Chapter 60

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 60

Chapter Title: His Kiss and Her Soul (4)

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Floyd stared at her, eyes wide open. He couldn't even think to wipe away her tears.

Even hearing it directly from her, he couldn't believe the fate of the Franche royal family. The gruesome, brutal end where they were thrown into a well without even being allowed to smell the Adelia flower, then sealed away.

'So that's how it was.'

Lucas had publicly announced that he'd placed the Franche royal family in Adelia coffins. Floyd had brushed it off as declaring the obvious, chuckling that they had nothing else to boast about.

It wasn't something to laugh off. He should have thought it through more carefully.

If he had, he could have spared Roxiana from carrying that cursed reality alone for so long.

- "If I end up dying like this, please don't put my body in an Adelia coffin. Just discard it."

- "If you throw me into the sea, tie a stone so no one can find me. If on land, bury me deep where no one will discover me."

He shouldn't have dismissed her desperate plea so lightly. He should have delved deeper into why she wished not just to die, but to avoid the Adelia coffin.

If only he had.

'No, even if I'd thought deeply, I wouldn't have figured it out.'

Thrown into a well? Who could imagine such a thing?

Even now, hearing it from Roxiana herself, it was unbelievable.

She wept silently. The tears trickling quietly down her cheeks hurt and embittered him more than any bloodcurdling scream.

Floyd clenched his fist tight.

A foul lump churned in his gut. Imagining Lucas sleeping soundly somewhere with legs stretched out made his heart feel like it would burst.

Roxiana, no matter how she agonized, had concluded she could never sleep that way. The thought that Lucas, who'd shoved her into that misery, was faring well made Floyd want to throttle him right then and there.

"So, Your Highness."

At last, Roxiana spoke.

"Please make me a woman of use to you. Protect me so I can at least offer some help to Torkan. And if I prove my worth and usefulness..."

She shed no more tears. Instead of crying, she knelt before Floyd, pressing her lips to the back of his foot in supplication.

"Retrieve my family's bodies from that vile darkness and use the Adelia flower on them. Let them finally return to God's embrace."

Floyd said nothing, couldn't even lift her up. He just gazed down at her back as she prostrated herself before him.

"They killed my family! Threw them into a well! Not even letting them smell the Adelia flower! Tossed them in and sealed it shut!"

The shout bursting from the bedroom made the knight captains in the sitting room freeze.

They'd only come to check if Roxiana had woken. Just as Kirshan Lepe stepped forward to knock, an unbelievable cry rang out.

The knight captains' sharp ears caught every word from inside. The names of her father, mother, siblings, their spouses, and children etched into their minds.

At first, they didn't understand. Then they understood but couldn't accept it. Finally, shock hit them late.

Adrian's stiff lips parted.

"Wha..."

But no voice came.

Adrian had traveled many regions on subjugation campaigns, but excluding those who died screaming without aid, he'd never seen a body denied an Adelia coffin.

Even after the brutal war ending the barbarians' invasion of eastern Torkan, he'd placed Adelia planks on their corpses. It was only natural.

"Wha..."

As Adrian groaned, unable to speak, Kain muttered in his stead.

"A well? To dispose of them? I didn't hear wrong, right?"

Hexston scowled.

"Why go that far? Lucas was the princess's fiancé, wasn't he? What grudge could justify..."

"Even with a grudge, that's unforgivable. It's insane. Why did the princess hide it?"

Snapping to his senses, Adrian lightly smacked the back of Kain's head.

"Of course she'd hide it. It's her family's disgrace. Why broadcast it?"

"If it were me, I'd tell the lord first thing and beg for revenge."

"That's you. Kanta's a Gania colony now. We can't poke around freely, so from her position, to ask us for something risky, she figures she owes Torkan enough value first."

"Ah..."

"But she didn't need to stake her life on it."

Kirshan Lepe nodded.

"Exactly. Still, Lucas did something utterly outrageous. Why? Spreading this won't do him any favors."

"Because he's a lunatic. That idiot ever think deeply?"

"There must be a reason. A woman, maybe..."

Arsen stood with arms crossed, glaring at the bedroom door. To him, the fact that the woman who'd taken Lily Palace was a slave mattered less than murdering a monarch and dumping them in a well.

It was an indelible sin, a barbarity deserving condemnation.

Even killing an enemy with deep hatred required granting them an Adelia coffin—that was human decency. But tossing an entire family, even children, into a well? Whoever did such cruelty had no right to live.

And that thought slipped from his lips.

"Lucas Pellur must die."

The knight captains agreed.

While the knight captains seethed with rage, plotting to tear Lucas apart, Floyd came to his senses.

He crouched before Roxiana, still bowed and awaiting his answer. Hesitant fingertips brushed her shoulder. Floyd drew a deep breath, then gently lifted her.

Roxiana no longer cried, but her tears still dampened her cheeks. Seeing her red-swollen eyes sparked a sharp pain in his chest. Suppressing the rage flaring like wildfire, he tenderly tucked the clinging strands of hair behind her ear.

He didn't ask why she hadn't said sooner.

How many could speak of their family discarded in a well? And they were royalty.

"You don't know which well, right?"

Roxiana nodded.

"Understood. Then we'll search every well in Ider Palace and the surrounding area."

Her eyes widened. An emotion beyond despair and pain filled her green irises.

Relieved, Floyd explained.

"The Holy Knights will enter Kanta soon. Until they clear the magical beasts and the priests purify, we can't get close. Let's figure out how to find the Franche family without a fuss."

"You'll help?"

"Yes."

"When I've done nothing?"

"Nothing? Princess, you undervalue your deeds. You saved lives on the brink of death, revived the forest, restored homes to the displaced. Torkan owes you greatly, so retrieving your family is the least we can do."

"Entering Kanta won't be easy."

"No, it won't. But what you've done is worth it. Or what, did you risk your life reviving the forest expecting nothing in return?"

Roxiana touched her shoulder.

"Removing this brand."

Floyd closed his eyes briefly, then opened them.

"Princess, I can remove that brand anytime. No need for all this."

"I don't want to just keep receiving from you, Grand Duke."

His lips tightened. He stared intently at Roxiana for a moment, then murmured like to himself.

"Why is that?"

"Pardon?"

"I don't know why your words anger me. You just said what a proper, modest person would, yet I'm seething."

Despite his words, his voice was low and intimate. He studied her face as if truly puzzled, and Roxiana, equally baffled by his anger, simply met his gaze.

After pondering the source of his fury while admiring her lovely face, Floyd gave up on an answer, and suddenly scooped her into his arms.

"Ah!"

Roxiana let out a short cry, instinctively clinging to his neck. She didn't see the displeasure fade softly from his lips.

He laid her carefully on the bed, pulling the covers up to her neck. He stroked her forehead with his palm, then whispered.

"I'll kiss you."

"Pardon?"

"It's the fastest way."