Tears welled up once again in the eyes, which had been clouded with shock.
The woman, standing there blankly, unable to even think about wiping up the flowing water, parted her trembling lips.
"Why... why are you being so cruel to me?"
The woman shot a resentful look and shouted as if urging.
"We've known each other for almost our entire lives. Throughout all those years... you were always so kind to me. So why have you changed like this?"
He frowned.
He wondered if he'd ever been affectionate enough for her to nitpick like this.
Barcas groped through his hazy memories.
Even though it was nothing more than an imitation of Bernadette, it seemed he had tried his best to treat this woman well in his own way. After all, wasn't she a cousin he had watched over since she was three years old?
While the primary reason was that he judged it rational to maintain a smooth relationship given the political situation where collusion with the Crown Prince was essential, it was also true that he intended to treat her with sincerity as her fiancé.
When did it become impossible to maintain such a warm attitude any longer?
For the first time, he questioned his emotional state.
Since when on earth has he become so sick and tired of Ayla Roem Guirta?
"At the very least, let's make sure to properly recover that child's body so that a funeral can be held."
His thoughts froze at a memory that suddenly popped into his head.
He lowered his gaze to the leather pouch clutched in his hand.
A strange, buzzing noise echoed in his head, which was thick with fog. Instinctively blocking out that agonizing tinnitus that felt like one side of his brain was being crushed, he turned his gaze back to the woman's face.
A rough voice flowed out before he could even realize it.
"If you've finished whining, would you please leave now?"
The woman's eyes were affected by the shock.
The woman, staggering back a step, looked down at him in disbelief, then her eyes filled with malice.
“Is it because of her?”
"..."
"Seriously... are you doing this to us because of that kid, because of Thalia Roem Guirta?!"
Something in that voice mercilessly trampled upon the remnants of reason that remained.
He sprang to his feet. The Princess flinched and stepped back as if sensing instinctive fear. He slowly approached her and cast a deep shadow over her tear-soaked face.
"I thought you were smarter than Gareth... but now that I look at it, that doesn't seem to be the case."
The woman now looked as if her soul had almost left her body. He could see her pale lips stiffening.
She was a woman who had grown up being revered her entire life. This must be the first time in her life she has ever suffered such an insult.
Seeing her pale face, as if she could not possibly believe what she had heard, he felt even more queasy.
He whispered softly to the woman's face.
"How many times have I told you to get out? Are the siblings taking turns being desperate to be strangled by my hand?"
"Bar, Barcas..."
"I'll say this for the last time."
A rough voice mixed with metallic sounds rang out ominously.
"Go away."
The eyes that had always shone with uninhibited confidence and gentleness were stained cloudy with fear, shame, and humiliation.
After standing motionless for a long time and looking up at him stiffly, the woman finally let out a cracked voice.
"W-w-what did you say... I understood perfectly."
With trembling hands as if gathering self-control, the woman tightened the life slung over her shoulders and spun around. Then, she approached the doorway with precarious steps.
Even in the midst of that, the sight of her wiping away tears from her wet face and hurriedly composing her disheveled expression, as if trying to maintain her dignity, felt somewhat admirable.
The Princess, having desperately feigned her usual dignified demeanor, finally left the room.
As the sound of the door closing echoed, Barcas walked over to the bed and picked up a wine bottle from the display case.
He pulled the cork, poured the hard liquor into a silver goblet, and gulped it down in one go into his throat, which felt as if he had swallowed coal. He wished something would snatch his consciousness away once again.
Barcas, having emptied a bottle of liquor in an instant, took out a new one. Then, suddenly hearing a strange sound, he stared at the windowpane, turning black.
The swirling wind was pounding against the windowpane. It seemed as though a faint sound of crying was mixed in with it.
He stepped in front of the window.
The deep, dark night was deepening, where not an inch lay ahead. After gazing into that pitch-black abyss for quite some time, Barcas soon roughly pulled the curtain back.
***
The royal delegation hurriedly left Raedgo Castle the next day.
They put forward the pretext that they were hurrying to the north to discuss post-war settlements, a peace treaty, and marriage negotiations following the end of the civil war, but in reality, it was no different from being driven out.
At the blatant mistreatment, not only the Crown Prince and the Princess, but even the faces of their attendants turned bright red.
The Grand Duke did not even show his face until the day the Crown Prince left the castle. The Crown Prince, grinding his teeth as if enraged by such mistreatment, threatened in a booming voice.
"Tell the Grand Duke that I will return soon. When that time comes, I will not simply overlook such an arrogant attitude as I have now."
The retainers of the Sheerkhan family, gathered at the training ground to see off the Crown Prince, bowed in unison. However, they showed no reaction to the Crown Prince's stern reprimand.
The Crown Prince, having read blatant defiance in that cold silence, shot a blazing glare and abruptly turned his horse around.
As the Crown Prince and his party departed, a heavy silence once again descended upon Raedgo Castle.
Barcas was excluded from all official duties and confined to his room, as if forced by strong dissuasion.
With nothing to do, he spent his time smoking strong sedatives to fall asleep or inhaling breath that was no different from poison.
Whether those efforts paid off or not, he was able to spend most of the day in his dreams, as if his insomnia had been a lie.
In his dream, he was still acting as her royal guard.
Whenever the sound of a mean girl's laughter, busy plotting to play a trick on him, tickled his ears, he wished he would never wake up.
However, once the effects of the medicine wore off, the cold reality swallowed him up once again.
There was a limit to how much he could cloud his mind with drugs and alcohol. Day by day, the dosage of medication needed to sleep only increased, and his mind, which had been worn down to the limit, was becoming increasingly sharp rather than dull.
He sought stronger and more potent medicine. However, from a certain point on, no medicine allowed him the refuge known as dreams.
All that remained for him now was a bloodless, pale day and an abyss-like night.
Unable to bear the time passing so strangely slowly, he finally got out of bed. He felt as though he would go insane if he didn't do something. No. Perhaps he had already gone insane.
Ignoring the servants who tried to stop him, he calmly began to get dressed.
In the mirror, a man who was practically a corpse was staring at himself with a gloomy gaze.
Turning away from that specter with ruin-like eyes, he straightened his shirt as usual and draped his coat over it. Just as he was about to leave the room, he sensed a cautious presence beyond the door.
"Your Excellency, I have come to speak with you because I have something important to tell you. May I take a moment?"
It was the voice of the head maid.
Barcas immediately pulled the doorknob. The woman standing in front of the door flinched in surprise and took a step back. Looking down at her blankly, Barcas spoke calmly.
“What’s going on?”
"I apologize for disturbing your rest. However, I felt that Your Excellency should be aware of this as well..."
The woman, who had been looking flustered for a moment, soon spoke with a calm demeanor.
"The Grand Duchess's nanny is packing her bags, saying she will return to the Imperial Palace now."
Barcas stood silent with a stern expression. When he showed no particular reaction, the head maid added in an anxious tone.
"But that woman is even taking the Grand Duchess's belongings as she pleases..."
There was a faint hint of anger in the woman's voice.
"Even when I tried to dissuade her, she wouldn't even pretend to listen. I felt Your Excellency needed to know, so I have come here in such a hurry."
Memento.
As he repeated that word to himself, a sudden ringing in his ears shook his brain. It felt as if every single brain cell was screaming.
He clutched his head with one hand, feeling as if it were about to explode, and squeezed his eyes shut. Sensing that his condition was alarming, the head maid hurriedly approached and supported him by the arm.
Barcas, instinctively shaking off the touch, looked down at the head maid's face with bloodshot eyes.
"Tell her that if she touches even one of my wife's things, she won't make it back alive."
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