The Forgotten Field

The moment she opened her eyes, Talia dressed herself more carefully than ever before.

She silently endured the maids scrubbing her skin raw with stiff brushes until it turned red, and tolerated the relentless combing that made her scalp sting.

After finishing her preparations, she took out the velvet dress her maternal grandfather had given her on the day she left House Taren—the first gift he had ever offered her after years of looking at her with undisguised displeasure.

When she looked into the mirror, a little girl with the face of an angel stared back at her.

If Senevier had been turned back into a nine-year-old child, she thought she might have looked exactly like this.

Talia gazed intently into the deep blue eyes reflected in the mirror—the same color as her mother’s—before leaving the room with a determined expression.

But the boy who always trained at the same hour was nowhere to be seen today.

After shaking off her attendant and wandering around the castle courtyard for a long time, Talia’s shoulders eventually slumped in disappointment.

The thought that she might never see him again darkened her vision.

She herself did not fully understand why she had become so obsessed with someone she had spoken to only once.

No.

In truth, she did understand.

On that day of merciless rain, he could easily have ignored a mud-covered child and walked past.

But he had not done that.

He had stepped into the filthy pit and pulled her out, even at the cost of ruining his clothes and shoes.

He had wrapped her freezing body in warm arms and looked into her eyes for a very long time.

He had carefully protected the dying, pitiful little bird and taken it back with him.

That alone had been enough to become her hope.

Talia walked endlessly along the outer paths surrounding the towering palace buildings.

The imperial palace felt like the belly of some enormous monster.

It was so vast and complicated that even after months of living there, she still encountered places she had never seen before.

She wandered through gardens overflowing with flowers and trees, crossed wide open courtyards, and eventually reached the rear side of the main palace.

Her legs, which had been moving nonstop since early morning, throbbed painfully.

Blisters had likely formed on her feet; every step burned as though the soles of her feet were pressed against fire.

Wiping sweat from her forehead, she looked up at the blue sky peeking through the thick leaves overhead.

How long had she been standing there?

She was just about to give up and return to the detached palace when she spotted the slender back of a boy moving between the tall birch trees.

Talia’s eyes lit up with joy.

Even from that distance, she recognized him immediately.

No one else could imitate the graceful, swift movements with which he walked silently forward, his back perfectly straight.

Talia immediately began chasing after him.

But no matter how much she hurried, the distance between them refused to shrink.

She soon realized the boy himself seemed to be in a hurry.

Where was he going so urgently?

She considered calling out to him, but her breath had climbed painfully into her throat, and no voice emerged.

In the end, she lost him.

Talia collapsed beside the trunk of a tree with a devastated expression.

Needle-like sunlight poured mercilessly over her sweat-soaked face.

She narrowed her dazzled eyes and blankly stared through the thick leaves overhead for some time when faint laughter drifted toward her on the wind.

It sounded almost like the chirping of a tiny bird.

Talia slowly rose and walked toward the sound.

Passing through dense birch trees and thick bushes, she suddenly found herself staring at a beautiful flower garden overflowing with lavender, marigolds, and clusters of tiny white blossoms, along with a pristine marble gazebo and a small fountain.

The garden looked like a palace built for fairies.

Talia stared around at the dreamlike scenery, where golden particles seemed to float through the sunlight.

Then she discovered the boy kneeling on one knee before a marble bench.

He was not alone.

Sitting opposite him was a lovely little girl around his age.

She had silky dark brown hair and rosy cheeks.

As the girl chattered endlessly about something, a faint smile appeared on the boy’s lips.

The sight stabbed painfully into Talia’s chest, as though something sharp had pierced her.

It felt as though someone had stolen away a treasure that belonged only to her.

Talia knew the feeling was irrational.

At a glance, the two of them clearly looked close, like people who had known one another for a long time.

Meanwhile, she herself was nothing but a stranger.

That was why Talia decided she would walk over and politely introduce herself.

She wanted to force her way somehow into the warm /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ atmosphere surrounding the two of them.

More than anything else, she wanted the boy’s blue eyes and faint smile to turn toward her.

Driven by that overwhelming impulse, she stepped out from behind the bushes and approached the fountain spilling clear streams of water.

At once, a pair of silver-blue eyes and a pair of clear green eyes turned toward her.

Having never interacted with children her own age before, Talia suddenly felt her mouth go dry.

But she was an Imperial Princess of the Empire.

Surely no one would dare reject her offer of friendship.

She deliberately lifted her chin and greeted them proudly.

“Hello?”

The boy simply stared at her motionlessly.

Doesn’t he recognize me?

When they first met, she had been covered head to toe in mud. Perhaps her current appearance—dressed like a princess—felt unfamiliar to him.

So she was just about to mention the day he had helped her months ago when the little girl sitting there suddenly let out a shrill scream.

“No! No! Anywhere but here!”

It was the desperate voice of someone confronting a terrible nightmare.

The terrified girl threw herself toward the boy.

“Please, Varkas! Drive her away! Don’t let her come near this place! Make sure I never see her again!”

Her thin arms wrapped tightly around the boy’s neck.

The boy protectively embraced the sobbing girl’s back before throwing a cold stare toward Talia over the violently trembling shoulders in his arms.

Talia stumbled backward.

In a low voice, he warned her,

“Get out of here right now.”

Talia stared blankly at his icy face before suddenly turning and running away.

It felt as though freezing water had been dumped over her head.

Her mind had gone numb; she could not think at all.

How long did she run like that?

As she neared the main palace, something suddenly seized her hair violently from behind.

Her head jerked backward, her body thrown off balance.

Before she even understood what was happening, a heavy impact slammed into her.

Talia rolled across the grass clutching her aching stomach.

“How dare trash like you step foot in a place like that!”

A furious young voice thundered above her head.

Talia looked up in confusion.

A boy she had never seen before was glaring down at her.

Dark black hair. Green eyes burning like flames.

She immediately realized he looked remarkably similar to the girl she had just seen.

But she had no idea when he had started following her, nor why he was so furious.

Still frozen in shock from the sudden assault, she was kicked viciously in the stomach again.

“Die!”

Her vision flashed white with pain.

Talia curled her body tightly inward and coughed weakly.

The boy continued kicking her as though punting around a small ball.

“Die! Die! Just die already!”

His scream pierced her ears like long iron nails.

Even when servants finally noticed the scene and rushed over in horror, the boy’s violence and curses did not stop.

Talia crawled desperately across the ground like an insect trying to escape the savage kicks.

Even after beating her like that, the boy still looked unsatisfied.

Held back by two attendants gripping his arms, he roared like a furious beast.

“Disappear from this world, you filthy bastard!”