12.
She rose from the bed and stood before the mirror, studying her own gaunt reflection for a long time.
*I look just like the house mouse that used to end up in my stew.*
As she let out a dry, mirthless laugh, the maid who groomed her every morning entered the room.
“You’re up early. Come here. I shall assist you with your washing.”
“I don’t need it.”
The maid’s sharp eyes twitched at the cold retort. She looked down at Talia with a condescending gaze and began to lecture.
“Your Highness is obligated to maintain a perfect appearance at all times, according to the laws of the Imperial family. Such childish tantrums…”
“Nanny!”
At the sharp shout, the maid flinched and fell silent. Talia brushed past her and began to ring the bell by the bedside relentlessly.
“Nanny! Nanny!”
Only then did her nanny, who had been sleeping in, burst through the door, breathless and frantic.
Pointing at the nanny, Talia spoke with an arrogant air.
“From now on, the nanny will be in charge of my grooming. My mother said it would be fine yesterday. You may leave.”
“But…”
“Are you defying the Empress’s order?”
As Talia snapped at her, the maid, who had been looking down at her with doubt, stepped out. It seemed she had no intention of arguing over the matter of helping her dress.
Talia turned to the nanny, who was rubbing her puffy eyes with a face still heavy with sleep, and shouted fiercely.
“Did you hear just now? From now on, washing and dressing me is entirely your duty. Pull yourself together and do your job.”
“I understand, my lady…”
The nanny answered listlessly, letting out a wide yawn.
Talia raised her arm and struck her chubby cheek without mercy. The nanny, struck in the face out of the blue, stared at her with wide, astonished eyes.
Talia mimicked the expression her mother often wore when she was at the peak of her fury with chilling precision.
“How many times must I tell you to call me ‘Your Highness’ before you understand?”
The nanny’s brown eyes widened in shock.
Talia peered straight into those eyes, emphasizing every word as if spitting them out.
“If you call me ‘my lady’ from now on, you shall be slapped.”
With that, she drove the dazed nanny to begin her grooming.
Because the nanny was so clumsy, several hours passed by the time her dressing was finally finished. Having not eaten properly for weeks, Talia felt as if she might collapse at any moment, but she left the room with her back held straight and rigid.
A gloomy-faced man dressed in black stood in the hallway. Talia, who had stiffened at the sight of a stranger guarding her door, soon recalled her mother’s words. It seemed this ghost-like man was the ‘useful guard.’
Talia gave a nod of her chin, signaling the man to follow, and walked toward the dining hall. As if they had been waiting for quite some time for her to descend, several servants shot her displeased glares.
Ignoring their stinging looks, Talia sat at the end of the long table. With an arrogant gesture, she jerked her chin.
“Bring the food.”
Despite hearing her command, the servants dilly-dallied with indifferent faces before eventually bringing out plates filled with various foods.
A maid in her mid-thirties supervised the process. Following her instructions, the servants placed the silver plates down in order, and finally, a bowl of soup was set before her.
Talia stared intently into the bowl. The milky broth was filled with beans and meat. It looked fine on the surface, but it was obvious that the contents were anything but.
Talia picked up her spoon and stirred the thick liquid covered in white cream. As she scraped the bottom of the bowl, a dead sparrow with a broken neck appeared.
It had clearly been left to rot; a few thread-like maggots wriggled out of the bird’s decaying eye sockets.
Her stomach churned as if she were about to retch, but Talia desperately hid any sign of distress and shouted sharply at the maid who had brought the soup.
“You! Come here and sit down.”
The woman, looking bewildered by the sudden instruction, sent a wary glance her way.
After hesitating for a moment, she said in a stiff tone, “My apologies, Your Highness, but I have much work to do.”
She then turned to leave the dining hall.
She was a woman who always stood nearby after serving meals, as if she enjoyed watching for a reaction. Seeing her trying to leave in such a hurry, it seemed she had intuited that something terrible was about to happen.
Talia jumped up from her seat and grabbed the brass pitcher on the table. She swung it with all her might, striking the head of the insolent maid who had dared to ignore an Imperial Princess’s command and show her back without permission.
Even with the strength of a scrawny child, the impact of being struck in the head with a metal object was significant.
The maid let out a sharp scream and collapsed, tumbling onto the carpet.
The victim, as well as the dozen or so servants in the room, froze as if paralyzed. Some of the maids burst into screams and covered their mouths.
However, Talia remained unbothered by their horrified stares. With an arrogant gesture, she motioned with her head toward the man standing like a shadow in the corner.
“Sit this woman in the seat next to me, right now.”
The man, who had been standing still and staring intensely at her, walked over slowly and lifted the woman, whose soul seemed to have half-escaped her body, to her feet.
The woman, finally realizing what was happening, resisted desperately, but there was no way she could overcome the strength of a trained man. Dragged to the table, she was forced into the seat.
Talia returned to her own chair and stared intently at the woman beside her. Perhaps her scalp had been torn by the spout of the pitcher; dark red blood flowed down her temple, creating two long, stark stains on her pale cheek.
Undeterred by the gruesome sight, Talia pushed the bowl of soup containing the dead bird in front of the woman. The woman’s chaotic eyes looked down at the soup, then back to her.
Talia forcibly pressed a spoon into the woman’s fingers, which were clammy with cold sweat.
“In appreciation of your hard work serving my meals every day, I have decided to share my meal with you today. Out of respect for my sincerity, you had better finish every drop.”
“Y-Your Highness, I…”
“Eat.”
Talia said coercively, pulling the maid’s hand over the bowl.
“You brought this for me to eat, didn’t you? What reason could there be not to eat it?”
“I, I was only…”
The woman’s lips trembled violently as she sent a pleading look around for help. But everyone else seemed at a loss, frozen by the sudden turn of events.
Talia barked fiercely.
“Eat, now!”
The maid flinched and shoved Talia’s hand away, attempting to rise and flee. But since the man was holding her tightly from behind, she could not move an inch.
Looking at the man’s gloomy face and then at Talia’s with terror, the woman began to weep and plead.
“I, I… I was wrong… This… this will never happen again. So, please, just one act of forgiveness…”
“If you do not finish this bowl, you will not be walking out of here on your own two feet.”
The woman’s face turned deathly pale. Her eyes dropped to the man’s waist, where he was holding her. She had clearly seen the sword hanging there.
Gasps escaped her as she pleaded desperately.
“Please, please… mercy…!”
“I am being merciful right now,” Talia said indifferently.
“I could kill you right this instant. But instead, I am giving you a chance to live.”
The woman’s body shuddered.
Talia pushed the bowl containing the rotting bird carcass toward her again.
“If you understand, stuff it all into your mouth.”