Translator: Nox
(4) The Princess Who Wished to Die and the Cursed Grand Duke (4)
It was as if a huge boulder had fallen on her head. Roxana stared wide-eyed at the smile she could see between Elise's hands. The cruel smile pierced, tore, and engraved itself into Roxana's eyes.
Her heart pounded as if it would burst. The blood vessels in her whole body seethed.
Woooooong-
In that instant, the ground beneath the prison vibrated, and though there were no windows, a faint breeze blew. But the anomaly disappeared before anyone present could fully register it.
"The bodies of my family...?"
Roxana asked in a hoarse voice, and Elise lowered the hands that had been covering her face.
"Aren't you curious why I did this?"
She was curious, but that wasn't what mattered right now.
Hearing why her good friend had betrayed her and her family wouldn't change anything. She had trusted someone she shouldn't have, and her family had let in someone they shouldn't have.
As a result of her lack of discernment, her family had lost their lives, the royal family had fallen, and the country had been taken.
That was all. One of those things that happened everywhere on this continent.
The problem was the bodies of her family.
In order for the souls of her family to enter the embrace of the god Weden and find rest, their bodies had to be placed in coffins engraved with the 'Adelia Flower,' the symbol of the god.
If they were not placed in those coffins and buried or burned, their souls would lose their way and float forever in a place that was neither here nor there, unable to find rest. Abandoned corpses might be invaded by evil and become Undead, dead but not dead.
Even poor people without money would carve the 'Adelia Flower' into wooden planks to make coffins when their family members died.
"Please tell me, Elise. My family's... what happened to my family's bodies?"
At her desperate plea, the corners of Elise's lips twisted upward. Elise looked down at Roxana with an expression that was hard to describe, and then she spoke.
"You're still selfish and cold, Princess. At times like this, you should be asking why your longtime friend committed such an act... Really, how could I have ever thought someone like you was a precious friend...? I feel so pathetic and miserable."
Elise sniffled again and covered her eyes with a handkerchief.
Roxana couldn't understand. She was the one who had lost her family, lost her country, and been betrayed, so why was Elise crying over there? Why was she blaming her, who had been betrayed and lost everything?
"You know, Princess, you shouldn't have saved me. You shouldn't have shown me compassion. You should have just, just let me die with my family. Just left me like that!"
Elise lowered the handkerchief. Her brightly shining blue eyes pierced Roxana.
Roxana couldn't understand the deep hatred contained in those eyes.
Elise distorted her fairy-like face and shouted.
"You should have let go, Roxana! If you had, your family wouldn't have died and been thrown into a well!"
In that instant, the light disappeared from Roxana's eyes.
"Thrown... into a well...?"
"Yes, Roxana. Your father, your mother, your brothers who doted on you, and their families, all thrown into a well! Do you think I would have thrown even a single Adelia Flower petal to them? I threw them into the well and blocked the entrance, so your family will never smell the Scent of Adelia, even when spring comes!"
It was a curse. A curse that they would never find rest, even after this world crumbled and disappeared. A curse that was all the more terrible and tragic to those who believed in the god Weden.
Roxana's eyes were wide open, but there was no life in them now.
Her family had not only died but had also been denied entry into the land of rest. They might even become neither alive nor dead, wandering around in the dark well. A terrible despair tore apart Roxana's mind, which had barely been holding on.
And so, Roxana didn't even realize that the men holding her were branding her neck with the mark of a slave.
Chizzzzzz-
Even though the hot iron burned her raw flesh, she didn't feel any pain, and she sat blankly like a soulless doll.
Elise's eyes flickered and wavered for a moment as she watched Roxana's appearance. Elise sniffled again and crouched down in front of Roxana.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Princess."
Elise stroked Roxana's cheek, but Roxana still didn't move.
"I know you were very good to me. I know you cared about me a lot. But what can I do, what can I really do..."
Elise pressed down on Roxana's collarbone, which had been branded with the iron, with her finger.
"I wish you would die without ever smelling the Scent of Adelia, Princess... That's my wish..."
Roxana's eyes, which had been staring blankly at the air, turned to Elise. Roxana saw Elise crying and laughing. Tears were constantly flowing down, but her lips were stretched wide to both sides.
Sincere sadness and bursting joy coexisted on Elise's pretty face. It was such a bizarre scene that Roxana thought she would remember this sight even after she died.
Elise gently stroked Roxana's cheek and said.
"But still, Princess, I'll save you. If you meet a good master, they might put you in an Adelia coffin. This is the last gift I'm giving you as a friend."
