Translator: Nox
(2) The Princess Who Wanted to Die and the Cursed Grand Duke (2)
It was the first time she had felt someone else's lips overlapping hers. She had received kisses on the cheek from her parents, older brothers, and younger sibling, but a kiss on the lips was new, unfamiliar, and bewildering.
Her heart pounded not with excitement, but because she didn't know what to do next.
Then she remembered Elise's words.
-"A lady simply needs to remain still, Princess. If you take the initiative, you'll appear wanton, so just stay still as if you know nothing, and the man will take care of everything. Just follow his lead."
She didn't have the leeway to take the initiative anyway. Since she truly knew nothing, she remained still, and as Elise had said, Lucas took care of everything.
She remembered it as an eternity. Every action that followed wasn't particularly enjoyable, but she didn't push Lucas away. Lucas was the man who would one day be her husband, and when that happened, she would have to accept even more than this.
After that, Lucas often kissed her, but she didn't experience the 'world-shattering, explosive feeling' described in many pulp novels. But it wasn't terrible either, so Roxana decided to believe that this kind of love also existed.
The journey from the Great Temple to Kanta Kingdom was tediously long. Roxana wanted to return as soon as possible to meet her family, share her stories, and be surrounded by their warm affection.
The incident occurred on the third day.
"W-What's going on!"
"An ambush!"
"The coachman is dead! Get the Princess to safety first!"
Amidst shouts filled with obvious panic, the carriage lurched, stopped moving, and then began to race forward.
She could hear the knights yelling and drawing their swords.
Clang, clang-!
The sound of swords clashing grew more distant. The carriage was bumping violently, as if it had veered off the road.
A pale Lasha stared at Roxana with terrified eyes.
"P-Princess. An ambush... it seems like an ambush... What should we do?"
Roxana bit her lower lip and slightly pulled aside the curtain on the carriage window to look outside. The sight of dense trees rushing past the window was unfamiliar.
Born as a princess of Kanta Kingdom, she had lived in the safety of the Royal Palace. When she occasionally went to the bustling streets of the capital, she was accompanied by numerous escort knights. This was the first time she had traveled so far, but her father, Victian IV, had provided a unit of elite royal guard for his daughter.
-"Father is so worried. The only real danger on the way from here to the Great Temple would be bandits, but elite knights?"
Who was it that had said that?
Right, it was her third older brother, Nauphried. Nauphried had shaken his head at their father's excessive concern, but he had also squeezed Roxana's shoulder and said,
-
"Lotty. No matter how dangerous the situation, you have to keep your wits about you. Understand? If you think you're going to be caught, be prepared to bite and kill at least one of them."
-
"It seems like you're more worried."
She also remembered her second older brother, Ian, chuckling beside Nauphried. And her nephews clinging to her skirt, begging her not to go.
This wasn't the time to be so leisurely recalling peaceful scenes when she was in such a crisis.
"Princess."
A familiar face appeared outside the carriage window.
It was Robert, one of the escort knights.
Seeing his face, which had followed and protected her like a shadow since she was young, eased her fear a little.
"Robert, what's going on? Is it a monster?"
The carriage was still moving, and Robert was riding alongside it on horseback. His face was full of worry.
"It's not a monster..."
That was all he said.
Thwack-!
Something flew and pierced Robert's neck. Roxana realized a moment too late that it was an arrow.
Robert grabbed the arrow stuck in his neck, but another arrow flew and pierced his chest.
He didn't even scream. Roxana forgot to breathe as she stared at her collapsing escort knight.
For over a decade, the loyal wolf of the Royal Family had steadfastly protected Roxana. She blankly stared as his brown eyes, which had remained sharp even in middle age, lost their light.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
Lasha's scream filled the carriage. Only then did Roxana come to her senses.
'It's not a monster?'
Then why would the elite royal guard be so helpless?
'It can't be just bandits. Bandits are no match for the knights.'
She could only assume that they had known in advance that the Franche Royal Family's carriage would be passing through this place and had ambushed them. The attackers seemed to be highly skilled archers.
'The coachman must have been killed by an arrow too. If he had charged with a sword, the knights would have stopped him.'
They must have killed the coachman with an arrow from the front, then attacked from the rear while the knights were in confusion. The dense trees made it easy for the archers to hide.
'Who is it? Who is targeting the Franche Royal Family?'
