Though she was called Roti, her real name was probably Roxiana.
Roxiana Evelyn Franche.
As he recalled her name, he also remembered their last meeting.
It was a day with particularly thick dark clouds and heavy rain. The fire that broke out in the small palace where Floyd was staying was extinguished thanks to the pouring rain before it could spread to other palaces.
Although Victian IV said it was fine and told him to stay longer, Floyd knew it was time for him to leave.
There was no luggage to pack, no retinue to gather. He could leave alone and empty-handed, just as he had entered the Ider Palace. As he trudged through the rain, he caught sight of the princes gathered together with the princess.
“Aah! No!”
“Oh? But this frog likes you!”
It seemed they had caught a frog and were teasing the young princess with it. Though Floyd had many brothers and sisters, he had never been close with them like this, so the scene looked fresh and enviable to him.
Just then, he made eye contact with one of the princes. The prince said something to the princess, and she whirled around to stare at Floyd before running over.
“Are you going home?”
The young princess stopped in front of Floyd, tilting her head back to look up at him as she asked. Only then did Floyd notice that the princess’s eyes were green, with a golden rim shimmering around the edges.
“Yes, I’m leaving.”
Though he had no home to return to, it wasn’t something a young child would understand, so he answered that way. The princess blinked her eyes a few times before speaking.
“But it’s raining a lot.”
“I’m still going.”
At his curt reply, the princess tilted her head slightly to the side, then held out the umbrella she was carrying. She probably meant to hold it over him, but due to her short height, the tip of the umbrella poked Floyd’s forehead.
Floyd was more concerned about the raindrops starting to soak the princess’s hair than his own forehead, but the princess paid no mind and said:
“Take this with you.”
“It’s alright.”
“Take it. You’ll catch a cold if you get rained on.”
At those words about catching a cold, Floyd felt as if he’d been struck on the back of the head. No one had ever worried about him catching a cold before.
Stunned by this unexpected kindness, Floyd found the umbrella handle pressed into his hand. The princess, now soaked from the rain, smiled brightly at Floyd.
“Don’t get sick.”
Leaving those words behind, she turned and ran back to her brothers. Floyd couldn’t give any reply to the princess.
“My lord.”
At the sound of someone calling, the scene from the past shattered. Kirshan was standing beside Floyd, though he didn’t know when he had arrived.
“Oh, Kirshan. Why don’t you have a drink too?”
Gently pushing away the offered wine glass, Kirshan said:
“My lord, a report has come in from the harbor area. There’s a merchant trying to board a ship bound for the Hobun Islands, and it seems he might be a slave trader…”
At the word “slave,” Floyd’s face contorted in anger.
“Those crazy bastards!”
As Floyd grabbed the wine glass to throw it, Adrian skillfully caught it and placed it back on the table. Floyd sprang to his feet and strode towards the tower door.
Though sea monsters gathering near the shore had made sea travel difficult, the waters around Torcan were relatively safe, attracting many merchants.
Floyd accepted most merchants, but he strictly prohibited slave traders. Yet slave traders would still try to sneak in using various methods to board ships bound for other countries.
“What’s the scale?”
“It’s not large, but I heard there’s a big catch.”
“A big catch? Unbelievable.”
Women from fallen noble families fetched good prices. They also used the term “big catch” when trading those with talents like mages or knights skilled with the sword.
Floyd mounted the horse Kirshan had prepared and galloped towards the harbor.
Entering the harbor, Floyd leapt from the galloping horse and ran to the waiting soldier. The soldier tried to bow his head in courtesy, but Floyd waved his hand irritably and said:
“Where?”
“They’ve already boarded the ship.”
The soldier pointed to one of the massive merchant ships docked in the harbor. Sailors were busily moving about on the deck.
“Why couldn’t you stop them?”
“We checked the boxes, but they only contained ordinary herbs.”
“Did you check all the goods?”
“We couldn’t, because each box had the royal seal of the Hobun Islands and was protected by magic…”
“Why did you suspect they were slave traders?”
“Jack from the fish shop, who used to be a slave, said he’d seen that man before. He said he’d come and gone from the count’s mansion, where Jack’s owner lived, bringing slaves with him.”
The merchant ship that the suspected slave trader was trying to use was already preparing to depart. As Floyd glared at the ship, Adrian said:
“If it bears the royal seal of the Hobun Islands, we shouldn’t meddle carelessly. If it’s not slaves but royal property, it could become an international issue.”
Floyd wrinkled his nose.
