“Is it very insufficient?”

“I can cook delicious food for the princess, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about…”

“I know. But the princess doesn’t need to worry along with me. It’s just slightly insufficient, and the monster subjugation is just an annual event.”

As expected, Floyd showed no openings. To him, who was preemptively blocking her desire to help, Roxiana asked,

“When are you leaving?”

If so, she wanted to show him something before Floyd left at least. She couldn’t remain just a fragile woman who only receives.

‘If the Grand Duke is treating me well because he wants something from me, then I can’t just keep receiving favors here anymore.’

He wanted to upset Lucas through Roxiana. If so, Roxiana’s existence alone would be enough to achieve his purpose, but Roxiana wanted more than that.

For that, she needs to pay a suitable price. She must produce results that would make her not feel guilty for receiving from him. Only then can she confidently make demands in front of him and his vassals.

“It will take about 4 or 5 days to finish preparations for the expedition. Ah, of course, there’s no need to bring the princess along, so let’s skip talk of swords and shields. It’s quite troublesome to refuse every time.”

“You don’t look troubled at all though.”

“I’m very troubled. I’m the type who can’t refuse.”

It was absurd to hear such words from someone who seemed like they could refuse better than anyone in the world. As Roxiana pursed her lips to avoid retorting further, Floyd, who had been watching, said,

“In the summer, birds come to the island beyond the harbor over there. They’re called owlets, have you ever seen them?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“They’re very small and cute creatures. Seeing you pout like that now, it reminds me of those little ones. It’s cute.”

Roxiana was flustered and her expression softened.

The last time she was called small and cute was when she was about 10 years old. After that, Roxiana grew rapidly and was always taller than her peers.

“I’m neither small nor cute.”

“To my eyes, you’re sufficiently small and overflowingly cute.”

The bewilderment turned into embarrassment in an instant. Even though she couldn’t tell if it was a compliment or teasing, her face turned red.

“Your Highness… you’re really… absurd.”

Floyd laughed.

“That’s right. I’m an absurd fellow. Rest well, Princess.”

Even after Floyd left, the burning sensation didn’t subside. Roxiana placed both hands on her cheeks, trying to calm the heat while recalling their conversation.

She thought he had come because of an important matter, but their conversation was full of frivolous topics. Although Elise’s story was mixed in, it might be an insignificant matter to him even if it was an important issue for Roxiana.

‘Why did the Grand Duke come to visit anyway?’

+++

After pondering all night, Roxiana firmed her resolve.

‘I have to do it today.’

It was a day with an intensely blue sky.

‘Even if I practice for one or two more days, I won’t improve significantly more than now.’

After Floyd left yesterday, she asked the employees and found out that the place they were going for monster subjugation this time was the Kingdom of Enilta. The Kingdom of Enilta was quite far north from Torkan, and bordered the northwestern region of the Kingdom of Kanta.

It would take a long time just to get there, so it was uncertain how long it would take until they returned from the subjugation.

‘It will probably take at least 2 or 3 months.’

She couldn’t wait until his return. Before he left, she had to show him results and receive compensation for it.

‘I have to erase the slave’s brand and obtain a status.’

Even now, if she asked, Floyd would probably agree, but she didn’t want to receive without giving anything anymore. She didn’t want to be tied down by owing him any more favors. She wanted to gain the qualification to make demands to him confidently and leave without any attachments.

Elise had become the lord of Kingteren.

‘And I’m starting from commoner status.’

There was a long way to go. She didn’t want to rush, but now was the time to hurry a little. She didn’t want to just wait idly until his return.

‘It might be a bit dangerous, but.’

She wouldn’t die. The spirits said that using such methods would kill her, but after carefully listening to their chatter, she learned that she wouldn’t actually die.

Her life force would be chipped away and her soul would shatter. As a side effect, her body might stiffen and she might be unable to move for months, breathing like a corpse.

When she healed the contaminated victim, she could tell from the spirits’ conversations that even if Floyd hadn’t sent her warmth, they wouldn’t have died.

‘It’s worth being stiff for a few months.’

It’s better to be stiff while Floyd is away than to wait for his return and then be unable to get up for months. By the time he returns, she should be able to move.

Having firmed her resolve, Roxiana washed, ate, and spent some time in the garden as usual. She maintained her routine so Petria wouldn’t find it suspicious while thinking.

