“I……”

The moment Roxiana was about to voice her choice out loud.

Bang-!

The door shattered.

Before Valde could notice the anomaly and move his hand toward his sword, a huge figure burst in and instantly grabbed Valde’s neck, pushing him against the wall.

Thud-!

Valde’s back hit the wall.

Valde looked up at the man gripping his neck, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Ratean……”

The hand gripping his neck tightened. Valde let out a painful groan, but the gray eyes glaring at him didn’t waver at all.

“I’ll kill you.”

Floyd growled. Even with Roxiana nearby, his heat was unrestrained. Rough anger burst forth like sparks. Valde’s neatly arranged hair sizzled and burned.

Floyd looked as if he really intended to kill Valde.

Roxiana, who had been holding her breath at his unexpected appearance, finally came to her senses and approached him.

“Your Highness……”

“Stay away, Princess. I’m not in my right mind right now.”

“This person is a holy knight……”

“So what? Is there any reason to spare a holy knight?”

Floyd lifted Valde’s neck even higher, as if to show off. Valde’s feet left the ground. He struggled and tried to draw his sword, but Floyd drew it first and threw it far away.

Clang, clang-

The sword rolled on the floor with a sharp sound. For the first time, fear appeared in Valde’s eyes.

“From the tips of your toes.”

Floyd whispered ominously. Blue flames ignited on Valde’s thick leather boots.

“I’ll burn you very slowly up to the tips of your hair.”

“Aaaaargh!”

Unable to bear the pain of the burn, the arrogant knight screamed.

Roxiana became even more flustered.

“If you kill him like this, the temple and the empire won’t stand idly by.”

“So?”

“It means war.”

“I don’t care.”

Don’t care?

Roxiana didn’t want Torkan to become a battlefield because of her. She didn’t want the cheerful and bright people of Torkan to die with lifeless eyes stained with blood.

She gripped his arm tightly, but he didn’t even flinch.

Roxiana looked back for someone who could stop this situation, and found Adrian, Kirshan, and Robert standing at the doorway. Before Roxiana could ask for help, Adrian shrugged.

“Sorry, Princess. We can’t stop him.”

Kirshan glared at Valde with a faint smile.

“We’re also afraid of the flames.”

Robert took a step back.

“I have no intention of stopping him, Princess. That bastard needs to die.”

Adrian and Kirshan nodded, agreeing with Robert’s words. Roxiana was dumbfounded. Did these people not know what would happen if they killed that man?

They must know. They would know better than anyone.

“A war might break out! Innocent people will die!”

Now the flames had risen to Valde’s calves.

“No one will die.”

Adrian added with a grin.

“We’ll just sweep away the empire and the temple first.”

It was true that Torkan’s knights were strong, but there was no way they could defeat the empire and the temple.

The temple that subjugates monsters and purifies the land, and the empire that rules over that temple. The countries that receive help from them wouldn’t turn a blind eye to the empire’s war. Torkan would end up facing most of the countries that exist on this continent.

“Aaaaargh!”

Valde’s screams grew louder.

Now the flames were burning up to his thighs. Even the silver armor couldn’t withstand Floyd’s flames.

Unable to bear watching the steel protecting his thighs crumple, Roxiana stretched out her arm. Water droplets formed at her fingertips and instantly grew. The enlarged mass of water flew towards the flames burning Valde’s lower body.

As fire and water met, there was a sound like an explosion. Foam clouded the air.

Only then did the heat emanating from Floyd slowly subside. Floyd slowly turned to look at Roxiana. Their gazes met in the hazy space where water mist had risen.

“Your Highness. Please cool your head.”

“……Are you hurt……?”

At the hoarse voice flowing from him, Roxiana’s heart ached.

“No. Not at all.”

“That’s a relief.”

The strength left his hand.

Valde, who had been suspended in the air, fell to the floor with a thud. He groaned and glared at Floyd.

“Grand Duke, the temple will not let this matter slide.”

“Is that so?”

Floyd laughed coldly.

“Then we’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t reach the temple’s ears.”

“What?”

Floyd nodded to Adrian and Kirshan and left the house. As he passed by the bewildered Roxiana, Adrian whispered.

“Don’t worry, Princess. We’ll let him keep his life.”

Let him keep his ‘life’.