As Adrian said, if the cargo really was harmless, it would become an international issue, and depending on the importance of the goods, it could even lead to war. But the Hobun Islands were a place where slave trading was very active.
Floyd was certain that the boxes contained slaves.
“Open them all.”
“My lord, if the Hobun Islands take issue with this…”
Floyd grinned. The wind that happened to blow at that moment made his reddish-brown hair flutter like flames.
“I’ll go apologize in person if need be. Open them!”
+++
Roxiana was curled up inside a narrow box.
Before, she had at least been in an iron cage that allowed movement, but she was put in this box before entering the Grand Duchy of Torcan.
Fearing Roxiana might bite her tongue, the slave trader had shoved a wad of cloth into her mouth, saying:
“The King of Hobun has agreed to buy you for a very high price. You’d be better off as the king’s slave anyway. The King of Hobun is crazy for pretty women, so try to seduce him well. Who knows? He might make you his mistress.”
The slave trader was the type who took pleasure in the fact that Roxiana, once a princess of a country, had become merchandise for him to sell. He often enjoyed taking Roxiana out of the cage, making her lie face down in front of a chair, and resting his legs on her back.
“Life is so interesting. Once you were in my position, but now look. You can’t even lift your head without my permission. Try to please me. Then I’ll sell you to a good place.”
Whether she was sold to a good place or whether she could lift her head or not, none of that mattered to Roxiana. Even having to kneel before someone of uncertain origin after falling from princess to slave didn’t particularly fill her with humiliation.
No, it wasn’t that she didn’t feel it – she couldn’t feel anything at all.
Ever since hearing that her family’s bodies had been thrown into a well, Roxiana’s mind had been drifting somewhere else entirely.
The days spent with her family. The carefree, happy days at Ider Palace. Unable to escape from that wonderful past, she remained in a daze.
Because of this, her current state – not eating for days, crammed into a box in a hunched position – had no effect on Roxiana. The hunger, the pain in her joints, the difficulty breathing from the thin air, it was all as if it wasn’t happening to Roxiana.
“We’re about to board the merchant ship now. Stay quiet. Well, it doesn’t matter if you struggle. I’ve put a protection spell on the box, so no sound will escape no matter what you do inside.”
The slave trader’s chatter from outside the box might have been today, or it might have been yesterday – she couldn’t tell. At a time when her family couldn’t rest in peace and had been thrown into a well, her own circumstances seemed unimportant.
Despite spending so much time alone, she didn’t think about Lucas or Elise. The absence of her beloved family gnawed at her bones and severed her veins more than wondering why they had done such a thing.
Every time she thought of her family, her heart was torn, yet no tears fell. And so Roxiana simply curled up, breathing quietly like a doll crumpled into a box.
“Wh-what are you doing!”
“We have permission!”
Suddenly, loud noises could be heard from outside. There was the sound of something breaking, and the slave trader’s desperate pleas turning to curses.
Had they encountered sea monsters while sailing?
If so, Roxiana hoped she would be killed by the monsters and thrown into the sea. Then perhaps her soul could drift aimlessly and, with luck, meet her family.
Elise had said she might find a good master and be placed in Adelia’s coffin, but Roxiana didn’t want that. With her family unable to return to God’s embrace, she had no desire to enter the land of peaceful rest alone.
“There are slaves here.”
A languid voice drew closer.
“My lord, there are slaves in this box too.”
“In this box as well!”
“Catch those bastards!”
A rough, heavy voice also drew near. It seemed they hadn’t encountered sea monsters after all.
‘Torcan was the only place on this continent where slave trading was prohibited.’
The commotion brought Roxiana briefly back to the present from the past.
While high-born ladies were more focused on cultivating arts like dance, embroidery, and painting rather than understanding international affairs, Roxiana had learned and practiced various things alongside her brothers.
‘And the lord of Torcan is…’
Floyd Carlot Ratean.
The Red Tiger who annihilates sea monsters.
As that thought occurred to her, hope flickered in Roxiana’s eyes for the first time. A tiny, almost imperceptible light sparkled in the depths of her green eyes.
The next moment.
Crack!
Someone tore open the box without hesitation.
Roxiana lifted her bowed head to gaze at the person. A man with ash-gray eyes like storm clouds. Holding the torn piece of the box, he truly exuded the aura of a tiger. The energy radiating from his broad shoulders heated the surroundings, making the air shimmer.
His eyes met Roxiana’s. His furrowed brow smoothed out and his narrowed eyes widened. He examined Roxiana carefully before saying in disbelief:
“What is this? Why is the princess of Canta here?”
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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