“The exterior may look a little crude, but the interior is decorated so splendidly that it can hold its own against any castle in the central region. There will be nothing uncomfortable about living here.”

The man, who had been watching her complexion, spoke as if to soothe her. Talia merely gave him a dubious look.

Had this country bumpkin ever set foot in the imperial palace, or in a castle where great nobles lived?

Perhaps sensing the disdain in her expression, a vein rose faintly on the man’s forehead. He added, stressing each word.

“Laedgo Castle was built by dwarves during the Warring States period. It boasts a scale and convenience no less than the imperial palace...”

“I know. It’s the fortress your Khan people dragged dwarves from the northeastern region here as slaves to build.”

At her sharp retort, the man’s mouth clamped shut.

Intending to make this frivolous-looking man stop speaking to her so carelessly, Talia continued coldly.

“If you’re done saying things I didn’t ask about, would you go away now?”

“Well, my.”

The man shook his head with an incredulous expression.

“Your Highness, do you perhaps know what the word ‘sociability’ means?”

“And do you know what ‘useless meddling’ means?”

Talia sharpened her voice.

“Or perhaps the meaning of ‘rudeness’?”

Realizing he would gain nothing by saying more, the man flicked the reins and left as if fleeing.

Talia snorted after his retreating back, then shut the window.

Most people who approached while pretending to be kind for no reason always had some other scheme.

Besides, that eastern man had only been smiling with his mouth. His eyes had been picking her apart and judging her.

He had probably been trying to probe what kind of woman the future grand duchess would be.

Letting out another snort, Talia drew the curtain over the window and sank deep into the seat.

She could not let her guard down for even a single moment. The Siorcan clan must surely find her displeasing.

The former Empress Bernadette and the Grand Duke of Siorcan had been cousins, and quite close at that. The Khan clan must surely harbor strong resentment that, instead of Aila, their own blood relative, the daughter of the current Empress, who stood in political opposition to them, had become the future grand duchess.

Talia clutched her throbbing head. Perhaps she would be treated more unpleasantly than she could imagine.

Even in the imperial palace, where Senevier had stood firmly in place, had she not endured every filthy humiliation? Laedgo Castle would be worse, if anything. It would never be better.

Talia scraped at her lips with her nails, lips so thoroughly bitten that dried blood had crusted over them.

Her throat, dried by fever, stung. She took a water bottle from the drawer installed on one side of the carriage and moistened her parched mouth when a resounding trumpet blast rang out from outside.

Talia peered through the curtain again.

Before she knew it, the carriage had reached the fortress.

As though going through an identity check, the carriage slowed briefly, then finally passed through the enormous gate.

Talia, who had been spying on the surroundings through the window, let out an exclamation without realizing it.

The eastern man named Tyron had not been bluffing at all.

Unlike its crude exterior, the inside of the castle was filled with precisely calculated beauty.

She looked over the astonishingly clean roads, the spires rising high enough to pierce the sky, and the elaborate buildings one by one. It seemed as though every structure had been carefully carved by a single artisan.

The citadel, created from a combination of gray stone and black marble, rose at varying heights with exquisite structural beauty, and between the buildings, arched stone bridges were connected like arteries.

As she gazed at them with admiration, the fountain located in the middle of the square entered her sight.

Talia’s eyes widened.

A fountain far larger and more splendid than the one installed in the imperial palace was powerfully spraying clear streams of water.

This fortress was surely supplied with abundant water sources.

The water overflowing from the fountain flowed along grooves carved into the roadside and into the channels.

Overwhelmed by the scenery inside the castle, tightly woven from stone, marble, steel, and water, she kept moving her eyes without pause.

Then the cavalry marching in formation stopped before a structure that appeared to be the main castle.

Talia turned her gaze forward.

In front of a beautiful fortress born from the delicate architectural style of the Roem Empire and the unique aesthetic sense of the easterners, people dressed in splendid clothing stood lined up in rows.

