gaze.

Talia instinctively moved to hide, but immediately changed her mind and met his gaze directly.

There was a strange light in Varkas’s eyes that she could not understand. While she was trying to discern what emotion lay behind it, he looked away again and smoothly mounted his horse.

A moment later, the resounding blare of trumpets announcing the Grand Duke’s departure rang out, and the castle gates swung wide open.

Talia stared blankly as he disappeared into the blue dawn.

Take care of yourself, Varkas.

You have to come back safely.

The words she had ultimately failed to convey echoed hollowly in the wind. For a long while, she could not bring herself to leave, simply staring endlessly at his fading figure.

After he left, she could not escape her melancholy for quite some time. Even Khan’s presence could not completely fill the hollow that had opened inside her chest.

The look in Varkas’s eyes as he gazed at her and the sight of his retreating back lingered endlessly in her mind. She felt disgusted with herself for becoming frightened before anything had even happened and failing to say a single word to him, while at the same time resenting him for never approaching her in the end.

It was an unfair feeling. Had she not been the one to push him away first? She had hurled cruel words at Varkas despite how devotedly he had cared for her and driven him away herself, so with what right could she now wish for him to approach her first? Their relationship could probably never be restored again.

“Your Highness, why don’t you go outside the castle today?”

Tiuran suddenly spoke while Talia sat on the bed, blankly turning the pages of a book.

Talia looked at her in surprise, then shrugged with an indifferent expression.

“Have you forgotten that I can’t take a single step without Varkas’s permission?”

“I’m sure His Grace would permit you to tour the fortified city as long as you take guards with you. Your Highness is the lady of this East, not a prisoner.”

Tiuran spoke in an unusually firm tone.

Talia frowned and glared at her.

“I don’t think Varkas is treating me like a prisoner. He’s only trying to protect me.”

“......I apologize if I offended you.”

She immediately bowed her head. Talia regarded her with displeasure, then closed the book and lowered her legs over the side of the bed.

“Why are you suddenly suggesting that?”

“The autumn festival will begin soon. Various festivities have already started throughout the streets, so I thought perhaps Your Highness might be able to get a change of scenery......”