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Episode 5:
I Am Six Years Old Now
WHILE I WAS BUSY TRYING TO EXTERMINATE the vermin, Bri and Noel proved themselves to be extremely, brilliantly impatient. I quickly used my power to squash the one, but they caught up to us before I managed to take out the other.
Nngh! Why did the two of them have to be so rash? Left with no choice, I piled all kinds of holy magic spells onto them, but to be honest, even that hadn’t been enough.
But just what was that? Noel’s power, I mean.
It seemed a bit different from the kind of affinity to light that humans could have. It felt more like elemental magic. And the word he’d spoken—that had to have been Primal, right? The language of high-ranking elementals. He seemed to be able to use it just by uttering a single syllable, but how had he managed to pronounce it with his human mouth? Because it’s definitely impossible for a human to do it, and so while it should have been able to convey his desire to everyone, it seemed that it wasn’t audible to normal humans.
“Oh, wait…”
Ën̂ ú m а ._і d
C-could it have been a side effect of me spamming all kinds of holy magic spells on him?! Uh-oh. I wondered if he was going to sue me over it or something. After the incident, his face had been bright red. It hadn’t been a fever, but there was something strange about it.
For now, I would pray for his recovery.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Anyway! My tour had been a success, so Father said he was going to see if there were any other places that wanted me to visit.
And! I finally turned six years old!
Being six years old meant that I was a big girl now. I could no longer sit on the lap of any man besides my father!
Oh, Grandfather’s looking at me…
Ӗň uḿ a .їď.
Nevertheless, despite being a year older, nothing had really changed. Grandfather feigned tears and begged Grandmother and Lady Elea because he wanted to host my birthday party at the castle and palace again and I continued to enjoy playing with Shelly’s soft hair.
This time we actually had a party for me in Toure. When a noble was foolish enough to bring up the possibility of me getting engaged to their thirty-year-old son, all of our help staff gave off threatening auras of murderous intent.
I played with Betty until I was all out of breath.
I gave a halfhearted response to Rick when he showed up in his coach like usual, with such an enormous bouquet of white roses that he couldn’t carry them all and collapsed at the front door.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Timoté made me feel better.
My beloved older sisters didn’t join us this time, so I asked a sobbing wind elemental to tell them how much I loved them by making their windows rattle from midnight until morning.
Е́ n̈ù mа̃
It was a very peaceful birthday where nothing bad happened!
Sorry…
I was trying to disassociate from reality.
Starting in the first month of the next year, I would be in elementary school—er, I mean, I would be attending primary school at the Academy of the Magical Arts. There wasn’t much time left leading up to that. It had been three months since my trip. I’d been born during the “mid-autumn moon,” so that meant we had three months left.
And what was I to do with my four would-be attendants?
I knew I should do something about them, but I turned out to be surprisingly busy with…certain things.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Huh?”
After coming back to my room from my lessons one day, I found a sealed letter had been slid under the door I had cast a Protection spell on in place of locking it with a key.
Sniff, sniff. Was this the smell of roses? Based on my biased experiences, I knew that this kind of letter likely contained nothing but trouble. For one thing, it was especially suspicious that someone had managed to sneak a letter past a barrier that would have been difficult for any human to infiltrate. By the by, I used that spell in place of a key to keep those four out.
But I was a bit curious about who the sender might be. Inside I found…an envelope? And the sender was…
“Ah, now I understand.”
What a pain. Just to be clear, I was alone right now. With those four as my attendants, this meant that I would have to handle this invitation all on my own.
Еnũ m̊ а̄
Was there anyone nearby? Someone would come if I called, but I didn’t want to interrupt anyone’s work. Who, then…? Ah, I had an idea.
“Wait.” As I walked down the hall, I held out the invitation to the girl coming from the opposite direction. “Christina, could you send this back to the daughter of Count Auber along with a note declining the invitation for me?”
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It felt like it had been days since I’d last talked to her. It didn’t seem like she had anything to do at the moment, so it seemed like a good time to ask her.
“Huh?” She froze at the mention of Lady Auber and stared in disbelief at the invitation. Likely, she had heard the rumors about it too.
Huh. I had no idea you could make that kind of expression.
“Please make sure she gets it,” I said before leaving her. Christina didn’t budge an inch and just kept staring at the invitation to the Moonlit Tea Party until I reached my room.
W̄ еb̆ ñ о̌v е̄l Е ñ u̇ m̊а̊
I stopped talking to the four of them, starting with Christina.
Since they were supposedly my attendants, I did see them, but I never asked anything of them and they never did anything unless I asked them to. I didn’t take them with me when I went anywhere either. It was fine so long as I had Bri and Sarah.
