Translator: Nox
(28) The Golden Lion's Treasure and Contaminated Water (12)
It felt like an eternity since she had last received guests. When she lived in Ider Palace, noble ladies and young misses visited Roxana in droves.
Roxana never welcomed their visits, as she found it more enjoyable to watch the knights train in the drill grounds or tend to the flowers in the garden.
Listening to the subtle power struggles and gossip about those absent from the tea parties made her want to scream.
'If you dislike them so much, just grab them by the hair!'
However, Roxana had learned the etiquette of royalty and the patience to conceal her emotions, allowing her to politely endure those tedious and exhausting hours.
Looking back now, it was a spoiled complaint.
Those who had visited her, even though they had no reason to curry favor with Roxana, who would one day leave Kanta to become the Queen Consort of Gania, probably held kind feelings towards her.
The faces of those she hadn't welcomed back then came to her mind vividly, one by one.
Were they safe? Were they suffering because they had served the Franche Royal Family?
Roxana, who had been brushing her hair in front of the mirror, realized that her face was terribly distorted and composed herself.
As she entered the drawing-room, Persi, Dennis, and Jewel, who had been sitting on the sofa, jumped up.
"Greetings, Princess."
The children, who had been about to run to Roxana, stopped when they saw their mother's formal greeting and bowed their heads, following her lead.
"Greetings, Princess."
"Greetings, Princess."
Roxana, relieved that Jewel looked healthy, said to Persi.
"I'm not a princess anymore. Please, just call me Roxana."
"I heard that my husband swore an oath of knighthood to you, Princess. So, to my family, you will always be a princess."
"Princess," the children echoed their mother.
Roxana, having learned that the people of Torkan were very stubborn, no longer asked them to call her by her name. She had lost count of how many times she had had this conversation every time they greeted each other.
As Roxana sat on the sofa, Persi and the children sat across from her. Persi opened the lid of a basket that was on the table and said, "I baked some meat pies."
The savory smell that had been filling the drawing-room must have been the meat pies.
"Mom's meat pies are the best in the world."
"I can eat two!"
The meat pies taken from the basket were perfectly golden brown and looked greasy.
Looking at them, Roxana recalled the meat pies her mother had baked for her long ago. The taste of her mother's meat pies, which she ate after playing in the garden with her brothers, was amazing.
Thinking about it now, they must have been ordinary meat pies, or rather, they might have tasted worse than the ones made by the Royal Palace chefs, but at the time, she thought there was nothing more delicious in the world.
"My mother used to bake meat pies like this often. My brothers and I thought those meat pies were the most delicious thing in the world."
Persi's eyes widened at her words, which she had muttered without realizing, lost in nostalgia.
"The Queen Consort baked meat pies herself?"
"Yes. My mother loved to cook and tend to the garden. In winter, she would knit scarves for us herself. Sometimes there were snags, but they were warm."
"I'm sure they were."
There was a brief silence. Persi, who was cutting the meat pie on the plate into bite-sized pieces with a knife, said, "You must be having a hard time."
"I don't know anymore."
It's okay, I'm fine.
She had always said that and had been taught that she had to say that. She had been taught that she should not reveal her emotions to anyone who was not family.
Yet, the fact that she was revealing her inner thoughts without realizing it was probably because this space felt as warm as when she was with her family. The smell of meat pies filling the drawing-room, the sound of the well-baked pie being cut, and the children's eyes shining with eagerness to eat.
Roxana felt as if she had returned to the drawing-room of Ider Palace.
"I feel like I'm here, but my soul is floating somewhere above, looking down at this place. My heart feels like it's being torn apart, but sometimes the pain doesn't feel like it's mine. So, I still sometimes think that this isn't real. Foolishly."
"Foolish? Not at all, Princess."
Persi said firmly.
"My brother died fighting a monster three years ago. At that time, my family and I learned what it was like to have our flesh torn and blood flowing. Of course, my sorrow cannot compare to your sorrow, Princess."
"How can sorrow be compared? Everyone's own sorrow is the greatest."
