“First, I will revive Torkan. That way, under Your Majesty’s protection, no one will be able to touch me.”

Despite knowing Roxiana’s abilities, at that time, I considered those words as mere cute nonsense. However, Roxiana transformed that cute nonsense into an attractive reality. In just a few months.

“It’s like magic.”

Misunderstanding Floyd’s words, Kirshan nodded.

“I didn’t know spirits could do such things.”

“Spirits…”

Come to think of it, I had forgotten about the spirits. Roxiana called her power spirits, but it was difficult to easily accept beings that had long been treated as evil spirits and then forgotten.

“Are they really spirits? If the princess is right, then this madness inside me is also a spirit…”

“It does seem strange. They say spirits created the rifts and control monsters, but my lord’s flames burn monsters, and the princess’s power helps humans. If it bothers you, shall we look into it more closely?”

“Yes, it would be good for the princess to understand and use her power well too.”

Suddenly, Floyd’s expression softened as he looked down. Puzzled by his sudden change in expression, Kirshan followed his gaze and discovered a small figure walking on the beach below the cliff.

It was Roxiana.

+++

The sea breeze felt humid. It was weather where the moist air made it hard to breathe.

I knew Torkan’s summers were hot, but I had no idea it was this bad. It was so hot that sweat would flow just from sitting still and breathing.

Sitting quietly in the room with the help of water spirits would be cooler than this, but Roxiana was extremely busy.

In the morning, she had to go to the Forget-me-not cafe to mix her power into the water for the juice to be sold that day, and in the afternoon, she had to visit the Karan Trading Company’s warehouse to infuse her power into the seawater in the tanks. And at night, she went out with Kirshan or Hexten to maintain the land.

‘Still, now that the amount I can bless at once is increasing, by next month, I’ll be able to prepare in advance and be away for a while.’

Roxiana decided to call using the spirit’s power a ‘blessing’. Is there a word that fits the power of spirits better than blessing?

Even though she used them like this, the spirits never complained and moved as Roxiana wished.

Roxiana walked along the sandy beach for a while, then stopped and turned to look at the sea. Looking at the deep blue sea where sunlight shattered, she thought of her family.

It would be nice if she could see that sea with her family.

‘It’s already been well over a year.’

The catastrophe that befell her family happened in April 1577, and now it was already August 1578. The time that seemed like it would stop with the death of her family continued to move silently.

‘I shouldn’t be hasty.’

At first, she only thought about getting her family out of the well as soon as possible. But now, she had no intention of rushing in recklessly.

‘My family wouldn’t want me to harm myself either. I wouldn’t want that for them either.’

Moreover, there was the issue of the dishonorable rumors that Joseph V had cast upon the Franche royal family to cover up his son’s disgrace. People who liked sensational stories greatly enjoyed the tale of how the king of Kanta, thought to be diligent and benevolent, drove his loyal subject to death and abused his daughter.

But like other colorful stories, after a few months, the rumors surrounding the Franche royal family would die down, and more sensational stories would take the lead. By then, Joseph V, Lucas, and Elise would be able to sleep with both feet stretched out in relief.

‘No, Elise. You’d sleep with both feet stretched out even now. You love to pity yourself so much.’

Roxiana recalled Elise’s face, laughing and crying while talking about the death of her family. Every time she remembered the laughter and tears of the one who was once her best friend, blood pooled in her heart.

‘Enjoy it now, Elise. A castle built on sand crumbles much more easily than you imagine. I’d bet on how easily fame built on lies will collapse.’

Lately, talking often with Adrian seems to have infected her with his way of speaking. Betting, really. Turning around with a smirk, a bright light entered Roxiana’s eyes.

Puzzled by the light shining from the opposite direction of the sun, she frowned and looked up to see a shining figure standing on the cliff.

‘The Grand Duke.’

She could tell it was him even from afar.

His reddish-brown hair fluttering over his shining armor was distinct.

Roxiana stopped moving and looked at him.

‘Thanks to that man.’

She was here now. If it weren’t for him, she would have been tormented by the king of the Hoben Islands, trying to kill herself, or still struggling in a life that was neither living nor dead, wallowing in despair.

He had pulled Roxiana out of the box, out of the darkness.

Newly moved by what she had received from him, she walked quickly towards the cliff. Only when she got close to the cliff did she realize there was no way up.

