Chapter 12
She got up from her bed and stood in front of the mirror, staring for a long while at her own gaunt, wasted reflection.
I look just like that sewer rat that was in my stew.
She let out a hollow laugh at the thought, just as the maid who helped her dress every morning walked into the room.
"You're up early, Your Highness. Come along. I'll help you get washed up."
"I don't need you."
At the icy reply, the maid's sharp eyes twitched slightly.
She looked down at Talia with a haughty, condescending gaze and launched into a lecture.
"Your Highness has a duty, according to imperial protocol, to maintain a perfectly proper appearance at all times, wherever you are. Childish tantrums are..."
"Nurse!"
At the sharp cry, the maid flinched and fell silent. Talia swept right past her and yanked wildly at the bell cord hanging beside her bed.
"Nurse! Nurse!"
Her nurse, who had been sleeping in next door, came stumbling through the door in a panic.
Talia pointed at her nurse and spoke with haughty authority.
"From now on, my nurse will handle all my dressing and grooming. Mother gave her permission for that yesterday. So you can leave now."
"But..."
"Are you defying the Empress's orders right now?"
At Talia's sharp retort, the maid, who had been eyeing her with uncertainty, walked out of the room. She clearly had no intention of arguing further just to keep helping with Talia's grooming.
Talia snapped harshly at her nurse, who was still half-asleep, rubbing her puffy eyes.
"Did you hear that just now? From now on, washing and dressing me is entirely your job. Get your act together and do it properly."
"Understood, my lady..."
The nurse answered halfheartedly, yawning widely.
Talia raised her arm and struck her plump cheek without mercy. The nurse, caught completely off guard by the sudden blow, stared back at her in shock.
Talia did a convincing impression of the expression her mother often wore when she was furious beyond words.
"How many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Your Highness' before it sinks in?"
The nurse's brown eyes went wide.
Staring straight into those eyes, Talia enunciated each word deliberately, as though grinding them out.
"If you call me 'my lady' again, expect a slap."
Then she pushed the still-dazed nurse into beginning her grooming.
Because the nurse was so slow with her hands, several hours had passed by the time the preparations were finally finished. Having barely eaten anything for weeks, Talia felt like she might collapse at any moment—but she left the room with her back held perfectly straight.
A grim-faced man dressed in black stood in the corridor. Startled to find a stranger guarding her door, Talia froze for a moment before recalling what her mother had said. This ghostlike man was apparently the "capable guard."
Talia gave a slight jerk of her chin, signaling him to follow, and made her way toward the dining hall. Several servants shot her disapproving looks, as though they'd been waiting a long while for her to come down.
Ignoring their pointed stares, Talia seated herself at the end of the long dining table. Then she jerked her chin with imperious authority.
"Bring the food."
The servants, who had been dawdling with sullen expressions even after hearing her command, soon brought out plates loaded with various dishes.
A maid in her mid-thirties oversaw the entire process. Under her direction, the servants set down the silver plates one by one, and finally, a bowl of soup was placed in front of her.
Talia stared intently into the bowl. The pale, cloudy broth was filled with beans and meat. On the surface, it looked perfectly normal—but she knew better than to trust the contents.
Talia picked up her spoon and stirred through the thick liquid, coated in white cream. When she scraped the bottom of the bowl, this time a dead sparrow came up, its neck snapped.
It looked like they'd picked up one that had been dead for quite a while, because a few thread-thin maggots were squirming in the rotted bird's eye sockets.
Her insides twisted violently, as if she might vomit right then and there. But Talia forced herself to hide any sign of distress and snapped sharply at the maid who had brought her the soup.
"You! Come here and sit down."
The woman, bewildered by the sudden command, quickly shot her a wary look.
After a moment's hesitation, she spoke in a stiff tone.
"I apologize, Your Highness, but I have a great deal of work to attend to."
Then she turned and tried to leave the dining hall.
This was the woman who always lingered nearby after serving the food, quietly watching, as if savoring Talia's reaction. Given how eager she seemed to leave today, she must have sensed that something bad was about to happen.
Talia shot up from her seat and seized the brass pitcher sitting on the table. Then, with all her strength, she struck it against the head of the insolent maid who had dared to ignore an imperial princess's order and turn her back without permission.
Even coming from a scrawny child's strength, being struck in the head with a metal object was no small blow.
The maid let out a piercing scream and collapsed onto the carpet.
Both the assaulted maid and the dozen or so servants gathered in the dining hall froze, as though paralyzed. Several of the maids screamed and clapped their hands over their mouths.
But Talia paid no mind to their horrified stares. She jerked her chin arrogantly toward the man standing like a shadow at the edge of the dining hall.
"Sit this woman down right beside me. Now."
The man, who had been standing there silently, staring intently at her face, walked over slowly and hauled the half-conscious woman to her feet.
Coming to her senses too late, the woman resisted desperately, but there was no way she could overpower a trained man's strength. Practically dragged along, the maid was forced into a seat at the table.
Talia returned to her own seat and stared intently at the face of the woman now sitting beside her. Her scalp must have been torn by the spout of the pitcher, because dark red blood trickled down from her temple, forming two long streaks across her ashen cheek.
Unbothered by the gruesome sight, Talia pushed the bowl of soup containing the dead bird toward the woman. The woman's confused eyes dropped to the soup in front of her, then rose back to meet Talia's gaze.
Talia forcibly pressed the spoon into the woman's cold, sweat-damp fingers.
"In appreciation for your tireless effort in preparing my meals every day, I've decided to share my meal with you today. Out of consideration for your sincerity, you'd better finish every last bit."
"Y-Your Highness, I..."
"Eat."
Talia said forcefully, dragging the woman's hand toward the bowl.
"You brought it here for me to eat, didn't you? So why shouldn't you be able to eat it?"
"I—I was only..."
The woman's lips trembled as she cast a pleading glance around the room for help. But everyone else seemed frozen, unsure what to do in the face of such a sudden situation.
Talia snapped viciously,
"Eat it now!"
The maid flinched violently and yanked her hand out of Talia's grip. Then she tried to rise and flee. But the man behind her held her firmly in place, and she couldn't move an inch.
Glancing back and forth between the man's grim face and Talia's, terror written across her features, the woman finally broke down, sobbing and pleading.
"I—I... I was wrong. I— I swear, this will never happen again. So please, just this once, forgive me..."
"If you don't finish this bowl completely, you won't be walking out of this room on your own two feet."
The woman's face went ashen white. Her eyes dropped to the waist of the man holding her. She'd clearly caught sight of the sword hanging there.
Gasping raggedly, she cried out desperately,
"Please, please... have mercy...!"
"I am showing mercy right now."
Talia said flatly.
"I could kill you right this instant. But instead, I'm giving you the chance to live."
The woman's body trembled violently.
Talia pushed the bowl, with its rotting bird carcass, closer to her.
"If you understand, then put it all in your mouth."
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