Chapter 4

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 4

Chapter Title: The Princess Who Wants to Die and the Cursed Grand Duke (4)

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It felt like a massive boulder had crashed down on her head. Roxiana stared wide-eyed at Elise's smile peeking through her fingers. That cruel smile stabbed and tore into Roxiana's pupils, etching itself deep.

Her heart pounded wildly, as if it might burst. Her veins boiled with rage.

Wuuuuuum—

In that instant, the ground beneath the prison trembled, and a faint breeze stirred despite there being no windows. But the anomaly vanished before anyone present could fully register it.

"What about my family's bodies...?"

Roxiana croaked out the question, and Elise lowered the hand covering her face.

"Aren't you curious why I did all this?"

She was curious, but that wasn't what mattered now.

Hearing the reason her dear friend had betrayed her and her family wouldn't change a thing. She had trusted someone she shouldn't have, and her family had let that person inside. The result of her poor judgment? Her family dead, the royal line shattered, the kingdom stolen.

That was all. Just one of those everyday tragedies that happened anywhere on this continent.

The real issue was her family's corpses.

For their souls to find rest in the embrace of God Weden, the bodies had to be placed in coffins engraved with the divine emblem, the Adelia Flower.

Without burial or cremation in such a coffin, the souls would wander lost forever, neither here nor there, denied peace. Abandoned corpses might even be invaded by evil spirits, turning into undead—dead yet not truly gone.

Even penniless commoners carved Adelia Flowers into wooden planks to make coffins for their dead kin.

"Please, tell me, Elise. What happened to my family... to my family's bodies?"

At Roxiana's desperate plea, Elise's lips twisted upward. She gazed down at Roxiana with an expression hard to define and spoke.

"You're still so selfish and cold, Princess. Normally, you'd ask why your old friend did something like this... I can't help but pity myself for ever thinking someone like you was precious."

Elise sniffled again, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

Roxiana couldn't comprehend it. She was the one who'd lost her family, her kingdom, betrayed by a friend—yet why was Elise crying? Why was she blaming Roxiana, who had lost everything?

"You know, Princess, you shouldn't have saved me. You shouldn't have shown me pity. You should have just let me die with my family. Just left me like that!"

Elise lowered her handkerchief. Her piercing blue eyes bored into Roxiana.

Roxiana couldn't grasp the venomous hatred in those eyes.

Elise twisted her fairy-like face and shouted.

"You should have let me go, Roxiana! Then your family wouldn't have ended up thrown into that well after they died!"

In that moment, the light faded from Roxiana's eyes.

"Thrown... into a well...?"

"Yes, Roxiana. Your father, your mother, your doting brothers and their families—all tossed into the well! Think I'd throw even a single Adelia petal in there for them? We sealed the entrance after dumping them in, so your family won't smell Adelia's fragrance even when spring comes!"

It was a curse. A curse of eternal unrest, even after the world crumbled away. To believers of Weden, it was the most horrific, barbaric malediction imaginable.

Roxiana's eyes bulged wide, but the life had drained from them.

Her family wasn't just dead—they were denied paradise. They might wander the dark well bottom forever, neither alive nor dead. Crushing despair shredded the fragile threads holding Roxiana's mind together.

Thus, she didn't even notice the men holding her as they branded the slave mark into the nape of her neck.

Sizzzzzzz—

Even as the red-hot iron seared her flesh, she felt no pain, slumping like a soulless doll, staring blankly.

Watching Roxiana's state, Elise's eyes flickered uncertainly for a moment. She sniffled again and crouched before her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Princess."

Elise stroked Roxiana's cheek, but she remained motionless.

"I know how well you treated me, Princess. I know how much you cherished me. But what can I do? Really, what...?"

Elise pressed a finger firmly into the branded hollow of Roxiana's collarbone.

"I wish you could die without ever smelling Adelia's scent... That's my one desire..."

Roxiana's vacant gaze shifted to Elise. She saw Elise crying and smiling at once—tears streaming endlessly, yet lips stretched wide in joy.

