Finally abandoning her bravado, Talia laid a hand atop Count Serian’s arm.
At a pace swift enough to escape yet slow enough not to look like fleeing, she left the banquet hall.
* * *
A carriage was already waiting in front of the garden.
The imperial guard knight opened the door as though he had been expecting her, and Talia stepped onto the carriage platform.
But just as she was about to sink into the soft seat, someone shoved her violently.
Talia collapsed onto the floor and looked upward.
Having brushed aside her guard knight, Gareth thrust himself into the carriage with murderous eyes.
“We’ve endured your existence for as long as we possibly could.”
Growling, he wrapped a rough calloused hand around her throat.
Unable to lay hands on the Crown Prince, the guard knight could only shout in panic, demanding to know what he thought he was doing.
Ignoring the knight’s frantic cries, Gareth tightened both hands around her neck even harder.
Instinctively, Talia kicked wildly and dug her nails into the back of her brother’s hand where the tendons bulged beneath the skin.
But rage had driven him beyond feeling pain.
Leaning close to her ear, Gareth spat the words viciously.
“We endured it. And endured it. And endured it again.”
The Crown Prince’s vivid green eyes blazed like flames.
“So you don’t need to provoke us any further, little sister. We already hate you more than enough...”
At last Gareth released her throat and rose to his feet.
Talia clutched her neck with both hands and dragged in desperate breaths.
She kept coughing violently, making it difficult to breathe properly.
Her face flushed red as she gasped harshly for air when the Crown Prince’s sinister voice pierced through her ears.
“Remember this well. Your mother rampaging through the palace, and a filthy bastard like you running wild in the imperial palace... all of this is temporary.”
Then, almost kindly, he shut the carriage door himself before walking away.
As Talia staggered upright, she noticed that two of the nails she had carefully grown and polished had snapped off.
She frowned.
Sticky blood clung to the broken tips.
She gently stroked them with satisfaction before muttering in a hoarse voice,
“...I’ll have to grow them again.”
Next time, she would sharpen them even more.
Sharp enough to pierce all the way to the bone.
A faint laugh escaped her lips like air leaking from something deflated.
She did not even know why she was laughing.
The useless guard knight flung open the carriage door in panic to check whether she was unharmed, only to stare down at her with a devastated expression.
In his eyes, she probably looked insane.
Perhaps he was right.
I must have gone mad a very long time ago.
Lying sprawled across the dark carriage floor, she giggled to herself for a long while.
The entire imperial palace was in uproar.
In only a few days, the First Imperial Princess and the Crown Prince would depart on their pilgrimage.
It was a rite that every descendant of Darian — the great emperor who had unified the nations — was required to undergo upon reaching adulthood.
Women usually departed before marriage, while men embarked on the journey after turning twenty.
But because the Crown Prince insisted that two people born on the same day should naturally receive the blessings of the gods together, preparations were made for both of them to travel simultaneously.
And to escort the two figures who held the highest status in the empire beneath the Emperor and Empress themselves, an elite division of the imperial knights had been deployed.
Naturally, the one placed in command of the entire expedition was Varkas, commander of the imperial guard.
Because of that, Talia was often able to watch him moving busily through the castle courtyard from the windows of her detached palace.
Today as well, he stood beneath the dreary rain inspecting weapons, horses, and various travel supplies.
Leaning against the windowsill, Talia stared at him without blinking once.
As though checking the passage of time, Varkas lifted his head to look toward the sky.
The sight of silver rain softly washing over his face filled her vision completely.
The day she fell in love with him had been raining just like this.
Talia remembered that day.