‘I have to do something. I must be able to do it.’

There was a time when I was determined to do anything to die without smelling Adelia’s scent. But now that I’m trying to do something worse than dying, it’s not the time to be cautious and confused about just a kiss.

The pounding in my chest completely subsided.

Petria continued speaking.

“So there’s a banquet being held this evening for the departing knights, and the princess asked if you would attend if you’re feeling up to it.”

Roxiana looked at the setting sun outside the window.

“There’s not much time left. I should prepare to attend.”

In the past, I would have declined, thinking it wasn’t my place to go. But now I had no intention of just curling up in Lily Palace and digging a hole in the ground.

It’s time to move. No matter how favorable Floyd was toward Roxiana, not all the knights would feel the same. When Floyd gave them orders for Roxiana’s sake, I needed to become someone they would willingly decide to obey. If not loyalty, I needed friendship that came from their hearts.

While Petria prepared for the banquet, Roxiana thought of Floyd’s knightly orders.

Arsen Chetek’s White Eagle Knights.

Adrian Tellis’ Red Spider Knights.

Cain Tellis’ Black Bear Knights.

Hexten Renardro’s Golden Lion Knights.

There were many knightly orders in Torkan, but the four staying at the Grand Duke’s palace were the elite of the elites. Roxiana had heard stories that no enemies remained wherever they passed.

‘Sir Renardro has shown me friendship. Sir Cain Tellis doesn’t seem to dislike me either. But…’

Arsen and Adrian were the problem. Just from their tone, she could feel their hostility toward her.

‘They can’t feel favorable towards me since I could put Torkan in danger. I need to think of a way to enter Kanta with minimal risk. If I can find such a method, they might accept me to some degree.’

In the midst of the serious situation, she suddenly recalled the scene of Arsen waving a large bone to lure Lion at Lily Palace. Roxiana forced down the smile trying to form on her lips and looked around.

Come to think of it, Lion was nowhere to be seen.

“Petria, where is Lion?”

“Oh, Lion? After confirming that you had woken up earlier, he went off somewhere. By the way, Your Highness, Lion has grown incredibly large. At first, I didn’t even recognize him and screamed.”

+++

Lion, the gray wolf now enormous beyond recognition, sat alone by a stream flowing through the forest. Looking closely, there was a white otter no bigger than a hand beside Lion. Despite being small enough to be just a mouthful for the giant wolf, the otter showed no signs of wariness next to Lion.

Lion looked around.

Until a few days ago, this forest had been burned black by Floyd’s flames. Those flames, filled with hatred for monsters and humans, had completely scorched the forest, making it impossible to revive for a very long time. It was burned with the desperate wish that humans who had settled in this forest would not return, that humans could not live here.

But Roxiana had revived it. By borrowing the power of spirits who hated humans.

Humans who had lost their homes were returning to the revived land. The procession of people returning to their villages had been ongoing for two days.

“Can you believe it?”

A human voice flowed from the tiny otter’s mouth.

“Roti revived the forest this much with just Undine, Melden, and Shuriel.”

The wolf wrinkled its nose.

“It was madness. If not for Rit, Roti would have been shattered and taken decades to recover. An unimaginably long time for humans.”

“Still, it’s fortunate. But Well, how is such a thing possible? Could Rit originally do something like that?”

“It’s probably because that poor girl’s soul completely assimilated with Rit’s soul. They say a spirit dissolved in a human soul can create miracles.”

Even as a wolf and otter, they had never seen anything like how Floyd had saved Roxiana, so they didn’t know the exact cause.

The otter said,

“I thought Rit was just tormenting a poor child, I didn’t know it could help like this.”

“…”

“Anyway, what do you think, Well? Can Roti get us out of here?”

The wolf growled at the otter’s words.

“Don’t say useless things. Roti nearly died from just mid-level spirits. We can’t place an even bigger burden on someone who’s already lost everything.”

The otter’s tail drooped.

“Yeah, you’re right. I was too greedy. Roti has a strong sense of responsibility, so if she found out about our situation, she’d try to help. She already has enough to deal with on her own.”

“Right, so keep your children’s mouths shut. How can your kids talk so much? Especially Undine, she seems to go half-crazy every time she meets Roti.”

