"Are you threatening me right now?"
"Then do you think I'm asking for a favor?"
Thalia responded coldly and turned her back heartlessly, as if she had no further business with him.
Fortunately, Lucas didn't chase after her anymore.
Thalia took Khan, who was dripping water, and walked back to the entrance of the village.
Perhaps feeling dejected from the scolding he had just received, Khan was following her obediently with his tail hanging low. Thalia let out a small sigh as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She felt completely drained of energy watching the beast, which had torn off a strong man's arm in the blink of an eye, now slyly glancing around with its ears folded in half.
She rubbed the corners of her mouth, where blood stains she hadn't been able to wash off remained, with the hem of her coat and admonished him in a stern voice.
"From now on, you must not harm people recklessly. If you keep showing such a fierce side, everyone will start to fear you. If that happens..."
They might take you away from me.
Thalia swallowed the words rising to her throat and added as if nothing were wrong.
"It's okay. No matter what others say, I won't let you go."
Perhaps relieved by her much softer tone, Khan rubbed his head against her side.
Thalia gently scratched the back of Khan's ear and looked around. Armed soldiers were standing in layers along the edge of the pond, forming a wall, as if they had swarmed in after hearing the commotion. It seemed they were trying to block the residents from seeing the scene of the accident.
Thalia walked toward the carriage parked at the end of the road, tightly embracing Khan's head with one arm as if to protect him from them. The guards, while keeping watch with their hands on their sword hilts, did not dissuade her from allowing Khan to enter the carriage's passenger compartment. They appeared hesitant to point out the danger Khan posed, fearing they might be held accountable for the near-disaster to the Grand Duchess's life.
Thalia snorted, sat down on the carriage seat, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
Not long after, the carriage started moving.
Thalia pulled back the curtains from the window and surveyed the scene of her chaotic mind. Although the soldiers were swiftly controlling the passersby, the commotion showed no signs of subsiding. Observing the faces of the people whispering something into each other's ears with anxious expressions, Thalia soon lowered the curtains again.
Just then, the evening bells rang out from the church. Thalia, who had been listening intently to the sound that seemed to signal the end of the long-awaited peace, buried her face in Khan's mane as if to shake off the creeping anxiety.
***
He realized that he was dreaming.
His ears felt muffled, as if submerged in water, and his senses, usually on edge, had settled softly like wet cotton. Above all, the complex and diverse smells that usually lingered in the air were faint, as if diluted by water.
Now, all he could feel was the faint scent of grass, the sweet fragrance of flowers, and her body scent exquisitely blended in with it.
"Pretty."
A youthful voice mixed with laughter tickled his ears.
He quietly curled up the fingers he had spread over his chest. Only then could he realize that he had two human arms and legs.
At that moment, a desire bordering on a shiver consumed him.
I wanted to get up right away and hug her with all my might with both arms.
I wanted to caress her soft face to my heart's content until I was satisfied, and whisper her name into her small ear until I was sick of it.
However, the body tilted at an angle and did not budge. It felt as if someone else were occupying his body. And that brazen intruder seemed to intend to keep pretending to be asleep.
"I'll make you like a Princess."
A youthful voice, thick with ill will, tickled his ear once again. Soon after, something thin touched the area around his ear.
He let out a steady sigh, wondering inwardly what kind of spiteful trick this troublesome Princess was planning to pull this time.
"Fool."
The woman, muttering in a spiteful voice about what on earth he was so angry about, kept sticking something into his hair.
Shortly after, he realized that it was a marigold picked from the flowerbed. In the spring, hundreds of marigolds used to bloom profusely in the backyard of the detached palace.
Thalia would occasionally pick the flowers to play games such as making bracelets or necklaces. This time, too, she had come out to pick flowers, but upon spotting him resting, she seemed to have decided to play a prank on him.
The girl crouching beside him giggled softly as she continued to tuck flower petals between his hair. Her hushed laughter grew louder, as if she were quite satisfied with her creation.
He turned his head slightly to the side, trying not to frown. Thalia, who had stopped moving immediately, slithered back.
He slumped back down. Only then, as if relieved, did she come closer and continue playing around.
“It looks good.”
He endured it with a slightly dumbfounded heart as she tore off the petals one by one and stuck them all over his face.
Do you actually intend to be careful not to wake me?
The soft touch of the petals, the sweet scent brushing the tip of his nose, and the sound of laughter mixed in the breeze—that
It was tickling all of his senses. Even if he had been in a truly deep sleep, he would have opened his eyes long ago.
He suppressed the urge to open his eyes and check her expression, and quietly let her hand over his face.
He couldn't understand why he was doing this. Was he sad that this silly prank would end the moment he opened his eyelids?
While he was questioning himself inwardly, she plucked another small petal and gently placed it beneath his eye. She was so absorbed in the task that he could feel her soft breath pouring down right onto his face.
He eventually lost his patience and lifted his eyelids.
At that moment, a sharp light poured into the inside of the retina.
He gasped for breath at the splitting pain in his head. Then, a variety of smells rushed into his nostrils all at once, instantly waking him from his hazy consciousness.
Feeling the scenery of the dream scatter in an instant, he slowly looked around. The scene of the bedroom, shrouded in darkness and filling the wide, beast-like field of vision, came into view.
He sat motionless for a moment, looking around the window where the crescent moon had settled, the fireplace emitting a faint light, and the desk piled with various ledgers and parchment documents. Then, he slowly rose and approached the side of the bed.
She was breathing evenly, with her thick blonde hair spread out like a fan on the pillow.
He gazed intently at her face bathed in the fireplace light, then pulled the blanket that had slipped down to her chest up over her. At that, Thalia stirred slightly, letting out a groan as if feeling a bit stifled.
He pulled the blanket down a little and looked at her face again.
In just over two years, Thalia had changed beyond recognition.
Perhaps thanks to frequently taking him out for walks, a healthy flush appeared on her pale skin, and a bright radiance began to fill her eyes, which had always been cast in deep shadows.
What had changed the most was the atmosphere surrounding her.
The tense demeanor that had always been wary of her surroundings has significantly subsided, and her expression of emotions has become much more honest.
That wasn't all. She no longer lost control of her emotions and took out her anger on those around her or did things that harmed her own body.
She did not act as if she was determined to incur the hatred of those around her, nor did she drive herself into a corner.
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