Translator: Nox
(16) The Darling of the Lily Palace (8)
2024.03.16.
Floyd stared intently at his palm. A hand scarred and calloused from gripping a sword and tearing apart monsters. Even normally, this hand was warmer than others, and it would heat up and turn red even with a little emotional excitement.
Floyd stared at his palm for a while, then looked at Roxana. Roxana slowly moved her fork, putting finely chopped lettuce into her mouth.
Floyd watched her chew on a piece of lettuce no bigger than his finger for a long time before speaking.
“Princess.”
Roxana swallowed what was in her mouth.
“Yes.”
“May I hold your arm for a moment?”
As if she hadn’t expected to receive such a request, Roxana widened her eyes slightly, then lowered her gaze and said.
“Your Highness is my master, so you don’t need to ask for permission.”
Floyd narrowed his brow slightly, then stood up abruptly and walked to her side. And, saying, “Excuse me,” he grabbed her arm.
Her arm was so thin that it seemed like it would break with the slightest force. He carefully held her arm, worried that it might break if he put any strength into it, and watched Roxana’s expression.
Roxana kept her gaze down and showed no reaction. Eventually, Floyd asked.
“How is it?”
Roxana looked up at Floyd. She couldn’t understand what he meant.
He suddenly asked to hold her arm, so what did this question mean?
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you feel anything? Like it’s particularly hot….”
Roxana blinked slowly to understand the meaning of the question, then cautiously asked.
“Do you wish for me to give you a womanly reaction to Your Highness’s touch?”
Floyd belatedly understood the meaning of Roxana’s question and jumped back, letting go of her arm. Floyd’s face turned red.
“What are you talking about? Are you out of your mind?”
Roxana, in turn, couldn’t understand what Floyd was talking about. Wasn’t the question of whether she felt anything from the sudden contact supposed to mean that?
Roxana was the one who said she would become a Sorceress on his bed, so even if he wanted her to attend him at night now, there was no reason to refuse.
But why was this man’s face so red? As if he had never had such a relationship with a woman before.
“I mean actually, physically, not that kind of meaning. I’m just asking if it’s really not hot… Ah, never mind. Never mind. Judging by your expression, it doesn’t seem to be hot.”
His flustered excuses were fascinating.
The Crimson Tiger who annihilates monsters.
She thought that someone with such a title would have a strong mind that wouldn’t be shaken by anything. Indeed, when he broke the box and looked down at Roxana, he seemed as intense as lightning splitting the sky.
It was surprising to see him so flustered, faltering, and blurting out whatever came to mind.
Roxana had learned that royalty should not reveal their emotions and feelings outwardly, but should quietly suppress them. She had learned that whether sad or happy, they should always show a graceful and dignified appearance in front of people.
The master of Torkan was a Monarch who was recognized by everyone despite his young age, but his appearance was somewhat different from the Monarch Roxana knew.
He laughed loudly, got angry, was embarrassed, and annoyed, fully revealing his emotions. What was surprising was that he didn’t seem vulgar at all even when he did that.
Floyd, who had returned to his original seat and plopped down, said.
“Continue your meal.”
“I’m full.”
Floyd frowned and looked down at the food, which hadn’t decreased at all compared to before.
“You eat so little.”
“I don’t move around as much as the knights do.”
Floyd picked up an orange on the plate and peeled it. He peeled off the thick skin, removed all the white pith attached to the flesh, cut a piece, and held it out to Roxana.
When Roxana didn’t accept it, he asked.
“Shall I put it in your mouth like last time?”
The events of that day, which had faded faintly, came to mind. She hadn’t known because she was out of her mind back then, but now that she thought about it, it was a very embarrassing thing.
Roxana blushed and accepted the orange he offered. She looked at the cleaned orange slice for a moment before putting it in her mouth.
Floyd watched her chew on the orange and said.
“I heard you went to the garden today?”
“Yes.”
“How is the garden? Do you like it?”
“It was beautiful. The pond, the flower beds, the sky.”
“I heard Dennis and Jewelry were bothering you.”
“So those are their names.”
“Hexter, the children of the captain of the Golden Lion Knights. They’re mischievous kids who roam around the Grand Duke’s residence like it’s their own backyard.”
“I see.”
“I’ll introduce you to Hexter next time. You’ll like him.”
Roxana slowly shook her head.
“You don’t have to do that. It will only provoke the knights’ opposition.”
“Why do you think it will provoke opposition?”
