Chapter 192
## Chapter 192
Varkas suppressed a low sigh.
Since that night’s dispute, she had locked herself in her room and had not appeared again.
It was nothing new; since she was little, she would bolt her door every time something did not go her way.
“Her mood will gradually improve with the passage of time,” he told himself as he dragged his heavy steps up the stairs.
“Bring my dinner to the study. And prepare a change of clothes for me as well.”
“At your command, I will prepare everything immediately.”
He left behind the head butler’s response and headed straight to the study.
The room was already lit by candles; it seemed the servants had also grown accustomed to his presence there as part of their daily routine.
Varkas flashed a bitter smile, took off his damp jacket, tossing it into the basket, and then sat in the chair by the window.
Only then did a sense of exhaustion, of which he had been unaware, assault him.
He stared with vacant eyes at the raindrops crashing against the window pane.
Tomorrow he would have to ride a horse for at least half a day in the midst of this torrential rain.
And at the end of that journey, there would be a one-sided battle bordering on a massacre.
No matter how brave warriors the men of ‘Zram’ were, in the end, they were nothing more than a mob.
Their primitive weapons would not even scratch the heavy armor of the Shirkán family, into which the expertise of the ‘dwarves’ had been poured.
If the magnitude of the enemy did not exceed the anticipated scope, the battle would conclude before dawn.
He reached his hand toward the glass of liquor that the servants had placed in advance and leaned his head against the back of the chair.
At that moment, the silence of the place was broken by the sound of the doorknob turning.
He frowned; he felt a momentary annoyance at the fact that they were opening the door without permission, but he considered it the mistake of a novice servant who did not yet know of his return, so he said nonchalantly without turning his gaze:
“You are just in time. Could you pour me a glass of wine?”
He raised the glass without turning around, and heard the sound of light footsteps approaching.
Varkas realized the gait was unusual and leisurely, so he straightened up in his seat immediately.
At the same time, a sweet aroma that melted the senses blended with the humid air.
He turned toward the woman who stood beside him.
Talia wore a thin dress that accentuated the details of her petite body, and she held a large bottle of liquor with both hands as she leaned toward him.
“You will have dinner soon, so drink only a little.”
She whispered sweetly while pouring some wine into his glass.
Varkas stared at her in astonishment before regaining his senses and standing up from his place.
“What are you doing here?”
Her pupils trembled a bit upon hearing the tone of suspicion in his voice, but the trace of fluster quickly disappeared behind a faint smile.
“I was waiting for you to return.”
She said that while pointing to the bedroom door that connected to the study. Varkas shifted his gaze to see a dining table behind the partially open door, and knitted his brow. On the large round table, a vase filled with colorful flowers and a silver candelabra had been placed in an elegant arrangement.
“We haven’t dined together even once since your return. That’s why… I prepared this.”
Even though she feigned composure, her voice carried a tension impossible to hide.
Varkas sighed wearily:
“Your doing this will not change my decision. Stop making unnecessary efforts.”
His tone was dry and harsh even to his own ears.
And it seemed it was even crueler to her, as the smile drawn on her red-tinted lips vanished.
“I didn’t prepare this to make you change your mind. Just… because I heard you would be leaving the castle for a few days…”
She murmured while playing with the ornaments of her dress with anxious hands:
“I wanted to apologize before your departure. That day… I exaggerated too much. I shouldn’t have kicked you out that way…”
Varkas limited himself to looking at her in silence. He was not sure if he should accept this invitation; he no longer wished to let himself be carried away by the ups and downs of her temperament without offering resistance.
He averted his gaze from her distressed face and said coldly:
“There is no need to apologize. I should have clarified my stance on the matter of the child from the beginning. But I…”
“We are already finished with that conversation,” she interrupted him quickly. “I desire a child… but if you refuse, I won’t force you anymore. Truly, I didn’t come for that today. I only…” she concluded her words in a low voice while lowering her eyes in confusion, “I just want to have dinner with you.”
“…”
“If you do not wish to, you can refuse. I will eat alone.”
Seeing that he did not respond, her face flushed and she turned around suddenly.
