Chapter 102

Chapter 102

"Let's head over to the bed, just the two of us. A drink might lighten the mood. This is a gift for you, the future king,” Damia softly said to Pahell. Pahell lightly caressed her cheek.

“I was always fond of you, sister, and that was why I always read the books I saw you read after you were finished with them. Among them was a book about fish. There was a detailed description of the venom of a pufferfish. I remember reading it with keenness because I found it so interesting.”

"Your words right now are mere delusions. I’m not surprised. You’ve probably gone through too much suffering recently. Poor Varca."

Damia pressed her lips to his. Pahell let her continue. Their saliva stretched between their lips. Wiping his mouth, Pahell muttered.

"There isn’t a single maid in the world who can endure Urich's torture, no matter how loyal they may be..."

Damia's composure broke.

Clunk.

"Hey, nice scene here. Mind if I join?" A massive barbarian entered, holding a bloodied maid in his left hand. Urich grabbed her by her hair and tossed her onto the table like a ragdoll.

"Urich..."

Damia barely managed to compose herself. The maid thrown by Urich was her chief maid. Her fingers were brutally severed with dripping blood in place of where her fingers should have been.

"As you said, sister, a king must discern who to trust and who not. I love you more than anyone, but my greatest trust lies with the friend who shared life and death with me," Pahell said, standing up as he pushed Damia away. Yôur favorite stories at novelhall.com

“You have become cruel, Varca. What wrong has she done for you to treat her so poorly?”

“I could say the same about Sir Phillion. The only sin he had was that his loyalty trumped his faith.”

Pahell stood in front of the chief maid. The maid glanced back and forth between Urich and Pahell with eyes full of terror.

“I-I...”

The maid stuttered. Damia blocked her mouth instantly.

“Send this poor girl to the doctor, Varca, right now...!”

Damia snapped at Pahell. For the first time, she was blatantly standing up to her brother.

“Urich! What did the maid say?” Pahell asked Urich, ignoring Damia’s words.

“She was actually pretty resilient. Taking her fingers was almost not enough to get her talking...”

Urich picked up the maid again by her hair, eliciting a groan from her as she opened her eyes wide.

“Ugh.”

Damia turned away, covering her mouth. Even Pahell groaned and looked on in disgust at the maid's condition.

"Once I gouged out an eye, she started talking easily," Urich said, lifting the maid's eyelid to reveal an empty socket. Bloody tears flowed from where her eyeball should have been.

"Y-you barbarian!" Damia cried out. Urich nonchalantly shrugged as he casually picked his ears.

"Did you just realize I'm a barbarian, princess?" Urich said, tapping the maid's cheek. She trembled as if she had seen something unimaginable.

‘He always gets the job done.’

Pahell fought back his guilt. Urich did this by his order. Pahell knew that the maid who was close to Damia since childhood was her right hand.

"I-I poisoned Sir Phillion’s water," the maid confessed, falling to the floor as she was overwhelmed by the torture. Urich’s torture was cruel enough to trump the friendship and loyalty she had built with Damia throughout her entire life. It was simply too much for a palace maid to endure.

“Cotria...”

Damia whispered her name. The maid couldn't lift her head to face her.

Silently, Damia undid her dress. Pahell watched his sister's nude body without any desire. He felt like crying out of sorrow.

'How did it come to this? How? Why?'

Pahell thought to himself but was unable to voice his thoughts.

"Why did you join hands with Harmatti?"

'I hated the idea of you becoming king...'

Damia, just like her twin brother, couldn’t speak out loud. She didn’t answer Pahell’s question and just lowered her eyes with only her lips twitching.

Damia stripped completely, wearing only her undergarments. Her pale skin was so smooth that it was almost glowing.

"Take off the rest," Pahell pointed with his index finger.

"If you find nothing on me, how will you take responsibility, Varca?" Damia glared fiercely.

"Who would dare to hold the ruler of the kingdom accountable?"

"How arrogant."

"Shut up. Why couldn’t you be satisfied with just being a princess? Who do you think is the arrogant one here? I never intended to send my sister to other royal or noble families who demanded her as a beautiful princess. A princess like you would make a good strategic tool. But if you wished, I would have let you live alone for the rest of your life!"

Damia finally removed her last undergarment, looking at Pahell in self-pity.

A small glass bottle fell to the floor, rolling all the way over to Pahell's feet.

"That’s funny, Varca. Why should I be satisfied with what I have? Ultimately, you're no different from your father. You may be saying so now, but a time will come when you will have no choice but to sell me out for politics. That’s just the way it goes,” Damia said with a sad smile. Pahell picked up the fallen glass bottle.

"...sister, you really were trying to kill me."

Pahell thought it would have been better if this was all his paranoia. Everything would have been so much easier if the story ended with his kind sister forgiving the unhinged prince. Regardless, the truth was out.

'Sister came to me with this poison.'

She intended to poison him in some way. The type of poison would soon be known.

"We were equals at birth. We were one. But I was made an object, while you were destined to be king."

"I never thought of you as an object."

"You eventually would have. I didn't want you to become king. You'd change. You'd no longer be my Varca. A naive boy who loves his sister can’t do a king’s job."

Damia, completely naked, moved and grabbed a carving knife from the table.

"Urich!"

Pahell shouted. Urich's eyes moved quickly. He didn't look at Pahell but at Damia's hand.

'I don't need to protect Pahell. I must stop...!'

Urich made his decision in a second. He grabbed a bronze cup from the table and threw it as he spun. There was no time to control the amount of force he put behind it.

Crunch!

The thrown cup struck Damia's hand, breaking her bones. She dropped the knife she was about to plunge into her neck.

"I won't let you escape by dying, sister... you will go to the emperor as a concubine. The emperor is an arrogant man who sees women only as tools and objects, and I made a deal with that man. As proof of my integrity, you will go to him. The emperor always desired a woman with the beauty of the Porcana royal bloodline."

Damia looked up at Pahell from the ground, massaging her swollen hand.

"So, in the end, it’s just the same fate for me. Decided by others."

"No, it's the fate that you chose for yourself."

Pahell removed his cloak and covered Damia's naked body.