I asked the stewards to stop letting them buy expensive things in my name. I had them change the locks on the doors to my dressing room and Father’s study as well, so only Butler and Nanny had the keys.
If it was possible to do so much just by using my name, then it meant that I could do a whole lot more if I acted myself. I didn’t want to boast, but I never said a single word about how selfish they all were. I was a very good girl and only asked little things of them. I overlooked most of the things they did…which meant it would have been quite easy to find all the evidence needed to get them dismissed.
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But, you know, since Father had taken in poor children who had suffered during that incident, like Noel, and given them jobs, I had a feeling he would be sad if I fired them.
Siiiigh.
W̌ е_b̈ nо̆ v е́l Ĕ nu̇m а
I took work seriously because I dreamed the memories of that girl who had lived in the World of Light, but young children like Noel with a good work ethic might have actually been pretty unusual. Perhaps it was more commonplace for nobles to be like my sisters. Nobles sure were something.
But since I could do things on my own, I should have taken care of my errands too.
I was busy with certain things.
“Could someone call Brigitte or Sarah for me, please?”
I had a secret job to do as the Saint.
Well, it wasn’t the kind of thing that would be problematic if it became public, but starting with that baronet, I had founded a “society” mainly comprised of noble men who worshipped me. None of these men had told their families about it, yet it continued to secretly grow through the Holy Kingdom.
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The feeling of fellowship among the members of this society was stronger than iron and there was not a single traitor among them who would leak information about it. Proof of their solidarity came in the form of tribute and large sums of donations that were delivered to me.
The name of this group was “The Saint of Glimmering Darkness Society.”
What kind of name was that?
“Lady Yulucia, it is an honor to see you in such high spirits today. Thank you for your help the other day. I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Sir Zesh Capell.”
“Hello.”
“Your Highness, it is a pleasure to meet you. It is most gracious of you to meet with someone such as me. However…”
Ѐ nũm̃ a
Ah, yes, here we go. Sir Zesh had left home and managed to acquire the rank of baronet, but he was the younger brother of the current Duke Capell, who was a political opponent of the Grand Duke of Versenia. I had heard how much the duke complained about Father’s title.
I wondered if there was an age gap between Zesh and his older brother, considering he was still young—only in his thirties. Even so…
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Except perhaps that was exactly why he had wanted to gain the favor of this society, considering how he was now silently crying while hugging Viscount Lepont, who had been the one to introduce him to me. Old men sure were moody.
“Are you certain about this, Sir Zesh?”
“Yes. While I may still have some lingering affection for my family even though I left them, my loyalty is to the Crown, not my brother. If my brother harmed Your Highness, then I wouldn’t even hesitate to—”
“I understand. That’s enough!” This guy was about to say some dangerous things! So I got on with it. “Then without further ado, Sir Zesh, I shall usher darkness into your light.”
Ẁẽ b̊ n оv е l Е̃nǔ m̄â
“Ooooooh! You have my gratitude!”
I was antsy too from how desperate I was getting.
“Manifest Light.”
To use holy magic, all you needed was a precise image and pure magic to make it manifest. Using the knowledge I had of that other World of Light, I was able to accurately recreate holy magic even though I was a demon. Likely, it would be nearly impossible for high-ranking priests to do this.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Rejuvenation to restore his body.
Invigorate to give him vitality.
Еn u.m̄ а
Purification to purge him of diseases.
You could not cast it too strongly, but not too weakly either. One had to get it just right when reconstructing a body. It was key to have a detailed image in your head and knowledge of other worlds.
And then…
“Ooh. Oooooooh!”
“You did it! You really did it, Zesh!”
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Zesh’s scalp was covered in something that looked like thin seaweed and had lost its sheen.
Zesh and Viscount Lepont hugged one another, crying tears of joy at the result.
How depressing.
“You must now try to live a life where you refrain from eating fried food and mainly eat fish, legumes, and vegetables. And you should lightly tap your scalp with a brush or something like that,” I instructed.
“Thank you so much for your divine revelation!”
That was not some divine revelation.
Еn̂ u ḿ а.і̇.d
“Thank you, Your Highness! Lady Saint! I will be sure to loan as much of my company’s commodities as I can to Toure!” Zesh pledged eagerly.
“I appreciate the offer and shall look forward to it.” I was really annoyed by the whole thing, so I decided to go into princess mode to deal with it.
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“I feel as if I have been reborn! I am sure that my wife and daughter shall no longer give me strange looks as they comfort me and my client’s child will no longer call me ‘Grandpa’!”
“Oh, surely.”
Zesh left all kinds of hush money—aka offerings—from his company Cape & Co. and then he went home with an arm around Viscount Lepont’s shoulder.
