The Forgotten Field - Chapter 76

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

Chapter 76
As I lifted my head, a coldly hardened face came into view. Barcas looked down at his younger brother with sharp eyes and spoke in a low voice.
“You’ve grown quite insolent.”
The boy’s youthful face crumpled.
Barcas released his hand as though brushing off dust, then turned his gaze to the middle-aged man standing beside the staircase.
“How did you teach him etiquette?”
“I am deeply ashamed.”
The stern-faced man bowed his head apologetically.
Seeing this, the boy raised his voice indignantly.
“If you have something to say, say it to me! Why are you blaming someone innocent?”
Barcas’s icy gaze immediately turned toward him.
The boy, who had been shouting boldly, flinched and lowered his eyes.
“It’s not like I’m wearing you out—I could at least let you show your face.”
At his grumbling words, Talia’s eyes narrowed. The way he spoke, as though she were some rare curiosity, made her blood boil.
“How dare you treat me like a spectacle!”
Just as she was about to snap back, long fingers blocked her vision.
Barcas pulled the hood taut, covering her eyes, and continued up the stairs.
Talia’s expression turned incredulous.
She couldn’t understand why he insisted on concealing her so thoroughly. Perhaps he meant to prevent her from clashing with his household members.
She pushed the hood back and shot him a fierce glare.
“What are you trying to do? At least introduce me properly!”
“You’ve been suffering from fever throughout the journey.”
He crossed the wide marble hall and replied in a measured tone.
“First, recover your strength. I will introduce you once you are well.”
“I’m perfectly well—!”
As I tried to protest, a dry cough scraped up my throat.
Talia covered her mouth and her shoulders trembled. Her throat, parched from fever, stung as though scraped by sandpaper.
He exhaled softly.
“Don’t waste your strength needlessly. Just sleep.”
Then he pulled the hood back over her head.
Talia, glowering at him with a frown, soon let her head droop weakly.
As he said, after days of illness, her strength had been utterly depleted. In her heart, she felt relief at postponing this awkward encounter. Yet she could not express such feelings honestly and merely grumbled.
“You’re really annoying.”
He made no reply and silently climbed the stairs.
A man who appeared to be a butler hurried after him, guiding him to a large bedroom located on the second floor of the Main Castle.
Moments later, the interior of a spacious chamber, far more luxuriously appointed than the bedroom in the Separate Palace, unfolded before her eyes.
Talia looked around with wide eyes. From the high ceiling hung a chandelier densely studded with crystals, and golden candelabras were arranged in orderly fashion throughout the room.
The walls were furnished with pieces so ornate they would not be unworthy of presentation to the Emperor himself, and they appeared to be crafted by dwarves.
Besides these, tapestries of distinctive patterns, shields bearing the emblem of House Sierkan, animal furs, and white porcelain were scattered as decoration throughout.
As I examined them carefully, Barcas walked toward the large bed placed in the center of the room and gently set her down, speaking.
“You may use this chamber from now on.”
Talia grasped his sleeve without thinking.
“What about you?”
Barcas, who had paused while reaching for the bell beside the bed to summon an attendant, looked down at her.
Heat suddenly flooded her cheeks.
Talia hastily added, flustered.
“I didn’t mean we should share the same chamber….”
“Do not worry. I intend to use a separate bedroom.”
He spoke with measured composure.
Talia’s shoulders relaxed with relief. She had been anxious the entire time about the possibility of a moment when she would have to expose her legs to him.
He straightened his posture and continued in an even tone.
“This chamber has been used by the mistress of House Sierkan for generations. It will be more than adequate for Your Highness.”
“If I use this chamber, where will the current Grand Duchess reside?”
“For the past ten years, the position of Grand Duchess of Sierkan has remained vacant.”
His matter-of-fact reply left her momentarily speechless. Fragments of his family history, overheard during her time at the Imperial Palace, belatedly surfaced in her mind.
Barcas’s biological mother had died of childbed fever shortly after giving birth to him.
The second Grand Duchess who followed had also perished in an unforeseen accident, and the shock had even deteriorated Grand Duke Sierkan’s health, or so she had heard.
Under such circumstances, it would have been difficult to welcome a new Grand Duchess.
