The Forgotten Field - Chapter 148

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 148
“Just to be safe, I’ve summoned the Priestess. You should have her examine you.”
Talia felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she shot Barcas a reproachful glance.
“It’s nothing serious. I just stumbled for a moment, that’s all.”
“But yesterday you were struggling with back pain. Please, just rest.”
Barcas wrapped her more firmly in his embrace and cast a cold gaze toward Edrick.
The man, caught off guard, rolled his eyes before stiffening at the look. It was as though Barcas had leveled a blade at him.
“I think it would be best if you took your leave. This is hardly the time to be loitering about idly.”
“…I was just about to depart anyway.”
The man swallowed hard, his voice taut with tension.
Barcas regarded him with an expressionless face before turning toward the doorway and added, “Then be on your way. I’ve instructed the stable master to have a suitable horse prepared for you, so you can use that for your journey.”
“Ah… thank you for your consideration.”
Despite Edrick’s polite response, Barcas left the reception room without another word.
Talia watched the man standing frozen behind Barcas’s shoulder before lifting her gaze to him. Then she met his pale blue-gray eyes fixed upon her and flinched, drawing her shoulders inward.
His expression was as composed as always. Yet why had a sudden chill run through her?
“What were you discussing with Rubon?”
“Nothing much… we didn’t really talk about anything important.”
At her evasive answer, Barcas’s eyes narrowed.
He pressed further, his voice low and probing.
“What do you mean, nothing important?”
Talia’s eyes shifted uncomfortably.
There was no real reason to hide her conversation with Edrick Rubon, but she sensed that if he knew how persistently he’d been questioning her, he would be displeased.
After a moment of hesitation, Talia mumbled defensively, “We were just exchanging pleasantries.”
“…”
“He’s always been rather meddlesome, you know. It seemed he was simply concerned about how I was faring…”
As the silence stretched and made her uneasy, a chill flickered across Barcas’s eyes.
Only then did Talia realize his mood was far from pleasant. Yet she couldn’t discern the precise reason.
Was he angry because her carelessness had nearly endangered the child within her?
She studied his expression anxiously, but as Barcas climbed the stairs, he murmured in a flat tone, “It seems you and Rubon are quite close.”
“He was merely a Guard Knight I kept with me for a few months. What of it?”
Talia responded reflexively with a dismissive snort.
“The man simply meddles of his own accord. He’s the most persistent nag I’ve ever met! He’d be better suited as a nursemaid than a knight.”
Strangely, the more she disparaged him, the colder his expression became.
She’d thought their poor relations meant he didn’t care for the man, but perhaps he actually valued him as a subordinate?
As she studied his expression with her lips sealed, Barcas arrived at their bedroom door and gestured to the servant standing in the corridor.
“Open it.”
The servant, who had been cleaning the windows, dropped his cloth and immediately pushed the door open.
With his mouth firmly shut, he was gauging Barcas’s mood when Barcas, who had already arrived in front of their bedroom, gave a nod to the servant standing in the corridor.
Open it.
The servant who was cleaning the window threw down the cloth and immediately flung open the door.
Barcas entered the chamber and gently laid her upon the bed, then naturally helped her out of her outer coat.
“How is your lower back feeling?”
“It’s fine. Perhaps because I slept well yesterday, it hurts less than usual.”
The man who would normally have shown even the slightest relief at her words remained silent.
After gazing at her abdomen in silence for some time, Barcas slowly rose and poured her a cup of herbal tea that the Healers had prepared in advance.
In the meantime, the Priestess and two Healers who had rushed at Barcas’s summons examined her condition.
Naturally, neither she nor the child within her showed any signs of distress.
The Priestess, who had practically been dragged from the chapel within the castle, spoke with a sigh-laden voice.
“Now that you’ve entered the stable period, you no longer need absolute rest as before. Moving about gradually, so long as it doesn’t strain your body, will actually help alleviate the lower back pain.”
Talia shot Barcas a look that said, “See?”
Barcas, with his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at her, furrowed his brow and pressed further.
“What exactly constitutes a level that doesn’t strain the body?”
“Whatever level Your Highness finds comfortable.”
The Priestess, gathering her belongings, replied with an expression that was neither quite a smile nor a frown.
