Chapter 42

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 42

Chapter Title: Elise and Lucas (1)

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Floyd could provide Roxiana with a fine room, pretty clothes, and delicious food, but he had no intention of staking his nation on her behalf. Likewise, Roxiana could promise this wolf tasty meat and a cozy bed, but she couldn't go so far as to risk her country for him.

"So I need to make the Grand Duke feel like helping me out, at least once."

She didn't ask for much.

All she needed was to find her family's corpses abandoned somewhere in the Kanta Kingdom and use Adelia's armament to send them back to God's embrace. Adelia's armament was hard to obtain, so she needed Floyd's help for that part.

"Sending my family back to God's embrace comes first. Once that's done..."

From then on, it would be Roxiana's burden alone. She wouldn't need anyone's help.

This raw hatred and resentment were hers and hers alone.

"I'll crush your throats all by myself. Lucas, Elise."

"Gasp!"

Elise jolted awake, gasping for breath. Even though she was clearly out of sleep, it felt like she was still trapped in her nightmare.

Ever since that day, those forest-like green eyes had haunted her without fail, day after day. No matter how hard she ran, Elise couldn't escape the woods.

A dark forest so dense with trees that not a single ray of sunlight pierced through. A forest where some unknown presence lurked in the shadows of the trees, whispering accusations—rustling, murmuring, stirring.

"No. That bitch is dead."

She was breathing, but it was as good as dead. When Elise heard that her family had been thrown down a well, she had seen Roxiana's eyes lose their light. Those green eyes, always sparkling so vividly, had died completely right before her.

"Then why...?"

Why did those eyes still press down on her so vividly?

She couldn't understand it.

Even if Roxiana was alive, there was nothing she could do. By now, she was surely a slave to some perverted old man on the Hoben Archipelago across the sea, barely clinging to life.

Elise chewed her lower lip as she thought of the Franche royal family, who had trusted her without question.

Elise had lured the second and third branches, who lived outside the palace, back into the royal palace. She told them it was to surprise Roxiana upon her return, and they had entered with beaming smiles, no suspicion in their hearts.

"What a touching family bond."

Thinking of how they had never refused even the most bothersome tasks for Roxiana's sake left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"What can we do to surprise our Lotty? Got any good ideas, Ellin?"

Those were the last words from Ian, the second prince.

Lucas's knights had swung their swords mercilessly at the gathered family. The Franche knights fought back, but Lucas's side held the advantage.

Roxiana's family met their ends helplessly under the onslaught of blades.

"Why?"

Ecion, the eldest son, had sprayed blood from his throat and cast that gaze at her—a look more puzzled than resentful. Unable to bear it, Elise had fled.

In the corridor where their screams echoed, Elise had wailed and laughed.

Guilt toward those who had treated her kindly, fond memories shared with them, and the hatred and resentment for driving her own family to death—all tangled together, driving her to lose her reason in a frenzy of screams.

"I don't regret it."

Elise clutched the soft blanket tightly.

"If I could go back, I'd do it all over again."

Her father, Duke Haylis, had merely faltered briefly, blinded by greed.

"Squandering over half the national treasury and taking bribes to appoint the unqualified—why is that? Is that worth dying for? Everyone does it. You just earn the money back and boot out the unqualified. But is that a capital crime?"

Of course, bandits had killed her family, but they died en route to exile by the king's order, so it was as good as the king murdering them.

Seeing the Franche family cherish one another as if they were blameless, after ruining her own family like that—it turned her stomach. She had to swallow bloody tears.

But oblivious to it all, they pretended to comfort Elise, flaunting the cheap pity of the victorious.

"I just gave back to your daughter exactly what you did to me. I made Roxiana suffer just as I did! I'm not wrong! I only returned what I endured."

So why did those green eyes still linger, dominating every night, every moment? She had only done what any daughter who lost her family would—why was she still tormented by nightmares?

