My mouth became dry.
I pinched my lips with my fingertips and lowered my eyes.
I didn't know what to say.
With my mouth closed and my eyes rolling around, I heard a monotonous voice
"Your nanny is in the next room. Call her if you need it."
I looked up at him again.
Barcas tucked his arm into his shirt sleeve and continued calmly.
"I'm leaving for the East in a week. I'll call the workers, so if you have any luggage to bring, take care of it in advance."
"That, so soon?"
As I mumbled with a puzzled expression, Barcas, who was buttoning up his shirt, turned his attention to me again.
His eyes, covered with a thick mist, carefully examined my face.
"Is there any reason to stay in the imperial palace longer?"
I looked up at him with a speechless expression, then slowly shook my head.
Barcas, who had been staring at the scene, approached the bedside with a steep step. My heart shrank sharply at the face that suddenly approached.
I unknowingly set my gaze on his lips. A red tongue could be seen through the slightly open gap.
That came to me.
Was it a reality or a dream?
I was thinking about it in a daze, but my chin was lifted, and his clear blue eyes came right in front of me.
"Do you often experience sudden pain like yesterday?"
My heart, which had shrunk tightly, cracked with a thud this time.
I struck his hand roughly. I was very annoyed by being treated as a seriously ill patient
"I don't know. What do you know?"
"If there is a problem... additional treatment."
"Even the wizards of the Taren family couldn't do anything about it. What are you going to do to cure them?"
Unable to overcome my nervousness, I raised my voice, and my lips tightened. His red lips, drawing sharp lines, caught my eye again.
What is important now is the fact that last night, that mouth was arbitrarily wandering around itself. But why do you care about my legs?
I pursed my dry lips.
"More than that... Yesterday..."
Why did you do that to me? Is it just to give you medicine?
I was about to ask that, but then I closed my mouth again.
Perhaps, the touch of my lips was only a moment. It may be that the messy head has distorted the memory at will.
I swallowed my saliva and glanced at his expression.
As if he was curious about the backward, I couldn't continue. Barcas straightened up and let out a monotonous voice.
"I have a healer waiting in the next room. If you feel unwell, call immediately."
Is that all?
Is there anything else to say to me?
The questions that were swirling in my mouth were only rolled with the tip of my tongue, and a calm voice followed.
"Until the day I leave, I will stay in the imperial palace."
I looked up at him as if I had been hit on the head.
Cold fingers fell on my forehead.
My skin tingled as if the blade had touched.
I unknowingly shrank my neck, and Barcas, who had been brushing the messy hair from my face, withdrew his hand again.
A dark shadow fell on his face as he stood with his back to the window.
"For the time being, you won't have to face me. So make sure you feel at ease."
I opened my mouth urgently.
I felt like I had to say something, but my throat was numb and I couldn't make a sound.
He slowly turned around and picked up the coat he had hung on the wall.
I just stared intently at his back across the room.
Barcas grabbed the doorknob and looked over his shoulder. His lips parted slightly, as if to say something. But he ended up going outside without saying anything.
With a crackling sound, I, who had been staring at the closed door from afar, stepped down from the bed. A tingling sensation ran through my bones. Ignoring the boiling pain, I approached the doorway and turned the handle.
Barcas had already gone down the stairs, and there was only a sense of silence in the hallway.
With a devastated face, I closed the door again and went to the bedside.
The only trace of him left in the room was a neatly folded robe.
I opened the hem of his clothes that had been folded up on the shelf and buried my face in the smooth fabric.
Instead of the smell of mint, a strong rose scent permeated my nose.
Perhaps because he had been holding me all day, the smell of perfumed balm applied by the maids was thick on the satin embroidered with colorful embroidery. I put it on and lay down on the cold bed.
I remembered the wide embrace that wrapped around me tightly as I struggled with pain.
He had to take care of the patient all night, so it must have been the worst night for him. Where in the world is there a man who would welcome such a hard and troublesome first night?
I bit my thin, twitching lip tightly.
It was a marriage that was accepted to satisfy a childish sense of revenge in the first place. Since I made the crane take off on the first night, I should be happy.
I tried to calm my bitterness and looked up at the white glass window. The sun's light brightened through the transparent membrane.
Suddenly, I thought that this was my first morning as a Thalia Roem Sheerkan.
I muttered with a blank face.
How will my life go in the future...
***
Before I knew it, the day of heading to the East was just around the corner.
Unable to overcome the maid's touch early in the morning, I began to groom myself and looked out the window with tired eyes.
In the large courtyard, more than twenty wagons were lined up. On top of it were silks wrapped in linen, dwarven handicrafts, dresses woven by fairies, and chests of rare jewels.
Half of them were gifts from the imperial palace, and the other half were things I had persistently collected over the years.
I, who had been looking down at the treasures I had once obsessed over with a gloomy gaze, immediately closed the curtains.
Just one season ago, people were desperate to find rare dresses and jewelry. Seeing myself shining more brilliantly than anyone else, I hoped that Barcas would regret his engagement to Ayla.
But now jewelry and clothes were fine. Anyway, I can't be as elegant as Ayla, nor can I be as beautiful as Senevere.
If I dress up like this to the fullest, I will only look miserable and pitiful.
I straddled the bed and rubbed my throbbing knees.
As if the painkillers I had taken in the early morning had already worn off, the pain that had been quiet began to rise its head again.
Before I knew it, I had put a new scented candle in the brazier where the embers had been extinguished. Just as I was about to light a fire on it, I heard a knock behind my back.
"Your Highness, Sir Sheerkhan has arrived."
At that moment, the vague sensations that seemed to be submerged in water awakened vividly.
I hurriedly put down the scented candle and stood up.
As I approached the doorway and pulled the handle, I saw a long line of maids along the wall.
I glanced at them.
"...What about the nanny?"
"She got into the chariot first."
When the nanny said she would return to the Imperial palace, I, who was somehow relieved, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wait a minute. I'll leave soon."
As I turned to get my coat, the elderly maid hurriedly opened her mouth.
"Lord Sheerkhan asked me to tell you this."
I looked down at the shabby clothes that the maid was holding out with a frown.
It was a loose, hooded cloak that covered the entire body. It seemed that he had brought me to cover my limping gait.
My ears burned with contempt, but I put it on my body without saying a word.
The long hem covered my toes. It probably looks like a curtain is on it.
I touched the smooth surface of the fabric and gestured at the maids.
"Let's go now."
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