"Did you say everything you wanted to say?"
Thalia, who was struggling to calm him down, glared at the woman with icy eyes. However, the quarter-dwarf paid no heed and continued to babble on.
"If I were to tell you everything I want to say to you, Miss, even a thousand and one nights wouldn't be enough."
The woman snorted softly and began to shoot back without hesitation.
"The Empress made you the Grand Duchess of the East. Yet, you only jeopardize the position you worked so hard to obtain! Shouldn't you try to live up to the Empress's expectations at least once? Just think how much effort Her Majesty has put into your life...!"
"You said she went out of her way for me?"
A sharp laugh escaped her lips. Her slender shoulders trembled as if she could not control her anger.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course. I mean it."
The quarter dwarf furrowed her brow deeply as if she simply could not understand.
"Have you already forgotten how devotedly the Empress looked after you during your pregnancy? She sent precious medicinal herbs all the way to this distant eastern land several times, hoping for the birth of a healthy child."
"That was all done for her own benefit! It was nothing more than managing her own mare to breed!"
"How can you say such an ungrateful thing...?!"
“Please stop.”
A solemn voice suddenly cut the woman off mid-sentence. Khan, whose entire body had been tensed as if he were about to leap out of her arms at any moment, abruptly turned his head toward the door.
The head maid, wearing a gray overgown over a dark navy dress, was striding across the hallway.
"Any further rudeness cannot be tolerated."
The head maid, who had crossed the room in an instant, looked down at the quarter dwarf with a cold gaze and spoke.
"The person you are facing right now is Grand Duchess Sheerkhan. If you do not show the respect befitting her, I cannot keep you in the castle any longer."
The quarter-dwarf, who had been looking up with a timid face at a woman twice her height, blushed and protested loudly.
"Who do you think you are to say such things? I am a court attendant of the Imperial Palace! I am the one personally appointed by Her Majesty the Empress to look after the Young Lady!"
"This is Raedgo Castle, not the Imperial Palace. If you have no intention of following the customs of the Grand Ducal House, then I certainly cannot allow you to serve as Her Highness the Grand Duchess's attendant."
"You have no right to make such a decision...!"
"I'll make the decision myself."
Thalia shouted in a cold voice.
"As of today, the nanny is no longer my attendant. Move to your quarters in the outer city immediately."
Then, turning her eyes toward the head maid, she added firmly.
"Assign that woman a different, suitable position and duties."
The woman's face instantly turned pale.
"I have looked after you for over twenty years. I raised you with my own hands! How could you do this to me!"
"I have put up with you all this time because of those twenty years. But even that has run its course now."
She murmured in a rough voice, as if spitting out old knots.
"You hated serving me anyway. Do you know how many days it has been since the nanny came to visit me?"
"Well, since the young lady hasn't summoned me..."
"Don't make excuses! You didn't even show your face when I rang the bell. It was the maids of this castle and Tiuran who have been looking after me all this time! Do you think I don't know that the nanny has been doing nothing but loafing around while dumping all the troublesome work on the other maids?"
The woman's face instantly turned ashen after being publicly criticized for her negligence.
She added grimly.
"I don't need a nanny anymore. Get out of my sight right now."
He felt his explosive anger subside and slowly relaxed his tightly stiff muscles.
She gave an arrogant nod toward the guards standing in the hallway.
"What are you doing, not taking her away?"
A soldier immediately entered the room and grabbed the quarter-dwarf's forearm. Glaring at her with eyes filled with shock and betrayal, the quarter-dwarf soon left the room.
Thalia, who had been staring at her retreating figure with a cold gaze, let out a chilling shout at the servants standing with the crates.
"Burn them all down!"
The servants, who had been hesitating and glancing at each other, soon bowed their heads and swarmed out of the bedroom.
The head maid, who had been watching the scene with a satisfied look, bowed respectfully toward her.
"That is a wise decision."
Then, Thalia hurriedly spoke to the woman who was turning toward the door.
"Wait, there is something I want to ask you."
The woman, who was just about to walk out of the bedroom, turned back to look at her again.
Thalia gestured to Tiuran, who was standing beside the bed, and to the young maids who were leaning against the wall.
"You guys go away."
The women immediately went outside through the door next to the room.
As silence finally returned, Thalia released her arms from around him, carefully got out of bed, and approached the woman.
"Is it true that the war is intensifying?"
"According to a source from the North, that is correct."
Thalia, stepping close to the head maid, nervously pressed on.
"Did you receive any separate news? Tell me in detail what it is."
"I do not know the specific details. I have only heard rumors that a major battle took place in the Nambalto region and that security in the northern border area has been strengthened."
"What is it like in the area where Barcas is stationed? Is the situation dangerous there too?"
"...There was no news of a major battle breaking out immediately."
The head maid, quietly looking down at her pale face, continued in a cautious tone.
'However, it seems he intends to reinforce his troops in preparation for a potential all-out war. I heard that he plans to stop by the castle soon to replenish his forces."
Thalia's complexion grew even paler.
The head maid, lowering her eyes as if turning away from her, calmly added.
"You will also need to discuss the succession issue in advance."
He looked up at the head maid, who was applying subtle pressure on her, with a look of anger. Just then, Thalia's voice, heavy and subdued, was heard.
"I know everything I wanted to know. You may go now."
The head maid bowed deeply once again and left the bedroom.
He moved close to her side and gently stroked her pale fingertips.
Thalia, who had been staring blankly at the floor with a pensive expression, flinched and looked up at him. It seemed as though she had finally noticed his presence. A strange emotion arose within him in that moment.
Since waking up from his wolf body, he had always been her top priority. All her attention was focused on him, and the warmth of her affection always lingered in the look she cast upon him.
However, the moment news of 'that man' reached her, his own existence seemed to have been pushed to the far side of her consciousness. Even though he knew full well that the person Thalia worried about so much was his past self, he could not help the pang in his heart.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can take you outside today."
Thalia muttered in a dazed tone, as if distracted by something, and flopped onto the bed.
He immediately snuggled close beside her.
With her face buried in the blankets, she rarely looked back at him. Trying to get her attention, he burrowed into her side and nudged her shoulder with the tip of his nose, but her gently closed eyelids did not budge.
After squatting on the bed with his tail in displeasure, he soon rested his chin on his hand beside her face and lay down.
That day. She stayed holed up in her room and didn't move an inch until sunset.
Thalia, who had been sitting by the window staring blankly at a book, could no longer bear her increasingly severe headache, so she drank a strong sedative and went to bed early.
He paced nervously around her, then quietly crouched down beside her.
He wondered how long she had been like that. Hearing her heavy breathing, he suddenly lifted his head and saw her silently shedding tears.
His heart sank for a moment. He sprang up and repeatedly gazed at her face. However, she showed no reaction.
After staring blankly into the void with empty eyes for a while, she finally slithered up like a ghost. He hurriedly jumped out of bed, following her. Thalia had already opened the door and was walking down the dark hallway.
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