‘Where should I go?’

As she looked around trying to find a way up the cliff.

“My lord!”

Hearing an urgent cry from above, she jerked her head up. And an unbelievable sight entered Roxiana’s eyes.

Floyd had jumped straight off the high cliff.

Roxiana waved her hand almost reflexively. The wind that brushed past her fingertips became a whirlwind, catching the falling Floyd.

Although the wind guiding Floyd significantly slowed his falling speed, Roxiana couldn’t relax. Only after his two feet safely touched the ground did Roxiana cry out like a scream.

“What on earth are you doing? Are you crazy?”

Her heart was pounding. Really, she thought she would stop breathing from the shock. Even though it hadn’t happened to her, even though he was fine, her head was spinning and her stomach was churning.

“That’s amazing. To be able to handle the wind so well now.”

Floyd was still trying to touch the whirlwind that was still swirling around him, seemingly fascinated. Roxiana was furious at his attitude as if nothing had happened. She approached him and punched him in the chest.

Clang-!

The armor and her fist collided, making a loud noise.

“I asked if you were crazy!”

“Doesn’t your hand hurt? It’s armor.”

“My hand isn’t the issue right now… Why did you do that? What if I had made a mistake?”

“Then, I would have died lamenting that I had mistaken the person.”

“Ha!”

How can there be such a reckless man?

Seeing Roxiana’s lips trembling in disbelief, he approached her determinedly and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close.

“In the time I haven’t seen you…”

“What?”

“No, just. I was trying to say something.”

His face drew closer. The meeting of lips was instantaneous. A heat hotter than the sun transmitted through their lips. Both disconcerted and pleased by the sudden kiss, Roxiana naturally closed her eyes.

As his scent flowed in, strength began to return to her tired body. His heat filled her inside, enveloping and sweeping through her. One subtle sensation moving with his heat dominated Roxiana.

Her mind went blank, unable to tell whether the intertwining flesh and tangled body heat were hers or his. That pure white world was sweetly dyed with his ash-gray eyes and reddish-brown hair.

Roxiana unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck as she gulped and accepted him.

Only after their lips, which had been overlapped for a very long time, parted did Roxiana realize the name of this sweet yet bitter emotion. Only after meeting his ash-gray eyes that she hadn’t seen in a long time did she recognize the emotion she had been trying to ignore.

‘I see.’

Knowing the name of that emotion, she could understand why Lucas and Floyd had been different all along. Even though Lucas had been the first to kiss her and spend time talking together, she realized why it felt new every time she did it with Floyd.

‘I love this man.’

It seems that even in the despair of losing family and country, human emotions continue to move. It seems there was a small space to hold new emotions even in a heart that thought it couldn’t hold anything else.

It wasn’t strange that she had come to love Floyd.

He was a man she couldn’t help but love.

A man who saved her from the brink of death but didn’t boast about it. A man who always looked after her and tried to help her think about living somehow, even though a woman in despair should have been bothersome. A man who laughed heartily while enjoying festivals. A man who drank beer mingling with knights. A man who raised his voice in anxiety whenever Roxiana felt like she was going to die.

How could one not love such a man?

She ended up loving him because she couldn’t help but love him.

But that’s all.

Just because she realized this love, she had no intention of doing anything about it. Floyd was the ruler of a country, and Roxiana was just an ordinary woman with nothing. Just a woman who had received much but had no way to repay.

‘I’ll just leave it be.’

She had no intention of trying to erase the feelings that had arisen, nor of struggling to stop the flowing emotions. If she had already fallen in love, it couldn’t be helped.

Roxiana had no leisure to try to suppress the heart that had bloomed on its own. She had no time to agonize and conflict over the already formed emotions. It was already exhausting enough just to worry about other problems.

For Roxiana now, love was just one of many types of emotions, like anger or hatred towards Elise and Lucas.

‘Yes, since the Grand Duke kisses me at will, he has no right to say anything about me loving at will. That’s all there is to it.’

Floyd’s willful attitude that she experienced while staying with him was surprising yet pleasant. So Roxiana also decided to break free from the shackles of etiquette, public gaze, and evaluations that had been wrapped around her, and act as she pleased.

The current me is not the princess of Kanta, but just Roxiana Franche.