She tried to think of hostile countries, but she couldn't think of any country near the empire that would recklessly launch an attack. Kanta Kingdom had maintained good relations with its neighboring countries, and no one was trying to start a reckless war, especially because of the monsters.
'No, what's important now isn't who the enemy is.'
The enemy's identity would be revealed soon enough. What was important was surviving right now.
"Lasha."
Roxana tightly gripped Lasha's knees, who was still screaming.
"Lasha! Get a grip!"
Lasha finally stopped screaming at Roxana's strong shout.
"P-Princess... Princess... Robert... Sir Robert..."
Lasha's voice trembled endlessly, but Roxana's eyes didn't waver. Thanks to Roxana's unwavering gaze, Lasha's trembling gradually subsided.
"Lasha. Listen carefully. Judging from the fact that the carriage is still intact, it doesn't seem like they intend to kill us right away. Their goal is probably to kidnap us."
Lasha nodded, tears streaming down her face. There was no time to comfort her.
"They've been planning this for a long time, and they're skilled. We won't be able to escape their grasp by resisting. So Lasha, when this carriage stops and they reach out to us, don't resist and do as they say. Don't try to protect me either."
"B-But Princess..."
Roxana shook her head, keeping her gaze fixed on Lasha.
"Lasha, you can't protect me. I don't have the strength to protect myself either. Resisting would only be a pointless death, so we have no choice but to do as they say for now and plan for the future."
She was speaking calmly to alleviate Lasha's fear as much as possible, but Roxana couldn't completely suppress the ominous feeling that was slowly spreading within her.
The coachman was dead, and one of the knights must have taken his place. Robert, who had been following the carriage, was dead, but there was no sign of the knight driving the carriage fighting the enemies.
It was suspicious that the enemies were leaving the knight driving the carriage alone.
'It would be possible if the knight driving the carriage was on their side.'
If Roxana's prediction was correct, it meant that this had been planned for a very long time. A plan that had been meticulously crafted since long before a spy had settled into the Royal Knights of Kanta Kingdom.
The tips of her fingers grew cold.
'Are my family... safe?'
When the carriage stopped and the door was roughly opened, Roxana realized that her prediction had been correct. The knight who opened the carriage door was wearing the uniform of the Royal Knights of Kanta Kingdom, and behind him stood dozens of men dressed like mercenaries. And among them were several knights wearing the Royal Knights uniform.
It meant that the traitor, or spy, wasn't just one person.
Lasha burst into tears again. Roxana wanted to cry too, but she glared at the knight and asked calmly.
"Since when?"
The knight raised his visor and replied.
"From the beginning."
+++
She was moved for a long time with a blindfold on. She couldn't see anything, so she didn't know how many days had passed or where they were going. She only knew that when the carriage stopped and she smelled food, it was time to eat.
Lasha refused the food, but Roxana ate everything on the plate in front of her. She had to stay healthy in case something happened. If she was ever rescued, she couldn't be a burden because she lacked the strength.
She couldn't see, so she picked up pieces of bread or meat with her hands and shoved them into her mouth without utensils.
"Even the Princess can't help it when she's starving."
"She probably never even dreamed of eating food like that. What a pathetic sight."
She didn't care about their mockery. Surviving was the priority. The single-mindedness, the hope, the wish to somehow survive and reunite with her family.
Even though her hair was greasy from not being able to wash it for a long time, even though her skin had become rough and she had started to smell bad, Roxana didn't despair. Not until the blindfold was removed and she realized that she was standing in Kanta Palace.
At first, Roxana thought she was seeing things. She thought she was seeing a distorted scene because she hadn't been able to see for a while. Because everything she was seeing was so incredibly nonsensical.
The audience chamber of Kanta Palace, where Roxana had lived since the moment she was born.
Sitting on the high throne in the audience chamber, which she had frequented like her own room, was not her father, Victian IV, but someone else. And the person sitting in the Queen Consort's throne next to him was not her mother, Angelia, but someone else.
The knights guarding them, the vassals standing along the edges of the long carpet in the audience chamber, were not the people Roxana knew, and the crest engraved on the tapestry hanging on the wall behind the King's throne was not the crest of the Franche Royal Family of Kanta Kingdom.
And so, Roxana stared at the audience chamber for a long time without even blinking before finally managing to open her mouth.
"Lucas, why... why?"
