The Forgotten Field Novel - Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Varkas turned around without saying a word.
As she left the room almost being dragged by him, Talia looked around with restless eyes. The worry that someone might question the succession ceremony, which had become a mess, belatedly washed over her.
However, most of the vassals had expressions of relief, as if a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
—”With this, order in the East will finally be restored.”
Suddenly, a man who had approached them spoke. His face was strangely familiar. He seemed to be someone Talia had seen on the day of Varkas’s duel.
The man, impeccably dressed in a high-quality gala suit, made a slight bow toward her and then directed his gaze back to Varkas.
—”Do you plan to begin the tour of the territory today?”
—”If there is no special problem.”
Varkas, who responded with a brusque tone, looked at Talia and asked:
—”Can you leave immediately?”
—”……Where are we going?”
—”It is one of the main procedures of the succession ceremony. It is a protocol event to present oneself before the inhabitants of the Eastern regions as the new ruler and examine the situation of the area.”
The man suddenly intervened to explain. Talia looked at him with an expression full of bewilderment.
—”Do I have to go obligatorily too?”
—”Normally, it is customary for the Grand Duchess to also accompany him……”
He left the sentence hanging ambiguously while looking sideways at Varkas. Varkas, who was walking in silence down the hallway, stopped dead in his tracks.
Talia felt a brush against her cheek and shrank her neck. Varkas, lifting her chin, spoke with a calm voice:
—”You must go too, Your Highness.”
Talia opened her eyes wide. It was the first time he had forced her to do something like that since she injured her leg.
—”Didn’t you ask me not to try to hide you?”
He added coldly, casting a gélid look at her.
—”I intend to fulfill those words. From now on, there will be no one on this land who does not know that you are the Grand Duchess of Siokan.”
She opened her mouth, stunned. She thought everything would end simply by showing herself before the vassals; she never imagined, even in dreams, that she would have to present herself before the entire East.
Talia swallowed hard with difficulty.
—”I, right now I cannot leave. I have to pack my things, and my nanny, my healer……”
—”I have already given notice to Your Highness’s servants. By now, they will have already finished all the preparations for the trip.”
He cut off her words as if blocking any escape route.
Talia moved her eyes nervously. But before she could invent a new excuse, Varkas leaned down and lifted her in his arms in a single movement. Talia choked back a cry and clung to his neck.
Without caring that she struggled, Varkas walked down the stairs with large strides, crossed the majestic hall, and gave orders to the vassals.
—”Prepare the order of spear knights. We will head to the plains of Norden.”
Acto seguido, he crossed the arched door through which the sunlight entered. Talia squinted her eyes at the glare. Once she got used to the light, she saw a crowd of companions filling the inner courtyard.
Talia tensed up upon feeling the gazes watching her as if she were a strange creature.
She remembered the image of a monstrous bird she saw one day in the imperial palace. The gazes full of curiosity of those observing the monster locked in an iron cage also rushed to her mind.
As the sensation of nausea worsened, Talia buried her face in his shoulder.
—”Tell everyone not to look at me. It makes me feel sick.”
—”……I highly doubt they will obey my orders.”
Varkas responded with a monotonous tone. Talia looked at him with indignation.
—”Now you are the Grand Duke. Say that you will execute anyone who disobeys your orders. Or tell them that you will pierce them with a spear like you did before.”
Suddenly, a slight mocking smile crossed his lips.
—”Do you wish for me to massacre all the inhabitants of the East?”
Talia frowned. Had this man just joked with her?
While she observed him as if trying to dissect that expressionless and indecipherable face, Varkas added calmly:
—”If I execute every person who looks at you, soon the people of Kan will become extinct.”
—”Don’t talk nonsense. What I mean is for you to only threaten them.”
—”The people of the East do not make empty threats. If something comes out of the mouth, it must be fulfilled without fail.”