‘If I sneak out at night, it might draw more attention.’

Floyd didn’t prohibit Roxiana from leaving the Grand Duke’s palace. So far, Roxiana had received visits from several people, and she had also visited the mansion of Eledrun, the head maid Persina.

So it would be less suspicious to move as if going out to a nearby place during the day.

“I’m going out for a while.”

As noon approached, Roxiana told Petria.

“I’ll be visiting Sir Renardo’s mansion.”

“Is it alright if I don’t accompany you?”

“Yes, since I’m just going for a short while, I’m planning to go on horseback.”

“Oh my, do you know how to ride?”

“A little.”

She really did know a little. She used to ride often when she was young, but as she grew older, she used carriages, so she was worried if she could ride well. But since she couldn’t go to the forest by carriage, Roxiana decided to try riding a horse after a long time.

She felt a little guilty about deceiving Petria, but after making up an excuse, Roxiana left the Lily Palace and headed towards the stable.

The stable keeper was flustered by the personal visit of the rumored guest of the Lily Palace, but remembered the Grand Duke’s order to grant whatever the princess wanted.

“A horse? Not a carriage?”

“Yes, I’d like to ride a horse.”

“Ah, I see. Then this fellow is gentle and obedient, so I’ll prepare this one for you. Please wait a moment.”

Roxiana stood quietly waiting while the stable keeper fitted the saddle. At that moment, Lion, who had followed Roxiana, tugged at her skirt hem with his teeth.

“You can’t come with me today, Lion.”

Roxiana patted Lion’s back, but Lion didn’t let go of her skirt. Even after the stable keeper brought the prepared brown horse, Lion continued to hold onto Roxiana’s skirt. As if trying to prevent her from leaving.

Roxiana was perplexed by the behavior of the usually obedient and intelligent wolf, but she couldn’t stop now that she had come this far.

“I’ll play with you later when I come back. Okay? Be good and wait.”

Roxiana forcibly pulled her skirt.

With a ripping sound, the edge of the skirt tore off. The stable keeper was startled and bowed his head, but Roxiana paid no attention and mounted the horse. Lion tried to block her path but, either worried about startling the horse or afraid of being trampled, reluctantly moved aside.

“Sorry, Lion. See you later.”

Roxiana gently bid farewell to the young wolf and patted the horse’s back. As she watched Roxiana’s retreating figure, the young wolf’s mouth opened.

“Damn it.”

The stable keeper was startled by the sudden deep voice and looked around, but there were only horses and a small wolf in the stable.

The stable keeper blinked and, thinking he must have misheard the wind, walked away. But the wolf remained standing in place, glaring at where Roxiana had disappeared.

−We need to stop Roxy. We can no longer resist Roxy’s pulling force.

−Roxy is so sweet that even Lord Melden and Lady Undine will be irresistibly drawn.

−But it’s not enough to contain both of them yet. Roxy’s soul will shatter. Roxy isn’t afraid of her soul shattering.

−What should we do? Even if the soul recovers after shattering repeatedly, it won’t return to how it was before…

The wolf’s ears twitched at the nearby chattering voices. The wolf wrinkled its nose and said,

“This all happened because you couldn’t keep your mouths shut. I warned you so many times to be careful, but you couldn’t close your muzzles.”

−But Roxy is so lovable.

−Being near Roxy makes us feel so good that we can’t help but chatter.

The wolf sighed. It wasn’t that it didn’t understand the spirits’ feelings of being irresistibly drawn to her. The problem was Roxiana.

She finally survived and Floyd is even protecting her, so she could just live comfortably.

Roxiana doesn’t understand what it means for a soul to shatter. If she keeps using excessive power like this and her soul breaks into pieces, she might be fine now, but later after death, she won’t be able to enter into rest.

Until all the scattered soul fragments are recovered, she will have to drift for what feels like an eternity.

It would be an unimaginably horrible experience for a human to wander solely to find soul fragments for a time so vast it’s hard to fathom.

As the wolf wrinkled its nose, the ground shook. It was enough of a tremor that even the stable keeper heading to the dining hall could feel it, so the nearby horses were thrown into confusion, crying and kicking.

As the commotion broke out, the wolf lowered its head and took a deep breath. The tremors subsided.

“It can’t be helped.”

Muttering quietly, the wolf started running towards the training ground.