"Roxana."
"Curtis……."
"Who do you think opened the outer wall?"
There was no reunion. At the sudden question, Roxana lifted her head, her face streaked with tears.
"It was Mary. Your maid."
An inside traitor. The shock hit her again, and Roxana swayed. Her bound hands pressed into the dirt.
"How does it feel?"
"……."
"If you want, I can kill her in front of you, too. What shall I do?"
It was a testing question. Roxana shook her head instead of answering. At that, Curtis clicked his tongue.
"How boring."
He stared down at Roxana, whose mind had gone blank from the shock, for a long moment. He seemed to be deep in thought before he bent his knee to meet her eye level.
"Roxana."
It was the same gentle voice from before. As if bewitched, Roxana looked up, and a soft smile met her eyes.
"I will spare your life. And I will grant your request, too."
"What……?"
The light of hope that had been extinguished flickered back to life. Seeing this, Curtis narrowed his eyes like a cat playing with a mouse.
"Don't be happy yet. You might end up begging me to kill you instead. Because you will be sent to a shabby convent where no one knows your name and no one comes looking for you."
A convent. Roxana’s mouth fell open at the unexpected word.
"As of today, Roxana Dalton is dead."
"……."
"You will not be a noble Marquess's daughter, but will be reborn as a nameless nun in a wretched, old, and remote convent."
A convent. A nameless nun.
"Live your life there as 'Roxana,' who is no one, as if you were dead."
Roxana, who is no one.
Roxana chewed on those words. Something welled up from deep within her chest. The chains that had been binding her neck and hands were being cut away, one by one.
She no longer had to live as "Roxana Dalton." She was no longer the daughter of a greedy and vicious lord. That woman had died at this very moment.
The man before her was saying as much.
"I promise. If you do not run away and do not die, I will accept the people of this territory and the people of the Marquess's castle humanely, just as you asked."
A strange light flickered in his violet pupils. Watching the process with interest, Curtis gave a silent signal to his aide from earlier.
"……!"
*Snip.*
The knight who had approached raised a dagger and cut off a portion of her long hair to take it. It was evidence to present to the King. Curtis watched the scene without blinking an eye.
She was the daughter of his enemy. He had not wavered. He had not been reminiscing about the girl from his past. He had achieved his goal, so he would soon be bored. Therefore, he was merely playing a game, just as a cat plays with a mouse.
Her compliance would likely last only a moment. Soon, she would struggle and try to escape the convent. If that happened, he could simply mock and ridicule her to his heart's content, and when he grew tired of it, he would kill her. Having reached his own conclusion, Curtis twisted his lips.
"Spend your life praying for the people who were trampled and perished under your father. Carry the weight of your sins and wear those ragged nun's robes for the rest of your days."
Seeing that she understood well enough, Curtis turned to leave. Roxana parted her lips toward his retreating back.
"If I do that, will I be able to atone?"
Her voice was thin, as if it might snap. Curtis stopped for a moment and turned his head. A faint crack appeared on his profile, but it was such a fleeting moment that no one would have noticed.
"You'll have to find the way yourself."
That answer was enough. Roxana quietly accepted her fate. It was the moment "Roxana Dalton" died and "Roxana" was reborn.
***
"Sister Roxana."
Someone called her name warmly. She wanted to sleep a little longer, but the voice urged her on. Roxana finally opened her eyes on the old bed stuffed with straw.
"I'm sorry, Sister Elin. I overslept."
"You pushed yourself too hard yesterday, didn't you? Gathering herbs in the mountains."
"No, it's not like I was the only one gathering herbs. I'm sorry to show you such a sight."
"Sorry? We're family."
Sister Elin, who patted Roxana's shoulder, tucked her disheveled red hair behind her ear. Roxana lowered her eyes at the kindness.
It had already been two years since she became a novice nun. The Angela Convent, located at the edge of the Russell Marcher territory, was a modest place where three nuns lived. There was the Mother Superior, Maria, Sister Elin who assisted her, and Sister Anna.
