Chapter 23

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 23

Chapter Title: The Golden Lion's Treasure and the Polluted Water (7)

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Arsen was one of the few people to whom Floyd would yield a step when he spoke bluntly. Arsen was stubborn, inflexible, rigid, and arrogant.

To such a man, Roxiana was nothing more than a slave, regardless of her past status. The only reason he'd used honorifics with her was because Floyd was there; if Floyd hadn't been present, he would have treated her like any other slave.

Yet that very Arsen had fallen silent at a few words from Roxiana. Honestly, Kain felt a surge of satisfaction in that moment.

'Serves you right, you arrogant bastard!'

But setting aside Roxiana's dignity, as time dragged on, he began to grow worried. Hexston's eyes were filled with a mix of hope and anxiety. Kain didn't want to watch even that sliver of hope in his comrade crumble into despair. He placed a hand on Hexston's arm, but Hexston was too tense to even notice.

-"Even if it costs my life, I will save this child."

Jewelry worried him too, but Roxiana's words stuck in his mind. He had no idea what method she planned to use, and he feared she might resort to some forbidden black magic unknown to the world.

He wanted to save Jewelry, but not at the cost of someone else's life. That was something neither Jewelry nor his wife Persy would want.

Still, he lacked the courage to rush in and stop Roxiana. The thought that this might be the only chance for his daughter to survive kept him rooted in place, worried yet unable to move.

He felt pathetic and cowardly, nausea rising in his throat.

"I can't allow it, my lord!"

Hexston finally steeled his resolve.

He wanted to save his daughter. He would do anything to save her, but not at the expense of another's life. It was wrong to save his daughter with someone else's life when it wasn't his own on the line.

"We must stop the princess..."

That was as far as Hexston got.

Shwaaaaa-!

A roaring sound like a whirlwind poured through the crack in the door. It was similar to the roar of a downpour.

Crash!

Something shattered and fell.

The people in the corridor stared wide-eyed at the treatment room door before rushing toward it almost as one.

The sight through the open door was nothing like what they'd imagined.

"Water..."

Water dripped from the ceiling, the walls, the bed. The floor was soaked as if a torrent had raged through.

And in the center of it all stood a drenched Roxiana.

Water dripped from her soaked hair. Her arms hung limply at her sides, and for some reason, she didn't look real.

The sunset filtering through the window dyed the droplets on her body crimson, making her look as if she were surrounded by orange gems.

No, it wasn't just an illusion—light seemed to be emanating from her very being.

"J-Jewelry!"

Hexston was the first to snap out of it and dashed toward Jewelry's bed. His shoulder collided with Roxiana.

In that instant, the light surrounding Roxiana vanished, and her body crumbled. As she collapsed, Floyd rushed forward and scooped her up.

And then.

"Ugh..."

"What? Where...?"

"Ah, I slept so well."

"Daddy?"

The patients opened their eyes.

Perfectly fine, as if nothing had been wrong at all.

Floyd had no time to celebrate the revival of patients he'd thought were surely dead.

'Why...?'

Roxiana's body was freezing cold. It felt like he was holding a block of ice.

'Why...?'

It had been ages since Floyd had felt anything cold. The mad flame within him scorched everything near, and not even a massive chunk of ice could cool him.

Yet now, just holding her made him feel like he might freeze solid.

Something utterly cold and sharp seeped into his body. Its force seemed enough to freeze even his heart, but Floyd didn't let her go.

Whether his heart froze or not, her condition worried him more.

'Is she alive?'

Roxiana's lips were blue, like someone long abandoned on an icy mountain. He could feel faint breaths, but even they were cold.

Floyd saw frost forming on his clothes and shoes. If this continued, she might freeze everything in the treatment room.

Floyd carried her in his arms to his own room. The only thing in Floyd's room was a steel bed—no blanket in sight.

"Damn it!"

Floyd bellowed for servants to bring every blanket they had. While they piled thick comforters on the bed, he held Roxiana the entire time.

The murderous chill emanating from her had faded, but her body was still cold, her lips colorless. After laying her on the bed and gazing down, Floyd cautiously reached out and grasped her wrist.

