Who Could Have Loved the Monster Princess? - Chapter 60

The tiny fire magic that touched the scales on my forehead singed my bangs slightly before fading away. My forehead felt a bit warm, but that level of magic wasn’t enough to injure me.

“W-What! What’s going on?!”

As Elena panicked, Rose shouted sharply:

“What are you doing? This is Lady Belienne!”

“What? Th-that… is that the infamous curse, that curse?”

Elena trembled with a confused expression. But soon she clasped her hands tightly, took a deep breath, and cautiously looked at me.

I adjusted my hood back over my head and spoke as gently as I could.

“I’m sorry for startling you.”

“N-no! No, it’s okay.”

Elena squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them and looked me straight in the eye.

“I’m sorry, Belienne. I was just so shocked. I had promised myself I’d never make that mistake if we ever met, but things turned out so differently that I just…”

She extended the back of her hand toward me.

“Please forgive my rudeness.”

I had never actually seen this before, but this was how Amortan royalty apologized — allowing the other person to kiss the back of their hand to ask for forgiveness.

‘When I read about it in etiquette books, it seemed romantic…’

The contact of lips on the back of the hand signified restoring trust between master and servant. It also meant that all misunderstandings had been resolved. But after having a fireball hit my forehead, seeing that outstretched hand made me feel like I was being forced to forgive the misunderstanding and prove my trust against my will.

‘Refusing feels a bit…’

If I refuse the kiss, it would openly mean I don’t trust you or that I cannot forgive you.

‘Isn’t that a bit extreme?’

Reluctantly, I raised my hand to take Elena’s outstretched one. But the moment she saw my blue hand slipping out from under my robe, her face turned pale and she quickly pulled back her hand.

“Oh, oh…! I-I’m sorry! Sorry!”

Elena trembled violently as she stepped backward. Seeing her like that made me feel sorry too.

“It’s okay. Shall we head to Staedt for now?”

Elena bit her lip and nodded. When I slipped my hand back inside my robe, she seemed to calm down a little. She had grabbed her hood inside the house, and although it was quite worn, the material was clearly high-quality.

“I’m sorry… I heard that the curse made you look like a monster… but I’ve never even properly seen a monster myself.”

It was understandable. If you never had a reason to leave the capital, how would you?

Aunt Alyssa came to the empire’s capital after exile and gave birth to Elena there. Although the capital was attacked by monsters a few times, ordinary people had to hide unless they were hunting them.

I understood and wasn’t offended. On the contrary, I appreciated how, despite my strange appearance, she was trying to overcome her fear because I was family.

Elena seemed genuinely sorry and kept watching my expression.

“It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

When I said that, Elena seemed a bit relieved and took a long breath. I glanced inside the house. There was no other sign of life.

“Are you alone?”

“Huh? What…?”

“Where is Princess Alyssa?”

“Ah… I… um… why do you ask?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we went together?”

“Oh, together? But, well… Mother left not long ago…”

“Where to…?”

Elena glanced up at the sky.

“Oh… I’m sorry we couldn’t come sooner.”

I felt sorry for Elena. In a place like this, her only person to rely on must have been her mother. How lonely and anxious she must have felt being left alone.

Elena bit her lip, seeming to hold back tears.

Afraid she might be scared, I couldn’t bring myself to comfort her. Elena pressed her eyes tight and said:

“No, I’m grateful you came even now…”

Her voice was strained. When she lifted her head, there was no trace of tears on her face.

“Let’s go quickly. I want to get away from this dreadful place.”

Her words gave me an odd sense of unease. The house looked small for even one person to live alone. Besides, the traces of life here felt like they belonged to only one person. Without fully understanding what caused the unease, I simply answered her.

“Yes, Lady Amortan.”

“Oh, Belienne. Please just call me Elena. We’re family after all.”

Elena’s innocent, pale face was filled with a hint of sadness. I nodded.

“Alright, sister.”

Elena smiled brightly, truly happy. Her smile was so much like Mom’s that it made my heart feel warm. If Elena came to the estate, maybe Mom could smile like that too?

I hurried back to Staedt with Elena.

***

When we returned to the estate with Elena, my parents were out on a garden date. The place was almost like a jungle, so it seemed it would take them quite some time to come back.

While waiting for my parents, Elena wanted to take a bath.

Elena chose Rose to help with her bath. I waited in the parlor with Lily and Daisy until her bath was finished.

Elena’s chattering voice seemed to still linger in my ears throughout the journey to the estate.

‘She looked genuinely happy to have family now.’

However, there was something a little odd about her way of thinking. When she saw the plain carriage without any family crest that we took for inspections, she looked very disappointed.

‘She was surprised that she had to ride in that small carriage together with Rose…’

“Do you usually ride in the carriage with your maid?”

I answered that, of course, I did.

“Oh… I see? That’s a bit different from what my mother told me…”

It seemed that the Amortan family didn’t have their servants ride inside the carriage. Rose had offered to sit on the driver’s seat, but I just let her ride inside. Even though it was a small carriage, there was room for four.

Elena readily agreed.

She was very interested in noble life. She was curious about court banquets and tournaments, and so she begged me to tell her stories the entire way to the estate.

I felt like a young lady entering the imperial palace for the first time at her coming-of-age ceremony.

After waiting for a bit, my father arrived. I was a little surprised because I had expected him to spend about an hour on a date with my mother first.

As soon as his eyes met mine, he spoke in a cold tone.

“Yen, immediately throw out this woman you brought to this estate today.”

“Dad…?”