Thus, the Holy Kingdom had lost another light.
Еnû m̀ а̃ . і̄ d̆
And so, this faction comprised of only men who worshipped me was slowly corroding the Holy Kingdom as it spread.
What the heck?
Things being as they were, I was able to do this on my own as I pleased. But don’t worry, I didn’t feel inconvenienced at all. The adults were probably just waiting until I complained about something.
Talking to those four only stressed me out, so I never asked them for anything. As a result, however, that meant that I had no one attending to me.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
No one woke me up in the morning, so I woke up on my own and washed my own face.
No one prepared my clothes for me, but I never got dirty since I was a demon, so I just mixed and matched my clothes.
E_ṅu m̊ ӑ
I never got hungry, so I just skipped meals when Father and Mother weren’t home.
I never got truly dirty, but dust did tend to stick to me, so I just splashed used bathwater over my head on occasion.
I didn’t need tea or snacks, so I stopped asking for them.
I was able to read as much as I wanted late into the dead of night.
I had been happily enjoying the kind of life shut-ins dreamed of when one night, I was awoken by some commotion in the library after dozing off. A horrified Nanny had found me and quickly scooped me up, and then starting the following morning, Vio and the others were back to taking care of me.
They’d realized that there were no signs I had eaten and that no one had been doing my laundry, so when they found I wasn’t in my room, the maids had searched all over the house for me.
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Mother and Nanny both cried.
Thinking about it from their perspective, I had done a big bad.
***
Today, Christina had been lectured by the head lady-in-waiting for not doing a good job at her work. It hadn’t been that long since they had started working here, but since she was a child, the kindhearted elderly lady easily forgave her after she gave a proper apology.
The moronic twins and the somewhat-strange-in-the-head girl must have also managed to get out of trouble since they were cute.
“You cut too many corners,” Christina told the other three. She had just wanted to be a bother, but she hadn’t imagined that the other three hadn’t been doing their jobs either. Unlike the other three, Christina had already been educated on how to be a lady-in-waiting. Because of her parents’ problems and her original ladies’ circumstances changing, she had wound up becoming someone else’s lady-in-waiting instead.
W̄ е̌ bn o v̇é l Е̃n̊ ũ_m̌_а
After talking to the other three, she had learned that they had all wound up working here for similar reasons. The three of them didn’t regard one another as friends, but they didn’t see each other as rivals either.
Christina did not like Yulucia, the lady she had to serve now. It was all her parents’ fault that she’d wound up being taken in by the grand duke even though they weren’t related, and she hated the girl’s carefree smile.
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This princess had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Everyone loved her. How could she be so different from Christina, who had lost everything? How could this princess smile like that after she had stolen everything away from Christina’s true mistresses, who should have been loved and respected?
“I hate Yulucia,” Christina grumbled to herself in the dark room as she tightly grasped the invitation that her real mistresses had wanted so badly—the one that if you showed anyone else, you lost the ability to use it.
***
I had continued my pilgrimages to the capital as often as I could.
W е b n о̂vе̌_l̆ Ѐ.ǹ ùmӓ
I would have been able to make more progress on my work if I didn’t have to do this, but I wasn’t about to complain. I was looking forward to getting to see Grandmother and Lady Elea, as well as meeting Shelly and Betty at today’s tea party!
“Be more at ease, Lady Bertille, Lady Ciellindo.”
“Yeah, there’s nothing you need to be afraid of.”
“Uh, all right.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“I’ll try…”
Betty and Shelly had gone so rigid that Bri and Sarah tried to reassure them. Why was it that the two of them could act like normal knights when dealing with other people?
Ėnû m а́._і.d
In case you were wondering what I was doing while the girls were being escorted by my knights, Betty and Shelly had me firmly in the middle of them both with their arms around me.
“Don’t worry. Grandmother and Lady Elea aren’t scary at all,” I tried to soothe them.
Mother was there too, but she had never frightened them. Nevertheless, these seven- and eight-year-olds had been invited to a tea party with the queen, crown princess, and grand duke’s consort, so I could understand how daunting that must be. Nevertheless, I did hope that they would let go of my arms soon.
“Huh?”
“Huh?!”
“What?”
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“Ohh…?”
“What is it?”
That last one was said by me. Why was everyone so surprised? What other reason could there be?
“Princess, could you smile a bit more?”
“Huh?”
Ohh, I get it now. I must have made a scary face. Whoops!
Ẇ е b n̈оv̇е̌ l Еnūm̀ а
“Don’t worry, Yul! We shall be there to protect you!”
“That’s right, Lady Yul! We shan’t let their kind come near!”
