The maid lifted the spoon with trembling hands and closed her eyes as if she could not bring it to the bowl.
She seemed to have a vague belief that if she endured like that, she would be able to escape. Perhaps she expects someone to show up and stop me.
I grabbed the knife on the table. Then I gave instructions to the man in a cold voice.
"Please fix this woman's finger on the plate, since she disregards my sincerity like this, I need to cut off one of her fingers as an example."
The man immediately grabbed the woman's hand and spread it out on the silver plate. I grabbed the tip of the woman's Index finger and held my meat knife aloft.
Then the maid cried out in horror.
"I'll eat it! I'll eat them all!"
The woman hurriedly dipped the spoon into the bowl. Then she began to devour the soup containing the bird's carcass.
As if believing that she would be able to endure it if she didn't taste it properly, the woman gulped it down without chewing it properly. However, she couldn't get more than five spoonfuls and ate everything she ate.
Seeing this, I urged her.
"Eat everything. You should be able to see the bottom of the bowl."
The woman's terrified gaze flew toward me. It was no longer an eye for something contemptuous. It was a look at something horrible and terrifying.
I gave an unspoken order with a wink not to stop. The maid sobbed bitterly and ate and vomited and ate and vomited again and again.
She couldn't put the rotting bird in her mouth, so she pushed the soup into her mouth and then poured it out several times...
Her face was covered with blood, tears, and vomit, and then her eyes turned white. The woman's body collapsed on the carpet with a banging sound.
I looked down at the maid who was making a flurry of games with crab foam in her mouth, and then I jerked my chin arrogantly at the stiff servants.
"Clean it all up."
Then I threw the dirty dish at their feet and added.
"And bring me new food to eat. You're going to have to bring the right one this time."
From that day on, the servant's terrible harassment stopped like a lie.
The maids were cautious, as if they were handling dangerous objects, and some of the servants showed extreme fear. They no longer looked at me with contempt or whispered cruel words to me as if I were going to hear them. When I appeared, everyone was busy closing their mouths like shells and bowing their heads.
And rumors spread in the imperial palace about the Second Princess's malicious disposition. Those who had heard how I had tortured an innocent handmaiden who had been loyal to the imperial family for decades were tongue-in-cheek at the little girl's viciousness.
The priests complained that a viper had crawled into the imperial court, and the loyalists of the empire worried that the tyrannical Princess would undermine the authority of the Imperial family.
However, some were satisfied with my brutality.
It was a day just before winter. The Empress, dressed in a dress as dark blue as her eyes, came to the palace.
I, who was coming down the stairs with a stern face to greet her, stopped without realizing it. The moment I saw Senevere, I was unbelievably choked with nostalgia.
It was my mother who turned around so harshly. Tearing away my hand and looking at my delicate back as I slowly receded, I vowed never to love that person again.
But when Senevere came across the wide hall and kissed me on the cheek, my resolve crumbled like a sandcastle before the waves.
"Hello, Talia. You look really pretty today."
Senevere's body smelled sweet of roses, lilacs, and ripe flesh. It was miserable that I missed this dizzying scent to death.
Senevere looked down at her daughter's dark face and smiled warmly.
"You must have been very upset that I haven't been here in a long time. Forgive me. It took me a while to prepare a special gift for you, didn't it?"
I looked anxious.
"Gifts... What?"
"I have heard how effectively you have tamed your spoiled servants. You have satisfied this mother's heart, so you deserve a reward."
She sang in a canary-like voice and turned gracefully. Then I saw a boy slowly walking across the hall.
I held my breath. In a matter of months, he had been officially knighted, and Barcas, dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Guard, was approaching.
The sunlight that penetrated through the window shone over his grey blond hair, scattering light everywhere. It seemed to pierce my retina like a shard of glass.
Senevere walked to the boy's side and stretched out a hand as if to show off his bounty.
"He's a handsome knight who will protect you in the future."
The boy stopped in front of me and said yes.
His eyes, once shining with the crown, shimmered with dagger-like anger and a faint sense of humiliation. Only a fool can tell that he didn't come here voluntarily.
The boy looked down at me with eyes as if he were looking at Inorganic objects.
"This is Barcas Raedgo Sheerkan."
His voice was so dry that it sent chills down my spine.
"I will be by your side until Your Highness has a coming-of-age ceremony."
He hoped that the day would come as soon as possible and that he would be able to get out of this humiliating job.
I looked up at his cold, masked face. His cold gaze, his dry speech, and his stiff demeanor had once again brought me back to being insignificant and contemptuous.
I tried my best not to shrink, but I couldn't stop the scruff of my neck from burning with shame.
I realized it clearly at that moment.
This beautiful boy will be a pain and not my hope.
It's also very awful.
***
When the rain stopped, which had been pouring down for several days, the Intense sunlight began to shine as if heralding the season of fire.
As she walked across the courtyard in search of her fiancé, Ayla squinted her eyes as she wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
The large clearing, which was usually used for military training, was packed with dozens of wagons, harness merchants, and soldiers carrying horses of imposing stature specially adapted to pull carts and all kinds of equipment needed for travel.
After frowning at the market-like scenery, Ayla spotted Bercad checking on the condition of her steed on the outskirts of the castle wall, her eyes lit up.
Instead of the white uniform of the Roem Knights, he wore a black tunic with intricate embroidery and a breastplate made of black iron. He looked more like an Eastern Nobleman than a knight belonging to the imperial court.
Ayla looked at him and smiled proudly. After completing this mission, Barcas will leave the Guard and begin the succession process to become Grand Duke of Sheerkhan.
And she would study to become the hostess of the Grand Duke's family by his side. It was a future that had been predestined since he had followed her mother into the gardens of the Empress's palace.
But Ayla sometimes wondered if that would ever happen.
Barcas was always polite and sometimes even friendly, but Ayla knew there was an unbridgeable distance between them.
Ayla, who had been suffering from heartache for that distance, could hardly believe that he would be her husband in a few months.
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