CH 108.2

“Elizabeth…!!!”

Seeing the official’s carriages receding beyond the horizon, Francisca knelt down and howled.

“It’s my fault… I should have hidden her…!”

It was her fault, if she hadn’t come back with Elizabeth in her hands with the intention of bragging to the villagers…

If it hadn’t been for her worthless vanity, Elizabeth would never have fallen into the hands likes of such men.

Memories with Elizabeth flash through her mind.

‘Elizabeth…’

She was quite surprised when they first met.

After that, they started rubbing off each other.

So she subtly gave Elizabeth more water than the others.

In the end, she acknowledged Elizabeth’s feelings for her and gave her a name…

“Elizabeth-!”

She’ll miss her but would never be able to see her again.

Call her by name, like this.

Francisca howled once more as she watched the carriage’s roof recede before it was all gone.

“It sucks. Doesn’t it.”

Then she gets whacked in the back of the head by Cloud.

“Ah! What, what are you doing!”

“Why are you so devasted over just a potato?”

“Just a potato?! You don’t know how much Elizabeth has given me hope in my troubled life—”

“Stop spewing bullshit and take a look around.”

Francisca frowned and glared at Cloud, but she did as asked and turned her head around herself to look.

– If they take it all away like that, how will we survive this winter…

– Are they bent on starving us to death? Damn bastards.

– If nothing else, what was the point of taking my only hen?

The faces of the villagers were seriously grim.

She was ashamed of how she was crying over a potato moments ago.

“Can you understand the situation?”

Francisca nodded slowly, very slowly, keeping her mouth shut. Cloud continued as he watched the carriage disappear completely.

“For those of us who don’t have anything right now, only one of our potatoes was taken away, but the other residents are different. They have to pay an exorbitant amount of tax. Do you know why?”

“…why?”

“It’s to rebuild Lupus. It’ll take a lot of money to rebuild a collapsed city, and the royal family’s wealth isn’t enough, so they’re levying their estates enormously. And this village happens to be the domain of the royal family.”

“…”

“This will go on for a while. Maybe it will last for a very long time. Why? Because no matter the city is rebuilt, there is no one to be the center of importance. Then the guys who aim for the rebuilt city will appear one by one. They will fight each other for the throne. And who will bear the damage caused by it? Who, Francisca?”

Francisca didn’t answer.

He didn’t want an answer either, so he let go.

“Now, you have two options,” said Cloud, opening two of his fingers and folding one.

“Inherit the throne and become the queen.”

He folded the other one.

“Continue to live as a farmhand over her. Pick one.”

Instead of choosing right away, Francisca turned her head and looked about the village.

From the nosy village chief’s wife to Aberneen’s father who ran a tavern and Uncle Dan who worked at the fields.

Most of them were people who had lost their smiles in the past two months.

That’s why she knew.

How distraught and worried they were behind the calm facade.

They were hard workers. At least that way they weren’t the ones who had to worry about starving to death.

Francisca let out a deep sigh.

From the moment she saw behind the facade, her options were already limited.

“First.”

“This is a wise choice, my Queen.”

He smiled.

* * *

– Knock, knock.

“Who’s there?”

Even in the middle of answering the knock, Leslie’s eyes didn’t move away from the papers.

– It’s me.

Until the voice passed through the wooden door and her brain registered it to be Cloud’s.

Hearing the nostalgic voice, she turned her head toward the door.

“Cloud, that’s you?”

– That’s right. I’ll be entering.

The door opened and a red-haired handsome man came inside. Leslie’s expression, which had been diplomatically cold, brightened.

“You are back. When did you come?”

“Just a while ago. How’s it going? And how have you been while I was gone?”

“Not so spectacular. You can see why.”

Leslie pointed to the pile of papers on her desk with a glance.

“I have a lot of work, but there is no one to energize me.”

Cloud laughed awkwardly at her smile, chilling smile.

“Sorry. At least, there have been results. The princess has decided to succeed the King.”

“That is a very good news. The surrounding lords are already somewhat skittering to move.”

“If the princess is bequeathed the throne and I declare that I take her as the official queen, it’ll be alright. There’ll be no more argument for them to play over.”

“That’s right. That’s why I didn’t snag you when you left with the princess.”

Sweeping in front of Cloud before he knew it, she gently stroked his cheek and kissed him.

The kiss lasted for a long stretched duration.

As if she was going to ingrain every moment she had missed out.

When their lips parted, Leslie’s pale face was painted with a blush.

Hearing Cloud chuckle, she turned her back shyly.

“I have a couple of letters for you, Cloud.”

“Letters, for me?”

“Yes.”

Leslie pulled out two envelopes from her desk drawer and handed them to him.

Both letters had seals on the wax, one with the Perdiac family crest and the other with an unknown one.

“Is this a seal you know?”

“No. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen this crest. To find the sender, I leafed through all family crests, but in the end I still couldn’t find it. I don’t think we will know who sent it until we check the content.”

“I see… Thanks anyway. When do you think today’s workload will end?”

“I’m just as clueless. I might have to stay up all night again.”

“…this, every bit of this must be difficult. Would you like me to accompany you?”

“Are you sure? I’m not a narrow-minded woman to hold on to the man who has just returned from a journey. You must be tired, so stop thinking about me and go back and get some rest.”

“…Thank you. Then I will.”

As he was about to leave the office, he asked one more question before he left as he stopped short at the doorway.

“I’ve heard Ophelia doesn’t come out of her room often, do you know what going on with her?”

“Well… I’m not in knowledge of what Ophelia is doing. It’s been a while since I left this office.”

Cloud couldn’t help but smile bitterly at Leslie’s revelation.

* * *

I returned to my room and opened the sealing wax with the wing-shaped crest engraved on the flap.

I was also curious about the letter from Frillite’s family, but right now I was more curious about this mysterious letter.

I unfolded the letter.

""

======================

Bombardment x3

There are only three more chances left.

======================

After reading the letter, I was momentarily at a loss for words.

Because I immediately understood what it was all about.

There’s no way she didn’t see the skill used to annihilate the Heavenly King, but I thought it was just strangely quiet.

‘She was thinking about how many bombs to give.’

Treating my friend’s skill as a bomb…

I raised my head and looked up at the ceiling.

“Three is too few. Let’s sort it out at five.”

-…

Naturally, there was no response.

What a supercilious jackass.