Chapter 38
----------------------------------------------------------------- Translator: Diva Chapter: 38 Chapter Title: Forgotten Field -----------------------------------------------------------------
“Let go of me!”
Talia kicked his shin. But he wasn't about to fall for the same trick twice. Gares swiftly dodged her attack, roughly twisted her arm, and cackled frivolously right in her face.
“I couldn't believe it... To think the imperial family's headache has fallen for some eastern noble!”
Talia looked up at him with eyes filled with terror.
It felt like every drop of blood in her body had frozen solid. She hurriedly schooled her distraught expression.
“Don't talk nonsense. Who would...”
“Exactly. It's nothing but nonsense. For a bastard like you to not know her place and dare to covet the heir to Grand Duke Sheerkhan!”
Delighted at having seized a weakness from the little sister he'd always seen as a thorn in his side, Gares was now shaking with laughter, his whole body heaving.
He seized her chin with one hand and spewed his fishy, booze-soaked breath right into her face.
“Blood will tell, after all. Then again, where would a vulgar whore's nature like yours go?”
Talia glared at him with blazing eyes. Gares smirked down at her venomous face before shoving her away as he released her. Then he added in a lazy drawl.
“Snap out of those delusions. Barkas isn't someone the likes of you can ever hope to touch...”
“You've forgotten one thing, brother dear. In me doesn't just flow the blood of a vulgar whore. It also flows the blood of a man who frolicked with a fresh young girl while his wife was heavy with child.”
In an instant, the smile clouding the Crown Prince's face vanished clean away.
Staring straight up at his chillingly contorted features, Talia continued in a slow drawl.
“Come to think of it, that scoundrel's blood flows in you too, doesn't it, brother?”
She could see the muscles in his massive, brawny frame tensing taut.
She knew she had to stop here. But she couldn't just let it end with him holding her weakness alone. Mimicking him, Talia flashed a fishy smile right in his face.
“Since you've dug up my secret, brother, shall I dig up one of yours?”
A flicker of unease dawned in Gares's eyes. Talia gazed at it mockingly before leaning in to whisper softly into his ear.
“There's a quiet rumor among the maids. They say His Highness the Crown Prince seeks only women with thick honey-blonde hair and sea-blue eyes, night after night.”
The blood drained from Gares's coppery face.
Talia curved her lips into a malicious smile at his ashen, bluish visage.
“I have a feeling I know who the woman was that you met in your dreams on the night you first became a man and soiled your bed... Shall I take a guess?”
His entire body convulsed as if struck by lightning. She sensed that if she didn't stop now, he might really kill her this time. Yet as always, she heeded the devilish voice egging her on.
“No need to tremble like that. I'm a good little sister, after all. I'll keep your secret to the end. Especially the part about how His Highness the Crown Prince seems to have inherited His Imperial Majesty's blood quite... quite thickly.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than a heavy blow snapped her head to the side.
Talia crumpled to the ground, clutching her face that burned like fire.
Her vision shook as if she'd suffered a concussion. Clutching her reeling head, she tried to rise when Gares loomed over her and clamped both hands around her throat. Her eyes bulged, ready to pop.
Talia fought back desperately. She raked his forearms with her sharp nails and kicked wildly at his rock-solid body, but her body—weakened to the brink of collapse—was utterly feeble.
Like a fish flopping on dry land, Talia soon let her limbs slacken. Just then, the vise-like grip that had been crushing her neck released all at once.
Talia spasmed wildly, gulping down air in ragged gasps. Through vision blurred by tears, she saw Barkas gripping Gares's arm.
Barkas gazed down at her with a face like a masked statue before shifting his eyes to Gares.
He was still glaring at his half-sister with murder in his eyes. His face screamed injustice and fury, playing the victim to the hilt. It was so absurd that laughter bubbled up amid her coughs.
Gares flushed beet red and raised his fist.
“This damned bitch...!”
But his hand never reached her.
Barkas seized his thick, muscled forearm as if twisting a child's wrist and shot her a sharp glare. He looked utterly fed up with her clawing at her brother even after cheating death.
“Escort Her Highness the Princess back to her quarters.”
He issued the order to the guard knight who had rushed up, face pale as death.
The knight immediately offered his support.
Talia brusquely shook off his hand and staggered to her feet. Then, as if nothing had happened, she calmly brushed the dirt from her skirt. Gares, glaring at her with eyes aflame, bellowed at Barkas.
“Let go of me right now!”
“Stop that!”
Aila, who had been watching the scene from a short distance away, raised her voice. It was apparently the first time she'd witnessed her sibling's brutality up close; her face had gone deathly white.
She hurried to her sister's side and spat out words in a stiff tone.
“What on earth do you think you're doing? You're this empire's Crown Prince! How could you resort to such barbarity...!”
“Stay out of it!”
Gares snarled like a beast.
Aila flinched and stepped back. She seemed deeply shocked that the brother who had always been like a docile pup to her had bared his fangs. Talia spoke to her half-sister in a mocking tone.
“She's right. Stay out of our business, sister.”
Aila fixed her with a sharp glare from emerald eyes. Then, upon seeing Talia's wretched state, she froze. Talia caressed her swelling cheek with one hand and flashed a twisted smile.
“It was just a little sibling spat, that's all. Isn't that right, brother?”
She cocked her head as if seeking agreement, and the grinding of teeth sounded through his clenched jaws.
She advanced toward the seething Gares. The knight tried to intervene, but she brushed him aside and stared straight up into her half-brother's deep green eyes.
“The truth is, we're close enough to share secrets.”
His face was now flushed crimson, on the verge of bursting. He looked ready to devour her alive.
But unwilling to risk his filthy secret spilling in front of his sister, he let the tension drain from his body and rasped in a strangled voice.
“...Get your hands off me.”
Barkas, who had been peering into Gares's face, released his grip. He'd held on hard; vivid handprints marred the sun-browned skin. Gares clutched it, glaring daggers at Barkas and Talia in turn before whirling away toward the camp.
Gazing at his retreating figure—like some routed soldier—she giggled. Then a chill gaze prickled her skin. Talia wiped the smile from her face and lifted her chin high. That ever-unreadable, emotionless face gazed down at her impassively.
Yet Talia could clearly discern disillusionment and rage swirling in his icy eyes.
He seized her arm with his gauntleted hand and nodded toward the knight.
“Escort the 1st Princess Highness to her quarters.”
With a curt nod to the rigidly standing Aila, he then dragged Talia through the trees like a prisoner under arrest.
She twisted her features in venomous fury.
Whatever anyone said, she was an imperial princess. This vassal of the throne had no right to haul the emperor's daughter around like a stray dog.
Talia yanked her arm free from his grasp with savage force.
“You insolent cur! Let go ri...!”
In that instant, her body lifted into the air. Talia let out a shriek. Like a sack of baggage, Barkas slung her over one shoulder and cut through the tents, heedless of the stunned stares.
Face flushed scarlet, Talia thrashed like a rabid beast. But for all her pounding fists on his back and shoulders and her furious kicks, Barkas didn't so much as flinch.