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Brought to you ‌‌‌by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 2
Act 1. This love is a curse.
I gazed into the mirror. The face of a woman I'd grown weary of seeing since birth stared back at me.
If ‌there were differences between us, the girl in ‌the mirror possessed an elegant smile and eyes ‌‌gleaming with sensuality—whereas I bore anxious, restless eyes and parched lips instead.
I turned from the mirror with a dissatisfied expression and addressed the Nursemaid.
"How do I ‌‌‌look?"
"Like an angel, my lady."
The Nursemaid, who had been ceaselessly brushing my hair, answered with her eyes crescent-shaped in a smile.
"Your Highness bears such a striking resemblance to Senebier. With such care taken in your appearance, you look just as she did at eighteen."
I swatted away the Nursemaid's plump hands as they fussed with my hair. Her obliviousness in treating a comparison to someone else as a compliment infuriated me.
"That's ‌‌‌enough brushing. ‌‌‌Bring me my dress."
The Nursemaid waddled toward the trunk with a puppyish expression on her face.
I watched her with displeasure. ‌‌How could someone be so dreadfully slow-witted?
The woman rummaged through the trunk with grunts and groans before producing a crimson satin dress, ‌‌her eyes seeking my approval.
"Look at this. It's the ‌‌dress Senebier wore when she first entered the Imperial Palace. She must have prepared it for you."
I made a face of utter disgust.
"You remember what Mother wore all those years ‌‌‌ago?"
"Of course! How could I forget that day? Senebier was ‌‌‌like no one of ‌‌‌this world. I ‌wept at the very existence of someone so beautiful. And ‌‌‌‌the Emperor himself couldn't tear his eyes from her."
The Nursemaid sighed, her expression dreamy as ‌‌though lost in reverie.
I suppressed a bitter laugh. Did this woman truly believe their meeting ‌‌was some grand romance for the ages?
At the time, the Emperor had a Empress with whom he'd shared six years of marriage, and she was even with child. Senebier and the Emperor's meeting was nothing but sordid adultery—nothing more, nothing less.
Even after the former Empress Bernadette died and Senebier became the official Empress, people never forgot. As long as I existed, they would never forget the shameless sin they had committed.
I swallowed the sarcasm rising in my throat and snatched the dress from the Nursemaid's hands.
"If you have time for idle chatter, use it to finish dressing me."
"Of course. I shall complete it all for you."
The Nursemaid draped the beautiful velvet bodice over my form.
I studied myself in the mirror as she arranged my hair. Wearing my mother's dress, I looked even more like her.
Had the ominously deep sensuality begun to bloom within me as well? I stared intently at the swell of my bosom rising above the deeply cut neckline.
No one could deny that while it lacked propriety, it was utterly captivating.
I habitually brought my finger to my lips before quickly lowering my hand, ‌‌fearing I'd ruin my cosmetics. Today, I wanted to appear ‌‌more beautiful than anyone else. If possible, more beautiful than Mother.
I wanted everyone ‌‌‌‌‌to look at me. I wanted no one to even glance at someone like Ayla.
Intense hunger ‌‌‌‌gleamed in the deep blue eyes reflected in the mirror. It was not the gaze befitting an Imperial Princess. It ‌‌‌was the gaze of ‌‌a beggar starving in the ‌‌‌streets.
I seized the candelabra from the table and struck the woman ‌in the mirror without mercy. With a deafening crash, ‌‌spider-web fractures spread across the mirror's surface. The Nursemaid, who had been arranging my ‌‌‌‌skirts, gasped in shock and collapsed to ‌‌‌the floor.
I hurled the candelabra to the ground and spoke coldly. ‌‌
"I'm tired of that mirror. Bring me ‌a new one."
The Nursemaid looked up at me with a drained face, pressed her lips firmly shut, and rose to her feet. Without ‌‌a word, she draped an ornate fur-trimmed coat across my shoulders as though nothing had happened.
I stared at my fragmented reflection scattered across the broken mirror before turning sharply and leaving.