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Betty and Shelly clutched tightly to me despite their fear. I was sure that my lack of expression must have scared them, but the cause of this felt a bit different. Ever since my enormous fifth birthday party, there were a lot more people now who greeted me whenever I went to the castle. Most of them smiled and treated me with the respect a small princess should be granted. However, sometimes at least once an hour, we’d be stopped by someone who wanted to sing Timoté or Rick’s praises and ask which of them I preferred. Why would they do that? Did they want something from me? They would just smirk and never tell their true intentions and it grossed me out. It felt like getting served your least favorite food for dinner. I wouldn’t have minded so much if they would simply give me an aristocratic greeting and then be on their way again.
“Oh,” Sarah’s murmuring made the other three’s expressions turn rigid.
Walking straight this way was…uhhh, some kind of minister, maybe? Well, some kind of noble, at any rate. Even though Grandfather had lost his temper at this man for taking up so much of our time when I’d made my debut into high society, this man continued to stop to talk my ear off and refused to let me go even when I tried to wrap up the conversation.
“Hello, there.”
Ѐn̆u mӑ
He looked shocked as I made my face devoid of all emotion. When I did this, my humanity disappeared, so my tone was flat as I greeted him. He automatically stuck to the wall and did me the favor of skittering off like the cockroach he was.
“See, Yul? Nothing to be afraid of!”
“That’s right! Because you have us by your side!”
“Oh, thanks.”
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Despite how scared they were, Betty and Shelly had tried to protect me.
Now what was I going to do? I still couldn’t shake free of them.
Ê ñ u m̃ a
These weren’t the only kinds of people I met in the castle, though. There were some who treated me with animosity.
The Holy Kingdom fundamentally practiced monogamy, but this wasn’t because there was a law about it. The religious citizens had voluntarily come up with this themselves. However, nobles needed heirs, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to have two or even three wives. As such, some nobles wanted the royal family to take mistresses, but now that I had become the new princess of the royal family, these nobles had lost their grounds for urging the royals to take them in.
Uncle was devoted to Lady Elea and she had borne two princes already, so he showed no signs of wanting a mistress, but some people seemed to think that was my fault. These people saw the family of the grand duke—and therefore me—as enemies, but that was okay.
I simply adored those kinds of people, after all.
Unfortunately, none of them managed to whet my appetite like that beautiful lady had. The next most appetizing were my sisters, so I sure was in a tough situation. However, I couldn’t let my own enmity toward these kinds of people show, so I took care of them by summoning mice or bugs into their manors to get them to quiet down for a while. It was quite an effective approach. As it so happened, I had gotten very good at drawing summoning circles.
For some reason, though, every two out of three times, I summoned marine slop. It seemed that a certain someone was helping me, but I wondered if I was actually cursed.
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I refused to accept that it might be because I had a high affinity for them or something.
The royal tea party was being held at the gardens of Keil Palace as usual.
Bri and Sarah could come in as my chamberlains if I so wished, but they opted out since they felt too awkward attending as such minor nobility. Shelly’s and Betty’s ladies-in-waiting bowed out for the same reason, so they all went to wait at the waiting room prepared for chamberlains.
Each of us then entered one at a time, escorted by royal chamberlains. First Shelly entered, as the daughter of a count. Betty was next, as the daughter of a marquess, and I was last.
“Yulucia!”
“Big Brother Rick?”
Eǹ_ù mā
Uh? Was I supposed to call him Prince Ludoric? Hmm, whatever. He was Rick, after all.
He had either immediately noticed me or had been waiting for me, judging from how quickly he ran over to grab my hand.
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“Why are you always grabbing my hand like that, Big Brother Rick?”
“Uh, because…you always end up wandering off somewhere.”
Huh? What?
“I’m not trying to avoid you or anything. It’s just that you’re so pushy.” I glanced down at his hand, implying that I was asking whether he was aware of it or not.
È ň u_m а
Rick made a noise in his throat and relaxed his grip. But why didn’t he let me go?
“You’re not perfect either, you know.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked after a pause.
What the heck was he talking about? I really didn’t know what he meant, so I gave him a puzzled expression as I looked him in the eye. Rick flinched and averted his gaze. Hey, look at me properly!
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“It’s just that you haven’t been to the castle recently,” he said.
Huh? That was what he’d meant? He wanted me to come at least once every two months to hang out with him?
Е̊n̊ǔm̈ а. id
“I thought I visited every season.”
“That’s not what I mean! By the way, you traveled around Uncle’s land for him, right? Nothing bad happened?”
“Is that what you meant? Everything was perfectly fine.” I had been more concerned about the embezzlement problem I was dealing with at the time.
“Weird things have been happening all over the country lately,” Rick said.
“You don’t say!”
