Translator: Nox
(6) The Princess Who Wanted to Die and the Cursed Grand Duke (6)
Inside the narrow box, Roxana endlessly gazed up at Floyd. Green eyes like spring grass and a golden halo like sunlight spreading through dense trees. It had been many years since she last saw those eyes, but she hadn't mistaken them.
He looked as though he had been eating poorly for some time, with a gaunt body, dull skin, disheveled hair, and chapped, torn lips.
The vivacity of the little girl who had run to give him an umbrella while playing with her brothers at Ider Palace was no longer present in her. However, Floyd was certain that she was the princess he had seen back then.
At that moment, indescribable emotions washed over Floyd.
Anger, shock, annoyance, resentment, longing, sadness, and something difficult to name.
Floyd, usually immune to such feelings, was overwhelmed and momentarily forgot to breathe. Staring down at Roxana with bated breath, Floyd saw the Sunflower Mark branded on her collarbone.
The Sunflower Mark, symbolizing a slave.
As soon as he saw it, the power that had been dormant within Floyd stirred.
He belatedly tried to regain his senses and control the surging emotions, but the power escaped Floyd's reason and will, running rampant on its own.
A wave of intense heat swept through the ship's warehouse, and the knights, realizing the anomaly, erected a Barrier. The next moment, a massive burst of flames erupted from Floyd.
"Ugh... Ughaaaaa!"
"Kyaaaaa!"
The box shattered and burned in the sudden burst of Fire Demon, and people screamed. The knights expanded the Barrier's area to protect the people, but they couldn't completely block the heat. The hems of the clothes of those inside the Barrier sizzled and burned.
Floyd shouted at the insane flames that had escaped his control.
"Stop it! Stop now!"
But as always, the insane flames ignored Floyd's desperate cries. The Fire Demon would only subside after wreaking as much havoc as it desired.
Floyd didn't dare to look down and check on Roxana. While others would be protected by the knights' Barrier, Roxana, who was close to him, must have been directly affected by the flames.
To lose her country, be branded as a slave, and now to die by fire.
In the end, he had contributed to the princess's cruel fate, and he had to witness the horrific consequences he had created.
Then, something grabbed his pant leg. He looked down to see who was holding onto his pants.
The box and her clothes had been burned away without a trace by the flames, but Roxana alone was unharmed, as if nothing had happened. Her skin wasn't burned, and her hair was intact. Despite being engulfed in flames, Roxana was there as if nothing had happened.
'How...?'
Floyd was bewildered, but Roxana was not. The flames that had engulfed her felt like a blessing.
In the intense heat, Roxana heard numerous voices. Familiar voices that she had often heard long ago, but hadn't heard for a very long time.
The voices weren't as gentle as they used to be, and seemed very angry. It sounded like they were fighting someone.
But that didn't matter anymore.
The moment she remembered who the master of Torkan was, Roxana wanted only one thing. She wanted to entrust the end of her cruel fate to him.
So, Roxana grabbed his pant leg, looked up at him, and desperately said, filled with a sliver of hope.
"Please don't grant me the Adelia Flower."
That way, my soul won't find rest and will wander around, and if I'm lucky, I might run into my family once.
But that desperate wish didn't reach Floyd's ears. Mixed with the screams of the people, only fragmented words like 'please,' 'flower,' and 'grant' reached Floyd's ears.
When the strength left Roxana's hand that was holding his pant leg, and her supporting upper body fell to the floor with a thud, the flames that had been flickering around him as if they would never go out disappeared in an instant. A wind that blew in as if on cue, even though there were no windows, stole away the remaining heat.
The screams stopped. Silence descended on the place that had been a scene of chaos just moments before.
Floyd was still looking down at Roxana. A miraculous woman who had emerged from the flames unscathed, despite being engulfed by the Fire Demon right in front of him.
He couldn't understand what had happened. Even after the insane flames subsided, the heat usually lingered for a while, but now it was as cool as if there had never been a fire.
Where was this wind that was driving away the heat coming from?
Then, Floyd suddenly came to his senses and took off the jacket he was wearing and draped it over Roxana's body. With a worried heart, he put his fingers under her nose to check if she was breathing.
He felt a faint breath.
She's alive.
Floyd was relieved and picked her up in his arms. Limp in his arms, she was so thin and haggard that she seemed like a dead person.
