“Are you alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“To save me, you used your li……”

Roxiana pursed her lips, embarrassed to say “kiss,” but finally managed to speak.

“I heard you dislike women. Yet you don’t mind using your lips like this?”

He tilted his head at her roundabout question, then slowly ran his long finger across his lips and smirked.

“Well. Rather than dislike, I actually quite enjoy it. Using this power that has only ever killed to save someone instead – how could I dislike that?”

“Then… isn’t there another way besides using your… Your Highness’s lips?”

“There is. I found that rubbing my hands on your bare skin works too. Though it takes longer since I have to thoroughly rub your entire body. Would you prefer that method?”

Imagining what that would entail, Roxiana’s face turned red. Seeing her shake her head with even her ears flushed, Floyd chuckled softly.

Suddenly, the thought of Lucas pushing such a cute and innocent woman into despair made his subsided anger flare up again.

Floyd bent down and lowered his head, resting his forehead against her shoulder. He felt Roxiana take a sharp intake of breath in surprise.

“Princess, I am terribly angry.”

“……”

“Lucas Pelur, after reducing your family to that state, is probably eating and sleeping well right about now.”

Roxiana was angry about that very thing too, so it was both surprising and heartwarming to know he felt the same emotion.

This feeling, this anger and hatred she couldn’t share with others, there was someone who felt it with her. Someone who was angry on behalf of what happened to her family.

Realizing that the reason he had seemed upset wasn’t because of her, but because of the situation she was in, made her heart clench. Though she had resolved not to cry anymore, her eyes stung uncomfortably.

To her, Floyd whispered:

“That bastard should be the one suffering nightmares, yet you’re the one suffering to the point of risking your life. It’s unfair. Don’t let them keep disrupting your every day like this.”

She realized his words were similar to what her second brother Ian had once said.

-“He’s probably sound asleep right now without a single thought of you. If you alone stay up all night angry, you’re the only one losing out. So just forget it. That’s how you win.”

Roxiana asked Floyd the question she couldn’t ask Ian back then.

“Do you really think so? That I win by living well without thinking of them, even though they pushed me into this despair?”

“Well. Winning, losing. I’m not sure about all that.”

Floyd lifted his head from Roxiana’s shoulder and faced her. His eyes no longer wavered. With those unwavering eyes focused solely on Roxiana, he spoke in a resolute voice:

“They will believe without a doubt that you were sold as a slave to some perverted old man, spending time wishing you were dead. But what if one day, you appeared before them with an incomparably happy expression, as if you couldn’t wish for anything more?”

“……”

“Now, what do you think those bastards would think upon seeing you? What kind of faces would they make? Have you ever thought about it?”

She hadn’t.

She had only thought about desperately crawling up to where they were, taking everything they had and pushing them into the same hell as her. She had never thought about it that way.

So Roxiana imagined.

Elise, you probably believe I’m crying out in agony right now. If I were to appear before you in a beautiful dress, smiling brightly, what expression would you make?

Would you be glad? Or would you cry? Like back then, when you told me about my family’s demise. Would you cry and laugh like a demon?

‘Probably not.’

Roxiana knew Elise as well as Elise knew her. She knew the impatient Elise who would fly into a rage when things didn’t go her way, the Elise who couldn’t sleep for anger.

Roxiana knew Lucas better than Lucas knew her. She knew the Lucas who would grind his teeth and stamp his feet in anger when things went wrong, only to eventually tire himself out.

‘I see.’

She had found a way to reach them.

‘I need to smile. I need to be happy. I need to live well. Only then will they become angry upon seeing me, not even realizing their own downfall.’

Floyd watched Roxiana lost in thought, then grinned when their eyes met.

“Just imagining it feels great, doesn’t it?”

“Do you always live with such thoughts, Your Highness?”

“There was a time when I lived thinking only of burning those responsible for my mother’s death, even if it meant burning my own soul.”

Roxiana couldn’t imagine this refreshingly smiling man having had such a time.

