The Forgotten Field - Chapter 22

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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 22
As his muscular frame, pale and luminous in the firelight, filled my vision, my tongue froze against the roof of my mouth as though glued there.
I swallowed hard and let my gaze drift slowly down his body.
He had only just washed away the dust accumulated during the march—his pale golden hair, darkened by moisture, dripped water steadily, and glistening droplets clung to his sculpted shoulders and broad back.
Following the rivulets of water that traced the contours of his taut muscles, I felt heat rise to my cheeks and hastily lifted my eyes.
Even his loosely cut trousers clung damply to his long, powerful legs.
It was the first time since I was fourteen—when I had spitefully ordered him into the lake—that I had seen him so utterly defenseless.
I moistened my parched lips and struggled to gather the fragments of language scattered throughout my throat.
Then, a dry laugh echoed from nearby.
“Hierarchy? Coming from your mouth, that’s truly laughable.”
The mockery in his voice drained my shock away like a receding tide, replaced by irritation. I fixed him with a sharp glare and let out a scoff.
“Hierarchy exists for superiors to invoke over their inferiors. And you Knights are bound to obey me—I am of the Imperial Family. So make it abundantly clear to your subordinates whose orders take precedence. Unless you wish to be flogged for insolence.”
Barcas slid his arms into his shirt sleeves, his gaze turning glacial.
I tensed. Through bitter experience, I had learned all too well how ruthlessly this taciturn man could wield his tongue once he set his mind to it.
Watching his mouth as though it were a viper about to strike, I saw him reach for the robe hanging on the wall. Without so much as a glance in my direction, he turned and walked straight out of the tent.
I stared after his retreating figure in bewilderment, then immediately pursued him. Had he hurled cruel words or cast an angry look, I might not have been so enraged. But to be treated as though I were nothing more than a pebble in the road—that I could not bear.
Catching up to him in an instant, I raised my voice sharply.
“You find it satisfying to let everything I say go in one ear and out the other, don’t you?”
At the piercing sound of my voice, soldiers busily moving supplies paused and turned to look at us.
But Barcas did not even acknowledge me. He walked forward with utter indifference, as though I were beneath his notice, and fury rose all the way to the crown of my head.
I roughly seized his sleeve. Unwilling to suffer the humiliation of torn clothing before the servants, he finally stopped.
Facing that cold countenance, I spoke each word as though spitting it out.
“How much have you resented it all this time? How relieved you must be to no longer have to obey the commands of this tiresome girl? Is that why you refuse to even pretend to listen?”
“I would acknowledge your words if they were worth hearing.”
He coldly removed my fingers from his sleeve as though they were something filthy.
I clenched my teeth. The way he brushed at his shirt as though contaminated filled me with contempt.
Perhaps it would be better if this man simply ceased to exist. Then I would never have to feel this degradation.
My eyes blazing with hostility, I suddenly let out a harsh laugh.
“My words don’t sound like words to you? Then shall I speak to you in the beast’s tongue, as your barbaric ancestors did? Would that help you understand?”
The servants watching us with anxious faces went pale at the insult that had crossed all bounds. Yet Barcas merely looked down at me in silence. Facing that frigid expression, I continued.
“If you wish, I can even imitate the neighing of a horse. I’m certain you’d understand that better. You seem to prefer horses to humans, after all.”
“Conversing with my stallion is indeed preferable to dealing with you.”
Barcas spoke with contempt.
“My stud horse at least understands reason. He doesn’t whine incessantly and exhaust people with his complaints.”
I trembled with indignation at the insult. Seeing my reaction, Barcas twisted his lips in disbelief.
“You strike at others’ vital points without hesitation, yet you flush at even this mild retaliation. Do you truly believe others are incapable of such baseness?”
I shot him a venomous glare. My throat tightened with the urge to refute his words immediately.
What could you possibly know about me?
Who in this world understands human depravity as I do? Because I know precisely how merciless humans can become, I have chosen to be cruel myself. If I do not crush them first, they will crush me.
But voicing such thoughts would only expose my weakness.
She stepped back and composed her expression into one of cool indifference, as though she had never shown her claws at all.
“I didn’t come here to engage in this pointless bickering. As I said before, I want to move my campsite elsewhere. Order the Knights to pack up at once.”
Barcas drew a long breath, as if gathering his patience.
“I have no intention of indulging your whims. Stop deluding yourself and return to rest.”
“I’m not asking to relocate the entire camp! Why won’t you allow it?”
“I have no obligation to explain my decisions to you.”
“I am the Emperor’s daughter! When I demand something, you are bound to obey…!”
“That’s enough.”
Suddenly, a dark shadow fell across her from above.
Talia flinched, her shoulders tensing. Barcas, having abandoned even the pretense of formality, spoke to her with a chilling tone.
“I’ve already exhausted my patience for you today. You should know when to concede and hope for tomorrow.”
His face, gazing down at her, was elegant despite the harshness of his words—a man who never lost his dignity, even when anger roughened his voice. That very quality made her feel all the more wretched.
“Escort the Imperial Princess back to her quarters.”
He straightened and issued the command to the Knights standing nearby. They, who had been silently observing the confrontation, immediately obeyed.
“Please come with us, Imperial Princess.”
Talia cast a sharp glance at the Knights blocking her path, then turned her gaze back to Barcas.
He had already withdrawn into the distance. As she watched his retreating figure walk away with flawless grace, her teeth clenched.
He doesn’t even ask why I want to move the campsite. My thoughts mean nothing to him.
‘I wish he were dead.’
The thought of herself panicking over his safety seemed absurd.
After this journey ended, he would belong to another woman anyway. A man who would never be hers…. What did it matter if she saw his corpse tomorrow morning?
Talia turned sharply and walked away.

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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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