Chapter 271

“You don’t have to go that far. It really won’t take long....”

“Then all the better. Let’s get it over with quickly and go back.”

At a loss for words, Tiuran looked toward the soldiers as though asking for help. But none of them dared step forward. Talia stubbornly took her by the hand and tugged her along, jerking her chin at the soldiers.

“Tell Lucas to bring the carriage down to the village. We’ll go on ahead.”

“Y-Your Highness....”

Taking the flustered Tiuran with her, Talia started down the dirt road. Khan, who had been sitting quietly off to one side of the road, immediately bounded after her.

Pretending not to notice the people edging cautiously off the road to avoid the enormous wolf, Talia leisurely looked over the wooden houses scattered here and there.

The village that had formed outside the castle walls was laid out evenly around a narrow stream and rectangular plots of farmland. Every house had a livestock pen enclosed by a low wooden fence, and sheep and goats bleated noisily inside.

Beyond the gently rolling hills, herds of sheep and cattle were scattered across the grass, grazing. Every last one of them was plump and well-fed, making it obvious at a glance that they had been carefully tended throughout the summer.

“It’s over there.”

As Talia slowly surveyed the peaceful landscape, seemingly untouched by the aftermath of the civil war, Tiuran, who had been walking silently beside her, pointed to a two-story building on the outskirts of the village.

“It’s the oldest house in this village... so you may find it uncomfortable to stay there.”

“It’s not as though I’m going to live here.”

Talia answered dismissively, passed through the flimsy fence, and stepped into the broad front yard. Then she glanced at the troubled-looking Tiuran.

“Go on. Knock on the door.”

Tiuran finally let out a resigned sigh, approached the entrance, and knocked on the shabby plank door.

“Excuse me. Nidran asked me to come and see the patient.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than the door flew open and a middle-aged woman with dark, sun-browned skin appeared.

“Thank you for coming, Lady Tiuran. We’ve been waiting and wondering when you would—”

The woman, who had been speaking urgently, abruptly fell silent. Only then had she noticed the lavishly dressed blonde woman standing beside Tiuran, the enormous dire wolf, and the soldiers waiting around the fence. With fear spreading across her face, the woman looked up at Tiuran and asked,

“Those people are....”

“This is Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”

As though trying to reassure the woman, Tiuran gave her a gentle smile and explained in a calm voice.

“We happened to meet on the road, and Her Highness was concerned for my safety, so she accompanied me here.”

“Ah... I-I see. Thank you for coming all the way to such a humble place, Your Highness. P-Please, come in....”

The woman, who had been standing stiffly as though paralyzed, threw the door wide open and hurriedly stepped aside. Talia walked inside without hesitation.

The cottage was old and shabby, but it seemed to be kept clean nonetheless. After looking around the dim kitchen, where the light from the hearth flickered, Talia turned her gaze toward the open doorway.

She had heard that this was a traveling merchant’s home, and the rather small room was filled with stacks of crates and miscellaneous objects that appeared to be goods for sale. As Talia surveyed them curiously, the restless woman pulled out a chair at the dining table.

“P-Please sit here, Your Highness. I’ll prepare something to serve you.”

“There’s no need. Don’t worry about me. Just take care of the patient.”

At Talia’s curt reply, the woman looked unsure what to do, but soon led Tiuran into what appeared to be a bedroom. While Tiuran examined the patient, Talia looked at the tapestry hanging on the wall.

On the worn fabric, which appeared quite old, a white birch forest and a three-headed beast had been loosely woven with threads of various colors. Even at a glance, it seemed to depict an eastern legend.

Remembering the lyrics of a song she had heard at last year’s autumn festival, Talia ran her fingertips over the somewhat coarse fabric.

Just then, she felt someone tugging insistently at the hem of her dress.

Startled, Talia turned her head and froze when she met a pair of pitch-black eyes staring up at her.

A tiny girl of about five or six stood there, her plump lips hanging half open as she played with Talia’s long, flowing hair.

“Big sister, are you a spirit?”

Talia stepped backward with a bewildered expression. But the little girl clung tightly to her knee and showed no intention of letting go.

“You’re a spirit from Armund Forest, right? Did you come to make my grandmother better?”

“Tina!”

Talia had no idea what to do with the soft, warm body of the child pressed against her when the middle-aged woman finally noticed the girl and hurried over to pull her away.

“I-I’m sorry, Your Highness. My daughter has been terribly rude....”

“It’s fine. Don’t make such a fuss over nothing.”

Talia silently stared at the woman, who was holding her daughter protectively in her arms, then abruptly turned away.

When she approached the doorway of what appeared to be the bedroom, she saw an old woman with a body as thin as dried firewood lying propped up on the bed. Tiuran, who stood beside her lighting a scented candle, gave Talia an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I think it will take a little longer.”

“I’m fine. Take your time.”

Talia replied indifferently and stepped over the threshold. Various kinds of decorative fabrics also hung throughout the old woman’s bedroom. They seemed to be goods prepared for the upcoming textile market. While Tiuran applied a warm compress to the patient’s knee and brewed medicine for her to drink, Talia examined the various fabrics embroidered with traditional eastern patterns with interest.

She had heard that easterners believed carrying an image of the Three-Headed Beast brought good fortune, and there were indeed an unusually large number of decorative fabrics patterned with three-headed wolves or dogs.

There were also fabrics embroidered with the figure of a young woman who appeared to be an earth spirit. Talia was idly leafing through them when her hand suddenly stopped. Among the mountain of piled fabrics, she had discovered an embroidery with a rather grotesque design.

Talia picked it up and held it closer to the light. On the coarse, undyed cloth was a crudely embroidered image of a tree with human heads dangling from its branches. Her eyes narrowed at the eerie, almost grotesque image when a calm voice came from behind her.

“That cloth is used to ward off evil during the autumn festival.”

“To ward off evil?”

When she turned around, Tiuran was standing there with a bag slung over one shoulder, apparently finished with her work, looking down at the cloth in Talia’s hands.

“This embroidery depicts the atrocities committed by the Khan people in the past. On the final day of the autumn festival, easterners burn this cloth in a ritual to cleanse themselves of their ancestors’ sins and ask God for forgiveness and mercy.”

Talia frowned. Come to think of it, she had heard that before they were incorporated into the Empire, the easterners had routinely practiced human sacrifice. Running her fingertips over the grotesque image depicted on the cloth, Talia asked curiously,

“Did they offer human heads to Tiramer?”

“More precisely, they offered blood.”

Tiuran pointed to the dark crimson section beneath the tree.

“Our ancestors sacrificed tens of thousands of people in an attempt to restore Tiramer from her eternal slumber. They believed that the more blood spilled upon this land, the stronger her power would become. In fact, among the Siorcan clan, who are said to have inherited Tiramer’s power more strongly than anyone else, people possessing strange abilities were supposedly born from time to time.”

Tiuran paused for a moment before adding in a low voice,

“According to rumor, His Grace the Grand Duke also displayed a special ability when he was a child.”

“A special ability?”

Talia turned toward her, her expression stiffening. Tiuran hesitated briefly before continuing with caution.

“There is a rumor that when the Grand Duke was only five years old, he brutally killed three raiders who tried to abduct him.”

Tiuran lowered her voice even further.

“They say that incident was precisely why the previous Grand Duke sent his young heir to the Great Temple at such an early age.”