Persi placed a piece of meat pie on a small plate and placed it in front of Roxana. After giving each of the children a plate, she patted their bottoms and told them to go eat on the other sofa.
The quick-witted children realized that this was not a conversation they should be involved in and sat on the distant sofa, following their mother's instructions.
Roxana watched the children eat the meat pie diligently with their forks before asking, "Did your brother go to Adelia Hall?"
"Later," Persi said.
"It's not easy to recover the bodies of knights who died fighting monsters. They are close to the monsters, and Magical Energy seeps in from the wounds inflicted by the monsters, so most of them become Undead on the spot."
"Then...?"
"Knights carry swords engraved with Adelia Flower. Have you ever seen one? About this long."
Persi spread her hands to show the length of her forearm.
"It's a weapon with Adelia Flowers engraved on the handle and blade."
Roxana shook her head.
The knights of Kanta rarely had to deal with monsters, so she had never seen anyone carrying such a weapon. Perhaps there were some, but that information did not reach Roxana, who was a princess.
Persi said that the Adelia Sword had to be blessed by a priest after the flowers were engraved. That was why not just anyone could have this weapon, and it was difficult to obtain.
"It's made with a mixture of silver, so it's not suitable for use as a weapon. So, they carry it in their arms, and when a comrade turns into an Undead, they knock them down and stab them in the heart with that sword. Then the Magical Energy in the body disappears, and the Undead, who were moving with the power of Magical Energy, return to being ordinary corpses. After that, they put them in Adelia Hall and burn them. They don't bury them because they have turned into Undead once."
It was only yesterday that a small flame had been kindled in Roxana, who had been filled with nothing but despair. The flame, which was too small to be seen, grew a little bigger.
"If someone who has turned into an Undead is stabbed with that sword, will their soul be embraced by God?"
Persi tilted her head at the question, which sounded desperate for some reason, and then quickly answered after seeing Roxana's earnest eyes.
"We cannot confirm the soul's rest, but we simply believe. We believe that God would not heartlessly reject the soul of a poor human who died fighting monsters for this world."
After that, ordinary conversation continued.
Roxana ate all of the meat pie that was given to her, and the children returned to the sofa and chattered about various things. It was a conversation without a topic or purpose, but it was a pleasant and peaceful time.
After Persi left, Roxana brought up the thought that she had been holding in her heart throughout the conversation.
'The Adelia Sword.'
As Persi said, God would not abandon a human who had once become a monster. If they were not given rest and were rejected because they had become Undead due to unwanted Magical Energy, then that would be a devil, not God.
So, there must be a way to save them.
Roxana was certain that her family had turned into Undead. She did not harbor the vain hope that they had been embraced by God even though they had been thrown into a well, which was a very bad thing.
'But if I have the Adelia Sword, my family will return to God's embrace. If I do good deeds, God will accept my family even more generously.'
Roxana thought of her family, who would be lying in one of the wells of Ider Palace.
'Who is sitting on the throne of Ider Palace?'
It could be Lucas, but she didn't think so.
'Lucas is the Crown Prince of Gania, so he can't leave Gania for long. Perhaps someone from the Pelure Royal Family will act as the governor of Gania.'
It would be difficult to retrieve her family's bodies from Ider Palace, which had fallen into the hands of Kanta, which was under the control of the Gania Kingdom. Roxana could not do it alone. She needed someone's help.
'I'm not trying to take back the throne, I'm just trying to get my family's bodies back, but I can't do it alone.'
Floyd's words that there was nothing a princess could do came to her painfully.
'But the Grand Duke can do it.'
She needed his help. But she couldn't ask for help without giving anything in return, especially since she had already received so much. Moreover, approaching the Royal Palace of Kanta, which belonged to Gania, and searching the well would not be easy for him either.
'It could even become a problem between Torkan and Gania, so I can't ask for help rashly.'
She didn't want to cause trouble for others. She could not put the people of Torkan in danger in order to return her family to God's embrace.
So, she had to do something. She had to accomplish something that everyone would find convincing and reasonable in order to be qualified to ask for help.
For the first time, a will to live sprouted in Roxana's heart, which had been wrapped in desperate despair and had only looked forward to death.