As I stepped into the corridor, I saw the Guard Knight sent by Senebier standing rigidly to one side, his face flushed as he looked at me. I ignored ‌‌‌him and descended the stairs.
Before the Secondary Palace awaited a gilded carriage and eight guards. Senebier clearly had no ‌‌intention of allowing her eldest daughter to appear shabby.
'She wants me to make her rivals uncomfortable, doesn't she.'
She twisted her ‌lips in a ‌‌sneer as she climbed ‌‌into the carriage. At that moment, a new Guard Knight approaching to close the door spoke as though expelling something scalding lodged in his throat.
"Today... you are truly beautiful, Your Highness."
At the yearning in his voice, every hair on my body stood on end.
Talia Roem Guerta shot him a piercing glare. I had no need for flattery from this man.
"Spare me the nonsense and let's depart."
The man closed the door ‌‌with an embarrassed expression.
Soon the carriage began to move. I sank deep into the seat and gazed up at the ‌‌blood-red sky through the ‌‌‌‌‌fluttering curtains.
How wonderful it would be if this evening's banquet were drenched ‌‌in such a hue. I wished for some grand commotion to erupt and reduce everything to chaos.
I unconsciously toyed with my lips, then quickly lowered my arm upon noticing red dye staining the tips ‌‌‌of my nails.
My nerves felt as though they were burning away. Yet contrary to ‌‌my agitation, the Main Palace emanated only beautiful melodies and brilliant light.
Descending from the carriage, Talia ‌‌Roem Guerta surveyed the broad avenue leading to the Banquet Hall and the lavishly adorned ‌‌Garden, her brow furrowing. Hundreds of nobles in ‌silk garments ascended the ‌‌marble steps in succession, filing into the Main Palace's grand hall.
She ignored the knight who had attached himself to escort her and proceeded toward the Banquet Hall entrance. ‌‌‌Those who recognized her naturally parted to make way.
It was only natural. The Imperial Palace was her home. She had not the slightest intention of queuing like the other guests.
Talia Roem Guerta spoke with composure to the flustered attendant.
"I have come to celebrate my ‌‌‌brothers' birthday."
The attendant's eyes widened in shock.
Talia Roem Guerta snapped irritably.
"Why do you ‌‌‌‌‌not announce my arrival at once?"
Only then did the man hastily step aside beside a pillar and cry out loudly.
"The Second Imperial Princess, Talia Roem Guerta, Your Highness, ‌‌‌‌makes her entrance!"
In that instant, a chilling silence filled the grand hall.
She stepped into the resplendent Banquet Hall bathed in golden light, her head held high. She could feel hundreds of pairs of piercing gazes raking across her from ‌‌crown to toe.
Talia Roem Guerta savored their shock, their anger, their bewilderment, and the reluctant admiration they could not suppress, as she glided forward with measured steps. The crowd retreated from her as though the tide were ‌receding.
As though I were the plague itself.
Talia Roem Guerta murmured inwardly, a malicious smile playing at her lips. ‌‌‌‌
Then someone blocked her path.
"What brings you here?"
She looked up at the man's face. One of the besotted fools who followed my noble half-sister, Ayla.
Talia Roem Guerta deliberately offered an enigmatic smile. I had witnessed my mother captivate men in precisely ‌‌‌this manner thousands of times over.
"Have I come somewhere I ought not?" ‌‌‌‌‌
The man's face, rigid with wariness, flushed crimson. He stumbled backward with a bewildered expression.
Talia ‌‌‌‌‌Roem Guerta stepped closer than he had retreated, tilting her chin high.
"This is my father's palace, and this evening's banquet is for my brothers. What possible objection ‍‌could there be to my presence here?"
As she fixed her gaze directly upon his eyes, the man froze as though turned to ice.
I could see his nostrils flaring. He seemed to be inhaling the rose oil the Nursemaid had so carefully worked through each strand of my hair.
A strange satisfaction ‌and profound revulsion surged through me simultaneously, as though he were intoxicated by potent spirits. His eyes grew hazy. Talia Roem Guerta passed by the man, whose lips trembled uselessly like a fool, and walked toward the center of the hall.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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