At that moment, a gentle hand caressed her waist. Reflexively, Elise burrowed into the arms of the man lying beside her.

"Ellin, why are you up already?"

Lucas pulled her close and asked.

Elise buried her face in the chest of the man she had always wanted and sobbed.

"I had a scary dream, Your Highness. That woman turned into a magical beast and chased me."

Lucas chuckled softly.

"My fairy is such a scaredy-cat. She's just a slave now who can't do a thing—what's there to fear? Even if that wench died and rose as an undead, her claws wouldn't reach you. She'll croak far away in some foreign land and haunt it as a monster."

"Yes, that's right. Your claws will never touch me, Roxiana. You'll suffer at that perverted old man's hands and die."

Even as she thought that, Elise shed tears.

"It's so pitiful. She was always so kind to me..."

Feeling his chest grow damp, Lucas gently cupped her chin and made her look at him.

Large blue eyes, pale skin accentuated by crimson hair, a slender neck and delicate shoulders, a petite frame that fit perfectly in his arms.

She was perfect in every way.

Unlike Roxiana, who rarely showed emotion and wasn't talkative, Elise was charming, emotionally rich, and tender-hearted. Marrying the tall, awkward Roxiana would have meant a lifetime without this ticklish delight.

"No need to pity her, Ellin."

Lucas spoke maturely, wiping the tears from her eyes with his thumb.

"Have you forgotten what they did to your family? You only did what you had to."

"But... Roxiana was good to me. I feel so sorry..."

Lucas silenced her sputtering protests with a kiss. Elise let out a soft moan and wrapped her arms around his back.

"Sorry? You saved that woman's life. If not for you, I would have killed her too."

Lucas's lips trailed down her neck. Elise closed her eyes and threaded her fingers through his soft hair, only to snap them open again as those green eyes assaulted her once more.

Whether her eyes were shut or open, those dense forest depths followed her relentlessly, yet Lucas, oblivious, continued to devour her. She wanted to push him away and confess this gnawing fear, but she didn't.

Lucas Pellur, crown prince of Gania, was now her lifeline, her only hope.

She couldn't afford to upset him. She had to moan, laugh, and flirt exactly as he wished. She couldn't relax until she was the only one in his eyes.

So Elise matched his movements, spending a heated night just as he desired.

It was well after dawn when they finally left the bed.

The place where Elise resided was the Jade Palace within Roba Palace in the Gania Kingdom. Publicly known as lodging for the king's esteemed guests, it was in truth a harem for the king or crown prince's lovers.

Identical buildings dotted the vast, well-manicured gardens, each containing a bedroom, bathroom, study, two parlors, and a small hall. The king's or crown prince's lovers each received one such building to live in.

Elise, having left Kanta for Gania, had been granted one in the Jade Palace.

Soaking in the warm bath prepared by her maids, Elise lost herself in thought.

"It's fortunate that I'm still the only woman Lucas has brought into the Jade Palace... but he probably has one or two mistresses elsewhere."

From the moment she was placed in the Jade Palace, Elise had withheld her full trust in Lucas. He had said, "You're the only one," but she didn't believe him.

"Right, I never truly believed I'd become this country's crown princess from the start."

Lucas had whispered, "You'll sit by my side," and for a moment, she had believed it. But what was given to Elise was not the Ruby Palace for the crown princess, but the Jade Palace.

Once one set foot here, becoming crown princess overnight was out of the question.

"I probably won't become the crown princess."

Though she had rendered great service in the conquest of Kanta, Elise hailed from a family exiled for embezzlement. Just because it happened in Kanta didn't erase her family's sins entirely.

Moreover, she bore the stigma of being from the Kanta Kingdom, now a Gania colony.

"But I can become queen."

When Lucas eventually ascended the throne, it was possible to oust the woman by his side and take her place. History was rife with queens being deposed and new ones installed.

"So I need to solidify my position. When I aim for queen, I must gather people to staunchly support me from behind."