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Chapter 76
I lifted my head with a slight sound, and a coldly hardened face came into view. Barcas looked down at his younger brother with sharp eyes and spoke in a low voice.
"You've grown quite discourteous."
The ‌‌‌boy's youthful face crumpled.
Barcas released his hand as though brushing off dust, then turned his gaze ‌‌‌toward ‌‌the middle-aged man standing beside the staircase.
"How did you teach him etiquette?"
"I am ‌‌‌‌deeply ashamed."
The man with a stubborn ‌‌expression bowed his head ‌‌apologetically.
Seeing this, the boy raised his voice indignantly.
"If ‌‌you have something to say, say it to me! Why are you blaming an innocent person?"
Barcas's icy gaze immediately turned toward him.
The boy, who had been shouting boldly, flinched and lowered his eyes.
"It's not like I'm wearing you down—I ‌could at least let you show your face."
At his grumbling words, Talia's ‌‌‌‌eyes narrowed. She felt a surge of anger at being treated like some rare curiosity.
"How dare you treat me like a spectacle...!"
Just as she was about to snap back, long fingers blocked her vision.
Barcas pulled the hood taut over her eyes and proceeded up the stairs.
Talia's expression turned incredulous.
She couldn't understand why he was so determined to hide her away. Perhaps he was trying to prevent her from clashing ‌‌with his household ‌‌‌members.
She pushed the ‌‌‌hood back and shot him a fierce look.
"What are you ‌‌trying to do? At least introduce me properly!"
"You've been suffering from fever throughout the journey."
He crossed the wide marble hall and replied in a measured tone.
"First, recover your strength. I'll introduce you once you're ‌‌‌well."
"I'm perfectly fine...!"
As she tried to protest, ‌‌‌a dry cough scratched up her throat.
Talia covered her mouth and her shoulders trembled. Her throat, parched from fever, stung as though scraped by sandpaper.
He exhaled softly.
"Don't waste your strength needlessly. Just sleep."
Then he pulled the hood back over her head.
Talia, glowering at him with a frown, soon let her head droop weakly.
As he said, days of illness had left her utterly drained. Inwardly, she felt relief that the awkward meeting had been postponed. Yet she couldn't bring herself to admit this openly, so she grumbled pointlessly instead.
"You're really annoying."
He made no reply and climbed the stairs in silence.
A man who appeared to be a butler hurried ‌‌‌after him, guiding him to a large bedroom on the second floor of the Main Castle.
Moments later, the sight of a spacious room decorated far more luxuriously than the bedroom in the Secondary Palace unfolded before her eyes.
Talia looked around with wide eyes. From the high ceiling hung a chandelier densely studded with crystals, and golden candelabras were arranged methodically throughout the room.
The walls displayed furniture so ornate it would be worthy of presentation to The Emperor himself, and at a glance, it appeared to be crafted by dwarves.
Besides these, tapestries with unique patterns, a shield bearing the ‌‌Sierchan House crest, beast ‌‌furs, and white porcelain were scattered as decoration throughout.
As she examined them carefully, Barcas walked toward the large bed in the center of the room ‌‌‌and gently lowered her, speaking softly.
"You may use this room from now on."
Talia grasped his sleeve without thinking.
"What about you?"
Barcas, who had paused while reaching for the bell beside the ‌‌‌bed to summon an attendant, looked down at her.
Heat rose suddenly to her cheeks.
Talia hastily added, flustered.
"I didn't mean we should share the same room...."
"Do not worry. I ‌‌‌intend to use a separate bedroom."
He spoke with measured calm.
Talia felt her shoulders relax with ‌relief. She had been anxious the entire time about the possibility of a moment when she would have to expose her legs to him.
He straightened his posture and continued in an even tone.
"This is the bedroom that has been used by ‌the mistress of Sierchan House ‌for generations. It should lack nothing for Your Highness's stay."
"If I use this room, where will the current Grand Duchess stay?"
"For the past ten years, the position of Grand Duchess of Sierchan has remained vacant."
His matter-of-fact reply left her momentarily speechless. Fragments of his family history that she had overheard during her time at the Imperial Palace came flooding back.
Barcas's biological mother had died of childbed fever shortly after giving birth to him.
The second Grand Duchess who came after her had ‌‌also perished in an unexpected accident, and the shock had further deteriorated ‌‌Grand Duke Sierchan's health.
Under such circumstances, ‌‌it would have been difficult to welcome a new Grand Duchess.
She let out an awkward cough.
