Chapter 75

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 75

Chapter Title: Five Knights and Roxiana Franche (9)

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Even though she'd been warned it would hurt like hell, Roxiana didn't show the slightest fear—instead, she even cracked a faint smile. Watching her, Adrian clenched his fists tight.

That's right! This is what makes our princess so damn irresistible!

Roxiana missed Adrian mouthing those words, but Kirshan, sitting across from her, caught them clear as day. He swallowed a sigh and spoke up.

"Understood. I'll do everything I can to minimize the pain, then. We'll start by cutting away the dead flesh and applying medicinal herbs to promote new tissue growth. It'll take time for the skin to fully regenerate—probably about a month. With the weather warming up, we have to be careful to avoid infection."

"We'll head into Kanta the moment the scars fade completely."

Floyd picked up where Kirshan left off.

"That soon?"

"It's already late. Isn't this what you want most, Princess?"

"It is, but... you're taking me with you?"

"Of course we're going together. You'll want to see it with your own eyes. But it won't be pretty. It'll be worse than anything you can imagine."

Floyd had plenty of experience fighting undead tainted by dark magic—souls who couldn't enter Adelia coffins and wandered the earth instead. He'd seen how people reacted when their loved ones returned as mindless, rotting husks that refused to stay dead.

"It might even feel like your family has come back to life. And to them, we'll look like demons trying to slaughter their kin with Adelia's weapons."

Roxiana lowered her gaze as Floyd explained in his calm, steady voice.

She'd expected as much. Of course it would be.

She'd imagined pulling her family from that well pit a thousand times over. She never dared hope they'd be alive and well. No, she'd fixated on the worst of the worst, so reality wouldn't shatter her when it came.

Seeing her family shambling around, flesh long rotted away... confirming the warmth gone from their eyes as they looked at her...

It'll hurt even more than watching them die.

But she wouldn't run from it. She'd witness the horror that claimed her family, etch it deep into her heart. And she'd see them return to the gods' embrace with her own eyes.

"How could we ever see Your Highness as a demon? The gods turned their backs on me and my family, but you raged alongside us. You are my salvation, my god. No matter what you do, I could never resent you."

Salvation... and god?

The knights' eyes went wide at her bold words, and Floyd flushed red. Undeterred, Roxiana pressed on with iron resolve.

"I must see my family's bodies die once more, with my own eyes."

No one could speak in the face of her raw determination. A heavy silence settled over them, lasting quite a while.

Kain was the one who finally broke it.

"I got word on the way back. Early April, an envoy from Hoban visited Gania. After he left, Joseph V locked the crown prince in his palace and ordered constant surveillance—not even an ant could slip in without being reported. Sounds like that Hoban envoy dropped a real bombshell."

A Hoban envoy dropped a bomb?

Roxiana recalled how close she'd come to being sold off to Hoban.

What had the slaver said back then?

—"The king of Hoban agreed to pay top dollar for you."

So how had Hoban's king known about her enough to offer such a price? She didn't know much about buying slaves, but she grasped the basics.

There were three main ways slaves were traded.

Auction houses, where buyers bid directly. Door-to-door sales, where slavers paraded their wares. And commissions, where buyers requested specific types and slavers procured them.

But none of those fit how she'd nearly ended up with Hoban's king.

Come to think of it, he was willing to pay big without ever seeing me. That means Lucas specifically commissioned them to send me to Hoban's king.

But Gania and Hoban had no ties. So how had Lucas even known Hoban's king?

—"If Father gives me the chance, I could wipe out the likes of him in a heartbeat."

Lucas's habitual mutterings resurfaced. He rarely used names like "Floyd" or "Latan Grand Duke," so she'd never pinned down who "that bastard" referred to. She'd just thought, This guy sure has a lot of enemies he wants to sweep away.

Coming to Torkan had revealed the truth: Floyd and Lucas's relationship was at rock bottom. That's when she'd realized "that bastard" was just one man—Floyd. Floyd loved needling Lucas, and Lucas hated Floyd enough to dream of crushing him.

Which meant she could guess the connection between Hoban's king and Lucas.

"Looks like word got out that Pellur Crown Prince tried and failed to sell me to Hoban's king. My trip there wasn't random after all."

Roxiana said.

"Pellur must have wanted something from Hoban's king. With Hoban so close to Torkan, if Gania and Hoban joined forces to strike by land and sea, shaking Torkan wouldn't be hard at all."

Floyd and the knights had suspected as much themselves. But they hadn't expected her to piece it together from just the phrase "dropped a bomb." Stunned, they all stared at her, dumbfounded.

Lost in thought, Roxiana missed their gazes and murmured to herself.

"Joseph V was furious enough to lock up his crown prince, so whatever happened to me probably wasn't his orders. Yeah, that tracks—it was too weird. Spreading word of such brutality wouldn't benefit Gania at all..."

Roxiana let out a wry chuckle.

"Joseph V must be sweating bullets, terrified this will spread. If Pellur's stunt against the Franche royal family leaks, not just other kingdoms but the Empire and the Grand Temple will turn on Gania. So he'll fabricate scandals about our Franche family, spread wild rumors to bury the truth. Drag our honor even lower."

Chill light gleamed in Roxiana's eyes.

"But I survived. My existence is their bomb now."

Gania was already getting flak for betraying Kanta, with whom they'd planned family ties. But such ruthless acts were commonplace for national gain—they'd fade with time.

What happened to Kanta, the Franche family, and Roxiana? Just another incident like that.

But I'm still here.

The slave brand on her shoulder would vanish, but to them, Roxiana herself would be an indelible scar. Simply by living and breathing, she could become a wound they'd never heal.

Roxiana gathered her thoughts on what lay ahead and looked up—right into the eyes of the knights watching her. They all wore strange expressions, but she didn't hesitate.

"The Grand Temple prioritized Kanta's magical beasts because the Temple and Empire got something out of Gania. But if Lucas's actions come to light, they'll turn from Gania—and they won't dare touch me. A woman who lost her country, her family, and even burial in Adelia coffins? I'd be the continent's most pitiable soul."

A breeze stirred around Roxiana. Her hair danced lightly in the wind that touched only her, and everyone watched in awe.

"Even if my strange powers become known, the Temple will stay quiet for a while. At least until the whole continent stops pitying me—they won't risk touching me."

The wind died as suddenly as it had risen.

In the stillness, Roxiana declared.

"So I will live as Roxiana Franche. If you'll allow it, I'll keep living as Roxiana Franche from now on."

Overwhelmed, they couldn't even blink—then it hit them: she was talking about reclaiming her identity.

The safest, easiest path was a new name, a new life entirely. Floyd would support her fully, letting her live peacefully, free from pursuit.

But Roxiana chose the hardest road.

Roxiana Franche.

The sole survivor of Kanta's fallen house, now Gania's colony.

Her survival would be a spectacle for many, stirring dangerous curiosity. Eyes would track her every step, scrutinizing her every move.

Yet she chose the most perilous, most noble, most honorable path.

She refused to let the Franche name perish.

Arsen rose slowly, placing his fist over his left breast to honor her graceful, glorious choice.

"Roxiana Franche. The dangers on the path Your Highness treads will be cut down by this Arsen Chetek and the blades of the White Eagle Knights."