Chapter 353: Temporary Goodbye
Maristella looked at Roxanna with mixed emotions. Deep down, she still believed Roxanna should have stayed in the Aquillian Kingdom with Azul—her husband—instead of returning to the Vixeria Settlement.
Even so, her son had already made it clear that Roxanna had no obligation to remain in the Aquillian Kingdom. After all, he had no intention of staying there for long either.
"Your daughter will be safe here," Maristella said at last.
She still carried a great deal of guilt for everything she had done to her children, and the last thing she wanted was to cause more pain by forcing Roxanna to stay.
"I will make sure she can breathe on her own after this," Maristella added.
Roxanna gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you." Then she turned to Azul once more. "See you again, Azul."
Azul took her hand and gently kissed her lips before finally taking Azura from her arms. "See you again, Roxanna."
The little girl immediately reached toward her mother, her tiny hands stretching through the water. When Roxanna didn’t take her back, Azura’s face crumpled, and loud cries soon filled the ocean.
Roxanna’s heart tightened. She took a deep breath and forced herself to smile. "See you later, Azura."
As soon as the words left her lips, she turned her face away. She didn’t even dare look at her daughter any longer. She knew that if she did, she might lose the strength to leave.
Calen and Zeir exchanged silent glances with Azul. None of them said what was truly on their minds, but they all understood each other without needing words.
"We will protect her," Zeir said. "Take care."
Azul smiled at Zeir. "You too." Then he turned to Calen and looked at him seriously. "And please don’t let our wife get too stressed."
Calen let out an offended gasp. "What do you mean? I would never do that to our wife!"
He wanted to argue like he usually did, but after opening his mouth, he simply sighed and swallowed the rest of his complaints.
"I just hope you don’t get swept away by the waves," he muttered. "Your crocodile friends would miss you."
Azul nodded with a teasing smile. "Right." A chuckle escaped his lips. "I’ll miss you too."
Before Calen could say anything else, Azul summoned the Kraken for them. "Alright, bye!"
The Kraken carried them swiftly through the vast ocean, its enormous body gliding smoothly beneath the waves.
Roxanna’s eyes widened as Mr. Kraken’s long tentacles gently wrapped around her body and lifted her away. But because she knew he would never hurt her, she didn’t struggle or complain.
Her face slowly filled with sadness as she drifted farther and farther away from Azura. Her daughter was still crying, reaching out with her tiny hands as if begging her mother to come back. But no matter how loudly she cried, Roxanna couldn’t turn around.
The sight broke her heart and even the Aquillian soldiers also looked as though they were holding back their tears. Everything had happened so quickly that they weren’t ready to say goodbye to Roxanna.
Who would have thought that after spending only a short time together, they would come to see the pink fox as a true friend?
Because of her, the bitterness they had always carried toward the land beasts had slowly disappeared.
[If only I had a portal that could take me anywhere I wanted,] Roxanna thought sadly. [That would make everything so much easier.]
[Doesn’t the system have something like that?]
The system quickly replied. [You can’t buy a portal from the System Market, Host.]
Roxanna let out a soft sigh. [If only you had something like that.]
Not long after, Mr. Kraken slowly rose to the surface. Half of his enormous head emerged from the water, giving Roxanna and the others a place to sit.
The moment they were above the sea, Calen threw his head back and took a long, deep breath.
"Oh, finally!" he exclaimed with relief. "I can breathe fresh air again!"
Zeir did the same, though he wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Calen. Unlike Roxanna, neither of them had a Rainbow Pearl that let them become part of the sea.
On top of that, Azul had always made it easier for Roxanna to breathe underwater by sharing his magic through their kisses. Because of that, even without the pearl, she had never struggled to breathe beneath the waves.
Even so, she still missed the fresh air. She closed her eyes and let the cool sea breeze wash over her face, slowly drying her damp hair.
Riding on top of Mr. Kraken wasn’t nearly as comfortable as traveling by ship. But after he had destroyed their boat, they had no other choice. Besides, Roxanna refused to spend her SP on buying a new ship.
After all, Mr. Kraken was much faster than any ship.
"I can’t wait to eat something other than fish!" Calen complained. "I’m not eating another fish until next year!"
Roxanna glanced at him. "Azul offered you other kinds of seafood, but you refused to eat them."
"They looked weird," Calen defended himself. "Those crawfish looked like they could crawl inside my body."
Roxanna couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.
"You’ve eaten plenty of strange animals on land before. What’s the difference?"
Calen puffed out his cheeks. "At least I’m used to seeing those weird creatures. Sea animals are just... creepy."
Well, he did have a point.
Even though the seafood had been fresh and delicious, Roxanna still found herself missing grilled meat and other meals cooked over a fire as well.
"But still..." she murmured with another sigh. "I think I’ll miss the seafood."
Three months.
Just thinking about it made her heart feel heavy.
It sounded like a short time, but to Roxanna, it felt unbearably long. She wasn’t sure she could truly get through those three empty months without seeing Azura and Azul.
Before she knew it, she had covered her face with both hands again and tears quietly slipped through her fingers.
[I already miss my daughter.]
After a brief pause, another thought crossed her mind. [I miss Azul too.]