The Forgotten Field Novel - Chapter 1
C1
Firm footsteps echoed in the darkness. Gareth, sitting on a garden bench with his gaze fixed on the pond, turned his head toward the colonnade.
Varkas, impeccably dressed in the gala uniform of the Imperial Knights, walked along the long arcade that connected to the garden. His approach resembled that of a serpent swimming slowly in deep, dark waters.
It was something that often disconcerted Gareth. Pale blonde hair, faded like linen bleached by the sun. Blue-gray eyes with silver tints. Skin like plaster. A man made entirely of muted tones, like old parchment… why did he emanate such an ominous aura? Every time they met, Gareth’s spine tingled for no reason at all.
“Your Highness, Crown Prince.”
The man brought a hand to his chest in a sign of greeting. Gareth waved it off with an irritable gesture.
“Enough of useless formalities.”
Although the man belonged to the Imperial Guard, one day he would succeed Grand Duke Siorcan and rule the eastern provinces. His status was hardly one that Gareth could take lightly. However, Gareth motioned for him to approach with his chin, as if addressing an insignificant subordinate.
“How long are you going to make me look up? Sit.”
Even in the face of such rudeness, the man’s expression remained unalterable—neither offended nor servile, simply distant—as he sat on the marble bench.
The Crown Prince studied the man’s finely sculpted features. On the outside he looked no different than usual, but it was not difficult to guess that he was in a bad mood. Perhaps something had gone wrong. Narrowing his eyes, Gareth pressed him.
“How did the interrogation go? Don’t tell me you failed to uncover the forces behind this.”
“I learned everything there was to learn.”
Varkas tugged at the collar of his cloak, his voice monotonous.
“But it is not the answer Your Highness desired.”
Gareth arched an eyebrow.
“Explain yourself.”
“The drug in the princess’s wine did not come from the Empress’s palace.”
“Then from where?”
“The imperial apothecary prescribed it to a maid from the main palace. It is not even classified as a poison. At worst, taken in excess, it causes nausea and stomach pain. It is not strictly controlled.”
“So you are telling me that one of my palace maids suddenly lost her mind and put that in my sister’s cup?”
Gareth let out a hollow laugh, but the veins in his thick neck bulged, betraying his fury. Varkas’s dry gaze did not show the slightest alteration.
“It was not the maid who slipped it into the wine.”
“Then who?” Gareth’s patience wore thin. “Stop dragging this out and say it! If it wasn’t the Empress and it wasn’t a careless maid, who dared to meddle with my sister’s cup?”
“It was the Second Princess.”
The blunt answer silenced Gareth mid-tantrum.
“That lizard?”
His face contorted with malice. Whenever he spoke of the Empress, Gareth burned like molten lava. But when he spoke of the bastard daughter she had brought to the palace, it seemed as if his mouth had been soiled with filth. His clenched jaw cracked audibly.
“If it’s that deranged girl, then yes… consumed by jealousy, she wouldn’t know right from wrong.”
Varkas showed no reaction whatsoever, even as Gareth cursed coarsely like a street thug. The Crown Prince glared at him, reluctant to let go of the thread of conversation.
“Even so… isn’t it too soon to rule out the Empress? Couldn’t she have urged her daughter to act?”
“If the Empress had been involved, she would not have used such a weak substance. She would have chosen a real poison. And she would never have left tracks to be caught so easily.”
The cold matter-of-factness of his words silenced Gareth. Although it bothered him to be interrupted, he felt a dismal satisfaction from the contempt that permeated Varkas’s voice, directed at Talia Roem Gwirta.
In everything else, this man was indifferent to the extreme. But when it came to that stain on the royal family, his edges sharpened. That reassured Gareth: this man was firmly on his side.
“Indeed… the Empress would not put herself in danger with such foolish tricks.” Relieved, Gareth’s tone became lighter. “So Talia shot herself in the foot. I knew she would cause trouble someday.”
He smiled with malice, like the mischievous youth who once dominated the academy.
