Nothing like what had just happened would occur again.
Talia hurried forward as though fleeing.
But after only a few steps, she suddenly found herself trapped between him and the outer wall of the building.
Talia looked up at him with wide eyes.
“W-What is this...... suddenly.......”
“After getting badly burned once while playing with fire.......”
His voice sounded like something scraping the inside of his throat.
As though he himself noticed it, Varkas paused briefly.
Then his voice returned, calmer than before.
“Shouldn’t you start being more careful now?”
Talia felt the blood draining from her face.
Varkas studied her sharply, as though dissecting her expression itself, before twisting his lips slightly.
“Or do you truly wish to throw yourself around carelessly?”
Without even thinking, Talia swung her hand at him.
But once again, he caught her wrist before she could touch his face.
Slowly, Varkas continued,
“If that is your intention, then restrain yourself for the time being. Until this journey ends, I would prefer to avoid troublesome complications.”
Talia tightly shut her trembling lips.
Varkas released her arm and slowly turned away.
“I trust you understand.”
At that moment, if she had possessed a knife, she would have plunged it into his back without hesitation.
Talia stared murderously at his retreating figure as he silently moved away like a fish gliding through water.
Then she felt her vision blur and hurriedly turned her head aside.
She knew he would never look back.
And yet she was terrified he might somehow see her tears.
Roughly scrubbing at her eyes with her sleeve, Talia ran into the residence as though escaping.
* * *
The next morning, the ceremony proceeded as though nothing had happened.
Sitting on the windowsill of the room assigned to her, Talia gazed down at the twin siblings heading toward the altar, with Varkas following behind them like a silent guardian.
Originally, she should have been among them as well.
Instead, she had refused participation under the excuse that she was unwell.
She had rejected a ceremony mandatory for imperial blood, using a completely absurd excuse.
Ordinarily, the ritual should have been postponed.
But at the Crown Prince’s firm insistence, the ceremony proceeded exactly as scheduled.
Perhaps the monastery was secretly pleased by the situation.
After all, they likely had no desire to bestow divine blessings upon a bastard princess.
‘......Maybe I should’ve just participated.’
Chuckling softly to herself, Talia’s smile vanished the moment she saw Aila and Varkas standing side by side before the altar.
If she had inserted herself into that scene, there was no telling what she might have done.
Perhaps she would have lunged at one of them and tried to kill them.
‘At this point...... I don’t even know which of them I hate more.’
Talia habitually raised a finger toward her lips, only to lower her hand again when she remembered she did not want to ruin her newly grown nails.
She could not continue watching.
Pulling the curtains shut, she threw herself onto the bed.
Curled up within the dim darkness, memories of the previous night drifted through her mind.
The lust-filled gaze.
The approaching hands.
And Varkas’s cold eyes.
“After getting badly burned once while playing with fire...... shouldn’t you start being more careful now?”
Talia dragged the blanket over her head completely.
Varkas believed she had seduced that man.
Perhaps he was not entirely wrong.
She had always cornered herself through foolish behavior.
And it had always been his role to save her whenever she landed in danger.
He had only just finally escaped that miserable responsibility.
Now something similar had happened again, so naturally he was disgusted with her.
By now, he must truly be sick of her.
Burying her face into the pillow, Talia let out a quiet fit of laughter.
She remembered the moment he walked out of her life.
Perhaps it surfaced now because something ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ so similar had happened yesterday.
Silently staring at the rays of light filtering through the curtains, Talia slowly closed her eyes.
The memories she had buried away began unfolding chaotically through her mind.