RXN 03

Chapter 3

“No matter what happens on deck from now on, you must never come out of the cabin. Until everything is settled and I say it’s safe to come out, you must stay inside with Anna, lock the door, and remain still. Do you understand?”

“But there must be something I can do to help. I’ve also learned basic swordsmanship—”

“No.”

Jacob shook his head firmly.

> *”You may very well be the sole heir to inherit the title of the House of Marcel. Moreover, you are second in the line of succession to the Grand Duchy of Altenburg. You must always conduct yourself with prudence and care.”*

Jacob turned to Anna and commanded with an unusually stern expression.

“You are to stay here with the lady.”

As soon as Jacob left the cabin, Anna quickly bolted the door and paced anxiously around the room.

*Bang!*

A moment later, a tremendous impact accompanied by a loud crash threw Roxanne off balance. She struggled desperately to keep from falling. Anna was already screaming and rolling on the floor. It seemed the pirate ship they had seen earlier had rammed into their hull. Soon, a battle would inevitably begin between the pirates trying to board and seize the ship, and the sailors trying to stop them.

The notoriety of the pirates roaming the Benetus Sea was well-known across the continent, and Roxanne had heard plenty about them. All the nations of the continent, including the Kingdom of Rein, were troubled by the pirate fleets attacking their merchant ships and had even placed substantial bounties on them. But the pirates — who disregarded nationality, race, and even religion, operating purely on ability — were rather a dream job for low-born or poor young men looking to make a fortune. Far from being wiped out, they only grew bolder over time.

Sure enough, soon shouts, screams, the sounds of things breaking, and clashing swords mixed together from the deck above. Like Anna, who was trembling with a face about to burst into tears, Roxanne was equally anxious, but she did not forget who she was and tried her best to remain composed.

After some time passed, the commotion on the deck seemed to subside slightly, and then footsteps were heard coming down to the cabin.

*Thud, thud, thud.*

The knocking on the door was rather rough. Roxanne and Anna could only stare at each other, frozen in place. In response to their silence, there was a brief quiet from outside, followed by knocking even rougher than before.

“Are you all right?”

Before Roxanne could stop her, Anna, relieved to hear the captain’s familiar voice, flung the door open — and there stood the captain. But he was not alone. Behind the pale-faced captain stood unfamiliar men with swords, grinning.

“Captain?”

“I’m sorry.”

“What about Jacob?”

“……”

Seeing the captain shake his head silently, Roxanne felt her vision blur with despair. Being captured by pirates when she needed to reach Altenburg and request help as soon as possible was never part of the plan. Losing Jacob, her reliable ally, on top of that — it felt as if the sky had fallen.

The pirates shoved the captain aside and barged into the cabin, eyeing Roxanne up and down with lecherous eyes. One of them let out a lazy whistle.

“A virgin would fetch at least three hundred duons. She’s a noble lady, so she must have grown up as clean as a hothouse flower — or are nobles all just elegant on the outside but filthy on the inside?”

At the man’s rude attitude, Roxanne only glared at him with icy eyes and said nothing. There was no need to get provoked by such petty wordplay.

“You said my price is three hundred duons? If you take me safely to Altenburg, I’ll pay you double — six hundred duons.”

At Roxanne’s words, the men burst into laughter. A duon was a unit of gold coin in the Run Empire. Three hundred duons was a large sum — enough to buy a decent house anywhere except the busiest districts of Cordia, the imperial capital.

“I bet you’ve never paid for anything with your own hands in your entire life. Servants and secretaries handled all that. There’s no way you know the value of three hundred duons. That’s why you’re talking nonsense.”

At the man’s contemptuous tone, Roxanne didn’t even blink.

> *”You’re right. I have no interest in what three hundred duons can buy. I don’t want to know, and I don’t need to know. Fine. If you take me and everyone on this ship safely to Altenburg, I will pay you triple that amount — nine hundred duons.”*

The men’s expressions became ambiguous as they looked at Roxanne, who offered nine hundred duons without batting an eye. It was clearly an extraordinary offer that didn’t even require calculation, yet the men seemed unwilling to negotiate. Something felt off.

“I heard that pirates of the Benetus Sea release hostages if a ransom is paid. So why are you indifferent even when I offer to pay more? Was capturing this ship not a coincidence but for some other reason?”

“For a lady who’s only been in her boudoir, you’re quite perceptive.”

