He wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve and jumped up the stone steps and tugged at the tightly closed doorknob. Through the gaping doors, a view of the Great Hall was revealed.
Far from being guarded, Asroth wandered around the dark space where he couldn't see any maids and crept up the stairs.
He didn't know why he was hearing footsteps.
He felt it the last time he visited, but this castle is just like a cemetery. The eerie atmosphere makes him hold his breath without even realizing it.
Gazing at the curtained window, he jumped up two flights of stairs to reach the third floor.
Finally, the door to his sister's bedroom came into view.
Asroth stopped in front of the large mahogany door, took a moment to catch his breath, and then knocked on the door cautiously.
However, even after waiting for a long time, there was no answer asking who it was or whether it was okay to come in.
'Is he asleep?'
Asroth, who had been putting his ear to the door, knocked a little harder this time. Then he heard a thud from inside.
After thinking about it for a while, he immediately pulled the doorknob and looked around the room.
In the cluttered bedroom, whitish smoke was wafting through.
Asroth, who was coughing in the stale air, suddenly opened his eyes wide. The scenery was spread out in front of him, as if a storm had swept him away.
He opened his mouth and blinked his eyes, stepping into the mess as if drawn by something.
The bedroom was littered with shards of broken glass.
The carpet smelled like a strong wine, and there was a mess of torn fabric and feathers that seemed to have slipped out of the pillow.
Asroth, who had been scanning them with blank eyes, suddenly noticed a shattered full-length mirror and shrugged his shoulders.
On the surface of the mirror, which cracked like a spider's web, he could see himself in dozens of pieces.
He felt eerie and staggered backwards, but he heard a rustling sound behind him.
Asroth turned around in a panic and froze when he found Talla sprawled on the carpet.
Suddenly, he gasped.
She was wearing only a thin nightgown and staring up at the ceiling with empty eyes. He felt a chill down his spine as if all the vitality had been drained away.
She moved her slender arms like birch branches, grabbing a handful of feathers rolling on the floor and scattering them in the air.
White feathers floated like dust in the air.
The woman, who was looking up at the scene with unfocused eyes, slowly moved her eyes to look at him.
Asroth took a step back without realizing it.
She let out a muffled voice through her lips that were covered with blood.
"...Did you come to have a look?"
"I, I... Just visit..."
Her devastated eyes fell into a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his arms.
Asroth felt his ears heat up. For some reason, he felt like he was doing something he couldn't do to her.
Talia lowered her eyelids like a tired person.
"...Leave it there."
Asroth slumped down the bouquet on the shelf next to the bed.
He didn't know what to do anymore.
Asroth, who was staring at his sister with blank eyes, immediately left the room.
Berens, who was waiting in the hallway, furrowed his brows at his whitened face. He seemed to suspect that he had been harmed.
Asroth pulled him by the hand without explaining anything.
"Let's go back to the main palace quickly."
Then he ran down the silent corridor like a tomb.
He didn't know what he was running from. He just wanted to leave this strangely cold and dreary place as soon as possible.
He looked over his shoulder at the half-open bedroom door and ran down the stairs. Then, like a beast escaping from a trap, he slipped out of the palace at once.
***
It was like an ant crawling through my veins.
The pain that pierced the nerves ran up my shins and gnawed at my knees, thighs, pelvis, and lower back.
The pain wasn't as intense as before, but it was annoying.
I pulled my nails up and relentlessly scraped down my uneven knees. Then, the ants crawling inside the skin began to burrow into my bones as if in defiance.
I peeled off the skin, which was as tough as dead skin cells, to pull out the nasty grubs.
Blood dripped from the open wound. Ignoring the burning pain, she was digging into her exposed flesh with her fingernails when the nanny who entered the room just in time saw it and let out a shriek.
"Please don't do that!"
The nanny threw down the tray she was holding and grabbed my hand.
I looked at her helplessly and then placed my other hand on the scar.
"Why are you doing this?"
The nanny, who was holding the rest of my hand, sighed heavily.
"What if the ugly appearance gets worse?"
I looked at her with distant eyes.
She was a nanny who always looked at me and praised me for being pretty. It seemed to be a reproduction of Senevere's childhood, and how sincere it was to me.
Even in the eyes of the nanny, I looked hideous now.
I twisted my wrist violently and pushed my shoulder.
"Get out! I don't even want to look bad!"
The nanny, who had been glaring at me with a wistful look, walked to the front of the shelf with a stomp on her feet. Then she picked up a bowl of porridge and a vial of medicine on the tray and held them out.
"Don't worry. If you eat this, I'll go out even if you catch it."
I reached out to pick up the bowl and throw it.
However, even a dull nanny seemed to notice something if she was subjected to the same thing many times.
The nanny quickly stepped back and gave me a stern look.
"If you don't eat, I won't burn you with a sleeping herb."
I, who was glaring at her with a resentful look, finally took the bowl. I didn't have the energy to be mad anymore.
I picked up a spoon and mechanically shoved the muddy food into my mouth. It was like eating mud.
As I endured nausea, emptied the porridge, and swallowed an unknown drug, my nanny pushed a bundle of new herbs into the incense burner and lit a fire.
I slumped on the bed, drenched in acrid smoke.
My consciousness became foggy and drowsy, and I fell in. I breathed a sigh of relief at the sensation that was getting blurry, and looked out the window. Through the transparent glass window, the evening sky was dyed red.
As soon as the sun goes down, darkness will overtake me. Even in my delirium, a sense of fear came over me.
I was afraid of the coming of night. The memory of the time when I was in the darkness, waiting for someone to come, seemed to tighten my breath.
But I was even more afraid of the morning coming. I didn't want to live another day with such a sordid body.
I closed my eyes tightly and recited the words of fervent prayer.
Hopefully, all the time given to me will pass while I am asleep.
I hope that I can be freed from this pain forever.
However, as always, my wish did not come true.
Awakened by a shoulder-shaking hand, I looked up at the window where the sunlight poured in, and sighed piteously.
It seemed that another boring day was about to begin. I clutched my throbbing brow.
At that moment, I heard an unfamiliar voice in my ears.
"You must get up, Your Highness."
I turned my head and saw a dark shadow standing next to the bed, and I jumped up.
A woman of great stature and strong build was looking down at her with a steely eye.
The woman bowed gracefully with a gentle gesture.
"Please forgive me for breaking into your bedroom without permission, Your Highness. My name is Trania Meldren, the maid of the Empress Palace. At the behest of Her Majesty Empress, I have come to support Your Highness for one day."
I, who had a confused expression, rolled my eyes and slowly looked around the room.
Before I knew it, there were a dozen maids dressed in dresses with the seal of the Empress Palace, waiting on one side of the cleaned bedroom.
When I saw a beautiful piece of clothing in their hands, I stiffened.
An ominous premonition tightened in my throat.
Why me...
"Today, Your Highness will have an audience with His Majesty the Emperor."
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