“Like mice and bugs appearing in swarms in people’s manors. One person even had their manor filled with something like seaweed!”
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“Oh, my.”
“And kids are going missing again.”
Again? Was it just me, or was kidnapping way too common here? “How scary. I hope Betty and Shelly will be okay,” I said.
“Hey.”
Bump!
Angered by my nonchalant attitude, Rick pushed me up against a nearby wall. He was still holding my hand.
Е̄ n ũ m̂а. ǐ d̃
“Uh, Big Brother Rick?”
“You should be more worried about yourself! If something were to happen to you, Grandfather and Grandmother and everyone in your family would be really worried about you!”
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“Rick…” I see. Rick thinks of me as part of his family now. I managed to look at him with kindness, which made him turn away in a panic.
“You’re like…a…a sister to me, Yulucia, okay?”
I fell silent.
He’s a tsundere?!
W̆ еb̆ ňȯv̀e̊l Еn ǔ ṁ ǎ
“My, you sure took a while to get here, Yul. Did something happen?” Grandmother asked quietly.
“No, Grandmother. There was something I needed to do.” I gave an aristocratic smile to cover up my lie. Talking to Rick wasn’t such a big deal, but I had a feeling that Lady Elea would start scheming a way to stick me with her son, which would be annoying.
“Y-Yul?”
Now that they were surrounded by the three most powerful women in the country, Betty and Shelly looked miserable, so I sat down in the empty space between them. They immediately proceeded to grab onto my arms.
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Mother chuckled at the sight. “Yul has such pretty ladies on both arms.” Couldn’t she see that I was stuck?
Finding it amusing how I was so stuck now that I couldn’t even drink tea, Grandmother and Lady Elea fed me sweets and gave me sips of tea.
Ŵêb́ n о̌ v е̊ l̄ Е̊ n um а̀
Look, I have no interest in this kind of harem. Wait, I don’t wanna eat or drink tea made by people I don’t knooow!
And so, with me as the butt of this joke, the two girls gradually relaxed. Lady Elea then suddenly said, “Say, whose tea parties have the three of you been going to?”
She was so calm about it. It was probably thanks to these three adults that my way of speaking came off as so soft too.
“I went to my aunt’s tea party,” Betty answered as cheerfully as ever.
“Me too. And Lady Yul’s mother’s as well.”
“That’s right. Mother and I went to the one hosted by Shelly’s mother as well,” I said as Shelly and I exchanged smiles.
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“Lady Yul and I have had a private tea party together too,” Shelly added.
“You did?! That’s not fair! Why didn’t you invite me?” Betty cried out as she stood up.
“Shelly came all the way to Toure, you see,” I said.
“Ahhh. Make sure you let me know next time you come to the capital and I shall invite you to one too! And Shelly as well!”
“Okay.”
At our answer, Betty sat down again with her nostrils flared in satisfaction. She was such a pretty girl. It was such a shame how she could be sometimes.
Eńú m̀а. īd̀
“Then have you all heard of the Moonlit Tea Party?” Lady Elea then interjected after watching the scene play out with a smile.
“Maybe.” Shelly glanced over at Betty, since she seemed like she would know about the topic.
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As a second-year student in primary school at the Academy of the Magical Arts, Betty happily explained, “I have. I heard my sister talking about it with her friend. It’s a secret party where you’re not supposed to tell anyone about it until it’s over!”
“Is that so? Do you know anyone who has gone?”
“Yes! My sister’s friend’s cousin’s husband’s little sister’s friend went. She said it was so wonderful, like a dream come true!”
She considered that to be someone she knew? But putting such doubts aside, Betty suddenly got this dreamy look on her face, like she was envisioning what such a tea party should be like.
Wé bń о v̄él Еn ú mа̂
Meanwhile, Lady Elea frowned with a sigh. “I do not want the three of you to attend.”
Shelly and I didn’t really care, since we weren’t particularly interested in going, but Betty half rose from her seat in surprise. “Really? B-but why are we forbidden from going, Lady Eleanor?!”
Lady Elea gave a calm smile to Betty, motioning for her to sit down again. “I didn’t say you were forbidden. I’m just saying that there’s no proof that any invitation you may receive is actually from Lady Auber.”
“Oh.” Betty slowly sat down again, understanding now.
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She brought up a good point. Even though the invitations allegedly bore the Auber family’s seal, the rule demanding secrecy meant you couldn’t ascertain the veracity of that.
“Everyone who’s gone was relieved of their invitations, so we can’t confirm for ourselves what the invitations look like.”
Ŵe̊b̀ ńo̊ v̇ е̂ l Ӗ ń ũ.m̌ а̌
Even though the Moonlit Tea Party might have been safe to attend, there was a chance that someone was forging the Auber seal. But then that meant…
“Does this have something to do with all of the recent kidnappings?” I asked, remembering what Rick had said to me.
