Translator: Nox
(38) Star Festival and Ash-Colored Wolf (10)
The wolf cubs were brown like their parents, except for one. A small, gray wolf, as if its pigment was missing, couldn't mingle with its siblings and shivered alone in a secluded spot. The wolf parents didn't pay attention to it either.
Roxana unconsciously tried to move towards the cage, but Floyd pulled her away. Roxana barely managed to tear her gaze away and tried to erase the pitiful gray wolf from her mind.
A long line stretched to the entrance of the tent, where someone was collecting tickets. People presented their tickets in turn and entered, and Floyd handed the person two tickets as well.
Floyd and Roxana entered the tent, but Hexter was stopped.
"My lord, what about mine?"
"I only have two tickets."
Floyd said coldly without turning around. Hexter smirked.
"How stingy."
He took out a coin on the spot, handed it to the ticket taker, and quickly followed the two inside.
Small chairs were arranged in a semicircle around the stage. Each row was higher than the one in front, so that people in the back could easily see the stage.
Floyd and Roxana sat side by side in the middle, and Hexter sat behind them.
"If you're so stingy, you'll go bald."
Hexter rested his chin on Floyd's shoulder and grumbled. Floyd pushed his forehead away with his hand and said,
"Did you forget? You're an uninvited guest."
The empty seats were soon filled. Only the stage was brightly lit, making it difficult to see who was sitting in the audience.
It was noisy until the circus started, but it quieted down when the host announced the beginning of the circus on stage.
The first to appear was a man who ate fire.
The man swung the fire burning at the end of a stick, and when he brought the flame to his mouth, gasps echoed from everywhere. And when the man swallowed the flame, people applauded and cheered.
Floyd watched the scene as if it were very amusing and ridiculous, and pondered how to tell Roxana about the series of events that had occurred in the Kanta Kingdom.
'The princess probably doesn't know exactly what happened in her country.'
At first, he didn't want to tell Roxana anything. He thought that Roxana probably had a rough idea, so there was no need to tell her about the method Lucas Pelur used and remind her of her situation again.
'But I can't hide it forever.'
Someday, it might reach Roxana's ears through someone else. It would be better for him to tell her himself. He wanted to be there for her when she was shocked and distressed.
Floyd knew very well the loneliness of floundering in despair when no one recognized or stood by you.
'Trash bastard.'
The irritation that welled up whenever he thought of Lucas Pelur was particularly sharp today. If Roxana hadn't been next to him, an uncontrollable fire would have burned down this tent.
Floyd glanced at Roxana. Roxana's gaze was fixed on the circus stage, but her eyes were indifferent, so he couldn't tell if she was enjoying it or bored.
'It would be nice if the princess were an easier woman to understand.'
When he told her the truth about the fall of the Kanta Kingdom, he didn't know if he would even be able to tell if she was in despair.
While Floyd was fretting and looking at Roxana, Roxana was thinking about the small gray wolf while keeping her eyes on the stage. A pitiful wolf born gray among brown parents and siblings, unable to fit in.
Its situation felt just like her own.
Roxana Evelyn Franche, who survived alone without being able to die together.
'If I said I wanted to bring that child... would he allow it?'
When Roxana glanced at Floyd, Floyd was looking at the stage.
'He'll allow it. He won't allow me to do something, but he'll allow me to want something.'
But then again, she wondered if it was even possible to take care of someone when she couldn't even take care of herself. Roxana was planning to follow her family after collecting their bodies and confirming that they had returned to God's embrace.
If she couldn't take it with her then, it was better not to bring it in the first place. There was nothing more cruel than taking a life without the responsibility to take care of it to the end.
While Floyd and Roxana were lost in different thoughts and watching the stage, the circus moved from ball juggling to trapeze acrobatics, and then to knife throwing.
A blonde woman wearing clothes that revealed more than they covered stood with her arms outstretched in front of a round board. There was a red apple on her head and one on each of her hands.
And a man was performing tricks with several knives, quite far away from the woman.
'Is he going to hit the apples with those knives? It seems too far...'
Roxana was engrossed in the performance for the first time. Since a woman's life was at stake, she couldn't just brush it off like before.
'What if he misses? Isn't that woman scared?'
At that moment, the man caught a knife he had thrown into the air and threw it at the woman.
Whoosh-!
The knife flew through the air and hit the apple on the woman's right hand accurately.
"Wow!"
The audience, who had been holding their breath, applauded and cheered.
At the same time, the man threw another knife. This time, it hit the apple in her left hand. And the third knife cut through the air.
Not towards the target apple, but towards the audience.
The audience didn't know what was happening.
