21.
He alternated between looking at his superior’s cold back and the judging glares of the citizens, then let out a heavy sigh and spurred his horse forward.
The Second Imperial Princess, who had remained cooped up in the carriage as if staging a silent protest, only made her appearance once the group left the capital and reached the riverbank to rest.
The servants, in the middle of pitching tents and preparing to camp, watched Talia with nervous eyes.
True to her word that she intended to change her clothes several times a day, she was wearing not the travel dress she had on when leaving the Imperial Palace, but a silk gown embroidered with golden thread.
A necklace expensive enough to buy a castle hung around her delicate, gleaming white neck, and she wore flashy diamond-studded ornaments on her wrists, which were as slender as birch twigs.
Edrick, witnessing this from afar, wore an expression of disbelief. They were about to eat and settle in for the night; for what reason had she dressed so extravagantly? The behavior was completely incomprehensible, and he felt drained just thinking about it.
He swallowed a sigh, handed his reins to a squire, and stepped toward the Imperial Princess. As he approached, the woman, who had been scanning her surroundings, cast a fierce look his way.
For a moment, Edrick felt his throat constrict. Bathed in the light of the setting sun, Talia looked like a being forged from a mixture of fire and gold.
Her wheat-colored hair, pushed back by the strong river breeze, created voluminous golden waves around her face, and her pristine, white-agate skin emitted a pale radiance even amidst the flame-like sunset.
He instinctively took a step back. Everything about the woman was overly delicate; it felt as if she might shatter at any moment and scatter sharp shards in every direction.
He swallowed a dry lump in his throat, struck by an inexplicable, chilling premonition, when a shrill voice spilled from her blood-red lips.
“I don’t like it here. Have the campsite moved.”
It was only when she gave that absurd directive that he managed to regain his senses.
His spine stiffened. This woman was nothing more than a poisonous mushroom wrapped in a glamorous exterior. If one were blinded by her beautiful appearance and let their guard down, they would surely suffer a bitter fate.
Maintaining a professional demeanor, he replied bluntly.
“This is a campsite selected by the Imperial Guard for safety. We cannot scout a new location at this hour.”
“Who asked for your opinion?”
The woman cast a frost-like glare at him.
“I ordered you to move the camp. You just need to obey my command!”
He took a steadying breath, struggling to muster his patience.
“All decisions for this expedition rest with Lord Siorcan. I repeat, you cannot deviate from the formation on your own whim.”
“So, all I need is Varkas’s permission, then?”
Cutting him off impatiently, the woman turned on her heel. It seemed she had been looking for a pretext to pick a fight with Lord Siorcan from the start.
Edrick hurriedly chased after her. He could not for the life of him understand a woman so desperate to cause trouble on the very first day of the journey.
He used his long strides to overtake her in a moment.
“What exactly do you find so disagreeable about this place?”
“I just hate it all.”
The woman retorted, her steps brisk and sharp.
“I don’t like being near the water, and I don’t like being near the forest. It’s going to be crawling with bugs everywhere.”
“How are we supposed to camp without a water source? Besides, griffins or harpies appear in this vicinity. The forest acts as a natural barrier in case of a large-scale magic beast attack……”
“Safety, my foot! I’ve already been bitten twice by flying insects! If I spend the night here, the vermin will tear my skin to pieces. And what about that noise coming from the forest? I don’t want to hear the rustling of leaves, and if the birds keep chirping like that, how am I supposed to sleep!”
Edrick stared down at the Imperial Princess, aghast. Even a spoiled five-year-old wouldn’t throw such a tantrum. He desperately suppressed the irritation surging within him.
“We have to camp for the next several days. If you don’t learn to adapt now……”
“Then just move the campsite! Why should I have to force myself to endure something I hate?”
The woman shouted, her voice high-pitched, and stormed through the camp like a racehorse galloping with its eyes fixed only on the finish line. He had to clench his fists tightly to keep from using physical force to stop her.
“Everyone is exhausted from the day’s march. We cannot tear down the tents and wander around looking for a new location for such absurd reasons. Stop your childish pranks and go back to the carriage to rest.”
When he blocked her path and spoke with intentional severity, her chillingly beautiful face twisted faintly. Immediately, there was a sound like the crack of a whip, and a stinging pain flared on his right cheek.
He glared at her. From the moment he was assigned as her personal knight, he had been prepared for a bit of physical abuse, but it felt even more wretched than he had imagined.
“How dare you give me orders.”
He barely managed to swallow his humiliation, but the woman grabbed him by the collar and hissed viciously into his face.
“I am the Emperor’s daughter, and you are mere beings meant for my convenience. It is your destiny to walk until dawn if I tell you to walk all night. So, stop your impudent rambling and get lost.”
Pushing him away, the woman began walking along the riverbank once more.
Edrick stared at the back of her head with a hardened expression. If he could, he would have liked to throw that insufferable woman over his shoulder and dump her back into the carriage, just as his superior had done.
However, he lacked the backing to lay a finger on a member of the Imperial Family without being held accountable.
Edrick, who had been staring intently at her retreating back as she vanished in an instant, let out a bitter sigh.
Would he be able to endure the tyranny of this villainess until this journey ended? His head was already throbbing.
Throughout the entire time she walked along the river, she felt burning gazes on her back.
Talia shot a sharp glare over her shoulder. She saw those who had been peeking at her jump and turn their heads, pretending to look elsewhere.
It was no different from her usual reception. Had people not always treated her like a powder keg that could explode at any moment? Yet, the gazes that crept toward her while the owners tried to hide felt particularly suspicious today.
‘Surely, one of them must be a spy planted by the Empress.’
She scrutinized each of her attendants one by one. Perhaps all of them were spies; her mother was certainly capable of that.
Her thoughts spiraled in an increasingly extreme direction.
The Empress had been working for years to tear down the support base for Gareth. This might be her scheme to eliminate all obstacles standing in her son’s way at once.
Her heart pounded erratically.
If her mother’s targets were Gareth or Aila, she wouldn’t care. She had even thought about joining the plan if necessary. But if by any chance, the person the Empress was aiming for was Varkas…
Having thought that far, Talia anxiously surveyed the densely packed military tents.
She had to separate the campsites. If she put physical distance between them, it would be harder for the Empress’s spies to carry out their schemes overnight.
She hurried her pace. Before long, she discovered Varkas’s prized warhorse, Torque, tied in front of a large tent. Talia brushed past the grey stallion, which recognized her and puffed noisily through its nostrils, and stepped into the dim interior.
The inside was as orderly as a temple. Scanning the candelabra emitting a faint light, the luxurious cabinets, and the rack where armor was displayed, Talia moved forward without hesitation upon discovering a dark shadow cast behind the partition.
“I want to move my campsite to another location. But my ‘esteemed’ knight told me that I cannot go anywhere without the permission of Lord Siorcan. It seems your subordinates think the Commander-in-chief of the Roem Knights ranks higher than an Imperial Princess. How the Imperial Guard became such a pathetic group that doesn’t even know the proper hierarchy……”
Talia, who had been rattling off her demands while pulling back the partition, stiffened. Varkas was there, stripped to the waist, wiping the moisture from his face with a towel.