The Forgotten Field Novel - Chapter 88
## Chapter 88: THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL)
Raising her voice in a burst of anger, a look of displeasure crossed the faces of the maids waiting on both sides. But Varkas himself didn’t even blink.
Sliding his finger along her temple, he gently caressed her tingling earlobe. Talia looked up at him, her face flushing with embarrassment.
“W-what are you doing?”
“Your ears are red.”
The pads of his fingers, slightly rough, gently traced the edge of her ear. Talia felt that tingling sensation travel down her neck and shrugged her shoulders. Varkas, who had been gazing at her eyes in silence, spoke in a tone of reproach:
“Are you receiving proper treatment? Or are you just taking sleeping potions again…”
“Are you my nanny or something?”
Talia pushed him away with some roughness. Unlike her, who had been hypnotized by his lavish appearance, Varkas’s attitude—treating her like a severely ill patient—caused a new wave of misery to wash over her.
“I manage perfectly well on my own, so mind your own business. I’ve been perfectly fine until now.”
When she pointed out that he hadn’t shown his face during the last few days, his eyes narrowed.
Just as he was about to say something, a sinister voice came from the depths of the room:
“How long do you intend to make me wait, Varkas?”
Talia turned her head to look at the large bed in the center of the room. A emaciated arm extended from the solid wood bed, covered by a thin canopy. The man gave a command with an arrogant flick of his finger:
“Bring your wife here.”
Talia narrowed her eyes. Even if he were a Grand Duke, he had no right to summon an imperial princess at his whim.
However, she knew very well that arguing with their leader in a meeting of the power brokers of the East would bring her no good.
She scanned the men surrounding the bed and entered the room cautiously. Varkas, naturally, wrapped his arm around her waist. Realizing that he was holding her, Talia bit her lip.
Did this man see her as a child who needed his care? He had already touched her without hesitation before, but since the wyvern attack, it seemed to have become even more pronounced.
“Come this way.”
Practically still in his arms, Talia approached the large bed. A stern-looking man who appeared to be a legal representative and a man in priestly robes stepped aside in silence.
Talia looked at the Grand Duke of Shiokan with a tense expression. The man bore a strange resemblance to Varkas, even though he didn’t look like him at all. Although his body, clearly ravaged by disease, reeked of death, his face—as if roughly carved with a chisel—overflowed with authority, and his cold eyes, like forged in molten steel, were full of arrogance.
He scrutinized her thoroughly with a piercing gaze and spoke in a low, heavy voice:
“…………You resemble her (Senevere) to the point of being offensive. Did that woman create a homunculus of herself?”
Those words amounted to questioning her lineage. Talia discarded any intention of maintaining decorum.
“If I were not of the Taren lineage, people like you would have discovered that fact a long time ago.”
She raised her chin firmly and retorted sharply:
“Or are you admitting your own incompetence, by not being able to handle even a single woman from the Taren family?”
As if startled by her retort, the sound of harsh gasps filled the room. The Grand Duke’s face also tensed. He stared at her with eyes as sharp as needles, as if trying to pierce her face.
“You are reckless. Do you not know that I am the most powerful figure in this empire, in command of the strongest cavalry?”
Talia’s expression hardened. For a moment, her knees weakened under the overwhelming aura of the Grand Duke. However, she put up a brave front.
“So what? Are you going to crush me with that cavalry?”
“Do you think I can’t?”
The man spat out the words with a sneer.
“Do you really think your authority, which was insignificant even in the Imperial Palace, can be guaranteed here in the East?”
The Grand Duke’s eyes flashed with a cold, hostile light. He unleashed a torrent of questions:
“If I decided right here and now to cut off your head, who could stop me? Would the Emperor really risk the empire splitting because of you? Before going to war with the East, he would simply look the other way. Your mother might cause a stir, but that wouldn’t mean I would end up on the defendant’s bench. Your authority as an imperial princess is just that insignificant.”
Talia felt a cold sweat soak her back. A fierce hostility arose inside her toward the man who so naturally exposed a truth that she had constantly denied and pretended to ignore.
She stepped back like a cornered animal, but still glared at the Grand Duke with a fierce gaze.
“Then go ahead, kill me! Do you really think my mother will settle for a simple altercation? She could use my death as an excuse to suppress the conservative nobles, do you think she would let that opportunity pass? There is no way she will.”
Talia let out a loud, mocking snort.
“Do you know what that means? It means that the pitiful, little life you have left will become very, very exhausting. Do you think you will find peace after you die? You will be cast into the fires of hell for killing a defenseless woman just because you heard a few words.”
The Grand Duke’s face turned pale at such viciousness. Without giving him a moment to breathe, Talia poured her words directly into his face:
“Do you think your suffering will end there? You will spend a particularly agonizing time in hell. Because I won’t leave you alone for a single moment! Even in hell, I will torment you day and night to exact my revenge. I possess a very special talent in that regard. If you don’t believe me, ask Varkas!”
She darted a look at Varkas, as if urging him to say something, but he was looking down at her with a very strange expression.
When he didn’t take her side immediately, Talia’s face contorted with an expression of betrayal. As expected, she couldn’t trust anyone. This place was nothing but a nest of enemies.
Talia scanned the men with swords at their waists with a cautious look and then turned around. Just as she was about to run out, Varkas grabbed her arm. Talia jumped in surprise.
“Let go of me!”
Fearing that he was about to hand her over to the Grand Duke, she struggled to break free, but Varkas let out a heavy sigh and pulled her against his chest.
Talia caught her breath. With her immobilized, Varkas spoke coldly to the Grand Duke:
“I must correct one thing. If Your Grace attempts to harm Talia Roem Shiokan, I will stand in your way.”
Talia looked at him in astonishment. He finished his sentence slowly:
“Are you willing to lose your heir forever over a trivial dispute?”
The Grand Duke, who had been left jaw-dropped in utter disbelief, twisted his face into a grimace. It looked as though he was about to spit fire from his mouth at any moment.
However, what erupted from his mouth was not a harsh shout but a violent cough. The man, his emaciated body shaking from the coughing, gasped for air and let out a dry laugh.
“This is truly incredible.”
“Are you acting with such insolence because you think I have no alternative but you?”
“If there is another alternative, you are free to propose it.”
Varkas said in a tone that was eerily soft.
“I intend to do everything possible to assert my right. If you wish for the East to split and fight, so be it.”
A slight twitch ran through the wrinkles at the corners of the Grand Duke’s mouth. The man, who had been staring at his eldest son with burning eyes, soon rested his head against the headboard of the bed as if exhausted. Then, he extended a hand toward his legal representative:
“Hand me the power of attorney.”
The petrified representative handed over the parchment document with trembling hands.
Holding a quill, the Grand Duke signed the document with a rough handwriting, then removed the ring from his finger. The legal representative immediately applied sealing wax to the end of the document. After stamping his seal on it, the Grand Duke threw the parchment to Varkas.
“With this, all my rights are transferred to Varkas Raedgo Shiokan.”
Varkas accepted the power of attorney with an expressionless face. As if the matter were resolved, the man lowered his eyelids and waved his hand dismissively.
“Now get out of here.”
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