Because it was located right at the foot of the mountain and away from the farming village of less than ten households, they were mostly self-sufficient. They ate vegetables grown in the backyard and gathered fallen branches from the surrounding forest for firewood.
"Oh, that's right. Thank you for the tea leaves you gave me yesterday. I don't know how well I slept. How did you make it?"
"I'm glad it was effective. I made it by drying and crushing valerian and lavender."
"What? Valerian? I didn't smell anything."
"That must be because the lavender acts to mask the scent."
"Aha. I see. You really are smart."
"But is something the matter? Monday morning is supposed to be your day off."
"Ah, right."
Sister Anna suddenly jumped up from her chair as if she had just remembered something.
"The Mother Superior said to prepare for a house call quickly. There's a medical examination today."
"Suddenly?"
"The condition of the children in the village below is not looking good."
A chilling premonition took hold. Roxana threw off her blanket and quickly grabbed her nun's habit.
"I understand. I'll go right away."
The children's condition was serious. They all had red flowers blooming all over their bodies and were burning with fever.
"It's the Flower Fever. It seems they ate the wrong mushrooms while playing in the forest. It was named that because of the red, flower-like hives that appear. This is the first time it has happened here. It's not a common mushroom. We found and removed them all, but……."
The Mother Superior, who had calmly assessed the situation, continued to explain the disease.
"It's not a disease that adults catch easily, but those with weakened immunity can contract it. It can be fatal if it gets severe, so we must move them to the infirmary quickly. And avoid contact with the outside."
Following the Mother Superior's instructions, the three nuns moved the children, who were at risk of contagion, to the convent to nurse them in earnest.
They rolled up their sleeves and took turns caring for them day and night, body and soul, but the children only worsened by the day.
To make matters worse, the villagers expressed dissatisfaction with the measure of not letting them see their own children.
"Come out here, you hags!"
"What are you trying to do with our children!"
"Aren't you witches?"
On the fourth day, the parents, armed with sickles and plows, finally stormed the convent. Sister Anna trembled at their murderous glares.
"What do we do? Roxana. What should we do?"
Unlike the Mother Superior and Sister Elin, who were over forty and calm and mature, Sister Anna was a young nun only ten years older than Roxana.
While soothing Sister Anna, Roxana calmly thought about the situation in front of the murderous villagers.
"Should we wake the Mother Superior?"
"No. She finally got some sleep after a long time; we can't wake her."
Rejecting Sister Anna's suggestion, Roxana stepped out in front of the villagers.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"Give us back our children!"
"And what will you do if you take them?"
"Take them to the doctor in the next village, of course!"
"We already brought the doctor from the next village, and the one after that. But no one wanted to help. Instead, they told us to burn everything the children had touched and to seal off this convent."
"Liar!"
"It, it's true."
As soon as the excited man stepped forward at Roxana's words, Sister Anna chimed in.
Even when they brought doctors from the neighboring villages, they were reluctant to get involved in a troublesome matter that didn't pay. Furthermore, the convent had reached its own limits. It had been so long that Roxana couldn't even remember the last time she had a proper meal or sleep.
"That can't be! Don't lie!"
"Then come inside and see the children for yourselves. I cannot be held responsible for what happens afterward. You might even catch it."
"If that's your logic, why are you all perfectly fine?"
"That is."
As it happened, all four women in the convent had already had the Flower Fever. This disease did not strike the same person twice. Roxana was about to explain about immunity, but she closed her mouth.
Ignorance was not a sin, but suspicion made people evil. These were people who had changed their faces completely, despite having received favors whenever they suffered from minor illnesses. They would only accuse them of being the ones who spread it.
"I remember now! I asked my father about the Mother Superior just in case! She killed a patient back when she was a pharmacist, didn't she?"
"What did you say?"
Sister Anna, offended, shouted without realizing it. It was a foolish act to fight fire with fire when the opponent was already agitated. Roxana, clenching her fists, grabbed Sister Anna, who was about to step forward.
"The quack murderer is trying to kill people again! Give us our children right now!"
"Apologize."
A sharp sickle touched her neck. Roxana, who didn't even blink, said through gritted teeth.
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