The Forgotten Field - Chapter 60

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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 60
Talia planted both feet firmly on the ground and straightened her spine as much as her body would allow.
A sharp, tingling pain radiated from her knees to her back. The fall had clearly done something to her.
Though she wanted nothing more than to collapse, she forced herself to appear composed and looked directly up at her biological father.
It had been nearly half a year since their last encounter—and even then, it had been nothing more than a fleeting glance from a distance. It felt as though she were facing a complete stranger.
The man before her seemed to feel the same. The Emperor, his discomfort evident, turned his gaze away and spoke.
“I’ve heard you’ve endured considerable hardship.”
His voice was monotone, as though he were discussing someone else’s affairs entirely.
“I’m told you’ve even sustained injuries.”
Talia’s eyes flashed with hostility.
This man was a stranger to her—nothing more. Rage welled up inside her at his callous mention of her suffering.
“Is that why you summoned me? Out of curiosity?”
Talia let out a sharp laugh, her fingers brushing lightly against her skirts as she added with mockery,
“Would you like to see what scars mark my body?”
The man’s thick brows furrowed sharply.
Rather than the fierce rebuke she’d anticipated, Virus Roem Guerta clamped his mouth shut and stared at her face with piercing intensity—as though seeing his daughter’s face for the very first time.
“There’s no need for me to verify it with my own eyes.”
The man spoke bluntly, then turned his gaze toward Barcas. Unease crept into his eyes, which swirled with complex thoughts.
Why had he summoned both her and Barcas at the same time?
As she regarded him with suspicious eyes, the Emperor, who had been silent for some time, suddenly uttered words of reproach.
“Barcas Laedgo Sierkan, I entrusted you with the safety of my children. And this is the result I now see before me.”
Talia felt the blood drain from her entire body.
The Emperor, who had been tapping his fingers against the armrest of his chair, continued in a heavy tone.
“The Second Princess suffered not only a fatal wound due to your failure in protection, but also sustained permanent damage to her body. Do you acknowledge your responsibility in this matter?”
Barcas’s gaze briefly touched her before drifting away.
“I do.”
There was no emotion in his voice.
No sense of injustice, no guilt, no hint of swallowing excuses—only a calm, matter-of-fact tone, as though he were merely stating the facts as they were.
“I will accept any punishment.”
Without thinking, Talia stepped forward.
Barcas had done nothing wrong.
She nearly cried out, but stopped herself.
Had he truly done nothing wrong?
She looked down at her legs, which had begun to tremble faintly, then turned her gaze back to his face. The image of him turning his back and running away overlaid itself upon his features. That sight—one she would surely never forget for the rest of her life—had stolen all words from her.
“Since you admit it so readily, this will be resolved quickly.”
The Emperor released a heavy sigh.
“This incident has dissolved the betrothal between the Count’s House and the Second Princess. It will be difficult to find a match befitting the Imperial Family’s status for her going forward. After all, she is a child with many flaws….”
Speaking as though she did not exist in that room at all, the Emperor glanced briefly at her ashen face before continuing slowly,
“You must bear that responsibility. Break your betrothal with Aila Roem Guerta and take the Second Princess, Talia Roem Guerta, as your wife.”
Talia’s breath caught.
I couldn’t fully comprehend what I’d heard, and with vacant eyes, I looked up at the Emperor’s face before turning my gaze toward Senevir.
Her face bore a smile like that of a serpent that had swallowed its prey.
Suddenly, my flesh crawled, and cold sweat seeped from every pore of my body.
I couldn’t bring myself to check Barcas’s expression and lowered my head.
There was no way Barcas would accept such coercion.
He was the son of a Grand Duke.
No matter how supreme the Emperor, he had no right to make such demands of the heir to the Eastern Territories’ Grand Duke.
He would certainly exercise his right to refuse.
My trembling hands gripped the hem of my dress tightly.
After several seconds had passed, he opened his mouth.
“If the Second Princess also consents, then I shall do so.”
I lifted my head abruptly.
He looked down at me as though piercing through me, and added slowly, rolling each word on the tip of his tongue.
“I shall take Her Highness as my wife.”
For a moment, my heart seemed to stop.
I stared at his lips with eyes devoid of all focus.
Could those words really have come from his mouth?
Could I have been hearing things?
Yes. Surely, I’d heard something that wasn’t there.
There was no way Barcas would have said he would marry me.
“So it is, Princess.”
The Emperor’s final words pulled my consciousness, floundering in confusion, back to reality.
“If you consent, the position of Grand Duchess of Sierkan shall be yours. Now, what say you?”
His voice carried a sharp mockery.
Only then did I realize the Emperor hoped I would refuse.
Pressured by the Empress, he was making this proposal, but surely in his heart, he did not wish for his illegitimate daughter to be bound to Aila’s betrothed.
Perhaps Barcas too was saying such things, anticipating that I would make a fuss about my dislike.
No. It must be so.
Suddenly, my mind became calm.
If I consented here, the man I had yearned for my entire life would become mine.
But did I truly want such a thing?
I looked down at my own legs, hidden beneath the hem of my dress.
Merely thinking of having to show this body to him made my insides writhe.
If I were to see even a hint of disgust or rejection cross his face, I truly would not be able to maintain my sanity. I might break and crumble further still.
I looked up at him once more.
He was always the man who turned away from me and turned his back.
The man who saved Aila, not me.
The man who would never love me, even unto death.
Could I truly live my entire life beside such a man? Did I truly wish to crawl into such agony?
“I… I am…”
Talia parted her cracked lips.
There was no way she could endure this. She didn’t want to be hurt anymore.
Just as she was about to speak, Senevir’s face—now devoid of all warmth—came into focus.
Her eyes silently warned that if Talia disappointed her, she would never be forgiven.
My stomach twisted painfully.
“I…”
I looked between Barcas’s face, the Emperor’s face, and Senevir’s face. Their features blurred together dizzily.
Talia felt a sudden vertigo and pressed her hand to her head.
My forehead was already drenched in sweat. I wiped it away with my sleeve again and again, but the perspiration continued to stream down, burning beneath my eyelids.
As I irritably brushed it away, my vision suddenly lurched, and my legs gave out beneath me.
I gasped sharply as my body struck the ground.
A shrill cry echoed from somewhere distant. Senevir’s handmaidens seemed to be in a frenzy.
Lying prone on the floor, I strained to see through my blurred vision. Beyond the billowing curtain, Barcas’s face appeared faintly—cold and rigid.
Was his pallor, more ashen than usual, merely an illusion born from my foolish love?
Yes. It must be.
He had shown no reaction even when seeing me broken and shattered. Why would my existence cause him to grow pale?
Exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed me.
As I struggled desperately to hold onto him through my fading vision, I finally let everything go.
* * *
News spread throughout the Imperial Palace that the betrothal between the next Grand Duke and the First Princess had been broken, and the Second Princess would take her place.

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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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