Chapter 272

Talia stared blankly at the absurd story for a moment before letting out a disbelieving laugh.

“Don’t be ridiculous. How could a five-year-old child possibly take on three grown men? No matter how extraordinary Varkas’s physical abilities may be....”

“Some of the soldiers who were assigned to guard him at the time still serve at Laedgo Castle. They witnessed it with their own eyes.”

After briefly checking their surroundings, Tiuran stepped closer to her and whispered into her ear.

“When the search party found the young Grand Duke... they say he was lying in a pool of blood. And around His Grace were three corpses, torn to pieces as though they had been mauled by a beast.”

Her breath, chilling as the night wind, brushed coldly against Talia’s earlobe.

Tiuran calmly continued.

“His Grace, on the other hand, supposedly didn’t have so much as a scratch on him. But they say both of his hands were completely covered in blood.”

Talia flinched and drew away. A faint trace of wariness appeared in her eyes as she looked at Tiuran.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I thought that if Your Highness intends to continue living here, you should know everything there is to know about House Siorcan.”

Answering in the same composed tone as always, Tiuran turned toward the window. When she opened the shutters, cold wind swept into the room along with the scent of dry grass.

“The blood of a cruel great king who once plunged the continent of Loviden into terror flows through the veins of House Siorcan. That savage spirit is deeply rooted in the people of the East as well. Although most of the Khan people follow the Empire’s state religion, somewhere in their hearts they have never been able to completely cast aside the indigenous beliefs passed down since ancient times. If Your Highness is to reign as Grand Duchess of the East, you need to understand that.”

Talia frowned.

Was this woman truly saying all this because she sincerely wanted Talia to be fully accepted as the Grand Duchess of the East? Or did she have some other hidden motive?

As Talia regarded her suspiciously, someone hurried into the bedroom.

“Excuse me, Healer. Could you please stop by our house as well? My daughter suddenly lost consciousness.”

A burly man approached and abruptly seized Tiuran’s hand. Without showing any alarm, she calmly covered the back of his hand with her other one.

“Calm down. I’ll go right away.”

Then she turned apologetically toward Talia, who had taken a wary step backward.

“I’m sorry after you’ve gone to the trouble of waiting for me. It looks like I’ll be delayed, so please return to the castle first and rest.”

“Forget it. I’ve already waited this long, so I might as well go back with you. Just hurry up and treat the patient.”

“But....”

Tiuran seemed about to say something more, but let out a small sigh and slowly turned away.

Following her through the entrance, Talia saw Khan standing guard by the door. The moment the enormous wolf saw her, his thick tail began wagging eagerly. Talia gently stroked him before stepping over the threshold.

Outside stood a luxurious carriage, three or four guards, and Lucas, who was leaning against the wall.

“Are you finished?”

“Not yet. Apparently she has to see the child next door too.”

Talia answered curtly, then issued an order as though addressing servants.

“You’re all staying here until she’s finished.”

“The sun has already gone down. If Brother finds out that Sister-in-law has been wandering around private homes at this hour of the night....”

“Then don’t tell him.”

Talia snorted.

“You’re the one who dragged someone out here when she didn’t want to come. If you go tattling to Varkas, I’ll blame everything on you, so you’d better watch yourself.”

With that, she took the troubled-looking Tiuran with her and headed through the fence toward the neighboring house.

Light spilled from a small cottage enclosed by a low earthen wall.

Talia slowly looked over the lumber stacked beneath the eaves, the handcart, and the workbench piled high with planks before turning her gaze toward the wooden house. Compared with the spacious yard, the house itself looked rather cramped.

After glancing over the cluttered interior through the wide-open door, Talia sat down on a chair beside the entrance.

“I’ll wait here.”

Tiuran gave her a worried look, then took off her robe and draped it over Talia’s shoulders.

“Then please wait just a little while.”

“Mm.”

Talia nodded, pulling the robe, steeped in the scents of medicinal herbs and hay, up to her chin.

Once Tiuran entered the cottage, Talia quietly stroked the nape of Khan’s neck as he sat pressed close against her feet.

As though he had been waiting for it, Khan thrust his head up close to her face. Talia giggled, cupped the wolf’s face in both hands, kneaded his perked ears between her fingers, and kissed him on the forehead.

The faint orange glow spilling from inside the front door beautifully colored Khan’s blue eyes. Talia was quietly gazing at the golden flecks sparkling like stars within them when a sudden gust of wind made her lift her head.

The village bathed in moonlight, the grasslands stretching beyond it, and the bluish silhouettes of birch trees tinged with pale light came faintly into view.

It was a landscape both eerie and beautiful, desolate yet abundant.

After gazing at the scenery for a long while, Talia slowly raised her eyes to the night sky. A brilliant full moon and stars like tiny shards of glass filled the vast heavens.

Staring up at the endless sky as though she were seeing night for the first time in her life, Talia rested her cheek against the thick fur around Khan’s neck.

“I never knew there were so many stars over this land.”

As though answering her, a languid rumble sounded beside her ear.

Talia was overcome by an unfamiliar emotion. It was a strange sensation, achingly lonely yet somehow making her heart swell.

She hunched her shoulders and breathed out a cloud of pale mist.

Was Varkas looking at this sky right now too?

Suddenly, the image of him standing with the moonlight at his back surfaced in her mind.

That figure, seemingly as solid and flawless as a shard of ice, soon transformed into the image of a small child submerged in a pool of blood.

A boy banished from this beautiful land at only five years old. Imagining the confusion and fear he must have felt made her chest ache as though it were being torn apart.

She did not believe every part of the rumor, but it seemed certain that something terrible had happened to him.

Talia retraced the course of the life he had lived.

A man who had not only been treated like a monster by his own father, but had been sent away to an unfamiliar place and raised entirely as a tool for the Imperial Family and his house.

Perhaps she was merely another burden added to that barren, desolate life.

Talia buried her face even deeper in the wolf’s thick, soft fur.

She did not know how long she had been sitting there in the night wind when Tiuran finally emerged after finishing the examination.

“I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”

“I’m the one who said I’d wait. Is the child all right?”

Talia was about to remove the robe and hand it back when Tiuran smiled gently and instead pulled the collar closed around her again.

“Keep it on. The night air is quite cold.”

Then she wrapped one arm around Talia’s back and guided her toward the carriage. She seemed to have noticed that Talia’s back and legs were beginning to ache.

With Tiuran’s support, Talia climbed into the carriage and sank into the soft seat with a long exhale.

As soon as the tension left her body, all the exhaustion she had been holding back washed over her at once. Talia pulled Khan’s head against her chest where he sat at her feet, and before the carriage had even begun to move, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

That outing became the catalyst for Talia to begin frequently touring the villages and town districts outside the castle with her guards.

Her purpose was to firmly imprint her presence upon the people of Kalmor and allow them to grow accustomed to Khan’s presence.

Perhaps her efforts paid off, because at some point the residents of Kalmor began to regard the sight of the Grand Duchess making her rounds with an enormous wolf at her side as perfectly natural.

Whenever she toured the villages on the outskirts, young boys would trail closely behind Khan and reach out in attempts to touch his ears or tail. From time to time, there were also girls and women who mustered the courage to present Talia with wildflowers or baskets filled with fruit.