Turning toward the voice, Roxanne saw a burly man with bronzed skin and a thick red beard, leaning his hand on the doorframe, looking at her. When his eyes met Roxanne’s, he strode over to her, bowed politely — but somehow it felt like mockery, and her face flushed red.

“Lady Roxanne?”

“You know me?”

> *”I’ve heard from His Highness the Grand Duke that you are very beautiful and clever.”*

Roxanne’s eyes widened.

“By the Grand Duke, do you mean the Grand Duke of Altenburg? My uncle?”

The red-bearded man nodded. Roxanne furrowed her brow, trying to make sense of the situation.

“Don’t tell me it was the Grand Duke of Altenburg who hired you to kidnap me?”

Seeing the red-bearded man nod, Roxanne’s eyes grew even more confused.

“Yes, that’s exactly why we cannot make another deal with you, my lady. Your offer of nine hundred duons is very tempting, but not enough to risk our lives. If we broke our promise to the Grand Duke, the navy of the Kingdom of Rein and the navy of the Grand Duchy of Altenburg would join forces to wipe out pirates. What could small fry like us possibly do against that?”

“So you’re saying that not only the King of Rein and Marquess of Crottin, but even the Grand Duke of Altenburg have joined hands to bring down the House of Marcel? What is the reason for all this?”

“Well, I have no interest in such complicated political stories. The offer I received was this: capture the ship carrying Lady Roxanne, take her to the Run Empire and sell her as a slave, and I keep the profit. If you want to know the details of the conspiracy, it would be easier to ask the captain or Jacob. Ah! Jacob has already left for Shengart to deliver the news that you were lost at sea, so that won’t be possible.”

Roxanne’s face turned pale. She couldn’t believe that not only her uncle, but even Jacob and the captain had all joined hands with Marquess of Crottin to corner her. But whether Roxanne believed it or not didn’t matter at all.

“No, that can’t be. Even if the Grand Duke of Altenburg won’t help me — even if the whole world turns against the House of Marcel — I won’t run away. I have to return to Shengart, even if I’m alone. Mother and my brothers will be waiting.”

The red-bearded man clicked his tongue and shook his head.

> *”Officially, Duke Marcel and his two sons are all dead. The only surviving daughter of Duke Marcel has been lost at sea, so all titles and properties will be inherited by the Duchess. And Marquess of Crottin will soon receive the King’s approval to marry the Duchess. Rumor has it that since the direct bloodline of the House of Marcel has been severed, the King will issue a decree to marry Marquess of Crottin to the Duchess and have him inherit the ducal title.”*

“That’s absurd! There’s no way my mother would marry the man who murdered my father and brothers.”

As Roxanne shook her head in disbelief, the red-bearded man merely shrugged calmly.

“Believe it or not, that’s your choice. Either way, you will never return to the Kingdom of Rein alive. For your information, this ship is already heading toward the Run Empire. And my men are rough fellows who know nothing of manners — unlike the nobles you’ve met so far — so it would be best if you stay in the cabin as much as possible. Of course, I’ll warn them to be careful, but they haven’t held a woman in a long time, and it won’t be easy for them to restrain themselves with such a beauty in front of them until we reach Cordia.”

Having said his piece, the red-bearded man laughed and left the cabin. The other men followed him out one by one, but some of them didn’t take their sticky gazes off Roxanne until the moment they left. It was disgusting, as if their stares alone could strip her bare, but Roxanne’s mind was so confused by what she had just heard that she had no energy left for anger. As soon as the men left the cabin, Anna quickly locked the door, and mockery could be heard from outside. When their footsteps faded away, Roxanne collapsed onto the floor.

“My lady, are you all right?”

Anna approached and helped Roxanne into a chair. Roxanne beat her chest in regret. No matter how much her mother had pushed her to leave, she should never have fled the castle alone. Even if she had to die, she should have died in Shengart, beside her family. At least then she could have kept her honor — but now she was to be sold as a slave in a foreign land, which was worse than death.

Moreover, the Run Empire was a place with completely different culture and customs from the Kingdom of Rein. She had heard that men there could take multiple wives and countless concubines, and that their lives depended on their husbands’ whims. She also heard that their Emperor did not take an Empress but could keep as many women in his harem as he wished. On the surface, women in the Kingdom of Rein were granted all rights, including inheritance, but women in the Run Empire seemed to have a much lower status. And she would be a slave there, not even a noble — comparing their ways of life was meaningless in itself.