Chapter 261

Talia shot him a look as though his behavior were utterly ridiculous, swept past him, and stepped out of the carriage.

Khan immediately followed her out and positioned himself between her and Lucas as though standing guard.

“You certainly have a terrifying guard.”

Lucas glanced down at the wolf baring his teeth at him and spoke with a mocking edge to his voice. Talia ignored him entirely, bent down, and stroked Khan’s head.

“You don’t need to worry about that man, Khan.”

Then she called out imperiously to Tiuran, who was standing awkwardly beside the carriage.

“You said we were going to see the festival! Why are you just standing there instead of showing me around?”

“My apologies, Your Highness. Please follow me.”

Tiuran immediately came to her side.

Leaving Lucas behind without another glance, Talia took Khan and Tiuran with her and crossed the crowded square. As she did, she could feel countless gazes flying toward her like needles.

Talia flinched briefly, but soon raised her chin proudly. She had realized that what drew people’s attention was not her unnatural gait, but her blond hair and snow-white skin, both rare sights in the East, as well as the young wolf following closely beside her like a loyal hound.

The people gathered in the street stared for a long while at her appearance, which made it obvious at a glance that she was a noblewoman, before shifting their curious gazes toward Khan. They all seemed fascinated, apparently assuming Khan was merely some sort of hunting dog that resembled a wolf.

“If you go that way, there are rows of stalls where you can taste new wine made from this year’s grape harvest. Would you like to take a look?”

Tiuran, who had been quietly following her, cautiously made the suggestion.

Talia gave a small scoff.

“You want me to put something made by lowborn people in my mouth?”

“Then perhaps we could watch one of the traveling performances……”

“I have no interest in such vulgar entertainment.”

“Then……”

Tiuran looked around the densely packed square with a troubled expression. She seemed at a loss as to where she ought to take her. Talia, who had been walking along with a bored expression, suddenly seized Tiuran by the wrist and entered a street lined with market stalls.

“Let’s just look around the market. If there’s something you want, I’ll make a special exception and buy you one thing.”

“I’m fine. Rather than something for me, perhaps something that catches Your Highness’s eye……”

“Do you really think there would be anything in a marketplace like this that could satisfy me?”

Talia snapped somewhat irritably, then strode toward a stall piled high with fabrics of every color.

“Since we’ve already come out to the festival streets, I at least want to get into the mood. So let’s buy a few things for you.”

“I……”

Tiuran waved her hands with an uncomfortable expression, apparently intending to refuse, but fell silent beneath Talia’s sharply narrowed gaze.

At last, Tiuran let out a resigned sigh and turned toward the stall. She picked up a simple cloth belt.

“Then this……”

“Are you deliberately trying to embarrass me? How are you going to take responsibility if rumors spread that the Grand Duchess gave her own servant nothing more than some scrap of cloth as a gift?”

“I’m sorry. Then…… this……”

She picked up a thin shawl from one side of the stall. Talia stared at it irritably, then pointed with one finger toward a pile of silk stacked at the side of the stall.

“Wrap up all of this.”

Then she arrogantly jerked her chin toward Lucas, who had been silently watching them from a short distance away.

“What are you doing just standing there? Come over here and pay.”

Lucas blinked blankly before letting out a small sigh and approaching the stall. He untied a leather pouch from his belt and handed the stout merchant a handful of gold coins.

“This should be enough, shouldn’t it? Load everything this lady picked into the carriage parked over there.”

“Th-thank you! I’ll have it moved there immediately!”

The merchant’s eyes grew as wide as saucers when he saw the gold coins stamped with the imperial crest. Judging by his reaction, Lucas seemed to have paid quite generously.

Talia watched the excited merchant begin wrapping the silk, then turned her gaze toward the neighboring stall as though already bored.

Various ornaments were neatly arranged across its display. After looking them over, she picked up a silver necklace set with a ruby and held it out to Tiuran.

“Take this too.”

Tiuran looked down at it uneasily.

“Your Highness, this is far too much for me. The silk from before is already more than enough……”

“Are you disregarding my goodwill?”

Talia glared at her coldly.

“I’m giving it to you because I intend to work you even harder from now on, so stop complaining and take it.”

She practically forced the necklace into Tiuran’s hand, then once again jerked her chin toward Lucas, who stood there with a peculiar expression. At the silent command to pay, Lucas looked utterly dumbfounded but nevertheless took another gold coin from his pouch and handed it to the merchant.

While he paid, Talia began browsing the other stalls. They had said there were plenty of interesting things to see, and Kalmor’s market was indeed full of items that looked intriguing even to her eyes, accustomed as she was to all manner of rare and precious objects.

She looked over silk belts embroidered with unusual patterns before picking up a deep blue one adorned with numerous pieces of white jade. After examining it carefully, she loosely wrapped it around Khan’s neck and tied it into a pretty bow.

“You’re incredibly pretty, Khan. There can’t possibly be a cuter wolf than you in the entire world.”