“Now, I’m mostly cheerful, mostly in good spirits, I ponder briefly, and very rarely, on extremely rare occasions, I think of those bastards. And when I hear news that they’re stomping their feet in frustration at my achievements, I become very pleased. On such days, I raise a toast.”

He lightly twirled the ends of Roxiana’s hair around his finger and pulled gently. Close enough for their noses to almost touch, he gazed at her intently and said:

“Don’t let those bastards devour your soul too. Your soul is too precious to waste on the likes of them.”

+++

Even after parting with Floyd and heading to her bedroom, Roxiana felt as if she were still with him. His life force, transmitted through his kiss, had deeply etched itself into her flesh.

His scent, a mix of sea, forest, and earth, accompanied Roxiana. She felt safe within that fragrance.

‘Don’t let them devour you.’

Until now, she had been devoured. From that day when she heard of her family’s deaths until the present, she had been chewed up and swallowed by them countless times. While they would sleep comfortably, Roxiana continued to suffer, breaking apart.

‘That’s probably exactly what they want.’

Sorrow. Pain. Despair. Anger. Hatred. They would hope to see Roxiana floundering, consumed by such things. And until now, Roxiana had lived exactly as they had hoped.

She realized this thanks to Floyd.

Roxiana finally imagined.

When I stand before them later, how should I appear? In a wretched state, having desperately crawled up from hell? Or looking just as happy as when I was in Kanta, no, even happier than that?

It was clear which one they would hate more.

Roxiana recalled Floyd’s words before they parted.

-“I know you’re not in the mood, but force yourself to enjoy it anyway. Force yourself to smile. If winning and losing is important to you, Princess, the one who smiles is the winner.”

She wanted to win. Roxiana didn’t want to lose to them, and she believed her family would want that too.

When she opened the bedroom door, the wolf that had disappeared had returned. Though the wolf had grown unrecognizably large, Roxiana wasn’t surprised.

“You’re back. You’ve grown a lot.”

The wolf had become massive, reaching up to Roxiana’s waist. If it stood on two legs, it would probably be taller than her.

Though its build was threatening enough to defeat even a lion or tiger, its gaze towards Roxiana was as gentle as before. Roxiana approached Lion, knelt down, and embraced him.

The wolf had an unusually pleasant scent.

“I’ve decided to smile, Lion.”

Roxiana lifted the corners of her lips. She buried her face in the wolf’s fur and forced a smile that wouldn’t come naturally.

“Lucas smiled while showing me my parents’ heads. Elise smiled while branding me as a slave. Every day, every single day, I recall their smiling faces. So Lion, I’ve decided to smile too.”

Roxiana’s mouth smiled, but her eyes blazed fiercely.

“Lucas and Elise. I’ll keep smiling endlessly so that the very last image they recall of me is a smiling face.”

+++

Many people gathered at the entrance of the Grand Duke’s palace from early dawn to see off Floyd and his knights departing to subjugate monsters at the request of the Enilta Royal Palace.

The main gate of the Grand Duke’s palace was bustling with several wagons loaded with military supplies and the gathered crowd. Floyd sat atop his red horse, looking down at his subjects.

“I’ll be back soon, so don’t cause any trouble. Don’t create any headaches for me.”

Familiar with their ruler’s casual farewell unbefitting of a long journey, the subjects bowed their heads or raised clenched fists, shouting, “Return victorious!”, “We await news of your triumph!”

As Floyd raised his clenched right fist in response, his eyes caught sight of Roxiana in the distance.

Roxiana stood under a tree far removed from the crowd, her hands neatly clasped together.

When their eyes met, a gentle smile spread across her face. It was a natural and sweet smile, as if it had always occupied her face.

Smiling so brightly, Roxiana slightly bowed her head in greeting.

Seeing this, Floyd laughed heartily. As the ruler’s laughter echoed loudly in the dawn sky, everyone looked up at him in confusion, wondering what had happened.

Floyd shouted:

“I’ve seen something good this morning! This subjugation will be no problem. Let’s depart, everyone!”