Ash-colored Despair (21)
“He and the manager are now touring the property. I just took office, things can’t go wrong here, right?
Nanny answered absentmindedly, laying out the food on the table.
- Stop being capricious, sit down quickly. You need to eat and prepare to leave.
Thalia, suppressing a heavy sigh, pushed back her chair and sat down. She had no appetite, but she didn’t want to argue with the nanny, who looked so pleased for the first time in a long time.
- I'll eat just a little bit.
“Well, of course,” the nanny said with a smile and cut the food into small pieces.
Thalia took a tiny slice of bread and began to crumble it even smaller. I checked to see if there was anything unnecessary there. Having made sure that everything was clean, she, wincing, put the dry crumbs into her mouth and ate them with sticky jam. She would have stopped there, but the nanny immediately put a boiled egg and meat in a thick brown sauce on her plate.
Tough meat with a pungent smell remained untouched. Thalia swallowed only the egg with difficulty and immediately stood up. At that moment, steps were heard at the entrance.
- Your Highness, I came to examine you.
It was the healer whom Senevier assigned to her. Talia answered wearily:
- Come in.
A middle-aged woman with regular features and a soft voice entered the tent.
- Are you in pain today?
“Not as much as usual,” the girl muttered and sat down on the edge of the bed. Целительница привычно склонилась перед ней и осторожно развязала бинты на ноге. When the purple scars were revealed under the bandage, the nanny immediately turned away. Талия сделала вид, что ничего не заметила, и безучастно смотрела, как на шрамы густо намазывают липкий крем.
“Today I’ll make the bandage looser so as not to tighten the skin.”
- No, pull it tight. So that it doesn't unravel for anything.
- Do you want to make the scars worse? — the healer asked sternly.
Talia narrowed her eyes angrily, but when she met her gaze, she pursed her lips and shook her head. The woman, softening a little, secured the bandage and added affectionately:
- The knot is strong, it won’t come undone, don’t worry.
In response, Thalia only felt the bandage. Indeed, it will not fall off without effort. Она тихо вздохнула с облегчением, но тут целительница достала из сумки маленькую курильницу.
“Before the journey, I’ll set your herbs on fire, so you’ll be able to cope with the shaking in the carriage easier.”
Она уже положила в сосуд смятые сухие травы, но Талия резко перехватила её руку.
- No need.
The woman opened her eyes in surprise.
- But if shaking increases the pain...
- I’ll be patient. Баркас… — она чуть не проговорилась, что Баркас ненавидит запах этих трав, и замолчала, не желая выдать, что помнит о его привычках. Even now, when there was no one to laugh at her. - Just leave it.
Целительница только с тревогой посмотрела на неё, но молча убрала курильницу обратно в сумку.
Talia washed herself, changed clothes with the help of the nanny, and went out. When she finally stepped outside, her gaze fell on rows of tents the color of scorched grass and crowds of people scurrying about on business.
The unfamiliar landscape made her shiver uncomfortably. Children ran barefoot on the grass, women baked bread and fried meat by large fireplaces, bare-shouldered men pranced on horseback. Everything seemed alien, wild.
— I finally woke up.
She was still looking around when she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
Thalia turned around and frowned. On a large chest sat a lanky boy with golden eyes. Barkas's younger brother looked down on her.
— Are all persons of imperial blood so lazy? We are all waiting for Your Grace to appear.
Thalia raised an eyebrow and the boy sank for a moment.
- Well... The sun is already high, but you are still not there...
-Where is the bow? - she interrupted coldly.
The young man shrugged his shoulders shamelessly.
“I don’t bow to my father either.”
“And you’re proud of the fact that you’re a bastard?”
The boy immediately wrinkled his face.
-Who's the bastard?! I'm just a freedom-loving person, that's all!
Thalia, seeing no point in continuing, turned around. But he immediately caught up with her.
-Are you always this nasty? Or...how did you even become like this?
She was silent.
“They say you flogged the maids and even put poison in the first princess’s glass?” This is true?
Thalia, who was walking slowly and measuredly, suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Lucas immediately took a step back. It was obvious that he was afraid of a slap in the face.
She stared at him, then slowly curled the corners of her lips.
- Right. It's all true.
The boy's eyes opened even wider. Looking him straight in the face, Talia quietly continued:
— Out of boredom, I beat the maids. And yes, she poured poison into my older sister’s glass.
His golden eyes widened. The princess came close, almost touching his nose, and hissed caustically:
- Do you think that's all? I sharpened the knife at night, dreaming of cutting her cute little face.
She saw how the thin fluff on his cheek stood on end, and his lobe glowed scarlet with fear. Thalia leaned even closer and whispered venomously right into that hot ear:
- So you better stay away too. I have neither conscience nor barriers.
When she straightened up, the boy looked at her with real horror. Talia just snorted contemptuously in his face, turned around and, limping, walked towards the carriage.
* * *
The tour of the property went without any hiccups. After spending the night in the pastures near Raedgo's castle, they headed east, explored a fairly large settlement and headed north.
On the road from one village to another there were scattered nomadic camps. It appears that many clans still lived traditional nomadic lives. To feed hundreds of heads of livestock, they had to move from pasture to pasture according to the seasons.
But the villagers lived almost like ordinary imperials. Stone houses, well-groomed fields, workshops with artisans, shops with food and goods - everything is like in the cities of the empire.
The wool trade was especially developed. Woolen fabrics and felt were clearly one of the main sources of income for these lands.
Huge markets regularly opened in large cities, where hundreds of merchants from all over the empire came to buy expensive fabrics. Huge flows of gold flocked to local trading offices, and Barkas's main task was precisely to check how business was being conducted in these chambers.
“The market is growing every year,” an official standing nearby reported evenly. — They sell not only fabrics, but also provisions and handicrafts. Everything is going briskly.
He opened a thick ledger.
— Here are all the taxes collected this season. Plus income from rents, duties, and also information about the stables and horse trading, which your Lordship personally manages.
Longboat quickly looked through thick books. Thalia, standing nearby, looked at this without any interest. Soon her gaze rested on the window.
Level streets, stone houses, high walls and scattered shops - the landscape of the city filled the entire field of vision.
The East really was a strange place. In the vast plains lived nomads in tents, and behind the fortress walls lived people almost indistinguishable from the inhabitants of the capital. It’s like two different worlds stuck together into one chaotic mosaic.
- Looks like it will take time. If you want, you can walk around the market for now,” Barkas quietly suggested.
Thalia, staring out the window, shuddered slightly and turned to him.