Free Web NovelTalia could only move her lips soundlessly, unable to come up with an excuse.
She wanted to put on her usual shameless façade, but she had already reached her limit, both physically and mentally. Her mind refused to work properly.
She quickly pulled down her hood to hide the turmoil written across her face. Then she tried to brush past the brother blocking the entrance, but Gareth swiftly grabbed her wrist.
“I asked why you were searching through Varkas’s tent.”
“Let go!”
She violently twisted her arm, but Gareth’s grip clung to her like glue.
He yanked her toward him roughly and growled like an enraged wolf.
“Tell me what kind of filthy trick you were trying to pull!”
His grip felt as though it would crush her bones. Talia bit down hard on her lip.
What a brainless brute. Nothing but strength.
Without hesitation, she kicked him hard in the shin. Apparently he still hadn’t put on any armor yet, because Gareth cursed under his breath and jumped back.
Talia missed no chance. She tore her arm free and bolted from Varkas’s tent at full speed.
Behind her, she heard things crashing apart as though Gareth was tearing the place to pieces in pursuit. But Talia never once looked back as she sprinted recklessly between the rows of tents.
Before long, her carriage came into view.
She threw herself inside, locked the door firmly, and curled up in the corner of the carriage.
A wave of anxiety crashed over her. What if Gareth, furious beyond reason, tried to smash the carriage apart?
But even after a long while, no commotion followed.
It seemed the eyes around him had forced him to abandon the chase midway.
Talia let out a sigh of relief and buried her face against her knees. Then suddenly disgust twisted her features.
She was sickened by herself for behaving like an absolute fool.
Why had she lost her senses and worried over his safety?
And showing Gareth such emotional weakness left a filthy feeling crawling beneath her skin.
Surely that man hadn’t noticed something.
Talia chewed harshly at her lip before cautiously peering outside the window.
The knights were dismantling the tents. They did not appear to have noticed the disturbance she had caused.
Pressing her face close against the glass, Talia darted her eyes around for a while before drawing the curtain shut again.
As dawn gradually brightened the sky, the knights mounted their horses and began forming ranks.
Among them was Varkas.
Talia secretly watched him through the gap in the curtain as he inspected the front lines as calmly as ever. Then, the moment he started approaching her carriage, she hurriedly shrank back into hiding.
Had Gareth told him something?
Was he coming to interrogate her?
She desperately squeezed out excuse after excuse in her head, but Varkas merely stopped near the carriage, issued a few instructions to the knights, then returned to the front without another glance.
Relief drained the tension from her shoulders.
At that moment, a guard knight’s booming voice rang out.
“We’ll be departing shortly.”
Talia gave no answer.
Apparently he had not expected one in the first place, because the knight simply urged his horse forward without another word. Soon after, her carriage began moving as well.
Talia sank against the seat and stared at the whitening sky through the curtain.
In the end, nothing had happened at all.
Another tedious day was beginning.
The march that had begun at dawn was halted before the sun had even started to set.
Gareth, whose patience had finally snapped, unilaterally declared that they would travel no farther that day.
Strictly speaking, the authority over the journey belonged entirely to Varkas as supreme commander. However, very few dared defy the orders of the future Emperor.
In the end, under Varkas’s silent consent, they were forced to establish camp on an empty plain just before reaching the second holy site, Ulgram Hill.
The soldiers, eager to leave the plains behind as quickly as possible, appeared deeply dissatisfied, but for Talia it was ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ fortunate.
She had spent the entire day shut inside the rattling carriage without properly eating or sleeping. Her stamina had finally collapsed.
Lying atop the carriage seat, she blinked her dizzy eyes sluggishly.
Then a thoroughly unwelcome voice sounded from outside.
“Your Highness, I brought some fruit.”
Talia frowned.
Even after being humiliated so thoroughly yesterday, the knight had returned to meddle again. His persistence felt almost incomprehensible.
Unless he was plotting something, why would he go this far to ingratiate himself with her?
She snapped irritably.
“Get lost.”
“You said you couldn’t trust prepared food because someone might have tampered with it. Fresh fruit that hasn’t been processed should be fine, shouldn’t it?”
