1.
It seemed the siblings had not yet arrived. Gareth, the Crown Prince of the Empire and her half-brother, would always stand tall like a king at the center of the banquet hall or on the dais on the second floor, where he could overlook the entire room.
And Aila would always stand by the Crown Prince’s side, looking infinitely graceful and elegant.
‘But tonight, I might not be able to see Aila Roem Gwirta.’
She giggled softly as she picked up a silver goblet from a small round table.
A cruel sense of satisfaction welled up in her heart as she recalled the sight of Aila collapsing with a pale, deathly face in the middle of the banquet hall a while ago. The sight of her retching wine onto the marble floor had looked as if she were spilling out her own heart.
I truly wish I could have made it so.
Talia scratched the surface of the goblet with the tips of her sharply filed nails, the metal emitting a screeching sound.
I cannot count how many times I prayed in my heart while watching my half-sister convulsing on the floor.
Just die, Aila. Please, never open your eyes again.
“Your Highness.”
Talia, who had been lost in her grim thoughts, turned at the voice.
A man neatly dressed in a dark green formal suit stood straight, one hand placed over his chest. It was a familiar face.
Only after a moment could she recall that he was a frequent guest at the banquets hosted by her mother.
His name escaped her. She only held a faint memory of her mother addressing him as Count Cerian.
“It has been a long time. Your Highness grows more beautiful with each passing day.”
The man, looking down at her with eyes filled with admiration, bowed and kissed the back of her hand. An unpleasant sensation, as if a clammy caterpillar had brushed her skin, washed over her. Still, Talia feigned a smile.
“Did my mother ask you to keep me company?”
“The Empress is always concerned only for the Imperial Princess.”
The man gave an evasive affirmation.
“But even if it hadn’t been the Empress’s request, I would not have been able to keep from speaking to you. Look around you.”
He whispered into her ear as if revealing a great secret.
“Every man here is looking at you, Your Highness. Like me, they want to approach you, kiss this beautiful hand, and pour out passionate praise, but they are struggling to swallow that desire. They would not want to fall out of favor with the Crown Prince.”
“Are you saying you are different?”
“That is because I already incurred his hatred long ago.”
He offered a wily smile.
“Thanks to that, I have been assigned the duty of attending to you tonight. It is a blessing in disguise.”
Talia did not like men who clung to her while showing more interest than necessary. No, he was among those she loathed.
But it seemed better to have a decent shield than to endure hundreds of pairs of stinging gazes all by herself.
Talia accepted his escort with an air of bestowing charity.
“What did Mother say? Did she ask you to rescue the poor eldest daughter who would be standing apart like a black sheep?”
“Her Majesty ordered me to assist the Imperial Princess so that you may fully enjoy the banquet.”
Talia suppressed a snort that threatened to erupt.
The man led her to the front of the stage installed before the balcony.
“And she instructed me to do my best to ensure you stand out more than anyone else in this hall.”
Those who had been dancing to the melodies of lyres, lutes, and organs shuffled away, sending her stinging glares. The Count did not care, bowing to her as if to show off.
“Would you kindly grant me the honor of dancing with you, Your Highness?”
Talia looked down at her slender, uncalloused hand with an apprehensive gaze.
She had not the slightest desire for contact with a man she barely knew. But a sense of defiance flared up at the sharp gazes and whispering voices of the crowd.
Everyone must be wishing I would just disappear from this place. Or they must want me to stay buried in a corner, quiet and unnoticed.
But that won’t do.
Talia took his hand. As if he had been waiting, he wrapped an arm around her waist and began to traverse the floor with skillful movements.
Even Talia, who extremely disliked physical contact, could not help but admire his grace. Count Cerian knew how to perform perfect movements in time with the melody and had a knack for making his partner stand out in an exquisite way.
Talia had always loved to dance, but never had her own movements felt as elegant as they did at this moment. And it seemed she was not the only one who felt that way.
She scanned her surroundings over the Count’s shoulder as he skillfully spun her. She saw hundreds of pairs of eyes moving in unison, following her. Everyone was unable to take their eyes off the Imperial illegitimate child they had so despised.
Talia felt triumphant. Even before this, when she appeared in public, people would pretend not to, but steal glimpses of her every move. However, those had been nothing more than expressions of contempt and caution.
This time was different. They were looking at her as they looked at her mother. She could feel gazes filled with fear and fascination tangling around her body like a knotted skein of thread.
It was as if she had become Talia Roem Gwirta. The most powerful, dangerous, and beautiful existence in the world.
But the sweet sense of victory was short-lived. The music suddenly cut off, and the true protagonists of the banquet appeared.
“The great Crown Prince of the Empire, His Highness Gareth Roem Gwirta, and the First Imperial Princess of the Empire, Her Highness Aila Roem Gwirta, have arrived!”
With the Chief Chamberlain’s booming announcement, the two royals passed through the entrance and descended the marble stairs with majestic strides. In an instant, Talia was pushed out of everyone’s attention.
Count Cerian smiled bitterly and led her toward the terrace, where refreshments were laid out.
“It is regrettable that your pleasant time was interrupted.”
The Count played it off as if to ease her stiff expression, but not a single word reached her ears.
Talia stared intensely with burning eyes at Aila, who was dressed in a white gown. She seemed to have completely forgotten the disgraceful scene she had caused in front of everyone a few weeks ago.
The sight of that pretty face smiling elegantly beside her brother made her stomach churn with heat and anger.
Talia examined them with a persistent gaze, picking apart their dark hair, emerald eyes, and faces that looked as if they had been carved from ivory, one by one.
They overflowed with the grace and dignity befitting royals. That was something neither Talia nor her mother could possess, no matter how hard they tried.
Her mother was a viper who had dragged the young Emperor, once hailed as the Saint Emperor, into the swamp of a sordid affair, and she herself was the filth produced from that viper’s womb. Even if her mother were to bear dozens of the Emperor’s sons in the future, that fact would never change.
Talia quietly glared at her half-siblings, who were surrounded by the passionate interest of the crowd, and then turned toward the table where the wine glasses were placed. She caught those who had been looking at the Imperial Princess and Crown Prince with envious eyes glancing at her and exchanging subtle, knowing looks.
Every nerve in her body stood on edge. She wanted to gouge out their eyeballs.
Do not compare me to them.
Suppressing the urge to scream, she desperately feigned an indifferent expression, but the man beside her whispered into her ear without a hint of tact.
“It seems the two of them have no intention of acknowledging your presence. What will you do? Shall you go first and offer your greetings?”
She glared at him with venomous eyes.
He pulled up the corners of his mouth as if he found it amusing.
“Isn’t that why you came here?”
Talia bit her lip.
Just as he said, she had appeared to ruin their mood. To create a terrible dissonance at a place where they were being celebrated by all. And her mother would likely want that as well.
Having finally steeled her resolve, Talia gripped her wine glass tightly, turned toward her half-siblings, and stepped forward confidently through the crowd.
Just then, Varkas Laedgo Siorcan appeared at the entrance.
Talia stopped all movement. Her heart pounded as if she had been caught in a sudden ambush.