The Monster Princess

Chapter 4

Ugh. I should have stayed in my room. I regretted making the trek all the way to the Empress’s Palace for nothing.

The strange dreams I had while I was sick seemed to have made me uncharacteristically sensitive. Perhaps they had softened me up enough to suddenly yearn for my mother. I thought maybe if I poured out my feelings to her and depended on her as I did when I was child, I would be relieved of the uneasiness in my heart. That was why I had come to her palace, but it was foolish of me.

Just then, a bell-like voice called to me. “Bella!”

My lips became twisted. It was Millium. He must have seen me lingering at the entrance on my way out.

It would’ve been easy to ignore him. I just needed to hasten my pace, and his short legs wouldn’t be able to catch up. But his nanny, Countess McNoa, was following him.

“Your Highness, please slow down,” she called.

There was no leaving now, so I reluctantly stopped in my tracks and turned to face the boy.

He was running to me with a broad grin. “Bella!”

He waddled over to me and held onto my legs. It seemed like he had gotten his hands dirty while making the flower crown because his fingers soiled my skirt.

My eyebrows twitched. “Millium...” But I was a professional, so I quickly smoothed my prickly feelings and returned his smile.

“We are honored by your presence, Princess Arbella.”

“We are honored by your presence, Prince Millium.”

Our maids exchanged greetings.

It was the boy’s turn to speak. “Bella, weren’t you at the rear garden just now?”

His fluttering golden hair and ruby eyes truly made him look like a baby angel. Well, of course he’s beautiful. We do resemble each other, except for the eyes. I’d always been very generous whenever I assessed his looks.

“Why did you leave without saying hi?” He whined as if it was a given to greet him, like he was the master of the house.

The patience I had gathered vanished. I was not fond of children, especially not the one in front of me right now. I lost enthusiasm, and my voice turned slightly cold. “I had a sudden headache, so I was about to retire to my palace.”

“Oh, really? Should I kiss your head? Mommy said if you kiss where it hurts, it gets better.” His face was cherubic but contained a hint of smugness.

Oh my. What is this nonsense? His tone even sounded a little condescending. I hated to say it, but it was almost like seeing an image of myself when I was young.

“Let me kiss it! I don’t do it for just anyone, but you’re so pretty, Bella!”

I normally wouldn’t mind the compliment, but his smug face and conceited tone of voice started to grate on my nerves.

Our mother must be grooming him to be like this, just as she did with me. How very consistent of her. Even so, it would be silly to hold such a thing against a young child, so I calmed myself once more.

“Put your head down. Hurry!” he shouted as he tugged forcefully at my hair with his dirty hands, testing my patience again.

Mother and his nanny spoiled him rotten and had turned him into a little tyrant. Although such behavior could be expected of a five-year-old, I started feeling a sense of disgust toward my own kind. I must not have hidden it very well, because when we made eye contact, he flinched and his mouth sprang open in shock.

I put on a smile again. “Millium,” I began speaking, making sure to sound gentle. “I feel much better already, thanks to your concern. I’m grateful.”

His mouth gaped open again, though now he seemed relaxed. “Y-yay!”

“But you can’t pull on someone’s hair so hard. It’s bad manners and it hurts. Would you let me go?”

He immediately released the small fist clutching my hair, but realizing he had been scolded, he began to protest. “You didn’t listen to me, Bella! You should’ve lowered your head faster.”

I ruffled his hair like I was petting a dog. “Good boy,” I said without affection.

Since he was only a child, he began giggling like nothing was wrong. He seemed to have forgotten my deadly glare from moments before.

“Is Mother still in the rear garden?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“All right. Take care, then.” I bid him farewell with a smile and turned to leave.

Millium hadn’t realized it was a parting gesture and looked confused, but I quickly strode away. Kids are such trouble. I have no idea how to handle them.

“Marina, handkerchief.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As soon as we turned the corner, I stuck my hand out and she handed me a handkerchief. I used it to wipe the lock of hair that the boy had grabbed. There wasn’t any dirt on it, but I still felt disgusted. I also thoroughly wiped the hand that had touched his head before returning the handkerchief to Marina.