Too annoyed to even answer, she simply shut her mouth.
The knight then rudely swung open the carriage door and thrust forward a tray piled with fruit.
“At this rate, I’m worried this pilgrimage is genuinely going to turn into a funeral procession. Please stop being stubborn and at least eat this.”
Talia stared at him in disbelief before lowering her gaze to the silver tray.
Red apples, ripe plums, green grapes.
She looked down at them blankly before muttering in a drained voice, as though she no longer even had the energy to become angry.
“How do I know you didn’t smear poison on the peels?”
At this point, most people would have given up.
But the knight did not budge.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he picked up one of the apples from the tray. Then he took a large bite before holding out the fruit marked with his teeth toward her.
“Is that satisfactory now?”
“You expect me to eat something you already bit into? That’s disgusting, so take it away!”
The knight looked ready to strangle her.
Talia simply turned her back on him.
In truth, she was starving. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
But she had no desire to put food touched by someone else into her mouth. Even if she forced herself to swallow it, she would only end up vomiting it back out.
“I said that’s enough, so stop bothering me and get out already.”
“Is ‘get out’ the only phrase Your Highness knows how to say?”
His words were crossing the line more and more, and irritation surged hotly through her chest.
Talia abruptly rose to her feet.
For a moment dizziness washed over her, but unwilling to show weakness, she forced strength into her legs and endured it.
Once her vision cleared, she ignored the knight anxiously watching her and stepped outside the carriage.
The sky had already begun fading from deep blue into pale orange.
After staring at it briefly, Talia moved toward the edge of the camp to avoid the glances constantly flicking toward her.
She wanted to find somewhere quiet where nobody would bother her.
But if she wandered too far from the group, the knights would immediately come after her.
After hesitating for a moment, Talia headed toward a dense forest a short distance away from the supply wagons.
At this distance, they would still be able to confirm her location with the naked eye. Surely they would not hover around under the excuse of guarding her.
Talia leaned back against a massive tree and breathed in the cool evening air deeply.
How long had she remained like that?
Suddenly, faint laughter drifted from nearby.
Talia’s closed eyes snapped open.
Apparently she was not the only one who had sought solitude for rest. Between the scattered spruce trees, she spotted Aila leisurely walking through the forest.
Talia’s face twisted instantly.
She was exhausted beyond measure.
She did not think she could endure looking at that blissfully happy face right now.
She rose sharply to her feet.
Just as she turned to leave, another figure hidden behind the trees entered her sight.
The man she had desperately prayed would simply survive only this morning.
Talia stared at him blankly.
Holding Tork’s reins in one hand as he quietly followed behind Aila, Varkas looked more peaceful than she had ever seen him before.
She had grown sick of seeing only cold expressions and furrowed brows from him. That calm face felt strangely unfamiliar.
Did he always wear such expressions in front of Aila?
Talia stood there dazedly watching him when Aila suddenly tugged at Varkas’s arm and rose onto her toes, tilting her face upward.
The moment Talia realized what she was asking for, her breath stopped.
She did not want to see it.
A scene that would remain carved into her mind forever, replayed over and over for the rest of her life.
She did not want to witness it.
Even as screams rang endlessly inside her head, Talia could not tear her eyes away from them.
Perhaps part of her had wanted to see him reject her coldly.
But Varkas answered Aila’s wish like a loyal hunting hound.
The moment Talia saw him lower his head toward her, she turned and ran.
But she did not get far before someone seized her.
Her eyes flew upward in shock.
Gareth stood there gripping her arm tightly, his cheeks flushed red as though he had been drinking.
Under that gaze that seemed to dissect her, Talia hurriedly lowered her head.
But it was already too late.
He had seen the moisture gathered in her eyes.
“You can’t possibly...”
Gareth let out a hollow laugh beneath his breath.
Talia twisted violently, trying to wrench herself free from him, but the Crown Prince did not move an inch.
Gareth stared down at her as though her emotionally shattered face were some fascinating spectacle.
Then at last, he burst into loud laughter.
“So that’s what it was?”
