Chapter 41

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 41

Chapter Title: Star Festival and the Ashen Wolf

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Petria, who had been straightening Roxiana's dress, glanced at her anxiously.

'The princess seems strange.'

After going out with Floyd and returning, Roxiana looked utterly dazed. Normally, when Petria offered to help her out of the dress, she would say, "I'm fine. I can do it myself." But today, she stood there like a doll, letting Petria handle her body without a word.

'What could have happened?'

Anyone would guess the reason a woman returned dazed after being alone with a man, but Roxiana's expression suggested it wasn't that kind of issue.

Roxiana sat blankly, staring into space, occasionally biting her lower lip as if swallowing her rage.

'Did something bad happen with Grand Duke Floyd? But His Highness wouldn't do anything untoward to the princess...'

Roxiana was lost in thought, oblivious to Petria's worry.

'Lucas Pellur.'

She wanted to ask him.

'What were you thinking when you beheaded the family that trusted you? Was it fun? Or were you at least a little sorry?'

Imagining what her own family—now accepted as his kin—must have thought and felt as they died by his sword, what expressions they wore, made her heart plummet into an abyss.

Roxiana clutched her skirt to stifle a scream. She bit her lip to choke back the sobs threatening to escape.

'And Elise Haylis, you...'

Only now did she recall the last conversation with the friend she'd known the longest and trusted the most.

The talk she'd forgotten amid grief over her lost family. The one she'd avoided out of fear it would plunge her into utter despair. The one she'd turned away from, pretending not to know, because she couldn't bear to believe it.

-"You know, Princess, you shouldn't have saved me. You shouldn't have shown me mercy. You should have just let me die with my family. Just left me like that! You should have abandoned me, Roxiana! Then your family wouldn't have ended up slaughtered and dumped in a well!"

'Did you really think that? Was saving you the mistake?'

Elise's father, Duke Haylis, had served as Minister of Finance in Kanta Kingdom, committing countless corruptions and embezzlements. He'd squandered over half the national treasury on gambling ventures and was indicted for appointing officials in exchange for bribes.

Duke Haylis was the king's old friend, but the king could no longer turn a blind eye to his myriad crimes.

-"This torments me, Roti."

That night, when Duke Haylis and his family were arrested, her father had worn an expression she'd never seen before as they met in the garden.

-"Even seated on the throne, I am human too..."

Duke Haylis deserved execution for his crimes, but in the end, the king spared him and his family. He stripped their titles and exiled them to the provinces.

Many ministers protested the excessive mercy, but the king wouldn't rescind his decision. The Haylis family survived, and the youngest, Elise, remained at the palace to attend Roxiana.

'I begged for it.'

She'd heard the exile lands were barren wastelands, devoid of anything. Roxiana hadn't wanted her friend to suffer there alone.

So she'd pleaded with her father: Let her stay at the palace, make her my maid.

Her father, agonized over exiling even the young Elise, granted Roxiana's request.

She was called a maid in name only—they lived like friends. Roxiana strove to keep Elise from feeling lonely, from weeping in solitude without her family.

Then word came that the Haylis family had been ambushed and massacred by bandits on their way to exile.

-"Th-thank you, Princess. Thanks to you, I survived."

Even as she wept upon hearing of her family's death, Elise thanked Roxiana.

Roxiana had believed it sincere. In her voice, her eyes, she'd never dreamed she harbored a dagger in her heart.

No one in the Franche royal family treated the bereaved Elise harshly. They cherished her even more than Roxiana did. Her father and mother treated her like their own daughter; her brothers adored both girls equally. And Lanian followed Elise around, calling "Big sis, big sis."

'We spared you when you should have died with your family. We treated you so well. And you resented us that much?'

-"I wish you could die without ever smelling Adelia's fragrance... That's my wish..."

'Enough to spit such a vicious curse?'

Once ignited, the rage and hatred refused to subside. Instead, it summoned a flood of memories, swelling uncontrollably.

She hated Lucas and Elise. Piercing resentment engulfed Roxiana.

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

'Yes, just as you came to resent me for saving you, now you've spared me, and I've come to resent you. Is that what you wanted, Elise?'

If she could, she'd rush to them right now, grab them by the hair, force them to kneel before her. Make them beg and lick her feet.

And just as they'd done to her family, sever their heads one by one and toss them into a well.

'If that's truly the case!'

A wind blew through the closed window.

'Then I must do it!'

The faint breeze swelled into a vortex around Roxiana, strong enough to sweep up everything in the room.

Whooooosh—

The sudden gale made the fireplace roar wildly, ash scatter, and blankets fly. Petria stumbled back in terror.

Even without knowing Roxiana's power, Petria could tell the eerie phenomenon stemmed from her—the eye of the vortex, Roxiana remained eerily calm.

As objects whirled around the room, Roxiana sat motionless on the sofa, not a hair out of place, staring straight ahead.

"Princess, I'm coming in."

At that moment, Floyd's voice came from beyond the door.

The raging wind died down as if it had never been.

Only after Floyd entered did Petria realize she'd been holding her breath the whole time.

Floyd calmly surveyed the maid gasping for air and the room wrecked with ash and shattered glass, then walked toward the sofa as if nothing were amiss.

Roxiana sat in the center of the sofa, back straight, hands neatly folded on her lap. Even as Floyd approached right beside her, she didn't turn her head.

"Kyaring."

Only after an odd sound reached her ears did Roxiana stir. She slowly turned toward Floyd, then widened her eyes at the contents of the basket he carried.

Inside was the gray wolf pup she'd seen earlier.

"This is..."

Before Floyd could explain, the pup leaped from the basket and dashed toward Roxiana.

Floyd hurriedly reached out, fearing it might attack her, but the pup jumped onto her thigh, rolled over belly-up, and wagged its tail furiously.

It was impossible to believe this was the same snarling, teeth-baring beast from moments ago. Floyd let out a hollow chuckle at its sudden playfulness.

"Hexston brought it as a gift for you, Princess. If you're alright with it, please raise it."

"Ah..."

"I was going to warn you to be careful since it's fierce, but seeing it now, I don't think that's necessary."

The pup licked at Roxiana's fingers, belly exposed. Unthinkingly, she scratched its chin lightly. It narrowed its eyes in delight, letting out a soft grrr rumble.

'It was just a minor concern...'

An interest she'd completely forgotten amid her seething hatred for Lucas and Elise. Yet Hexston hadn't overlooked that tiny bit of worry.

A small spark bloomed in her heart, frozen cold by rage. That warmth faintly pierced the veil of resentment clouding her vision.

'I can't do anything that would harm Torkan.'

There were good people here. She couldn't let innocents bleed for her vengeance.

Her revenge was hers alone. The blood spilled must end with her.

'But I can't reach them without help.'

To receive aid, she first had to become someone who gave it.

Roxiana looked up at Floyd. For some reason, he glared at the pup with a displeased expression.

'The reason this man treats me well must be similar to why I feel I'd do anything for this pup.'

The moment the isolated pup from the cage had leaped into her arms and acted affectionate, Roxiana thought she'd do whatever it took to raise it healthy and strong.

Wasn't Floyd the same? The instant he saw her trapped in that narrow box, had he vowed to care for her—body and soul—until she grew healthy and spirited?

Thinking that way, she could understand all the consideration he'd shown her so far.

People naturally want to help those who are wounded and frail.

'But I can't remain wounded and frail forever. First, I need to win the grand duke's favor.'