The adults looked a bit surprised. Lady Elea even momentarily put on her royal face before breaking out in a kind smile and patting me on the head. I imagined this was the kind of thing that wasn’t discussed with children, but perhaps I got a pass since I was a princess?
Betty and Shelly didn’t seem to notice, but I too thought the whole thing about this count’s daughter was suspicious. And so, I started fishing around in my breast pocket for something I just happened to have brought. “I have something you would be interested in seeing, Lady Elea,” I said.
“Oh? What could it be?”
The girls crowded in to see what I pulled out.
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“I got this invitation to the Moonlit Tea Party today.”
Everyone stared in surprise. Well, everyone except Shelly. She was busy eating her second slice of cake.
“Is this real?”
“Wh-wh-wh-what are you doing, Yul?! You mustn’t show it to anyone else!” Betty grabbed my shoulder in a panic, so I gave her a light pat.
“Don’t worry. I have no interest in going. Plus, this is the third invitation I’ve received.”
“The third one?!”
Е.nǔ mа
The first one, I had given to Christina to return.
The second one, I just tossed into the trash can without even opening.
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The third one, I had found in my room at our manor in the capital. It was kind of like a horror story.
“That’s our Yul. I’m glad you decided not to go.” I wasn’t sure what Lady Elea meant by that first statement, but maybe it was just my imagination that she seemed more exasperated than impressed.
“I’m glad to be of service, Lady Elea. I made the right choice in not burning this.”
“Burning it?!” Betty kept giving such exaggerated reactions.
Ӗ ń ü m а
Meanwhile, Shelly had made it very clear she wasn’t interested in the current topic, but I did wish she would abstain from that fourth slice of cake.
“Hee hee. You’re so amusing, Yul. May I have that invitation, then?”
“Yes, of course.”
Lady Elea and I smiled at one another. I tried to act cool by sliding it over to her on the table, but unfortunately, my clumsiness skill decided to kick in and it fell off the table instead. Betty pounced on it like a puppy.
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After finishing my business in the capital and dealing with a few people for my work with the Society, Mother and I returned to Toure only to be greeted by Vio, who now had this peculiar intensity about her.
Mother knew something was up and bowed out at once, taking Fer and Min with her at an elegantly quick pace back to the castle. “It seems that Vio has something she needs to discuss with you, so I’ll be returning to my room.”
Е̌ńů m̊ а
“Mother?!” I protested. Normally, Mother was so gentle. Why was it only in times like these she would make a quick exit?!
“Lady Yul, I must talk to you about those four.”
“Go ahead.”
After we got to my room, Vio spoke with a calm tone and expression on her face, but I could see that the vein on her temple was throbbing. “Those four children have been brought in to be your prospective attendants, yet they do nothing. Not a single thing.”
“Yep,” I said after a pause, feeling my inner American on the verge of coming out. After all, it had been four months now since I had had an actual conversation with the four of them. I didn’t take them anywhere with me. I never asked them to wait on me. We were paying them a salary, of course, but since they had nothing to do with me, they couldn’t buy anything using my name, they weren’t permitted access to anywhere important in the castle, and they were basically given the cold shoulder.
“Things being as they are now, they should be worried about keeping their jobs. Typically, people would either find a way to look busy just to change the current situation or voluntarily quit working for the grand duke’s household and seek out a new place of employment instead.”
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“What have they been doing?”
“Every day—every. Single. Day. They have been lazing around eating and sleeping all day without lifting a single finger to do any chores or training, and they stopped doing anything at all a few weeks ago. What’s worse…”
“There’s more?!”
Vio gave a dry chuckle at my shriek. “We gave them rooms and meals in addition to their wages, but we cannot feed people who do not earn their keep the same way we would feed someone who was your personal attendant. Using my authority, I have made it so that they receive the same kind of meals as servants in their first year of service.”
By the quality of meals, I supposed that it meant that the caliber of their food had originally been one level under what Mother and I ate. It must have been the highest rank of meals that a servant could have, equal to the kind that Butler and Nanny enjoyed.
“Because they’re boarding here at the grand duke’s home, we do take pride in the fact that their meals are still better than those served in town. However, the four of them refused to accept this and instead attempted to negotiate with the head waiter and head chef. Since both refused, the four of them have started eating at restaurants in town instead.”
W̃ e bnо̃v̄ е́ l_ Еn̂ü m̀а
Negotiate? How bold of them.
In a way, the four of them were something else. Of course, they were still receiving their wages, so they were more than capable of going out to eat…but wait a minute.