-Dangerous, Lotty.
A hurried voice was heard.
But before that, Floyd's arm moved. He pressed down on Roxana's shoulder and slightly tilted his head to the side.
The knife that flew towards his temple grazed his temple. It was Hexter, who was sitting right behind him, who caught the knife that hadn't lost its speed.
"How ruthless. You knew I was behind you."
Hexter grumbled and kicked off from the audience seats and flew into the air. Only then did the audience realize what was happening and screamed and scattered in all directions.
Amidst the audience members who were scrambling to escape, Roxana sat still with her shoulder pressed down by Floyd.
'What's going on?'
The woman on stage was flustered, and the man who had been throwing knives had disappeared. Hexter was seen cutting through the tent beyond the stage with his sword and going out.
"Occasionally, there are guys who are obsessed with my life like this. This time, he seems to have disguised himself as a circus performer. He even learned knife throwing skills for that. Isn't that a burning passion?"
His voice sounded particularly monotonous amidst the sound of chairs being pushed, screams, and the hurried footsteps of people. Despite the fact that his life had been targeted, he seemed relaxed.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"They were aiming for His Highness."
"He must be unskilled, or the princess would have been hurt."
He hadn't dodged it perfectly, as blood was flowing from his temple. He was worried only about Roxana, even though he was injured.
Roxana unconsciously reached out towards his temple. Her white thumb gently wiped away the blood flowing down his cheek.
"You're hurt."
"This much will heal if you lick it."
Was he asking her to lick it?
While Roxana was hesitating, he added.
"Ah, I'm not asking the princess to lick it."
He smiled and wiped the blood that had flowed onto the back of his hand. In the meantime, the tent was silent because all the audience members had left.
Only then did he take out a small flute from his pocket and blow it hard.
Peeeee-
A sharp sound pierced through the tent.
He stood up and looked down at Roxana and asked.
"Can you get up?"
"Yes."
Roxana took a slow breath and stood up to face him. Then, she took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the blood that had started flowing again from his wound.
"You need to get treatment."
"If you lick it..."
"You can't lick that part yourself. Are you going to ask Lenardo to lick it for you?"
Floyd recoiled as if horrified.
"The princess says terrible things so casually."
"So, you should get treatment..."
"Look, princess."
Floyd took the handkerchief from Roxana's hand and roughly rubbed his wound. Roxana was flustered and grabbed his arm tightly, but she couldn't overcome his strength.
The blood stopped when the white handkerchief was dyed red.
"The bleeding has stopped now, right?"
Roxana blinked her eyes.
How could he be so rough? Doesn't it hurt?
"The knights have arrived. Let's go."
As Floyd said, the knights had arrived at the circus grounds. The knights were all dressed in black uniforms with white emblems.
The audience members who had screamed and ran out of the tent were caught and gathered on one side, and the people who appeared to be circus members were also caught on the other side. The man with the tall hat, who seemed to be the ringmaster, was protesting to the knight with a look as if he was about to pass out.
Hexter, who had found Floyd, ran over.
"He seems to have escaped on a horse that he had hidden outside. The knights have followed him, so he won't be able to escape through the city gates and will be caught. Ah, and I don't think the ringmaster knows anything. He's been coming and going steadily for the past five years."
"Investigate properly, as it may have been planned five years ago."
"Yes, sir!"
After Floyd left the circus with Roxana, Hexter scratched his head and looked around. The animals that had been preparing to perform tricks were back in their cages. As if sensing the strange atmosphere, they were crying sadly or scratching at their cages.
'The princess has been looking at the wolf cage since earlier...'
Hexter went to the wolf cage and looked inside.
There was a noticeable gray wolf among the brown wolves. It was smaller than its siblings, as if it hadn't been fed properly.
'Was she looking at this one?'
Hexter turned to look at the circus ringmaster, who was being held by the knight.
"Hey! I'm taking a wolf cub!"
"Yes, yes! As many as you want. You can take them all!"
"All of them is too much, just one."
Hexter took out a silver coin from his pocket and threw it at the ringmaster. The silver coin flew and landed accurately on the ringmaster's head.
Hexter fearlessly reached into the cage. The growling adult wolves stopped paying attention when Hexter grabbed the gray wolf by the scruff of its neck. The gray wolf snarled for a moment, then stopped resisting and quietly allowed Hexter to grab it and leave the cage.
Hexter, who had put the small wolf inside his uniform, moved with the knights for a while to assess the situation. The circus ringmaster, who had been held and questioned for a long time before being released without charge, inadvertently looked at the wolf cage and muttered.
"What on earth did that knight take earlier? All three cubs are here..."
