At her sudden outburst, displeasure flashed across the faces of the maids waiting on either side. Yet Varkas himself did not even blink.
Sliding his fingers along her temple, he lightly caressed her burning earlobe. Talia looked up at him in confusion.
“W-What are you doing?”
“Even your ears are red.”
His slightly rough fingertips gently traced the curve of her ear. Feeling a sharp sensation run down the back of her neck, Talia instinctively shrank her shoulders. Varkas gazed quietly into her eyes before speaking in a reproachful tone.
“Have you been receiving proper treatment? Or are you relying on sleeping herbs again—”
“Are you my nanny or something?”
Talia shoved him away rather roughly. Unlike herself, who had stood there dazed by his splendid appearance, he treated her like some gravely ill patient. The thought suddenly made her feel miserable.
“I've been living just fine, so mind your own business. You've managed to do that perfectly well all this time.”
At her jab about how he had not shown his face even once over the past few days, his eyes narrowed.
Just as he was about to speak, a gloomy voice emerged from deeper inside the room.
“How much longer do you intend to keep me waiting, Varkas?”
Turning her head, Talia looked toward the large bed occupying the center of the chamber. A bony arm extended from beneath the thin canopy hanging over the wooden bed. With an arrogant flick of his fingers, the man issued his command.
“Bring your wife over here.”
Talia narrowed her eyes. Even a Grand Duke could not summon an Imperial Princess with a mere crook of his finger.
Still, she knew there was nothing to gain from exchanging barbs with the ruler of the East in front of all its powerful men.
Glancing over the men surrounding the bed, she carefully stepped forward. Varkas naturally wrapped an arm around her waist. Realizing he was supporting her, Talia bit her lip.
Did this man see her as some child who needed looking after? He had always touched her without hesitation, but ever since the wyvern attack, it seemed to have become even worse.
“This way.”
Almost leaning against him, Talia approached the large bed. A solemn-looking man who appeared to be a legal representative and another dressed in priestly robes silently stepped aside.
With a tense expression, Talia examined the Grand Duke of Siorcan.
The man looked strangely similar to Varkas while at the same time resembling him not at all. Death practically seeped from his sickly body, yet authority overflowed from his face, which looked as though it had been roughly carved with a chisel. His cold eyes, like molten steel hardened into shape, were full of arrogance.
He slowly swept his sharp gaze over her and spoke in a low, heavy voice.
“...You resemble that woman to a disgusting degree. Did she create her own homunculus or something?”
Those words were no different from questioning her bloodline.
Talia promptly threw any thought of maintaining decorum to the winds.
“If I weren't Darian's descendant, people like you would've uncovered that fact long ago.”
She raised her chin proudly and shot back.
“Or are you confessing that you're too incompetent to handle a mere daughter of House Taren?”
Rough intakes of breath sounded throughout the room. Even the Grand Duke's face stiffened. His eyes bored into her face like awls.
“You have no fear. Do you not know that I am the most powerful lord commanding the greatest cavalry force in this Empire?”
Talia's expression hardened. The pressure radiating from him made her knees weaken for an instant.
Still, she forced herself to act bravely.
“So what? Are you planning to trample me with that cavalry?”
“Do you think I can't?”
The man sneered.
“Do you really believe the pitiful authority you possessed in the Imperial Palace will be recognized here in the East?”
Hostility glinted ominously in the Grand Duke's eyes.
“If I decide to cut off your head right here and now, who exactly could stop me? Do you think the Emperor would risk the Empire splitting apart for your sake? Rather than wage war with the East, he would simply close his eyes and pretend not to know. Your mother might become somewhat troublesome, but that wouldn't put me on trial. That is how insignificant your authority as an Imperial Princess truly is.”
Cold sweat soaked Talia's back.
The man was casually exposing truths she had always stubbornly refused to acknowledge. A fierce hostility surged within her.
Even as she retreated like a cornered beast, she glared at the Grand Duke with venomous eyes.
“Then go ahead and kill me! My mother won't stop at being merely troublesome! She'd use my death as an excuse to crush the conservative nobles. Do you think she'd let an opportunity like that pass? Absolutely not.”
Talia snorted loudly.
“Know what that means? It means your pitiful little remainder of life will become very, very exhausting. And do you think death will bring you peace? You murdered a powerless woman over a few harsh words. You'll fall straight into the fires of hell.”
The Grand Duke's face turned pale at her vicious curses.
Without giving him a chance to breathe, Talia continued.
“You think your suffering will end there? No, you'll suffer even more in hell. Because I won't leave you alone for even a moment! I'll torment you day and night just to settle my grudge! I possess a very special talent in that area. If you don't believe me, ask Varkas!”
She glared at Varkas, demanding support.
He merely looked down at her with an exceedingly strange expression.
The moment he failed to immediately take her side, betrayal swept over Talia and twisted her face.
As expected, no one could be trusted.
This place was nothing but an enemy's den.
Casting wary glances at the sword-bearing men around her, Talia abruptly turned around.
Just as she was about to flee, Varkas grabbed her forearm.
Talia practically jumped.
“Let go!”
Thinking he intended to offer her up to the Grand Duke, she struggled wildly. With a heavy sigh, Varkas pulled her firmly against his chest.
Talia froze.
Holding her immobile, Varkas coldly addressed the Grand Duke.
“There is one thing I must correct. If Your Grace attempts to harm Talia Roem Siorcan, I will stand against you.”
Talia looked up at him in shock.
He slowly finished.
“Would you lose your heir forever over such a trivial argument?”
The Grand Duke's mouth fell open in disbelief before his face twisted viciously. He looked as though he might breathe fire at any moment.
But instead of a furious roar, a violent fit of coughing burst from him.
His frail body shook violently as he coughed, and after struggling for breath, he let out a dry laugh.
“This is absurd.”
“......”
“Are you so arrogant because you know I have no other alternative besides you?”
“If another alternative exists, then by all means, put him forward.”
Varkas replied in a voice so gentle it was chilling.
“I fully intend to assert my rights. If Your Grace wishes to see the East divided in conflict, then so be it.”
The wrinkles around the Grand Duke's mouth twitched.
After glaring fiercely at his eldest son, the old man finally leaned his head back against the bedrest in exhaustion.
Then he stretched out one hand toward the legal representative.
“Bring me the authorization.”
The frozen representative hurriedly presented the parchment with trembling hands.
Taking up the quill, the Grand Duke scrawled his signature in rough strokes and removed the ring from his finger.
The legal representative immediately poured sealing wax over the end of the document. After stamping it with his signet, the Grand Duke tossed the parchment toward Varkas.
“From this moment on, all my authority is transferred to Varkas Laedgo Siorcan.”
Varkas accepted the authorization with an expressionless face.
As though everything was now concluded, the Grand Duke lowered his eyelids and waved his hand impatiently.
“Now get out.”