After being pestered so relentlessly these past weeks, she seemed to have come to perceive the Grand Duke Sierkan—whom everyone feared—as nothing more than a young husband anxious over his first child.
She continued with a benevolent expression.
“Regular walks of ten to thirty minutes should also help ease pelvic pain. However, you must always have someone at your side to support you. Should you fall and suffer any impact to your womb, even by the slimmest chance, it could harm the child.”
The Priestess cast a reproachful glance toward Talia, who wrapped her arms around her belly with a guilty expression.
Soon after the High Priest left the chamber, the Healers began their examination. While Maricen drew a partition and applied salve to her legs, changing the bandages, Tiuran placed cushions at her lower back and helped her settle into a comfortable position.
At last, when all the commotion had ended, Barcas ushered them all out at once.
Talia realized he had lingered because he had something to say to her, and her expression grew tense.
The man, his arms crossed over his chest, gazed down at her in silence for a long moment before finally speaking.
“You are a married woman and the Grand Duchess of the Eastern Territories.”
Talia looked up at him with a bewildered expression.
Doesn’t he see my swollen belly?
She blinked blankly, thinking it strange that he would belabor something the whole world already knew, when Barcas added coldly.
“I cannot tolerate you fraternizing with men as though you were a thoughtless girl in her teens. Conduct yourself as befits a Grand Duchess.”
At his sudden reproach, Talia’s face flushed crimson.
Anger surged from her core to the very tips of her hair.
“I merely had a brief conversation with my former knight. What impropriety did I commit?”
“Remaining alone in a closed space with an unrelated man is inappropriate in itself. Surely you understand that much.”
It was true. A married noblewoman was expected to always bring an attendant with her, especially when meeting with men other than her husband.
However, Talia, who had been raised with only her Nursemaid and Barcas at her side, could not bear the thought of someone constantly shadowing her every move. It felt as though she were under constant surveillance.
She shot him a defiant glare.
“Don’t speak as though I were conducting a secret affair. There are over two hundred people stationed in this Main Castle alone! Servants were passing in and out beyond the Reception Room.”
“They all witnessed Your Highness in the company of a young man from outside. Do you not consider that they might gossip about it?”
“If anyone dares wag their filthy tongue, I’ll have it torn out!”
Talia, her blood boiling to the very top of her head, shot back fiercely.
“I’m crippled and pregnant! Who would even look at me twice? Even if I threw myself at someone, they’d avert their eyes and flee for their lives!”
Before her words had even finished, a deep shadow fell over her head.
Talia startled and drew her shoulders up in alarm. Barcas, leaning his upper body close toward her, spoke in a cold, measured tone.
“Don’t speak to me that way.”
Since their marriage, the number of times he had displayed such a threatening demeanor could be counted on one hand.
Noticing that she had grown frightened, Barcas stepped back and drew a deep breath. Soon his voice emerged, considerably more composed.
“I apologize for being overly sensitive. If I have offended you, I beg your pardon.”
It was nothing more than a perfunctory apology meant to end a pointless quarrel, rather than a genuine expression of remorse.
Talia kept her lips pressed together and lowered her gaze. Seeing the warmth rise to her eyes, Barcas exhaled a sigh and settled himself on the edge of the bed. He then seated her upon his lap and stroked her hair gently.
It was the manner of striking first and then soothing, yet Talia made no effort to push him away. She felt considerable relief that Barcas had transformed from that cold and hostile adversary of old into her devoted protector.
“After we dine, perhaps we might take a brief walk together.”
Confirming that she had calmed, Barcas offered the suggestion with courtesy.
Talia shook her head with a sullen expression.
“Never mind. You attend to your duties. I simply wish to rest this afternoon.”
Barcas, whose lips had trembled as if he meant to say something, soon laid her upon the bed and departed the chamber.
She rose quietly from her place and approached the window. Beyond the Inner Courtyard of the sprawling Castle, she could faintly discern the figure of Edrick Lubon leading a horse.
Presently the man mounted and began to traverse the broad Hill. Above him, clouds of snow gathered and drifted closer. She hoped it was not an ill omen.
* * *
Winter passed in the blink of an eye. And Talia could no longer afford the luxury of worrying about Northern Region rebellions or wars. As her belly grew ever larger, the pain in her lower body had reached an unbearable threshold.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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