Talia found herself wrapped in a slight confusion. She couldn’t believe she was having such an absurd conversation with Varkas. It wasn’t as if she had smoked sleep grass, but she felt her head dazed.
She moistened her dry lips and grumbled with annoyance:
—”To tell me to deal with it, you stretch yourself too much.”
—”I am glad you understood it.”
Varkas, with a cynical smirk on the corner of his lips, turned her head to force her to look forward. Talia shrugged her shoulders. A deep and soft voice brushed her ear.
—”Lift your head.”
Varkas, readjusting his posture so that her head faced upward, whispered in a low voice:
—”Didn’t you say that, even if I hide, you shouldn’t hide?”
In that moment, a gust of wind blew forcefully between them. Talia lifted her head as if drawn by something.
The gélid air, permeated with the scent of dry grass, inflated her clothes. The unpleasant sensation running through her body gradually vanished. Talia blinked slowly.
The fine silk fluttered softly against her skin. After looking for a moment at the bright sky, Talia lowered her gaze back to the open space.
The people continued to look at her without blinking. However, Talia could discover something different in their gazes.
So to speak, it was an emotion that could well be called “awe.” A strange chill ran down her spine. They were observing her as if they were contemplating a mythical being like Cenévior. Realizing that, Talia looked back at Varkas.
Could it be because this man was by her side? She couldn’t believe that no one had noticed that she was “broken.”
—”Greetings, Your Excellency the Grand Duke.”
When Varkas crossed the wide courtyard and arrived before the castle gates, one of the knights formed in line took a step forward and greeted him. It was a warrior on horseback named Tyron.
Varkas, stopping before a large travel carriage, responded with disinterest:
—”I am still only the regent.”
—”Do you not already have all the power in your hands?”
The man crossed his arms with a playful smile.
—”Everyone is enthusiastic about the appearance of a young and powerful new leader. Don’t come to ruin the atmosphere.”
Varkas passed next to him in silence, as if it wasn’t worth responding, and opened the carriage door.
Talia squinted her eyes as she observed the comfortably decorated space. She believed she understood why he had not shown himself all week. To earn the loyalty of the vassals, pressure the Grand Duke, carry out the succession ceremony, and, at the same time, perfectly complete the travel preparations, even two bodies would not have been enough.
He climbed into the carriage and deposited her onto a wide seat. Then, when he was about to close the carriage door, the knight waiting outside held it.
—”I have a request to make of you. Please, allow young master Lucas to accompany us on this trip.”
—”Did you not hear that I placed that boy under house arrest?”
The man let out a small sigh.
—”I know. But young master Lucas is Your Excellency’s younger brother. Shouldn’t he become your assistant in a few years? Instead of having him sitting in front of a desk like a ten-year-old child, wouldn’t it be better to let him learn by facing reality?”
A slight frown formed between Varkas’s eyebrows. He observed the man’s weathered face with a thoughtful expression and then sighed deeply.
—”All right. Assign him as my squire.”
The man withdrew with a satisfied face. Immediately, Varkas closed the door from the inside and sat on the seat across from her.
Talia looked at him sideways with an uncomfortable expression. Varkas always rode on a Torque when they had to move. Seeing that time passed and he gave no signs of getting off the carriage, Talia spoke with caution.
—”Are you not going to ride a horse?”
Varkas, who was removing the ostentatious accessories from his wrist, cast a cold look at her.
—”Do you wish for me to get off the carriage?”
—”Who said that? I was only asking out of curiosity.”
Talia lowered her gaze and grumbled in a low voice at his attitude, which seemed sharper than usual.
Since she herself had committed a previous mistake, she couldn’t answer him with the same strength as always. She pressed herself against the carriage wall and feigned to look out the window for no reason.
He leaned back against the back of the seat and threw back his messy hair.
—”As Your Highness will imagine, our marriage is causing various rumors. To silence the controversy, it is necessary that, for the time being, we look like a normal couple.”
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