The wolf flattened his ears as though he did not particularly care for her gift, but immediately began wagging his silver tail rapidly from side to side.

Talia giggled at the adorable sight, cupped Khan’s ears in both hands, and playfully flapped them back and forth. Then she suddenly noticed a pair of golden eyes staring down at her and frowned.

“What are you staring at?”

At her barbed tone, wrinkles appeared on Lucas’s smooth forehead as well. He gave an incredulous laugh.

“Aren’t you being a little too harsh? My purse is about to be emptied because of you, Sister-in-law……. You could at least treat me a little more warmly.”

“You think I have to humor you over a few measly gold coins?”

Talia snorted loudly.

“Dream on. Even if you bought every single thing in this marketplace and offered it to me, I still wouldn’t fawn over you.”

“That’s not what I meant……”

Lucas’s shoulders jerked as though he were about to argue, but the next moment, he pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head.

“Isn’t it exhausting to keep your thorns raised over every little thing? Try treating the people around you with even half the kindness you show that wolf. Then everyone would see you differently, Sister-in-law.”

Talia, who had been moving toward a relatively quiet area with Khan, looked back at him with a mocking gaze.

“In what way would they see me differently?”

“Well, as a good person……”

Lucas awkwardly trailed off. He seemed to have realized that his words implied she was not currently seen as a good person.

Talia twisted the corner of her mouth into a cynical smile.

“What kind of person is a good person?”

Lucas wrinkled the bridge of his nose at the confrontational question, then replied curtly.

“Do you really have to ask? Obviously, someone kind and good-natured.”

“And what exactly does being kind and good-natured mean?”

At her continued fault-finding, Lucas’s temple twitched.

“At the very least, it means not picking a fight over every little thing like this.”

“I suppose so. After all, being kind and good means knowing how to behave in a way that doesn’t displease other people.”

Talia stopped in front of a weapons stall and lazily continued as she ran her fingers over a silver dagger displayed there.

“And even when you’re treated unfairly, you shouldn’t get angry. Even when you’re insulted, you should know how to forgive generously, right? You have to put the satisfaction of those around you ahead of your own desires, and it would be even better if you didn’t hesitate to sacrifice yourself from time to time.”

“Don’t take it to extremes. I never said anything like that.”

“You said you wanted me to be kind and good.”

She stroked the tip of the dagger and fixed him with a chilling gaze.

“Goodness means being useful to the majority. A good person doesn’t harm others. They prioritize other people’s interests over their own and comply with what others demand of them. That’s why everyone likes good people. Because they benefit from them.”

As though stunned by a way of thinking more twisted than anything they could have imagined, not only Lucas but even Tiuran stared at her, speechless.

Talia raised the corners of her eyes.

“I have absolutely no intention of becoming the sort of person who suits your tastes. So keep your presumptuous advice to yourself.”

With that, she took Khan and quickly made her way down the relatively quiet street.

How long had they spent wandering around the market like that? By the time they reached the edge of the city center, the sun had begun to sink.

Talia looked up at the darkening sky, then turned and began walking along the path circling the outskirts of the city. But when she saw a long procession of people carrying torches beyond the wide-open southern gate, she unconsciously stopped.

“What’s that?”

Tiuran, who had been quietly following her, looked toward the gate and calmly explained.

“It’s the eve procession. An ancient autumn festival ritual practiced only in the East.”

Talia carefully studied the procession with curious eyes. Every one of them was dressed in flowing traditional eastern garments, and on their heads they wore strangely shaped masks that appeared to have been fashioned after the faces of beasts.

“Would you like to see it up close?”

At Tiuran’s cautious suggestion, one of the guards who had been silently following them at a fixed distance approached to dissuade her.

“Going beyond the city walls would be……”

“Leave it. There’s no need to be so rigid over something as trivial as watching a festival.”

Lucas cut the guard off somewhat irritably, then glanced down at Talia.

“What would you like to do?”

Talia looked suspiciously at Lucas, who was taking her side to a strangely excessive degree, then eventually started toward the gate with Khan.

Following the masked people beyond the fortified city, she saw a long road stretching into the distance and, beyond the open hills, groups of people carrying torches.

Talia slowly moved her stiffened legs, sore from walking for far too long, and made her way up the gently rising hill.

Before long, the deep boom, boom of drums and the strange melody of percussion instruments drifted toward her on the wind. Talia hesitated for a moment, then, as though drawn by something, climbed to the crest of the hill and looked down.

On the rippling grassland below, women carrying torches danced in a circle.

The elderly women standing at its center began singing a strange song she had never heard before, their rough voices tinged with an eastern dialect.

On the night when all the earth lay deep in sleep,

the moon was devoured by clouds,

and the air churned violently.

The black beast awoke

and upon Tiramer’s body

left a scar that could never be erased.

The spirit drowned in sorrow

embraced the savage beast

and entered the eternal forest.

On the night when three heads howl,

at the hour when star, moon, and sun intertwine,

where spirit and beast become one,

the immortal king rises.

Worship him.

Worship him.