“Your Highness, my existence will be a danger to Torkan. If the Pelure Crown Prince hears that I’m alive, he will be displeased and demand that I be handed over, and if Your Highness protects me like this, Gania won’t stand still either. Isn’t it natural that the knights who have to protect Torkan don’t like the fact that I, who have been reduced to a mere slave, am occupying the Lily Palace?”
Floyd frowned as he listened to Roxana’s monotonous words.
“Who did you hear that from?”
“Do I need to hear it from someone? It’s something you can figure out with a little thought.”
“You’re smart, Princess. And quick to assess the situation.”
“If I were smart and quick to assess the situation, I wouldn’t have trusted the Pelure Crown Prince. I’m foolish and ignorant. That’s why I couldn’t protect my family.”
“Protecting them wasn’t your responsibility.”
“Is there such a thing as someone’s responsibility when it comes to protecting family? Everyone was just foolish and everyone was ignorant. And I, who survived without dying among them, was the most foolish.”
“Surviving isn’t a sin, Princess.”
Roxana didn’t refute those words. Only then did Floyd realize that Roxana hadn’t changed her expression once until now.
She had become more talkative than before, but her face was as stiff as a dead person’s.
It was better before. At least she frowned and cried. But now, she was wearing a mask, not revealing her emotions even while telling a sad story.
Floyd felt suffocated again and stood up.
“Rest, Princess. Tell me if you need anything at any time.”
Floyd, who had left the bedroom, strode down the hallway and raised his hand. The feeling of holding Roxana’s slender arm still remained on his palm.
-“Do you wish for me to give you a womanly reaction to Your Highness’s touch?”
His face flushed again as he recalled her clear eyes asking that.
What does that woman think of me? Does she see me as a crazy bastard who demands such a reaction from a woman who lives because she can’t die?
Anyway, she’s an amazing woman in many ways. It was the first time he had been speechless and breathless in front of a woman.
The heat that had disappeared returned as he left the Lily Palace. The air surrounding Floyd began to heat up.
A loud laugh, “Wahahaha,” was heard from the training grounds. It seemed like someone had made a mistake during sparring. Floyd wondered whether to stop by the training grounds for a while and watch, or head to his office as he was.
“Monarch!”
At that moment, Cain, who had discovered Floyd, ran over.
“Adrian is holding betting matches with the knights again.”
Adrian liked betting and gambling, so he often set up gambling tables at the training grounds. Everyone was more focused when money was involved, so he left them alone, but sometimes things got overheated and real fights broke out.
“Did a fight break out?”
“Not really. But I still don’t think betting is appropriate in the sacred training grounds.”
Floyd chuckled at Cain’s grumbling, then suddenly grabbed Cain’s wrist tightly because something came to mind. Cain, who had tilted his head at the sudden contact, frowned.
“Monarch, it’s too hot.”
“Right? It’s hot, isn’t it?”
“Yes, of course, it’s hot. Why are you suddenly doing this? Did I do something wrong? I’m telling you, me talking about Adrian isn’t tattling, it’s reporting.”
Floyd let go of Cain, who seemed to have misunderstood something and was protesting, and started walking again. He ignored Cain’s gaze as he rubbed his arm in disbelief.
‘But why?’
Why doesn’t this crazy heat work on Roxana? Why was the flame raging through his blood vessels so quiet when he was inside that Lily Palace?
‘Come to think of it, the Princess survived in that fire.’
Even the hems of the knights’ clothes protected by the Barrier were burning up from the heat. But Roxana, who was in the middle of that fire, was safe without even a single strand of hair being burned, only her clothes were burned.
“Hey.”
Floyd spoke to the being curled up inside him.
“What is it about the Princess that makes you quiet when I’m next to her? Is the Princess something to you? Or does the Princess have some special power?”
As always, the crazy being that dominated Floyd’s life gave no answer. Floyd laughed lowly, thinking that he must look like a madman talking to himself in an empty place.
‘Well, fine. There’s plenty of time.’
He would find out slowly. He had told Roxana to endure and live for just one year. Roxana might be thinking of dying after a year, but Floyd was sure.
There was no way Roxana would want to die even after a year. She would want to live more when that time came.
Because he would make it so.
‘Why should I try to save the Princess?’
A question suddenly arose, but he soon erased it. Floyd didn’t want to see Roxana die, and he usually lived doing what he wanted to do.
That alone was all the reason I ever needed.
