As I raised my voice, a look of disapproval crossed the faces of the maids waiting on the left and right. However. Barcas didn't blink an eye.
Barcas slid his fingers along my temples and gently caressed my tingling earlobe. I looked up at him with a puzzled face.
"Well, what are you doing?"
"Even your ears are red."
A slightly rough fingertip gently brushed over the auricle. I felt a tingling sensation running down the nape of my neck and shrank my shoulders. Barcas, who was staring into my eyes, said sarcastically.
"Are you receiving proper treatment? You only sleep... again."
"Can you be my nanny?"
I pushed him away rather roughly. Unlike myself, who was mesmerized by his gorgeous decoration, his attitude towards treating me like a seriously ill patient made me feel miserable.
"I'm living well on my own, so don't worry."
When I pointed out that he hadn't even pulled out his nose for the past few days, his eyes narrowed.
Just as he was about to say something, a gloomy voice came from inside the room.
"How long are you going to keep me waiting, Barcas?"
I turned my head to look at the large bed in the middle of the room. A slender arm stretched out from the wooden bed draped by a thin awning. He arrogantly snapped his fingers and gave the order.
"Bring your wife here."
My eyes narrowed. Even if he is a Grand Duke, he cannot tell the Princess of the empire to come and go at his fingertips.
However, I knew that there was nothing good about trying to distance myself from their leaders at a gathering place in the east.
I glanced at the men around the bed and cautiously stepped into the room. Barcas naturally wrapped his arms around my waist. Realizing that he was supporting me, I bit my lip.
Maybe in this man's eyes, he sees me as a child who needs to be taken care of. He used to touch my body without hesitation before, but after the Wyvern attack, it seemed to get worse.
"Come this way."
I approached the side of the large bed with him in his arms. A solemn man who appeared to be a legal representative and a man in a priest's uniform quietly stepped aside.
I looked at Grand Duke Sheerkan with a nervous face. The man didn't look like Barcas at all, but he looked strangely similar. His sickly body smelled of death, but his face was roughly chiseled and full of authority, and his cold eyes, which seemed to have been made of molten steel, were full of arrogance.
He glanced at me with his piercing eyes and let out a low, heavy voice.
".... You look uncomfortable. Did she create her homunculus?"
It was like questioning my lineage. I threw away the idea of being polite.
"If I hadn't been of Darian's bloodline, people like you would have found out about it long ago."
I raised my chin high and slammed it sharply.
"Or are you confessing your Incompetence for not being able to defeat a single Princess of the Taren family?"
As if surprised by my counterattack, I heard the sound of heavy breathing all over the room. The Grand Duke's face also stiffened. He glared at my face with awl-like eyes.
"You're not afraid. Don't you know that I am a powerful man with the most powerful mounted army in this empire?"
My face stiffened. The feeling of intimidation emitted by the Grand Duke made my knees tingle. But I was bluffing.
"So what should I do? Are you going to crush me with that cavalry army?"
"Do you think I can't do it?"
The man spat out as if laughing.
"Do you believe that your authority, which was Insignificant even in the imperial palace, can be guaranteed in this east?"
The Grand Duke's eyes glowed with hostility and an eerie light. He drove in with rapid-fire.
"If I decide to cut your throat here and now, who can stop me? Will the Emperor really risk the division of the empire for your sake? If he is at war with the East, he will close his eyes as if he doesn't know. Your mother will be a little annoying, but that won't mean I will stand on the court. Your authority as a Princess is so insignificant."
I felt a night sweat soaking my spine. Intense hostility soared for the man who casually revealed the fact that he had been pretending not to know.
I glared at the Grand Duke with a fierce gaze, taking a step back like a cornered beast.
"Then try killing me! Wouldn't my mom end up being a little annoying? You can use my death as an excuse to drive the conservative aristocracy, but do you think you will just pass that opportunity? Absolutely not."
I snorted loudly.
"Do you know what that means? It means that the rest of your life with only a rat's tail left will be very, very tiring. Do you think you can feel comfortable after you die? You killed a powerless woman with only a few words, and you'll fall into hellfire."
The Grand Duke's face turned white at the excessive curse. I poured out on that face without a breath.
"Do you know your pain will end there? You will have a particularly painful time in hell. Because I won't let you go for a moment! Even in hell, I will torment you day and night to avenge my grudge. I have a very special talent in that area. If you don't believe me, ask Barcas!"
I shot Barcas in the sense of a girdle, and he looked down at me with a very strange expression.
When he immediately refused to take my side, my face contorted with a sense of betrayal. After all, no one can trust it. This is just a den of enemies.
I, who looked at the men with swords at their waists with wary eyes, immediately turned around. Just as I was about to run away, Barcas snatched my forearm. I jumped up.
"Let this go!"
I struggled with my limbs, fearing that he was going to dedicate me to the Grand Duke, but Barcas, with a heavy sigh, pulled me to his chest.
I held my breath. Barcas, who had stuck me, spat coldly at the Grand Duke.
"I need to correct one thing. If you try to harm Thalia Roem Sheerkan. I will stop you."
I looked up at him with a surprised expression. He finished his words slowly.
"Will you lose your successor forever because of a serious quarrel?"
The Grand Duke, who was opening his mouth with a stunned expression, distorted his face viciously. It was as if it were about to spew fire from its mouth right away.
However, what came out of his mouth was not a harsh cry, but a violent cough. The man, who had been shaking his stiff body and snorting, gasped heavily and let out a dry laugh.
"It's amazing."
"..."
"Are you so arrogant that I have no other alternative than you?"
"If there is another alternative, you can put him forward."
Barcas said in a creepy soft tone.
"I intend to do my best to stand up for my rights. If you want the East to be divided and fight, do it."
The wrinkles of the fan at the corners of the Grand Duke's mouth convulsed. The man, who was staring at his eldest son with a scorching gaze, soon leaned his head on the back of the bed as if he was tired. Then he held out a hand to his legal representative.
"Give me the power of attorney."
The agent, who was frozen, held out the parchment document with a trembling hand.
Holding a quill and signing in rough handwriting, the Grand Duke took out the ring he was wearing on his finger. The legal representative directly poured wax on the end of the document. The Grand Duke, who had stamped his seal on it, handed Barcas a piece of parchment as if throwing it away.
"With this, all my rights are transferred to Barcas Raedgo Sheerkan."
Barcas accepted the power of attorney with an expressionless face. The man lowered his eyelids as if he had finished his business and waved his hand roughly.
"It's off now."
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