Looking down at her, Floyd remembered that she had desperately tried to say something earlier.
Please, flower, grant.
She probably meant to ask him to grant her the Adelia Flower. Because if she wasn't wrapped in Adelia Flowers, her soul wouldn't be able to rest.
'Did I look like such a bad guy that she thought I wouldn't even grant her a single Adelia Flower?'
Well, he probably did. The first thing she saw after being trapped in a box was a scowling, grim-looking man, so it was understandable that she was worried that her body would be thrown away anywhere.
Turning around, Floyd saw the warehouse, which had been ravaged by the fire. The rescued slaves were huddled together around the knights, looking at Floyd with terrified eyes.
"I'll go back first, so clean up the mess."
Floyd gave the order to the knights, then picked up Roxana and left that hellish place.
+++
The smell of burning filled the cargo hold of the merchant ship. The wind that had been blowing from somewhere had stopped, and the stagnant air was suffocating.
The tense slaves collapsed here and there. Some slaves huddled in the corner, trembling.
The captains of the royal guard ordered the knights to clean up the warehouse and then went up to the deck. The sailors and slave traders who had been captured by the knights were tied up in one corner, kneeling.
The captain, who was caught among the sailors, protested that he didn't know anything about it, and the other sailors agreed with the captain's words. The slave trader and his men, fearing what would happen in the future, tried to appease the knights with pale faces.
Adrian, the captain of the Red Spider Knights, rested his elbows on the railing and gazed at the vast sea. His cloudy silver hair fell down, covering his deep and delicate eyes.
Adrian brushed his bangs back as if they were annoying and muttered.
"What is that woman the master took away?"
"They said she was a princess of Kanta."
Adrian frowned at Cain's answer.
"Who doesn't know that? I'm saying that because it seems like the master knows that woman."
"The master knows that woman? I don't think so..."
"Brother, think about it. The master is so uninterested in women that he can't even remember the faces of the maids who come and go every day. But as soon as he saw that woman, he knew she was a princess of Kanta."
"Wouldn't it be natural for him to recognize a princess from a country? The master isn't an idiot."
"The King of Enilta wanted to form a relationship with the master and sent his daughter here several times, but the master can't remember who she is every time he sees her."
The King of Enilta Kingdom, wanting to forge a strong relationship with Floyd, had already sent his daughter, Drassel, to Torkan several times under the guise of a vacation.
The pretty and lovely Drassel tried in many ways to win Floyd's favor, but Floyd couldn't even remember her name.
Her persistence in challenging him every time, even while hearing the words, "Ah, who was it again?" was admirable.
"But as soon as he saw that woman, he recognized her as a princess of Kanta."
"Princess of Kanta? Roxana Franche, you mean?"
Adrian, startled by the voice that suddenly came from his ear, grabbed his ear and shouted.
"Ugh! You scared me! Hexter! Where are you breathing that dirty breath?"
Hexter laughed as he watched Adrian's startled appearance. Hexter, the captain of the Golden Lion Knights, smelled of cheap alcohol, as if he had been drinking somewhere.
"So? What did I miss? What happened to the princess of Kanta?"
"If you didn't want to miss anything, you shouldn't have been late when the master called you. Keep wondering."
Adrian retorted teasingly, but Cain said.
"It seems that the princess of Kanta was trapped inside the box where the slaves were kept. The master took that woman away. Like this, carrying her."
As Cain mimicked carrying a woman, Hexter's eyes widened.
"The master carried a woman like that?"
"Yeah. And you know what's even more amazing? The master went berserk."
"Ah, so that's why it smells like burning."
"Yeah, it was amazing. But that woman was right in front of the master, and she wasn't hurt at all. Her clothes were all burned, but her hair..."
Cain's face turned red as he remembered something and continued.
"Anyway, she looked fine."
"Still, it's amazing. To think that the princess of Kanta was alive... The Franche Royal Family's bloodline was completely cut off, so the people of Kanta are still in mourning."
Hexter, who hadn't seen the scene earlier, was more surprised that the princess of Kanta, who he thought was dead, was alive than the fact that Roxana had survived the fire.
Adrian scoffed.
"She became a slave, so it's the same as being dead. What difference does it make if she's alive when she's been branded?"