Varkas grabbed her wrist by reflex and let out a sigh that denoted defeat:
“Wait a moment. I will change my clothes and come.”
Only then did vitality return to her face.
Talia nodded her head like a little girl and hurried toward the bedroom.
When the sound of the door closing echoed, he took off his damp clothes and dried his body with a dry towel.
Then he pulled out clean indoor clothes and put them on, and stood before the mirror to arrange his disheveled hair and his attire.
He concluded his grooming in the blink of an eye, put on the silk robe-style jacket hanging on the wall, and entered the bedroom where she was waiting for him.
“You finished faster than I thought. Come, sit here.”
Talia, who was rearranging the utensils on the table nervously, stood up.
Varkas hesitated for an instant, then walked to the opposite side from her, pulled the chair, and sat down.
The table was loaded with a soup from which steam rose, dishes of carefully roasted meat, and various fruits arranged with care.
Talia began to serve some of it onto his plate while chattering in a tone that seemed strangely affable:
“You’re hungry, right? Come on, eat. The head butler told me you’ve been neglecting your meals lately? How can you do that when you were the one who used to scold me for my eating habits?”
He took her hand, which was moving dynamically across the table, to stop her:
“I will eat on my own, sit down, please.”
“You also worried a lot about my meals. I wanted to do this for you today,” she murmured with a trembling voice while fixing her gaze on the dancing fire of the candles.
When he realized that she was tense out of fear of rejection, he released her hand gently.
After that, Talia proceeded to cut the meat with clumsy movements and smeared it with different types of sauces.
She looked very cautious, but a woman who had lived her entire life being served by others was not going to be able to cut food skillfully.
He looked at the mangled pastry, the pieces of meat that looked as if they had been torn apart, and the sauces and sticky jam mixed in an absolute chaos, and let out a light, stifled laugh.
She looked at him with uneasiness:
“What’s wrong? Do you not like the food?”
“No.”
He took the fork and brought the combined food to his mouth.
“How is it? Is it delicious?”
He didn’t even know what he was eating, but he nodded his head unhurriedly:
“You eat too, your ladyship.”
He transferred an appropriate amount of food to her plate and offered it to her, at which a smile of happiness illuminated Talia’s face.
She tasted a bit of the lamb and the fruits that he had cut neatly for her, and then took a few spoonfuls of the light chicken soup. Although she continued to eat in small quantities, this represented a colossal advance compared to her childhood, when she treated food like an enemy.
“What time will you depart tomorrow?”
While he observed her eating attentively, she raised her napkin to wipe her lips and posed her question suddenly. He replied curtly:
“I intend to leave at dawn.”
“Lukas said you would put an end to the raiders… How many soldiers will you take with you?”
Varkas frowned while chewing the lamb smeared with apricot jam and observed her in silence.
He thought she was locked in her room, so when had she spoken with Lukas? He repressed his annoyance and replied in a sharp tone:
“Their number will be approximately seven hundred soldiers.”
“Isn’t that too few?” she said in astonishment. He let out a light laugh:
“It is simply the purging of a band of thieves. Seven hundred cavalry riders is a force that exceeds what is necessary.”
“Even so… you will limit yourself to commanding from the rear, right?”
He did not answer affirmatively or negatively, and continued to bring the food she had served him to his mouth dynamically. Suddenly, Talia, who was observing him with concern, stood up and took the silver pitcher from the shelf.
“Aren’t you thirsty? I will pour you wine.”
And before he had a chance to prevent it, she filled the glass with a dark-colored liquor.
Varkas knitted his brow at the strong odor that hit his nose.
It did not seem like an ordinary wine; the piercing aroma of alcohol was mixed with essences of various herbs.
“They say it is a special tonic to recover strength. They have put a large amount of beneficial medicinal herbs into it… and it will help relieve exhaustion,” she explained with a nervous voice.
Varkas looked at the red liquid with distrustful eyes and then took a sip by way of a test.
It was not as terrible as he had thought.
He took a few more sips of the strong wine that stung his throat and then set the glass aside.
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