Chapter 38

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 38

Chapter Title: Star Festival and the Ashen Wolf (10)

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The wolf pups were all brown like their parents, but one stood out different. A small gray wolf, as if its pigment had washed out, trembled alone far from its siblings, unable to fit in. Even the adult wolves paid it no mind.

Roxiana found herself stepping toward the bars without realizing it, but Floyd's hand guided her away. She barely managed to pull her gaze from the pitiful gray wolf, forcing it from her thoughts.

A long line snaked at the tent entrance, where a ticket taker stood. People handed over their tickets one by one and filed inside. Floyd passed two to the man.

Floyd and Roxiana entered the tent, but Hexston was stopped.

"My lord, what about mine?"

"Only two tickets."

Floyd replied coldly without turning back. Hexston grinned.

"That's stingy of you."

He fished out some coins right there, shoved them at the ticket checker, and hurried after the pair.

Small chairs were arranged in a semicircle around the central stage. Each row stepped up higher toward the back, so everyone had a clear view.

Floyd and Roxiana sat side by side about midway back, with Hexston settling in behind them.

"Stingy like that, and you'll go bald."

Hexston grumbled, resting his chin on Floyd's shoulder. Floyd shoved his forehead away with one hand.

"Forgot? You're a gatecrasher."

The empty seats filled up in no time. Bright light bathed only the stage, making it hard to make out the audience.

The crowd buzzed noisily until the showmaster stepped onstage and announced the circus's start. Silence fell.

The first act was a fire-eater.

The man swung a blazing rod around wildly before bringing the flame to his mouth. Gasps rippled through the tent. When he swallowed it whole, cheers and applause erupted.

Floyd watched with a mix of amusement and ridicule, pondering how to tell Roxiana about the string of events that had rocked Kanta.

'The princess probably has no clear idea what happened in her kingdom.'

He'd initially planned to tell her nothing. She must suspect something, so no need to spell out Lucas's methods and reopen old wounds.

'But I can't hide it forever.'

Sooner or later, word might reach her from someone else. Better from him. He wanted to be there when shock hit, when she suffered.

Floyd knew that loneliness of flailing in despair with no one noticing or staying by your side.

'Filthy bastard.'

Thinking of Lucas spiked his irritation sharper than usual today. Without Roxiana beside him, that rage might have burned the tent down.

Floyd glanced at her. She stared fixedly at the stage, her blank expression giving no clue if she was enjoying it or bored.

'Wish the princess wore her heart on her sleeve a bit more.'

When he broke the truth of Kanta's fall, would he even tell if despair gripped her?

As Floyd stewed silently watching her, Roxiana gazed at the stage while picturing the little gray wolf. Born ashen amid brown parents and siblings, a pitiful outcast.

Its plight felt exactly like hers.

Roxiana Evrin Franche, the lone survivor who couldn't die with her family.

'If I asked to take that pup... would he allow it?'

Roxiana snuck a peek at Floyd. He was focused on the stage.

'He'd say yes. He won't let me do things, but if I just want something, he'll allow it.'

But on second thought, could she even care for a pup when she could barely manage herself? After retrieving her family's bodies and confirming they'd returned to the gods' embrace, she planned to follow them.

If she couldn't keep it to the end, better not take it at all. Nothing crueler than claiming a life without the resolve to see it through.

While Floyd and Roxiana lost themselves in separate thoughts watching the stage, the circus moved from juggling balls to trapeze tricks, then to knife-throwing.

A blonde woman in a skimpy outfit that revealed more than it hid stood with arms spread before a round board. A red apple sat atop her head, one on each palm.

Far off, a man juggled knives with flair.

'He throws them at the apples? That's too far...'

Roxiana immersed herself for the first time. A woman's life hung in the balance; she couldn't half-watch like before.

'What if he misses? Isn't she scared?'

The man snatched a knife from midair and hurled it at her.

Ssssh-!

The blade sliced the air and pinned the apple on her right hand dead center.

"Woooah!"

The tense crowd exploded in cheers and claps.

