“That will do. Simply take me to the child.”
Aila Roem Gwirta urged her forward in a voice heavy with fatigue.
After raising her head, Marisen hesitated briefly before carefully voicing her refusal.
“My apologies, Your Highness, but the Second Imperial Princess has not yet fully recovered. If Your Highness would return at a later date—”
“You think I might harm my own sister?”
The princess’s voice suddenly turned cold.
“Your loyalty is commendable, but it seems you have forgotten whom you are speaking to. I was not making a request. I was issuing an order.”
“......”
“If you understand, then lead the way.”
Frozen like a mouse before a serpent, Marisen eventually turned around.
Throughout the walk to the room, the First Imperial Princess did not utter a single word.
Stealing nervous glances over her shoulder, Marisen swallowed dryly as the bedroom door drew closer and closer.
Several hours had passed since the incense had been lit. By now, the Second Imperial Princess should have awakened.
But she was deeply worried whether her patient, who had grown weak to the point of frailty, could endure this intimidating visitor.
“You may wait here. I shall go in alone.”
Upon reaching the end of the corridor, the princess firmly instructed her attendants before turning an authoritative gaze upon Marisen.
Feeling the unspoken pressure to announce her arrival, Marisen timidly knocked on the door.
“Your Highness, you have a visitor. May we come in?”
No answer came from inside.
Could she still be asleep?
After a moment of hesitation, Marisen cautiously turned the handle.
The room was thick with the sharp scent of herbs and a cloying sweetness reminiscent of fruit on the verge of rotting.
Frowning at the dizzying smell, Marisen spotted Talia sprawled across the bed like a corpse and nearly jumped out of her skin.
She rushed over and placed a hand beneath the princess’s nose.
Thankfully, she could feel a faint breath.
Marisen let out a sigh of relief.
It lasted only a moment.
Below the hem of the skirt, which had ridden all the way up to her thighs, Talia’s leg was a mess.
It seemed she had once again removed her bandages and clawed at her scars.
Angry red scratch marks covered the inflamed skin.
Releasing a heavy sigh, Marisen laid a hand on the leg and cast a simple healing spell.
At that moment, a skeletal hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
Startled, Marisen turned her head and found herself staring into mist-veiled blue eyes.
Without realizing it, she held her breath.
The unfocused gaze drifted aimlessly through empty space.
With each minute movement of her eyes, the deep blue irises rippled like waves.
Like the smoke the princess inhaled every day, they were eyes capable of unsettling another person’s mind.
“...Who said anyone could come in whenever they pleased?”
Talia parted her lips, crusted with dried blood, and spoke in a soft voice threaded with the scrape of metal.
Only then did Marisen come to her senses.
She hurriedly pulled the blanket up to cover the princess’s legs.
“My apologies, Your Highness. The visitor insisted on seeing you...”
Straightening herself, she motioned toward the doorway with her eyes.
Talia’s gaze immediately followed.
Marisen could feel the slender body of the Second Imperial Princess stiffen with tension.
Slowly pushing herself upright, Talia fixed a guarded stare upon her half-sister.
“What brings you to such a miserable place?”
“I came because I wished to speak with you.”
Stepping into the room, the First Imperial Princess silently studied the face of her obviously ill sister before turning to Marisen.
“Leave us alone for a moment.”
Driven back by the First Imperial Princess’s imposing presence, Marisen retreated from the bedroom.
Just as she was about to close the door, the sight of the sisters—born from different mothers—caught her eye.
Unlike Talia Roem Gwirta, who looked as though she might shatter into pieces at any moment, Aila Roem Gwirta seemed radiant with life itself.
For some reason, the contrast left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Watching Talia for a long moment with shadowed eyes, Marisen finally closed the door with a heavy sigh.