Translator: Nox
(42) Elise and Lucas (1)
Floyd could provide Roxana with a good room, pretty clothes, and delicious food, but he wouldn't risk his country for her. Roxana, too, could promise this wolf tasty meat and a cozy place to sleep, but she wouldn't go so far as to risk her country for him.
'So I have to make the Grand Duke feel like helping me at least once.'
She wasn't asking for much.
All she needed was to find her family's bodies, abandoned somewhere in Kanta Kingdom, and return them to God's embrace with Adelia's weapon. Adelia's weapon was hard to come by, so she needed Floyd's help with this part.
'Returning my family to God's embrace is the top priority. Once that's done.'
From then on, it would be Roxana's own work. She wouldn't need anyone's help.
Because this desperate hatred and resentment were all hers.
'That's how I'll grab your necks all by myself. Lucas, Elise.'
+++
"Hah!"
Elise gasped for breath and opened her eyes. Even though she had woken up, she still felt like she was trapped in a nightmare.
Since that day, the green eyes resembling a forest had followed Elise every single day. Then Elise felt like she could never escape the forest, no matter how much she ran and ran.
A dark forest where trees were densely packed, and not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate. A forest where unknown beings hidden in the shadows of the trees whispered, murmured, rustled, and chanted words of accusation.
'No. That bitch is dead.'
She was breathing, but it was as good as being dead. When she heard that her family had been thrown into the well, Roxana's eyes had lost their light. She had clearly confirmed that those green eyes, which had always shone so brightly, had completely died.
'But why?'
Why were her eyes, still with their vivid color, still overwhelming her?
She couldn't understand.
Even if she were alive, there was nothing Roxana could do. By now, she would be a slave to a perverted old man in the Hoben Islands across the sea, barely managing to breathe.
Elise bit her lower lip, recalling the Franche Royal Family, who had trusted her without a doubt.
Elise was in charge of bringing the second and third families, who lived outside the Royal Palace, into the Royal Palace. When she said that they should surprise Roxana, who would be returning soon, they smiled brightly and entered the Royal Palace without a doubt.
'Such a great family love.'
She felt bitter when she thought of them, who had never hesitated to do troublesome things just for Roxana.
-"What should we do to surprise our Lotty? Do you have any good ideas, Elin?"
Those were the last words of Ian, the second son.
Lucas Pelur's knights mercilessly swung their swords at them, who were gathered in one place. The Franche Royal Family's knights tried to fight back, but Lucas Pelur's side was dominant.
Roxana's family met their end helplessly under the mercilessly pouring blades.
'Why?'
Echion, the eldest son, spurted blood from his neck and cast such a gaze. Elise couldn't bear to see those eyes, which were filled with questions rather than resentment, and she couldn't stand it and ran away.
Elise wept and laughed in the hallway where their screams could be heard.
Guilt for the people who had treated her well, good memories with them, and resentment and hatred for driving her family out and causing their deaths were mixed together, and Elise lost her mind and screamed.
'I don't regret it.'
Elise clenched the soft blanket tightly.
'Even if I go back, I'll do the same thing.'
Her father, Duke Hailis, had only made a mistake because he had been blinded by greed for a very short time.
'Why is it such a big deal to squander more than half of the national treasury and give money to unqualified people to put them in good positions? Everyone does that. You can earn back the money you lost, and you can kick out the unqualified people. But is that a crime punishable by death?'
Of course, bandits had killed her family, but since they had died on the way to exile by order of the King, it was the same as the King killing them.
Every time she saw the Franche Royal Family, who cherished each other as if they were innocent, even though they had done such a thing to her family, her stomach churned. She had to swallow tears of blood.
But they didn't even know that and pretended to comfort Elise, showing the cheap sympathy of those in a superior position.
'I just gave your daughter back what you did to me. I just made Roxana go through the same thing I went through! I'm not wrong! I'm just giving back what I received.'
But why did those green eyes still not disappear and occupy every night, every moment? She had only done what she should have done as a daughter who had lost her family, so why was she still suffering from nightmares?
At that moment, there was a hand that gently caressed Elise's waist. Elise reflexively snuggled into the arms of the man lying next to her.
"Elin, why are you already awake?"
Lucas Pelur asked, embracing Elise.