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“Hold on, you mean they’ve been doing this every day?”
“Yes, they have. My fear is that they have been going to high-end restaurants instead of regular eateries. Lady Yul, do you recognize these?”
“Huh?”
Vio took out a box that contained a familiar designer short sword, several gold and silver pocket watches, encyclopedias from Father’s study and the back of the library, and several of my accessories for wearing to parties.
W еb n̊о̂ v̇ ĕ l̈ Ѐ n um̂ a
“Why do you have all this?”
“These had all been sold to pawn shops in town, who then contacted me. I decided to buy them all back.” Unable to contain her anger, Vio briskly poured me a cup of tea.
Ooh, this certainly has some flavor to it.
It seemed that those four kids had finally gone too far. There was no doubt about it—the twins were definitely guilty. Christina was verging on guilty, whereas it felt like they still didn’t have definite proof of Fantine’s wrongdoings. But then I noticed the dark expression on Vio’s face. “What’s the matter, Vio?”
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“Lady Yul, we found these in the back of the storage room that Fantine goes to play in.”
“What are they?”
Ŵ е̄bň.ӧv̀ е.l Е n̄u_m̊à
Vio had a heartbroken look in her eyes. I fearfully peered into the box she produced and…
I gasped.
There were all kinds of familiar things inside.
A pair of my shoes covered in scratches. An old dress caked in mud. Books I had read countless times over the years, ripped to shreds. Crayons so damaged that you couldn’t even read the label on them anymore. The harm didn’t seem to have been done out of spite, which meant that this had all happened just from Fantine playing with them.
And what was more…
The silver comb my mother had given me for my third birthday, now bent and missing several teeth. And the rabbit doll my father had given me that same day, which I had lovingly slept with every night until its material had worn out and then put it away in my closet for safekeeping, had had all of its stuffing plucked out and limbs cruelly ripped off.
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“Why?” I picked up the silver comb and rabbit with trembling hands and hugged them to myself. “Why would she do such a thing?”
Something hot spilled out of my eyes.
I didn’t understand. I couldn’t comprehend it. My memories of my life with everyone until now were whirling through my mind. I realized the hot things spilling from my eyes were staining my destroyed doll.
Why…? I wasn’t human.
Why was I crying…?
As soon as she noticed that I was crying, Vio’s magic flared up and swelled like a maelstrom. “My lady, wait here for just a moment. I shall dispose of the trash.”
Ёň um̈а.і̀ d̄
“Ehhh?!”
Vio wore the same expression as always, but there was this dark look in her eyes that sent shivers down my spine as she turned to leave. I grabbed onto her uniform in an attempt to stop her.
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“Y-you can’t!”
“Why not? Their lives have no value at all.”
“I can’t let you do such a thing, Vio!”
“My lady…”
Е̂ n̄ um а . і̇d_
Hearing my cries of concern for her, Vio took me into her arms and stroked my head until I stopped crying.
“Lady Lia—your mother—was always there to help me any way she could,” Vio began to explain as she held me. “She was so kind to me even though I was a commoner. She did everything she could to help my family when our shop was in a decline. And she was there to shield me when some shady religion had their sights on me because I had an affinity for holy magic.”
This was why Vio was so dedicated to my mother.
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“When I graduated from the Academy, Lady Lia was already pregnant with you, so I decided to become her lady-in-waiting in order to repay her kindness.” Vio looked into my eyes as she continued in a gentle tone of voice, “Lady Lia is my treasure. And you are her treasure—as well as the treasure of every single person who lived in that house and every person who lives in this castle now. His Grace, Lady Lia, and every single one of us—we all love you so much, Lady Yul. Never forget this.”
She punctuated this with a tight hug, so I hugged her back just as tightly.
Е n ū m̌ а. і d
“Okay.”
Ahh, I feel so embarrassed right now. But I also feel so much better.
I was overflowing with human emotion. Perhaps this was what it meant to understand people? Could that be what it means, so-called older brother of mine who has gone so far from me?
That was when knowledge of unfamiliar other worlds flowed into me from far away…
I understood now.
I should just do as I pleased.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
I could be full of human emotion if I wanted to be. Or I could have the heart of a merciless demon instead. I wasn’t entirely a demon, but I wasn’t entirely a human either. This was why I had been born as the Devil Princess—so I could become my true self.
I was a demon free of any shackles, after all.
“Vio,” I said as I stood up.
Vio knelt down before “Yulucia” for the very first time. “Yes?”
Vio had always called me “my lady.” This was because of her loyalty to my mother, but for the very first time, she was acting on my personal behalf.
“Does anyone else know how badly those four have blundered?”