“Prepare another bath immediately when we arrive,” I ordered.

“Certainly, Your Highness.”

“And dispose of the handkerchief.”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Even though I was treating my only fully blood-related sibling so coldly, Marina didn’t protest. None of the other maids piped up, either. Naturally, I would never have selected any maids who spoke out of turn.

I recalled what had just happened. Millium had seen me leave the garden and came running after me. Mother was in the garden with him, so she should have seen us together. But she did not come to greet me. It was painfully clear what that meant.

Why am I feeling hurt? This is ridiculous. Only five years ago, Mother and I were famously close. She cherished me as her only daughter, and embraced by her unshaken love, there was nothing I feared in the world.

That all changed when I was diagnosed with Magician’s Fever. It was a fatal weakness that had to be kept secret from others. It was also the reason I ended up resorting to forbidden magic in the future detailed in the book. But once I became sick, my mother no longer expressed any interest in me.

I left her palace, clenching my fists painfully tight.

* * *

My frequent fevers were no ordinary condition. I had an illness with no known cure. When the body couldn’t handle the overpowering mana within it, fissures would form in the heart’s core where mana was stored. As a result, I suffered agonizing pain while my insides burned. Sometimes I would even have painful seizures that felt like someone was drilling a hole in my chest.

I would keep suffering such fevers until the core would eventually break and my mana would come spilling out. No life could survive without mana. And so, that will be the day I die.

I did have tremendously powerful mana, so that wasn’t likely to happen soon, though there was no telling when it would. It was the only tragic flaw in my once-perfect life, and it was a fatal one.

As soon as the imperial magicians and doctors practically sentenced me to death with the Magician’s Fever diagnosis, my mother quickly proceeded to have a second child. With that, she suddenly transferred all the love that she had for me to Millium. Fortunately for her, the boy was born with decent mana, although it wasn’t at my level.

She doesn’t need a faulty daughter anymore. It was the truth I had ignored up until now.

“I think I’ve been too naive, Marina,” I mumbled as I thought back on my life full of regrets.

She answered firmly. “That’s an insult to the truly naive, Your Highness.”

Her words stopped my depression from creeping up. Hey! Don’t you think that’s too blunt a way to talk to the princess?

I sighed. “My goodness. Just hand me a pair of scissors.”

“Scissors? Why?” she asked, suspicious.

“I just need to cut something.”

As always, she obeyed without asking twice, although she couldn’t hide the uneasiness in her eyes.

I stood in front of my mirror, holding the scissors in one hand. All those times I felt happy looking at my reflection... How foolish I was.

As a princess, I was always treated with the utmost care. I wore dresses decorated with lace and ribbons, emphasizing my youthfulness and charm. Every inch of me was polished, even down to my lustrous and gorgeous fingernails. I ended up looking like a lovely porcelain doll, with only my silky, waist-length blonde hair and a pair of azure eyes lending me a spark of life.

I was already aware of this, but the girl in the mirror looked very much like her mother. When I saw my mother’s childhood portrait, I was even more shocked by the resemblance. Others felt the same way. I couldn’t say how many times I’d heard about how much we looked alike. Many mistook us for one another because of our long, sleek blonde hair, especially when they saw us from behind at a distance.

Even though I always thought the imperial family’s bloodline to be highly important, I didn’t mind not resembling my father, the emperor. I adored my mother and was more than happy to be like her. But now, perhaps due to the mixture of emotions I was feeling, the girl in the mirror felt like a stranger snickering at me.

Whether the future Arbella would become a villainess or not, at the moment she was simply a young girl longing for love. But I had come to a realization. No matter how hard I try, that woman will likely never love me again.

I raised the scissors, and with my other hand grabbed a chunk of the long hair that I was once so proud of.

“Y-Your Highness?” Marina gasped, sounding alarmed. But once I set my mind to something, I could rarely be stopped.

Snip!

I mercilessly chopped away my soft, shiny locks, letting them fall to the floor.

“Aieee!” Marina’s scream echoed throughout the palace halls, signaling the unwelcome start of a new chapter in my life.