"Ah, that's ‌‌‌right. Of course."
"I shall summon a healer for you. Please ‌‌‌take a fever remedy and rest."
He poured a glass ‌‌‌‌of water and ‌offered it to her, perhaps noticing her hoarse voice.
As she accepted it and took ‌‌a sip, a sound came from the doorway.
Talia turned her gaze and, upon spotting a stern-looking middle-aged woman, raised her upper body.
Barcas pressed down on her shoulder and turned ‌‌‌to look at the woman. The woman, who had been regarding Talia with a searching gaze, bowed respectfully.
"It has been a long time, Young Mistress."
Her voice was warm and gentle, at odds with her rigid appearance.
The woman continued softly.
"The Grand Duke has instructed that the Young Mistress be brought to his ‌‌‌room at once."
"Tell ‌‌him I will come shortly."
Barcas replied calmly and regarded her with an untroubled gaze.
"Then I shall take ‌my leave."
"...Wait, shouldn't I go with you?"
"Your Highness may visit him separately later. I will explain everything to him, so please do not concern yourself."
Before she could protest, he left the room.
Talia stared blankly at ‌‌‌‌the closed door, then descended from the bed and walked unsteadily toward the window.
Beyond the transparent glass, the entire panorama of Kalmor spread before her eyes.
The city encircled by fortifications, the scattered villages beyond it, and the verdant plains.... As she slid the window ‌‌open, a cool breeze swept harshly across her face.
She gazed at the plains that met the blue sky, then turned her head upon hearing a faint, mysterious sound echoing from somewhere.
At the edge of the hill, a Birch Forest gleamed white. In that instant, an inexplicable emotion—whether excitement or dread—surged within her.
'This is where I'll spend the rest of ‌‌‌my life.'
She drew a deep breath.
The faint scent of cold, parched wind that clung to Barcas's body filled her lungs completely.
In that moment, she ‌‌‌‌‌knew she would come to love this land. ‌‌‌‌
* * *
Lucas slouched in his chair, kicking at the floor with restless feet.
His younger ‌‌sister Raina, just a year his junior, glared at him with sharp reproach.
"If people think I'm uneducated because of you, you're responsible!"
"You are uneducated though."
A pillow stuffed ‌‌‌with goose down flew at his face.
Raina had spent hours meticulously braiding her thick hair to impress her older brother, even retrieving their late mother's jewelry and silk tunka—the traditional garment of the Eastern ‌‌‌Region—to adorn herself.
Yet she hadn't received so much as a glance from him.
Raina poured all her frustration onto her easygoing peer of an older brother.
"Barcas was educated like a member of the Imperial Family in the Religious Order! He's a nobleman among nobles, skilled in Imperial Palace ‌‌‌‌‌etiquette! What are you thinking, using commoner speech in front of someone like that!"
"Let that noble-among-nobles freeze to death."
He bolted upright in his chair.
"Didn't you see? The people who waited days for him to arrive, and he didn't even greet them properly before just walking off? Is that Imperial Palace etiquette?"
"That's only because you upset our brother first!"
"What did I do wrong!"
Lucas jumped up from his chair, his voice sharp.
"I just wanted to see what that woman looked like! You were curious too ‌‌‌‌‍about what kind of person she is."
"I'm not curious about that woman's face at all!"
Raina's reddish-brown eyes ‌‌flashed dangerously as she yanked off the jade ornaments hanging from her neck.
"What good does it do to see that vulgar woman's face? She's bound to be just like her equally vulgar mother!"
"...Don't talk to me like I'm uneducated."
"I mean be careful in front of Barcas!"
Raina's eyes blazed as she roughly undid her tightly pulled hair.
Having ridden horses daily since age ‌‌‌six, Raina's sun-bronzed skin and long, lean limbs made her look like a handsome boy when she wasn't adorned with finery.
His sister shed even her ornate embroidered coat ‌‌‌‌‌and ‌sat cross-legged on the bed.
"Listen carefully. You must never treat that woman carelessly in front of our brother. If you openly torment her like that, our innocent brother will develop pity for her! And we'll become the wicked, depraved siblings!"
"...Innocent?" ‌‌‌
Lucas muttered in disbelief.
Raina, brushing ‌‌‌‌aside his words, continued her elaborate scheme.
"That's why we need to provoke her as ‌‌‌‌subtly as possible! The moment we needle her even slightly, that woman will run straight to our brother and badmouth us. Then she becomes the wicked woman who slanders kind, innocent siblings, and we become the pitiable ones!"

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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
---------------