The Forgotten Field - Chapter 116
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 116
* * *
Lucas observed the Empress with keen attention.
Senevir Taren Guerta sat at the head of the long banquet table, conversing with ease among the Eastern nobles, while those very nobles—who should have been wary of her—hung on her every word as though entranced.
Watching this absurd spectacle with a hollow laugh, Lucas’s gaze drifted to the woman seated at the Empress’s left.
While the Empress commanded the hall with her dazzling allure, Talia Roem Sierkan sat with a face of ice, mechanically sipping her wine. The stark contrast unsettled him.
‘Why does she always look so lifeless?’
At first glance, the two women were similar enough to be mistaken for twins.
Had Talia smiled and deliberately enchanted people as the Empress did, surely no one in this castle could have resisted her.
Yet she perpetually bristled like a hedgehog, pushing away all who approached her.
For a time, she had seemed to make genuine effort in her role as Grand Duchess, but these past few days she had abandoned even the pretense of civility. Even the nobles who had shown her favor were withdrawing.
‘Has her condition worsened again?’
The thought struck him suddenly, and Lucas’s eyes narrowed. Talia Roem Sierkan’s complexion was paler than usual, her gaze hollow as she stared fixedly at the candles flickering on the table.
She certainly appeared unwell.
Seized by an inexplicable unease, Lucas shifted in his seat—when Barcas suddenly entered the Banquet Hall.
Lucas tensed instinctively. The very presence of Barcas seemed to freeze the buoyant atmosphere that had filled the hall.
He was not alone in sensing this; everyone around the table watched with taut expressions as the Empress and Barcas faced off.
“It grieves me that seeing your face has become so difficult.”
It was Senevir who broke the tense silence first.
The woman raised her wine glass to her lips, feigning disappointment.
“While it is pleasant to reminisce with old colleagues, I trust you will not neglect my daughter and me.”
“If I have caused you displeasure, I sincerely apologize.”
Barcas reached the upper dais and replied with measured calm before taking his seat.
“There have been considerable matters at the Imperial Palace of late. Our discussions grew lengthy, and I regret the delay. I beg your forgiveness.”
At those barbed words, a smile of unsettling smoothness played across the Empress’s lips.
Lucas inwardly clicked his tongue at her composure.
The Empress was, in effect, in enemy territory. Moreover, half of the Imperial Envoys who had escorted her here were Knights of the Roem Knights. In short, she was surrounded by her rivals. Yet how could she remain so serene?
The Empress, her eyes curved like crescents, spoke gently.
“I do hope your conversation was meaningful.”
An uncomfortable silence descended upon the Banquet Hall once more.
The Empress clearly understood that Barcas was actively working to thwart her, and Barcas made no attempt to conceal it.
Lucas glanced sideways at Talia. She sat rigid, gripping her wine glass tightly, her lips pressed thin. She had clearly already learned that her husband was exerting all his efforts to protect his former betrothed.
Lucas raised his glass to his lips, studying his brother’s inscrutable face.
Since their father’s coffin had been interred in the Royal Mausoleum, he had been formally appointed as the Young Aide to Grand Duke Sierkan. In the weeks since, he had come to understand the political currents flowing through both the Eastern Territories and the Imperial Palace.
A rift was beginning to form between the Eastern Territories and the Conservative Faction. And the Northern Region was attempting to exploit that fracture.
The problem was that their ambitions extended beyond mere political influence.
The people of Balto were rapidly expanding their military strength at an alarming pace.
More than that—intelligence had surfaced of them covertly funneling military funds through various merchant guilds.
If their true objective was Balto’s independence, then in the worst case, Aila Roem Guerta could become a hostage used to pressure the Imperial Family. The First Princess’s new marriage prospects carried the potential to ignite the Empire’s fragmentation.
This was why Barcas, setting aside even the affairs of the Grand Ducal House, was devoting all his efforts to persuading the Crown Prince and the Conservative Faction.
‘If my brother had married Aila Roem Guerta from the start, none of this would have happened.’
Lucas grumbled inwardly.
Had Barcas upheld his loyalty to the Crown Prince instead of yielding to the Emperor’s pressure, he wouldn’t be rushing about in such turmoil now.
Laedgo Castle would be far more harmonious as well.
Perhaps Raina might have borne their father’s death with greater fortitude.
Aila Roem Guerta was renowned as a gentle-natured lady of refined character, and she would have comforted the girl well.
Talia would not have needlessly suffered in this foreign land.
‘No, it hardly matters whether that woman suffers or not.’
Lucas hastily reined in his thoughts.
What concerned him was only House Sierkan and Raina. The Empress and her daughter were merely troublesome threats to the Eastern Territories.
Having composed himself, Lucas quietly slipped from the Banquet Hall. Watching his brother’s icy demeanor, the fox-like Empress, and his sister-in-law’s ghost-pale visage any longer would make his head explode.
He tugged at the collar of his restrictive doublet and crossed the Hall.
He found himself longing for those carefree days when he rode across the fields without a care in the world. He even felt a pang of sympathy for his brother, who had endured such vexing troubles his entire life.
He rubbed his stiff neck and gazed down at the Garden through the corridor window.
‘Should I go see Turgan?’
As he kneaded his tense muscles while thinking of his beloved horse, neglected for nearly a week, two figures standing in one corner of the Garden caught his eye.
Though servants lingering in the Backyard was an ordinary sight, Lucas stopped and observed them intently.
A woman with a vaguely familiar face was engaged in serious conversation with a young man who appeared to be an Imperial Envoy. Only after some time did Lucas recall that the woman was Talia Roem Guerta’s personal Healer.
‘Do they know each other already?’
He tilted his head in puzzlement.
By his appearance, the man seemed to be one of the Empress’s attendants.
Since the Healer was said to hail from the Taren Family, there was nothing particularly strange about her encountering someone she knew among the Empress’s entourage. Yet an odd sense of dissonance tugged at the back of his mind.
“What are you doing in a place like this?”
As he stared intently at the pair’s lips, a thick voice sounded from behind him.
Lucas turned. Tyron, draped loosely in a tunic of black silk, was ambling down the long corridor. He had apparently followed Lucas, who had left the Banquet Hall without a word.
He opened his mouth to explain what he had just witnessed, then recalled that the scene held nothing particularly suspicious and closed it again.
When he turned back to the window, the two figures had already vanished. Lucas, with a dissatisfied expression, shook his head as if it were nothing.
“It’s nothing.”
* * *
The Imperial delegation remained for precisely one week before departing.
Talia, seated on the windowsill watching the receding procession, soon drew the curtains closed.
Until the very moment of departure, Senevir had repeatedly urged her to obey her wishes. Talia had never answered, yet the Empress seemed confident that she would not defy her commands.
Or perhaps she was not entirely certain. She had simply sown seeds of hope in her devoted follower before departing.
“You must consummate the marriage tonight without fail.”
The Nursemaid, who had retrieved the translucent cloth the Empress had given as a gift from the chest, spoke with unwavering resolve.
“The funeral rites are now concluded, so there is no reason to delay further.”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Sailor_pluto
Noooo Talia!! T_T
Don’t listen to your evil mother!