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However, instead of sinking his fangs into her neck, he softly touched her cheek with a paw.

「Let me ask one last question before I eat you.」

“And what is that?”

“Tell me about your life. Before you came here.”

“…….”

Belinda clenched her jaw.

Once again. Always the exact same question – and she always had the same cookie cutter answer. Her usual happy expression, no, the happy expression she faked for everyone, melted off her face.

“Well, I spent it like any common person, you know.”

「What the hell was it really like?」

Belinda lowered her gaze.

Beat and kicked by the innkeeper, wandering around town crying, looking for scraps of bread on the ground to eat.

It was a scar and a disgrace. Even in the palace, she would wake up crying and screaming after nightmares, reliving all of it. She still needed time to heal and to talk about it to anyone, even Aymon.

“I just picked up bread from the ground because I didn’t have any money…. So what…”

Hearing Belinda’s words, Mazetto started chirping eagerly.

“Beggar! Were you a beggar?”

He quickly stopped and flew to safety on Lucy’s shoulder after Aymon swatted at him.

Why does Aymon hate me so much… Hmph.

Aymon slowly went up to Belinda. Uncharacteristically for him, he scanned her expression with serious eyes.

「Breedee, you always keep quiet when the topic comes up.」

“Ah, really?”

She laughed in an effort to lighten the mood.

「It’s why all those big men scare you, right?」

Her eyelids trembled and her pupils dilated the slightest amount – indistinguishable for a human, but an instant indicator of fear for Aymon. He’d seen it many times, in the eyes of all the common beasts that had faced him. Fear, restlessness, panic. It was apparent in the girl’s entire body.

He sneaked up on Belinda from behind and touched her cheek again.

「Tell me, Breedee. I’ll kill all the remnants of the past that haunts you.」

He said in a seductive whisper. It sounded almost magical.

Belinda paused to think for a moment.

Yeah, Aymon will take care of everything for me. He’s so strong, after all.

They’d avenge the innkeeper one day… But not yet.

In the future, when she’s a bit broken. It would be better to talk about it later.

It took the last bits of an 11-year old girl’s pride to reply with a smile.

“I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

「…….」

“It’s really nothing. It’s not a big deal. Just… later.”

Amon was lost in thought. He wanted to know right away, but…

For now, rather than pressuring her, it would be better to wait until she can talk about it.

Maybe that’s the best thing I can do for her.

「Take your time. You can tell me anytime you want. 」

“Okay.”

She said in a thin voice, trying her best to suppress all the old memories taking over her mind.

Aymon sighed and rubbed his soft cheeks on her forearm.

This tiny ball of fluff could kill all the remnants of my past, huh?

She giggled a bit at the thought.

***

「What are you doing?」

Aymon was over to play, but Belinda was too busy to pay him any mind. She was preparing for a huge party the duchy would hold for some foreign visitors.

“Aymon, I have to leave for the party soon. Play with Lucy and Mazetto today.”

「Do I look like a kid who can’t even play alone?」

Aymon slapped the table with his paw, displeased. Belinda just continued dressing up, ignoring him. Before they knew it, it was time for her to leave.

“I’ll be right back, Aymon.”

She hastily waved to him before scurrying outside to her carriage. Aymon waved back with his tail… But as soon as the carriage started moving, he bolted after it.

“Aymon! Where are you going?”

Mazetto flew by and poked his nose. Aymon growled at him.

「Don’t you come. If you-.」

If you come, you die. Mazetto disappeared before Aymon could finish his sentence. Content with having scared the bird off, he concealed himself again and continued running after the carriage. After all, easy concealment during the night was his specialty.

The party was located inside the main palace, not too far from Belinda’s guest palace.

Standing at the entrance of the palace, Belinda took a deep breath. It was not her first time at a party by any means, but the momentary nerves standing at the entrance never quite went away. It probably had to do with her… slightly lacking party etiquette.

There was also Prince Lart and Princess Adelai, who would always stare at her with contempt and sneer at her slightest mistake.

“Princess Belinda has arrived!”

The doors opened to let her in, and the colourful lights of the ballroom flooded over her. Bright and shiny and fancy – as she’d always felt, it was not a world she could seamlessly fit into.

A while later, Belinda was sipping on some apple juice, leaning against a column.

“You’re being treated like some idiot again today, huh?”

She whispered to herself.