The man flung another. It speared the left-hand apple. The third knife whistled through the air.

Not toward the target apples.

Toward the audience.

No one knew what was happening.

Danger, Loti.

An urgent voice rang out.

But Floyd's arm moved first. He pinned Roxiana's shoulder down firmly and tilted his head aside.

The knife aimed at his forehead grazed his temple. Hexston, seated right behind, snatched it mid-flight without slowing.

"Ruthless. You knew I was back there."

Hexston grumbled as he vaulted from the seats into the air. The audience finally grasped the peril, screaming and scattering in panic.

Amid the stampede, Roxiana sat frozen, Floyd's hand still pressing her shoulder.

What just happened?

The stage woman flailed in confusion. The knife-thrower had vanished. Hexston slashed through the tent's rear with his sword.

"Every so often, some fool gets obsessed with my life. This one disguised himself as a circus performer. Even learned knife skills for it. Hot passion, huh?"

His voice cut flatly through the din of scraping chairs, screams, and pounding feet. Even targeted, he seemed utterly at ease.

"No injuries?"

"It was aimed at Your Highness."

"The idiot lacked skill, that's why I'm worried you got hurt."

He hadn't dodged perfectly; blood trickled from his temple. Despite his own wound, he fretted only for her.

Roxiana instinctively reached for his temple. Her pale thumb gently wiped the blood trailing down his cheek.

"You're hurt."

"Lick it, and it'll heal."

Was he asking her to lick it?

As Roxiana hesitated, he added,

"Ah, not asking you to lick it, Princess."

He flashed a grin and smeared the blood away with his knuckles. By then, the tent had emptied, silence settling in.

Only now did he pull a small flute from his pocket and blow hard.

Piiii-!

The shrill note pierced the tent.

He stood, looking down at Roxiana.

"Can you stand?"

"Yes."

She drew a slow breath, rose, and faced him. She pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the fresh blood from his wound.

"You need treatment."

"If you lick it..."

"You can't lick your own temple. Going to ask Sir Lennard for that?"

Floyd recoiled in horror.

"Princess, you say the most gruesome things so casually."

"So get treated..."

"Look, Princess."

Floyd snatched the handkerchief and roughly scrubbed his wound. Roxiana grabbed his arm in alarm, but couldn't match his strength.

By the time the white cloth stained red, the bleeding stopped.

"See? No more blood."

Roxiana blinked.

How could he be so rough? Didn't it hurt?

"Knights are here. Let's go."

True to his word, knights had arrived at the circus grounds. They wore black uniforms with white badges.

The panicked audience that had fled the tent was rounded up to one side, circus performers to another. She spotted a long-hatted man, likely the ringmaster, pleading desperately with a knight, gasping for breath.

Hexston spotted Floyd and ran over.

"He bolted on a horse stashed outside. Knights are pursuing; he won't slip the gates. Oh, and the ringmaster's probably innocent. This guy's been coming and going for five years straight."

"Could be a five-year plot. Investigate thoroughly."

"Yes, sir!"

After Floyd and Roxiana left the grounds, Hexston scratched his head and glanced around. The beasts prepped for acts were back in cages, howling mournfully or clawing at bars as if sensing the odd mood.

'The princess was eyeing that wolf cage earlier...'

Hexston approached the wolves and peered in.

Among the brown ones, one gray pup stood out. Smaller than its siblings, like it hadn't nursed enough.

'Was she watching this one?'

Hexston turned to the ringmaster held by a knight.

"Hey! Taking one pup!"

"Y-yes! Take as many as you want. All of them!"

"Not all, just one."

Hexston tossed a silver coin at the ringmaster. It landed squarely on his head.

Hexston thrust his hand into the cage fearless. The growling adults lost interest as he lifted the gray pup by the scruff. It whined briefly, then went limp and let him carry it out.

Hexston tucked the pup inside his uniform and helped the knights assess the scene for a while. The ringmaster, finally released after grueling questioning as innocent, idly checked the wolf cage and muttered,

"What did that knight take? All three pups are still here..."