“It can’t be helped. Roti is too sweet. Just being near her, her soul gently caresses you, so it’s irresistible. It’s been so long since we’ve met a human like that.”

“I don’t understand why you express that pleasure through chatter.”

The wolf and otter paused their conversation and stared at the flowing stream. It had been so long since they could freely roam the world unbound by these bodies that they couldn’t even remember the refreshing feeling from back then.

The wolf asked,

“Mine?”

“What Roti accomplished has already spread among humans. Floyd is trying to keep it quiet, but this amazing miracle will soon spread to the empire. Mine is probably stopping the wind near the empire and the Great Temple now. I’m on my way back after drying up the water in that area too.”

When water dries up and wind stops, even the empire and temple won’t have the leisure to focus on other matters for a while.

“So that’s why you’ve shrunk.”

“Having a physical body is such a bother.”

The wolf had also shrunk after using its strong power. It usually takes a very long time to return to the original size, but this time, thanks to Roxiana’s soul and life force that she had released while reviving the forest, it returned to its original size in an instant.

The otter, wagging its tail, jumped into the water. Floating in the stream, it looked up at the wolf and said,

“Take good care of Roti. I’ll keep watch near the empire for a bit longer.”

The wolf watched the otter swim away as if drifting, then let out a deep sigh and stood up.

+++

When I heard “banquet,” I naturally thought it would be held in a spacious hall or a well-decorated garden, but Floyd’s banquet was held in a large training ground. Without any decorations, only lit by fires, several long tables were set up, and knights occupied each seat.

At the edge of the training ground, a makeshift kitchen had been set up. Chefs cooked there tirelessly, and employees were busy carrying food for the hungry knights.

Knights who would leave for the subjugation tomorrow and those who would remain to protect Torkan gathered in one place to eat and drink.

Today’s topic was singular. In fact, for the past few days, their conversation topic had been unified.

“Have you been to the forest? I went yesterday to escort the displaced people, and it was unrecognizable. It’s much more lush than before.”

“I saw it too. I’ve never seen trees so dense in this weather. There were even flowers blooming.”

“Can you believe the Lily Palace princess accomplished that? How is that possible?”

“Does the princess know how to use holy power?”

“If so, that’s a big problem. If this news reaches the temple’s ears, they’ll try to take the princess away.”

“How dare they touch our princess. That’s nonsense. What has the temple ever done for the princess!”

The slave of Lily Palace had changed from the lady of Lily Palace to the princess of Lily Palace. Roxiana didn’t think much of what she had done, but to the knights, it was like a miracle.

Roxiana was a talent that couldn’t be lost to others, and a precious guest that their respected lord cherished greatly.

So they couldn’t allow the likes of the temple to extend their grasp to ‘our princess.’ The knights believed without doubt that their lord would give the same order.

Amidst the knights’ noisy chatter, the table where Floyd and the knight commanders sat was quiet.

The knight commanders glanced at Floyd’s expression.

After Roxiana revealed the horrific truth about what happened to her family, Floyd seemed to have fallen into deep concern, wearing a dark expression. His ashen eyes were gloomy, and the muscles around his mouth were tightly set, making him seem to exude coldness despite being a passionate man.

The knight commanders had never seen Floyd be affected by a single problem for so long.

The usual Floyd would have said, “Let’s drink for now. We can think about the Franche royal family’s issues after the subjugation!” And he probably would have added, “Still, isn’t it fortunate that the princess met me! If she had been sold off as planned, the Franche royal family would never have escaped the well in their lifetime!”

But now, as if his own family had been thrown into a well, Floyd was immersed in anger, hatred, and a bit of sorrow.

It was natural for the knight commanders to be tense because of his appearance, quietly releasing a different anger than before. An hour had passed since the banquet began, but Floyd neither ate nor drank.

Adrian, who had been sipping beer while reading the atmosphere, elbowed Kirshan in the side. Kirshan frowned slightly, then let out a small sigh and opened his mouth.

“My lord. We’ve tried to keep people quiet, but rumors spread faster. Even though we’ve blocked the newspapers, stories about the princess are spreading by word of mouth.”