Nothing much to see around, just some duke’s daughter. And then there was her, just a princess who was treated like an outcast by the emperor.

She was alone again. Aristocratic circles were not all that easy to break into. Not to mention the royal twins were standing right there with the group, along with all the noble families of the duchy.

It felt like an unscalable wall to Belinda.

“If you’re going to be like this, why even invite me? Sheesh.”

To put it plainly, she wasn’t enjoying herself too much. Also…

The stunning blue dress she was wearing, with a bejeweled collar and luxurious fabric, seemed really out of place. Everyone else was dressed in yellow.

Could it have been a dress code they decided on themselves?

Of course, she wouldn’t have known either ways. She’d never as much exchanged a word with any of the noble children.

They were whispering, then turning around to glance at Belinda before going back to whispering again, as if they were telling a joke. From time to time, Princess Adelai, stood in the center of their little circle, laughed loudly. It didn’t take a genius to discern who the conversation was about.

“They must be laughing about me. Like it’s such a big deal to put on a luxurious fancy blue dress instead of a luxurious fancy yellow one…”

Looking around, she noticed that she was indeed the only person not wearing yellow clothes.

Even so, she raised her head high and kept on eating hors d’oeuvres with a smug look on her face, just to show them she didn’t care.

How could she be hurt by something like this when the memory of the innkeeper’s blows was still so insistent in the back of her mind?

She got sucked out of her thoughts when the music suddenly stopped and the servant shouted an announcement.

“All welcome His Majesty the Emperor, the shining sun of our empire!”

The dramatic late entry of the main character. Shiny and imposing with a huge red cape, yet with a relaxed smile perched on a beautiful face. And, of course, the unmissable arrogant expression that was the trademark of the royal family. He looked awe-inspiring even to Belinda. She couldn’t help but notice how similar he looked to Lart and Adelai. Unlike her…

She just saw more and more distinctions between them. A man who was her father, but not really her father.

Roughly shoving away the crowd that had gathered around him, the emperor cracked a huge smile when he saw the twins.

“Your Majesty!”

“There you are!”

With a brisk bow, the two approached the emperor quickly. The warm affection was obvious in the emperor’s eyes.

“I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t seen you properly. How have you been?”

“I saw you a week ago, Your Majesty!”

“A week without seeing you feels like a month to me!”

Natural affection, unconditional love. The emotion between them was clear, and Belinda laughed bitterly.

The empress, who usually had on a sour expression, was also looking at the scene like a loving mother.

“Your Majesty, stop greeting the children! You have to greet the visitors to our duchy!”

“I’ll be with them a little more. I haven’t seen them in so long since I’ve been touring the empire.”

A harmonious family, bound together by love. Belinda burst into tears watching it. She couldn’t possibly intrude on that. She’d never dared to think she could be included in that family.

She had no choice but to rip that piece of her heart out so as to not deal with the pain so much. She was just an unnecessary disturbance to them, like a nasty piece of rotten food.

It’s not that she was bothered by their happiness… But it broke her heart to think she had no one that could love her unconditionally like that. Hiding behind a column, she thought of her mother.

I can’t be thinking of my mother here. I can’t just randomly start crying…

They were her “family”. A family that always turned a blind eye to her. A family that rejected her.

Hearing Adelai’s happy, loving laugh hurt so much more than her mocking one.

After he’d finished greeting his children, something suddenly caught his eye – the hem of a blue dress sticking out from behind a column. He could recognize it instantly. It was the dress that he’d gifted Belinda.

Well, it’s not like he gave it to her out of affection – it was just a sort of appeasement to the girl he’d trapped in a guest palace, hid away from everyone.

He called out her name.

“Princess Belinda. Are you doing well?”

“Y-yes.”

The royal twins looked on with a sour face.

The emperor smiled and gestured invitingly at Belinda.

“Go and talk to the children. It makes me sad to see you with no one to talk to.”

He was pretending to care, as if it erased the fact that he’d dragged her to the palace, only to hide her away.

Of course, it was a consideration not at all appreciated by Belinda.

Soon four or five children gathered in front of her, including the twins.

“Come on! Talk to us.”

Belinda just stared at them.

There was clear displeasure and contempt in their eyes.

It felt like she was an uninvited guest being forced into a social situation she didn’t fit into.

“I don’t like you very much either.”

She said, whispering to herself.