“She must have lost her mind after my sister claimed you. How many times did that bastard strut around, treating the Grand Duke’s heir like a toy? Now that her guardian has become the consort of the true princess, her temper finally flared up.”
Varkas did not answer. He rarely spoke more than was strictly necessary. His silence was nothing unusual. However, it felt intolerable to Gareth at that moment. He scrutinized him with his gaze, demanding an answer.
“In any case, she cannot escape punishment this time. Perhaps even a charge for attempted murder…”
“It will not go as you wish.”
The interruption cast a shadow over Gareth’s gaze. But Varkas’s eyes, fixed on the future emperor, remained calm.
“First, we lack decisive evidence. If she denies it, there is no way to prove her guilt.”
“We have the maid’s testimony!”
“Would you condemn the Empress’s daughter based on the word of a single maid?”
While Gareth searched for a retort, Varkas continued with utter serenity.
“Second, even if it is proven that she did it, the substance was hardly lethal. At most, it caused an upset stomach. She will claim it was a foolish prank. In the worst-case scenario, she will be placed on probation.”
“A foolish prank?” Gareth erupted, leaping to his feet to grab the Siorcan heir by the collar. “Do you know what disgrace my fiancée suffered? Aila, who has never faltered, collapsed at a banquet vomiting in front of everyone! How dare you call that a prank?”
His tanned face flushed with rage as he gnashed his teeth.
“Yes, I overlooked it at the time, but I saw it with my own eyes! When Aila collapsed, that bastard Talia was smiling from across the hall! Even if I tear her limb from limb, it will not soothe my fury!”
“Your Highness.”
Varkas’s low voice made Gareth startle. The prince let go of him, feeling sweat trickle down his back. The man calmly adjusted his uniform.
“She does not deserve Your Highness’s attention.” The words, spoken like someone stating that night follows day, were flat and cold. “All she does is torment others with petty cruelties. Should the heir to the Empire waste his anger on such a triviality?”
He spoke as if he were soothing a child. And Gareth, knowing he had overstepped, bit his tongue. Varkas rose slowly. Although it was a lack of courtesy to leave without permission, his movement was as fluid as water.
“I have already sent soothing herbs to the princess. From now on, every cup and dish on Your Highness’s table will be strictly supervised.”
“So you want me to let this go?”
“If you insist on exposing the Second Princess, I will not stop you. But I prefer not to get involved.”
His indifferent tone stung. Gareth realized that the knight planned to dismiss the matter as a simple tantrum of jealousy. Perhaps he was right. What would they gain by obsessing over such a scandal? However, Gareth could not accept his coldness. Not only because of his indifference toward Aila; suspicion flashed in his eyes.
“You wouldn’t be protecting her, would you?”
Varkas stopped halfway and looked over his shoulder. A chill radiated from his eyes as the lake breeze stirred his ash-blonde hair. For the first time, his lips curved into a smile as sharp as a razor blade.
“Protecting her?”
He let out a low laugh, like someone amused by a cruel joke. But his blue eyes distilled hatred.
Gareth was struck dumb. He knew the man despised Talia, but he had not realized the depth of his enmity. Was this not the man whose tutors had stripped of all emotion? Gareth had not seen him show the slightest glimmer of feeling in more than ten years. What had that girl done to him to cause even him to show his fangs?
Gareth studied him with curiosity. He had heard rumors that, as Talia’s knight, Varkas had suffered countless humiliations at her hands. But he had never believed that such a haughty man would be affected by her whims. He had assumed that Talia was nothing more than a nuisance to him. Evidently, he had been wrong.
Varkas’s eyes, cold as steel, flashed with abhorrence.
“I simply wish never to be entangled with her again.”
With that, he turned around and walked away the way he had come.
Gareth watched in silence as his figure retreated noiselessly, like a serpent gliding over the surface of the lake. Slowly, a cunning smile formed on his lips.
*Talia, whatever it is you have done, it benefits me.*
The man who should have been her ally despised her as much as he did. Their alliance would only grow stronger.
Satisfied, Gareth stood up.
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