This time, there was no stinging sensation.

'Hey.'

Floyd addressed the mad presence within him.

'Why are you so quiet now? I need you right now—why are you silent at a time like this?!'

As always, the mad presence gave no reply.

Floyd summoned a servant and ordered them to fetch Kirshan as soon as the treatment room was sorted, then dragged a chair to the bedside and sat.

Even with the blanket pulled up to her chin, the faint chill from Roxiana lingered. Her face was so pallid that, without the subtle rise and fall of the blanket, she would have looked dead.

Floyd rubbed his palms together vigorously for a while before pressing them to her cheeks. After repeating this several times, he felt like her body had warmed a little.

Perhaps it was just his imagination from growing accustomed to the cold, but Floyd clung to that tiny hope, rubbing his palms to generate heat and transferring it to her cheeks over and over.

How many times did he do it?

At some point, the flames that never manifested before Roxiana flickered to life in Floyd's palm. He stared blankly at the fire gathered there.

'If I press this against her as is... she'll burn, right?'

No matter how cold her body was, direct contact with the flames would surely hurt her. He hesitated, unsure what to do, when something astonishing happened.

The thin flames in his palm drifted through the air on their own, touched her cheek, and spread wide and thin. Despite the fire clinging to her skin, her cheek didn't burn. Just like his own skin.

Floyd watched the miracle breathlessly before snapping back to reality.

It doesn't burn. What happened on the ship wasn't a fluke.

His flames couldn't burn Roxiana.

Realizing this, Floyd grew bold. Before her weakening breaths could stop entirely, he had to do something.

Floyd stroked her cheek and caressed her nape. He gently ran his hands over her shoulders and arms beneath the blanket. The flames in his hands ignited the blanket and her clothes, but not a single blister formed on her skin.

His flames trailed along her arms, flowed over her chest, past the hollows, crested the gentle swells, wrapped around her thighs and calves, gathered at her curled toes, and vanished.

The flames continued seeping into her body, but she remained pale. As Floyd moved cautiously yet urgently, a knock sounded.

"My lord, did you call for me?"

"No!"

Floyd shouted.

Roxiana was in no state to be seen by Kirshan right now.

"Go away."

"Is everything all right? The princess collapsed earlier..."

"She's fine, so go! And keep everyone out."

Footsteps hesitated before fading away.

Floyd reached out again, then paused at the sight of her pallid skin and changed his mind. He climbed onto the bed and lay beside her, whispering.

"Sorry, Princess. I know I shouldn't do this without permission."

His thick arm slid beneath her head.

"But I can't bear to watch you die."

His other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close.

"So I have to keep you alive somehow. Even if you wouldn't want it."

His firm thigh pressed against her.

He pressed his entire body against hers and buried his face in her hair. In that moment, an astonishing wave of heat poured from Floyd—intense enough to make even him, the source, feel his head throb.

Amid that blazing inferno, Floyd thought he heard a voice from long ago, one he'd glimpsed only briefly.

-Damn it! Undi... you mad bastard!

The mad presence's gruff voice spat curses at someone before vanishing. As the heat filling the room gradually subsided, Roxiana's chest heaved dramatically in Floyd's arms.

"Gasp!"

Her frozen lungs seemed to thaw as she sucked in a massive breath and snapped her eyes open. Even with Floyd's face right in front of her, she showed no surprise.

Blinking as if in a dream or wandering unreality, Roxiana rasped in a hoarse voice.

"The child...?"

"She's safe. Everyone's safe."

She let out a small sigh of relief and closed her eyes. In that moment, a faint smile spread across her face—so subtle it was almost imperceptible, but the first smile she'd shown since arriving in Torkan etched itself into Floyd's eyes.

Floyd unwittingly held his breath. A strange emotion he'd never felt before stirred deep in his gut.

"That's a relief."

"Yes, it is. Thanks to you, Princess, everyone survived."

His hand stroked her back with more strength than before as he whispered.

"Rest a little more. You've done something incredible."