She let out an awkward, forced cough.
“Ah, that’s right. Of course.”
“I shall summon a healer for you. Please take a fever remedy and rest for a while.”
Noticing her hoarse voice, he poured a glass of water and offered it to her.
As she accepted it and took a sip, a sound came from the doorway.
Talia turned her gaze and, upon spotting a stern-looking Senior Maid, raised her upper body.
Barcas pressed down on her shoulder, then turned to regard the woman, who had been observing Talia with an inquisitive gaze. The woman then bowed respectfully.
“It has been a long time, Young Mistress.”
Her voice was gentle, at odds with her austere appearance.
The woman continued softly.
“Grand Duke Sierkan has instructed that you be brought to his chamber at once.”
“Tell him I shall come shortly.”
Barcas replied calmly, then regarded her with an untroubled gaze.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
“…Wait, shouldn’t I go with you?”
“Your Highness may meet with him later. I shall explain everything clearly, so please do not concern yourself.”
With that, he left the chamber before she could protest.
Talia stared blankly at the closed door, then descended from the bed and walked unsteadily toward the window.
Beyond the transparent glass, the entire vista of Kalmor spread before her eyes.
The city encircled by fortifications, the scattered villages beyond it, and the verdant plains…. As she slid the window open, a cool breeze swept harshly across her face.
She gazed at the plain meeting the blue sky, then turned her head upon hearing a faint, mysterious sound echoing from somewhere.
At the end of the hill, a Birch Forest gleamed white. In that instant, an indescribable emotion—whether exhilaration or dread—surged through her.
‘This is where I’ll spend the rest of my life.’
She drew a deep breath.
The faint scent of cold, parched wind that clung to Barcas’s form filled her lungs completely.
In that moment, she knew she would come to love this land.
* * *
Lucas sprawled across his chair, kicking at the floor with lazy indifference.
His younger sister Raina, a year his junior, glared at him with sharp reproach.
“If you make me look like an uneducated fool, you’re responsible for it!”
“You are an uneducated fool.”
A pillow stuffed with goose feathers flew at his face.
Raina had spent hours meticulously braiding her thick hair, adorned herself with their late mother’s jewelry and silk tunka—the traditional Eastern garment—all with the singular hope of catching her brother’s attention.
Yet she hadn’t received so much as a glance from him.
Raina unleashed all her frustration on her easygoing peer of a brother.
“Brother Barcas was educated like Imperial royalty in the Capital! He’s a nobleman among nobles, versed in the protocols of the Imperial Palace! What do you think will happen if you speak like a commoner in front of him!”
“That nobleman among nobles can freeze to death.”
He bolted upright in his chair.
“Didn’t you see? The people who waited days for him to arrive, and he didn’t even greet them properly—just walked right past them! Is that Imperial Palace etiquette?”
“That’s because you provoked him first!”
“What did I do wrong!”
Lucas jumped up from his chair, bristling with indignation.
“I just wanted to see what that woman looked like! You were curious too.”
“I don’t care one bit about that woman’s face!”
Raina’s reddish-brown eyes flashed sharply as she yanked off the jade ornaments hanging from her neck.
“What’s the point of seeing the face of that vulgar woman who tarnished our brother’s honor? She’s probably just as base as her shameless mother!”
“…Don’t talk to me like I’m some uneducated person.”
“I’m telling you to be careful in front of Brother Barcas!”
Raina’s eyes blazed as she roughly undid her tightly pulled hair.
Having ridden horses every day since she was six, Raina’s sun-bronzed skin and long, lean limbs made her look like a handsome youth when she wasn’t adorned.
His sister stripped off her ornate embroidered coat and sat cross-legged on the bed.
“Listen carefully. You must never treat that woman carelessly in front of our brother. If you openly torment her, our innocent brother will feel pity for her! And we’ll become the wretched siblings!”
“…Innocent?”
Lucas muttered in disbelief.
Raina, brushing aside his words, continued her elaborate scheme.
“So we need to provoke her as subtly as possible! The moment we needle her, that woman will run straight to our brother and complain about us. Then she becomes the vile woman who slanders kind, innocent siblings, and we become the pitiful ones!”

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