Varkas, who had stopped his horse before them, dismounted and shouted something in the eastern tongue.

At that, the people waiting on the steps came rushing down and surrounded him.

‘Are they Varkas’s relatives?’

As she studied them with curious eyes, Varkas pushed aside the commotion around him and walked straight toward her carriage.

Talia hurriedly drew the curtain over the window.

She was about to lie down on the seat and pretend to be asleep when the carriage door suddenly flew open without warning, and Varkas stepped inside.

Talia looked up at him with a tense face.

Just as he always had since leaving the Roem Knights, Varkas wore black iron armor with an eastern-style coat draped loosely over it.

His large body, thick with the scent of dry grass, filled her vision in an instant.

“How are you feeling?”

Removing his gauntlet, Varkas placed his hand on her forehead. Perhaps sensing the heat, a faint crease formed between his smooth brows.

“Your fever still hasn’t gone down.”

“...I’m fine. It isn’t as if this is the first or second day.”

Talia lowered her eyes with an uncomfortable expression.

Perhaps she had grown somewhat used to it now. She no longer startled every time he touched her as often as before, but the awkward, uneasy feeling could not be helped.

As she pointlessly tore at the hem of her dress, he removed the coat draped over his shoulders and wrapped it around her body. Then, as if it were only natural, he slid one arm beneath the backs of her knees and tried to lift her. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Talia immediately twisted aside and hugged her knees.

“Don’t! Are you trying to humiliate me even in front of your family?”

Varkas’s eyes narrowed. As though unable to understand, he tilted his head slightly to one side.

“Why is it humiliating for a husband to care for his wife?”

Talia stared at him, rendered speechless.

She had known long ago that this man was made entirely of duty. But she had not expected him to try to fulfill his responsibilities even in a marriage forced by the Emperor’s pressure.

She glared at him fiercely.

“Did Aila teach you that? That a husband should take care of his wife?”

At her sharp voice, his brows drew together.

After a brief pause, as though thinking something over, Varkas spoke dryly.

“Did we not swear so before the altar? That I would care for my wife as I care for my own body.”

“How funny. You don’t even cherish your own body.”

“...”

“And I have no intention of playing the role of an ‘obedient wife’ just because the priest babbled about it. So you should stop pretending to be a devoted husband, too.”

After snapping at him sharply, she staggered to her feet and tried to go outside, but Varkas approached from behind and snatched her up into his arms.

Talia glared at him with a surge of anger. But before she could lash out, Varkas spoke first.

“Do I look foolish enough to expect anything ‘obedient’ from you?”

“What is that supposed to mean...!”

“It means I expect nothing from you, so do as you please.”

He spoke dryly, adjusting her struggling body in one arm.

“I intend to do as I please as well.”

Then he pulled the hood attached to the cloak over her head and stepped lightly down from the carriage.

At the harsh sunlight stabbing into her eyes, Talia frowned.

When her vision, which had turned white for an instant, became clear again, unfamiliar faces looking at her with expressions mixed with wariness and curiosity entered her sight.

Talia flushed with shame.

Instead of displaying dignity befitting an imperial princess, she was being carried helplessly like a powerless child. Humiliation washed over her.

“So this is the woman who pushed aside the First Imperial Princess and took my brother’s place as wife?”

Just as she instinctively hid her face against his shoulder, a clear, androgynous voice reached her ears.

Talia turned around.

A boy with shaggy black hair and large golden-brown eyes was staring at her with his hands clasped behind his head.

Was he fifteen years old, perhaps?

His youthful face, still soft with traces of childhood, came right up before her.

The boy stared curiously at Talia, who was only peeking out with her eyes.

“Your eyes look just like lapis lazuli.”

Then, without warning, he reached over her head and tried to pull off her hood.

Frozen in shock at the rudeness she had never experienced before, Talia stiffened.

Varkas caught the boy’s wrist.

“Lucas.”

A voice startlingly cold rang out above her head.