Ѐ nům̂ а. і́d
“No,” she said. “I discovered everything through my own private investigations. Fer and Min helped me, but I am the only one who knows the full story. I apologize for how long it took.”
“There’s no need to apologize. However, I would like you to keep this matter a secret.”
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“But, my lady…” Vio weighed her emotions against my words before calmly pointing out the issues with this request. “I’m afraid I might not be able to do so. Others have witnessed their disgraceful behavior. And it would be impossible to conceal the amount it cost to buy these items back.”
“If it’s money we need, then Cape & Co. from the capital would be willing to give me a loan. They have a branch here in Toure too, so if you mention my name, you can get as much as you need from them.”
“Yes, my lady,” Vio said after a pause. She must have known this already, since I had received all kinds of tribute from Zesh at Cape & Co.
“Do your best to keep this between the two of us so that Father and Mother do not have to worry,” I added.
Е̌ n_um̌а̊
“As you wish, Lady Yulucia.” Vio reverently bowed her head to me.
I was sure that it would be normal for someone to be suspicious to hear a six-year-old speaking in such a way, but she had already sensed there was something different about me.
Now, I had some thoughts on what to do with the four of them, but as it so happened, the perfect thing had just arrived in my room: a small jewelry box. Inside, hidden underneath all of the jewels, was a fourth invitation.
Vermin who dared to ravage my heart and my garden, it was time for the feast of demons to begin.
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***
“Heh heh… Ha ha ha. I’ve finally done it.”
E n_ùm̈ â. іd
The girl eagerly picked up the invitation before her.
It was an invitation to the Moonlit Tea Party that girls all across the Holy Kingdom longed to receive. But this was not the kind delivered to prospective attendees—it was the magically paired counterpart of one of those invitations.
Hair the silver of moonlight.
Skin so white, it shunned the sun.
Eyes tinged with purple that reminded people of the dark night sky.
The girl beamed with delight. She had an inhuman, alluring beauty about her despite having only turned ten years old.
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Lady Mylene la Auber.
Those who knew of her called her the “Silver Princess.”
“That took so long.” Mylene returned the invitation to the table and glanced over at the three vessels next to it. They had once been invitations as well, but all of them had burned into ash.
The invitations delivered to noble girls were all lilac-colored, while their counterparts were pink. They were trapped so that when a lilac one was opened, if it came into contact with the magic of another person other than the recipient, an invisible magic circle would activate and its pink copy would burn.
Every invitation sent to this girl had turned to ash the same day it had been delivered. Mylene was angry now at herself at how this had surprised her. Normally, she would only ever send a single invitation. This was because it was dangerous to invite someone who would not follow the covenant of the Moonlit Tea Party. She had to be discreet so that she never repeated the mistakes of her past.
However, this girl alone was the exception. She was of royal blood and virtuous enough to be called the Saint. Known as the “Golden Princess,” her angelic beauty made her seem special.
Е n̄ŭm̈ а
Mylene had invited over a hundred noble girls to her tea parties and locked up about a dozen or so of those who had long bloodlines in the manor. Yet they simply weren’t good enough. Likely, their blood needed to be of higher quality.
This Golden Princess was different. Mylene could tell from a single look that this single girl had as much power as a hundred noble girls from old families. In a way, her obsession with the girl might border on something akin to love at first sight. But Mylene was oblivious to this as she used all kinds of methods in her attempts to acquire the Golden Princess.
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She had sent her numerous flawless jewels that no child could ever hope to receive—not even a noble one. Assuming the girl must be scared to go alone, she was even making an exception in allowing the girl to bring along her attendants.
In all likelihood, people were starting to become suspicious. However, there was no proof that allowed such suspicions to fall upon the Aubers. And even if people did suspect them, it was more realistic for some kidnapper to be holding fake tea parties, so Count Auber had yet to be summoned to the capital. The count and his lady were still optimistic, but Mylene believed that now was the time.
And so…
“I shall be the winner of this wager.”
Ẃе̂b̈no v́ ёl Еn̄ u_m̀ а
At long last, she had received a reply directly from Yulucia saying that she would attend.
Once she had Yulucia, she wouldn’t need anyone else. Yulucia was all Mylene needed to get what she wanted.
“Hee hee. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Mylene and her family had come to Talitelud from the militaristic country of Telthed. They had lost one of their own there battling Telthed’s knights. They would get their revenge on Telthed and on the daemons who had deceived them. Long ago, they had antagonized the daemons who operated in secret in Telthed and the daemons had tipped off the humans to the Auber family’s presence.
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If Mylene could get stronger by keeping Yulucia all to herself, then she would be able to get her revenge by her own power. Secretly, quietly, she was working toward the day the Holy Kingdom would know a calamity.
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