The Forgotten Field - Chapter 96

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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 96
“If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
I was scrutinizing the chamber with a critical eye when the lord of the castle, standing in the doorway, spoke to me. Barcas, who had been removing his coat to hang it beside the fireplace, made his request in that characteristic detached tone of his.
“I’d appreciate it if you could bring me water for washing and some wine heated through.”
“I shall attend to it at once.”
As the man withdrew, I collapsed onto the velvet-cushioned chair.
I was utterly exhausted from touring multiple cities and villages since early morning. I pretended to adjust my damp skirt hem while surreptitiously rubbing my aching knees.
Barcas, observing me from the corner of his eye, spoke quietly.
“I shall summon the Healer for you. I think it best you rest for the remainder of the day.”
I furrowed my brow.
“What about you?”
“I intend to meet with the lord of the castle. It may run late, so please retire first.”
“When has that ever stopped you?”
I shot back rather sharply.
Though we’d shared the same chamber for the past several days, I’d never once seen him actually sleep.
Barcas always worked until dawn, and sometimes spent entire nights in discussion with local lords. My anxiety upon entering the chamber with him had become almost laughable.
I glared at him with my lips pressed firmly together, then abruptly collapsed onto the bed.
“I’ll rest on my own, so you just attend to your duties.”
Barcas regarded me quietly for a moment, then exhaled softly and departed through the door.
Not long after, servants from the castle entered the chamber carrying a tray with wine and fruit, along with a wooden bath filled with hot water.
I summoned the Nursemaid to help me wash lightly, then ate a few pieces of honey-preserved fruit with the wine.
I was about to ask the Healer to burn a sleeping draught when I heard rather boisterous laughter from outside the door. It seemed the Knights had gathered for drinking.
My expression grew indifferent, but then I suddenly stiffened. A high-pitched laugh had mingled with the raucous noise.
I urgently shook awake the Nursemaid, who had been dozing fitfully before the fireplace.
“Nursemaid, does the lord of this castle have daughters?”
“How would I know such a thing?”
The Nursemaid replied as though bewildered.
I spoke irritably.
“Haven’t you heard anything while we’ve been traveling?”
“I’m afraid not. I was summoned immediately upon our arrival.”
The Nursemaid let out a heavy sigh.
“Besides, shouldn’t I return to my quarters now? I desperately need some rest.”
I bit my lip as I was about to send her downstairs.
Seeing her face etched with exhaustion, my meager conscience pricked me.
She must be terribly tired—unaccustomed to travel as it was, and having had to attend to my bathing on top of everything else.
I nodded slowly.
“Very well. Go on now.”
The Nursemaid departed at once. I peered out into the Corridor in her absence.
As the noise from outside grew clearer, my stomach churned with unease. Even though I knew well that Barcas would never engage in such foolishness.
With an anxious expression, I bit my lip, then finally donned my coat and stepped outside.
As I descended the staircase past the flickering shadows of the firelight, a cluster of men and women paired together came into view, their voices rising in idle chatter.
I narrowed my eyes, scanning the men’s faces. They all looked familiar—evidently cavalry warriors of House Sierkan.
One of them pulled a young woman who appeared to be a Handmaiden close by the waist, bringing his lips to her ear. She blushed and giggled.
Regarding the scene with visible disgust, I turned my steps toward the interior of the Hall.
Around a long table laden with wine and food sat Barcas’s aides. They too were being served drinks by scantily clad women.
It appeared the lord of this Castle had summoned a throng of courtesans under the guise of entertaining his guests.
Sweeping my gaze across the surroundings with a harsh expression, I quickened my pace across the expansive Hall. My mind was consumed with a single thought: I had to extract Barcas from this sordid place at once.
“Your Highness!”
As I dragged my throbbing legs through the Banquet Hall, a familiar voice reached my ears from nearby.
I whirled around and spotted a recognizable face among the crowd, my eyes widening. It was Tyron, a Knight from the Eastern Territories.
The man approached me, scratching the back of his head with an awkward smile.
“I heard that Your Highness would be retiring early, but what brings you here…?”
“It was too noisy, so I came out.”
I turned my gaze from searching for Barcas toward him, offering a sardonic smile.
“I hope I haven’t interrupted your good time?”
“Haha.”
The man laughed exaggeratedly, dodging a proper response.
I fixed him with a cold stare before turning my attention back to the bustling Banquet Hall.
“More importantly, where is Barcas?”