Elise buried her face in the chest of the man she had always wanted and said, sobbing.
"I had a scary dream, Your Highness. That woman turned into a monster and followed me."
Lucas Pelur chuckled.
"My fairy is such a coward. She's a woman who has become a slave and can't do anything now, so what's so scary? Even if that woman dies and falls down and becomes Undead, that bitch's fingernails won't be able to reach you. She'll die in a faraway foreign land, so she'll live as a monster in a foreign land."
'Yes, that's right. Your fingernails will never reach me, Roxana. You'll be tormented by that perverted old man and die.'
Even as she thought that, Elise shed tears.
"I feel so sorry for her. She was so kind to me..."
Lucas Pelur felt his chest getting wet and gently grabbed Elise's chin to make her look at him.
Big blue eyes and white skin, and scarlet hair that made her skin stand out even more. A slender neck and delicate shoulders, a small frame that could fit perfectly in one's arms.
She was a perfect woman in every way.
Unlike Roxana, who didn't express her emotions well and didn't talk much, Elise was affectionate, emotionally rich, and tender-hearted. If he had married Roxana, who was only tall and taciturn, he would never have felt this tingling feeling for the rest of his life.
"There's no need to feel sorry for her, Elin."
Lucas Pelur said maturely and wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb.
"Have you forgotten what they did to your family? You only did what you had to do."
"But... Roxana was kind to me. I'm so sorry..."
Lucas Pelur kissed Elise's babbling mouth and stopped her words. Elise moaned softly and hugged his back.
"Sorry? You saved that woman's life. If it weren't for you, I would have killed that woman too."
Lucas Pelur's lips trailed down Elise's neck. Elise closed her eyes and stuck her fingers into Lucas Pelur's soft hair, but she couldn't bear the green eyes that were attacking her again and opened her eyes wide.
Whether she closed her eyes or opened them, those eyes, like a dense forest, followed her, but Lucas Pelur didn't know anything and was devouring Elise. Elise wanted to push him away and talk about this terrible fear, but she didn't.
Lucas Pelur, the Crown Prince of Gania, was now Elise's lifeline and only hope.
She must not displease Lucas Pelur. She must moan, laugh, and act cute as he wants. She must not let her guard down until he sees only her.
So Elise spent a hot time according to his movements as he wanted.
It was long after dawn that the two left the bed.
+++
Elise stayed in the Jade Palace in Robuah Palace of Gania Kingdom. The Jade Palace was known to the outside world as a place where the King's precious guests stayed, but in fact, it was a harem where the King's or Crown Prince's lovers lived.
There were several buildings that looked the same in the wide and well-kept garden, and each building had a bedroom, a bathroom, a study, two reception rooms, and a small hall. The King's or Crown Prince's lovers received one of these buildings and stayed there.
Elise, who had left Kanta and came to Gania, also received a building in the Jade Palace.
Elise soaked her body in the warm water that the maids had prepared in the bathtub and fell into thought.
'It's a relief that I'm the only woman Lucas Pelur has brought into the Jade Palace so far... but he probably has one or two more lovers elsewhere.'
Elise had lost trust in Lucas Pelur since she started living in the Jade Palace. Lucas Pelur had said, "You're the only one," but she didn't believe him.
'Yes, I never believed from the beginning that I would become the Crown Princess of this country.'
Lucas Pelur had whispered, "You'll sit next to me," and she had believed it for a while. But what Elise was given was not the 'Ruby Palace' where the Crown Princess stayed, but the 'Jade Palace'.
Once she set foot here, she would not be able to become the Crown Princess in an instant.
'I won't be able to become the Crown Princess.'
Even though she had made great contributions to this Kanta conquest, Elise was from a family that had been expelled for embezzlement. Just because it happened in Kanta doesn't mean that the family's sins are completely gone.
In addition, Elise also had the problem of being from Kanta Kingdom, which had now become a colony of Gania.
'But I can become the Queen Consort.'
Someday, when Lucas Pelur ascended the throne, it would be possible to kick out the woman who occupied his side and sit in that position. There have been countless examples of Queen Consorts being kicked out and new Queen Consorts being brought in.
'So I have to solidify my position. I have to gain people who will firmly support me when I try to become the Queen Consort.'