It sounded like they were going to do many other things, so Roxiana shuddered and followed Floyd. Outside the house was even more chaotic. There were people collapsed here and there, and Floyd’s knights were in the process of binding them.

The knights who saw Roxiana said with relief.

“Princess, I’m glad you’re safe.”

“We were so worried… We’ll take care of these bastards ourselves.”

“This will never happen again.”

Roxiana bowed her head slightly to express her gratitude, and ran to catch up with Floyd, who had already gone far.

“Your Highness!”

Floyd didn’t look back, but his walking speed slowed down. Roxiana, who had barely caught up with him, said.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Floyd just nodded slightly without answering.

“Um, Your Highness.”

Roxiana quickened her pace to block his way, but closed her mouth when she saw his expression. His reddened eyes, tightly closed lips, and slowly moving jaw muscles conveyed the turmoil of emotions he was feeling.

The numerous emotions roiling in those gray eyes were clearly visible.

Roxiana suddenly thought of something.

‘Has this man laughed happily recently?’

He hadn’t.

The man who drank alcohol using a beer barrel as a table, who took out dried fish from his pocket and chewed on it, who smiled brilliantly even before a war with monsters, had at some point come to furrow his brow and set his mouth in a hard line.

‘Since when?’

She knew the answer to that too.

‘Since I started acting recklessly.’

From then on, Floyd’s brow was always furrowed with worry. He was anxious, afraid, and impatient. Even though he had only the resolve that warriors usually have before a war, he was uniquely so towards Roxiana.

And so Roxiana found the answer to the question she had when she was kidnapped.

-‘Why is the Grand Duke so lenient about everything else, but so concerned only about my body getting hurt?’

This man, this Grand Duke of the South as brilliant as the sun, the lord of a land once full of monsters.

‘Me.’

Because he loves me.

The moment the answer became clear, her breath stopped. Even her heart seemed to stop beating, and everything became quiet.

It was unbelievable, but she had to believe it. Otherwise, it was difficult to explain Floyd’s behavior.

Floyd’s changed tone and gaze only towards Roxiana, his frequent visits and hands that grabbed without hesitation, his boldness in participating in reckless plans without a second word and his efforts to find her lost family, and the lips that passionately covered hers for the reason of sharing life.

The many moments she had shared with him took on new meaning the moment they were labeled as ‘love’. All his words and actions were reconstructed and engraved in her heart one by one.

-“I like it! I like it so much I’m going crazy! Do you understand?”

As she recalled the words she had heard during the subjugation, her knees suddenly gave out.

‘Was that really true? Not just words he said?’

Floyd firmly grabbed Roxiana’s arm as she stumbled. When she unconsciously let out a small groan of “Ah,” Floyd quickly let go of his hand and then supported her again.

Although his hand was no longer hot, the place where it touched felt very hot. Roxiana blankly stared at her forearm that he was holding.

“I’m in a really bad mood right now.”

He said as he straightened Roxiana up. The gaze that had always looked straight at Roxiana was now directed elsewhere.

“It’s not because of you, Princess, so don’t worry about it.”

“I am worried.”

“……Then try not to worry. I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone right now.”

Floyd turned around again after making sure Roxiana was standing properly. Or rather, he tried to. He would have, if Roxiana hadn’t gently placed her hand on his arm.

Although she didn’t grip particularly hard, he couldn’t move an inch. That small touch grabbed him more intensely than a monster’s teeth, and Floyd looked down at Roxiana without moving.

“I’m not hurt. I heard rude words, but I wasn’t treated rudely.”

“You were, Princess. You were treated very rudely!”

For some reason, Floyd was more hurt by her words that she hadn’t been treated rudely despite being kidnapped. His chest ached as he recalled her, branded with a slave’s mark and crammed into a narrow box.

“You were kidnapped. Whether it was done by a holy knight or by slave hunters, you were equally kidnapped, Roti!”

Roti.

The nickname used only by her family and spirits struck Roxiana. Floyd continued speaking as if he didn’t even realize what he had called her.

“I know it’s not your fault. The bad ones are those bastards. I know, I know very well, but……”

Floyd bowed his head deeply. His forehead touched Roxiana’s shoulder.

“I’m going crazy, Roti. Every time you’re in danger, every time you brush it off like it’s nothing, I feel like I’m losing my mind.”