Genuine sorrow and explosive glee coexisted on Elise's lovely face. It was so grotesque a sight that Roxiana thought she'd recall it even after death.

Elise tenderly caressed Roxiana's cheek and said,

"Still, Princess, I'll let you live. If you find a good master, they'll at least put you in an Adelia coffin. Consider it my final gift as your friend."

That night, the beloved princess of Kanta Kingdom became a slave, needing even permission to breathe.

The tragic princess was sold to a slave trader, but Kanta's people heard only the despairing news that she too had died, extinguishing the Franche royal bloodline entirely.

For a long time, anguished wails echoed across the Kanta Kingdom, now a Gania colony.

Back to Imperial Year 1577, November.

Floyd burst into laughter at the sight of Comte Count fleeing for his life.

"Look at him go! Like a rat with its tail on fire!"

"My lord, you're getting too carried away."

Even Arsen's rebuke couldn't stop Floyd's guffaws.

"How can I not? That old Gania fox still treats me like a kitten in his lap. I'd have to be a god not to get fired up!"

The smile vanished from Floyd's lips as his eyes blazed. Heat shimmered around his broad shoulders.

"How do I hold back this urge to rush over and snap that woman's neck? Right?"

The scorching heat that had heated the air cooled in an instant. The fury in Floyd's ash-gray eyes subsided. Yet his body still burned hotter than a normal man's.

This flame that had followed him since childhood was once a curse, now called a blessing that saved him and others. But to Floyd, it still felt like a curse.

Floyd irritably shrugged off the black cloak he'd worn for the envoy meeting and spun on his heel. His men followed his long strides.

"My lord, where to?"

"Let's grab a drink. I'm in a foul mood."

"Sounds good. Shall I fetch the Huten wine?"

"Nah, beer. Beer's the vibe today!"

Adrian grumbled, having hoped for pricey wine, but Floyd ignored him, exiting the building and climbing the tower connected to the ramparts.

From the tower atop the walls encircling the grand ducal palace, the vast sea stretched into view. Though November, the breeze was merely cool, the sky cloudless blue. Beneath the afternoon sun, the dark blue waves sparkled like jewels with each swell.

A frequent drinking spot, table and chairs were already set. Servants hurried in snacks and a massive beer keg.

His men sat in chairs, but Floyd perched on the round keg. He chugged a wooden mug filled to overflowing with beer—big as his face—then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Hardly the behavior of a nation's ruler, but familiar to his subordinates.

"The Franche royals sure got it rough, huh."

Kain broke the silence. His black eyepatch over the left eye gave him a fierce look, but his heart was soft.

Adrian, his twin yet utterly unlike him, chuckled.

"Rough? Royal houses fall all the time—not just in Kanta. Anyone at the top has to be ready for the drop."

"But Lucas, that madman went too far. Killing kids... I heard there was even a three-year-old among the dead!"

"That's what comes with royal blood. How many princes survive childhood without an assassination attempt?"

"Still... Argh, damn it. You just don't get it!"

Unable to counter verbally, Kain snapped in frustration. Adrian grinned and lifted Kain's chin with his index finger.

"It's 'brother,' not 'you,' little bro."

Kain swatted Adrian's arm away in a huff. Floyd watched, then chuckled softly.

His ash-gray eyes, like overcast skies, fixed on his men, but his mind wandered elsewhere.

'Franche royals...'

He'd shattered and buried those vagabond memories long ago, yet news of Kanta stirred faint recollections of days at Ider Palace.

The Franche royal's Ider Palace, a brief haven during his wandering days without retainers or guards.

Similar in scale and splendor to Gania's Roba Palace, yet filled with a brilliance and warmth Roba lacked.

At Roba, Floyd got kicks, curses, scornful glares. At Ider, everyone treated him kindly—though the pity in their eyes irked him.

And the platinum-haired little princess he'd seen there. Small and pretty, shining like the moon even on rainy days.

'What was her name...?'

—"Loti!"

Right. The Franche princes called her "Loti."