That night, Roxana, the beloved princess of the Kanta Kingdom, became a slave who had to get her master's permission even to breathe.
The ill-fated princess was sold to a slave trader, but the people of Kanta heard the despairing news that even the princess had died, and the bloodline of the Franche Royal Family had been completely cut off.
A long, sorrowful cry echoed for a long time in the Kanta Kingdom, which had now become a colony of Gania.
+++
Back in Imperial Era 1577, November.
Floyd burst into laughter as he watched Count Conte run away with his tail between his legs.
"Look at that sight. Doesn't he look like a rat with its tail on fire!"
"My lord, you seem to be having too much fun," Arsene pointed out.
Floyd didn't stop laughing.
"Of course, I'm having fun. That old fox of Gania still tries to treat me like a kitten in her arms, and if I don't get excited, what will!"
The smile disappeared from Floyd's lips, and his eyes blazed. Heat shimmered around his broad shoulders.
"How can I suppress this urge to run over there and break that woman's neck? Right?"
The heat that had been making the surrounding air hot quickly subsided. Floyd's gray eyes, which had been burning with anger, also regained their original light. However, his body was still hotter than that of an ordinary person.
This flame, which had followed him since childhood, was once called a curse, but now it was called a blessing that saved him and saved people. But Floyd still felt like this fire was a curse.
Floyd impatiently took off the black cloak he had put on to meet the envoy and threw it down, then turned around abruptly. His subordinates followed him as he strode away.
"My lord, where are you going?"
At Adrian's question, Floyd replied cheerfully.
"Let's go drink. I'm in a bad mood."
"Sounds good. Shall I have them bring out the wine we brought from Hutenche?"
"No, beer. I'm in the mood for beer today!"
Adrian, who had wanted to drink expensive wine, grumbled unhappily, but Floyd ignored him completely and left the building, climbing the tower connected to the fortress wall.
From the top of the tower on the fortress wall surrounding the Grand Duke's Palace, one could see the wide-open sea at a glance. It was November, but the wind was only pleasantly cool, and the sky was blue without a single cloud. Under the pouring afternoon sun, jewel-like light sparkled whenever the dark blue sea rippled.
It was a place where they often drank, so a table and chairs were already prepared. The servants hurriedly brought snacks and a large beer barrel.
The subordinates sat in the chairs, but Floyd straddled the round beer barrel. He poured a cup of beer as big as his face and drank it down in one gulp, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
It was an action that was impossible to imagine from the Monarch of a country, but it was a familiar sight to his subordinates.
"By the way, the Franche Royal Family has become quite pitiful."
It was Cain who opened his mouth. Cain had a black eyepatch over his left eye, giving him a fierce impression, but he had a tender heart.
Adrian, Cain's twin brother, who didn't resemble him in the slightest, chuckled.
"Pitiful, you say. It's not like the fall of a royal family is something that only happens in Kanta. Those who sit at the top must be prepared to fall from there."
"But Lucas, that madman, went too far. He even killed children... I heard there was even a three-year-old among the dead children!"
"That's what it's like to inherit the blood of a King. How many people are born into a royal family and don't face an assassination threat at a young age?"
"Still... Ah, damn it. I really can't talk to you!"
Cain, unable to argue due to his lack of eloquence, snapped, and Adrian smiled and lifted Cain's chin with his index finger.
"Not 'you,' but 'hyung' (older brother), younger brother."
Cain pushed Adrian's arm away while getting angry. Floyd watched the scene and chuckled.
His gray eyes, like a cloudy sky, were fixed on his subordinates, but his mind was filled with a different sight.
'The Franche Royal Family...'
He had destroyed and erased all the memories of his wandering days, but hearing about what had happened in the Kanta Kingdom made him vaguely recall his days at Ider Palace.
Ider Palace of the Franche Royal Family, where he had stayed for a while when he was wandering around without any family or guards.
It was similar in size and similar in splendor to Robuah Palace of the Gania Kingdom, but it was a place filled with a brilliance and warmth that was different from Robuah Palace.
At Robuah Palace, Floyd had only received kicks, curses, and contemptuous looks, but at Ider Palace, everyone treated him kindly. Although he didn't like the pity in their eyes at times.
And the young princess with platinum blonde hair that he had seen there. A small, pretty princess who shone like the moon even on a rainy day.
'What was her name...'
-"Lotty!"
That's right, the princes of Franche called her 'Lotty.'