“He is in the Third Floor Office. Lord Darken requested a private audience with him.”
I jerked my head around sharply, my eyes that had been combing the Hall now focused entirely on him.
“Just the two of them?”
It seemed he finally understood why I had been searching the Hall so thoroughly, for an amused smile played at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes, Your Highness. He dismissed all the Handmaidens, so there is no need for concern.”
In that instant, my cheeks burned as if he had read my innermost thoughts.
I raised my voice.
“Who said I was concerned!”
Then I spun around sharply, but the man immediately followed after me.
“You should not wander alone. Allow me to escort you to the Chamber.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It is necessary.”
The man spoke firmly.
“If anything were to happen to the Grand Duchess, the responsibility would fall entirely upon us. Come, let us go.”
Without giving me a chance to refuse, he grasped my elbow.
I reflexively shook his hand away.
“I said it’s not necessary.”
Startled by my sharp reaction, deep creases formed on the man’s brow.
I left him behind and hurried back the way I had come, my steps quickening into something like flight.
As I climbed the staircase again, lit dimly by firelight, my thighs and calves began to cramp.
It seemed I had overexerted my legs throughout the entire day. Though the hour was growing late, I would need to summon the Healer to cast a recovery spell.
She tapped her cramping thigh lightly with her fist as she traversed the long Corridor. Then a peculiar moan reached her ears, and she froze mid-step. Turning toward the source of the sound, she glimpsed a strange silhouette flickering at the far end of the Corridor.
Only seconds later did she realize it was a man and woman pressed together as one writhing form. The meager food she’d forced down threatened to surge back up.
She swallowed her revulsion and stumbled backward.
In that instant, her eyes met those of Kael—a boy locked in a sticky kiss with a voluptuous Handmaiden.
Talia choked back a scream.
The figure engaged in such shameless conduct in the Corridor was none other than Barcas’s Younger Brother.
Talia hesitated for only a moment before spinning around frantically. She lost her balance and crashed hard to the floor.
The heavy impact sent searing pain radiating from her knees through her pelvis and lower back. She bit back a silent cry, tears streaming down her face.
“Sister-in-law!”
Lucas shoved the Handmaiden aside and rushed toward her in one fluid motion.
Talia savagely swatted away the hand he offered to help her up.
“Don’t you dare touch me!”
Lucas flinched and retreated.
With eyes as cold as ice, Talia grimaced and forced herself to her feet.
Leaning heavily against the wall with one hand, she struggled forward while the frozen Lucas muttered in an aggrieved tone.
“Is this because of what you just saw? I didn’t even suggest it—she seduced me, saying she’d give me a good experience, so I just accepted. That’s all!”
His whining made her ears feel like they were rotting away.
Talia’s gaze burned with disgust.
“Who asked you to explain? Why must you soil my ears with things I never questioned?”
Lucas’s face flushed crimson.
He clenched his jaw and glared at her fiercely.
“It was just a kiss—why are you making such a fuss? You do far worse with your husband every single night, and yet…”
Talia’s hand lashed out like a whip.
As though he’d anticipated the blow, Lucas caught her wrist instantly.
“Did you think I’d just keep taking this forever? Hit me one more time, and I won’t hold back anymore…!”
The boy’s voice dropped to a threatening tone, but he suddenly fell silent. He’d noticed her face burning as if aflame.
He blinked stupidly before muttering in disbelief.
“Don’t tell me you two haven’t done anything yet… Ugh!”
Lucas doubled over as Talia’s shin connected with his leg.
She rained her fists down upon his back relentlessly.
Unable to defend himself, Lucas shoved her against the wall.
“You! With a temperament like that, no wonder my brother hasn’t laid a finger on you!”
He snarled, his voice dripping with venom as heat consumed him.
Talia flinched as though stabbed.
The boy looked down at her with eyes gleaming cruelly and added with savage precision.
“Could it be that my brother can’t forget his previous betrothed? Perhaps what he did with that woman was too good, and you simply don’t…”
She couldn’t bear to hear another word.
Talia drove her freshly grown nails—which she’d begun cultivating days ago—into his babbling lips.
With a cry of pain, Lucas seized her arm.
Caught off guard by her frenzied assault, his slender frame toppled backward.
Talia straddled his abdomen, seizing his filthy tongue between her fingers as he gaped like an open sewer. His sun-darkened face flushed crimson, threatening to burst from the heat of shame.

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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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