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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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At first, I thought it was someone else.
The Alicia I knew was always a spirited, confident, and ambitious young mage.
But the one standing before me now…
“I… I was caught by my sister…”
…was nothing more than a pitiful, abandoned rabbit.
Our eyes met for a moment, but she quickly lowered her gaze, as if burned by my stare.
“I’m sorry for showing up like this…”
Her ears trembled slightly.
Was it because she was cold and wet from the rain…?
Or because she was terrified…?
Maybe both…
Even when she was disarmed, her rosary taken away, she hadn’t looked this dejected.
“Come in.”
“…”
I let Alicia inside and focused all my senses on the outside but I couldn’t detect anyone else.
It seemed she hadn’t been followed.
“So you were caught by Yerina?”
“About you… about going to Elvenguard with you…”
“You were kicked out of Palana for that? Haha.”
“…”
It was supposed to be a joke, but Alicia silently nodded, leaving me dumbfounded.
She had actually been kicked out.
I already knew from Mia that Yerina had found out about Alicia’s trip to Elvenguard.
But I hadn’t known that Yerina also knew she had been with me.
I thought Alicia would have been able to make up an excuse and get away with it…
It seemed Yerina’s suspicions were stronger than Alicia’s lies.
‘No wonder she came here alone, without any servants or luggage.’
Alicia had nothing with her.
Absolutely nothing.
No bag, no belongings, just herself.
Aside from the rosary around her neck and the mana stone ring on her finger, which seemed to be new, she had no valuables.
She must have been desperate to escape.
‘She hasn’t found this place, at least.’
Fortunately, it seemed Yerina hadn’t discovered this location.
If she had, she would have broken through the barrier and confronted Alicia before she even arrived here.
It seemed Alicia had managed to shake off any pursuit, despite the chaos of her escape.
Of course, it was still too early to be completely relieved.
Yerina had come here before to find Cern.
There was no guarantee that she wouldn’t come again.
“How much did she find out? Did she find out that you peed your pants in front of me twice?”
“…”
“Sorry. Was it that boring?”
“I’ve never… seen my sister that angry… She’s gotten angry for me plenty of times, but… it was the first time she directed that anger towards me. I thought I was doing the right thing… but she called me a traitor, a thief… Sob.”
“It’s alright. I get the picture. Just go wash up. We can talk after you’re clean.”
Alicia started to tremble and sob.
Realizing it wasn’t the time for jokes, I pulled her close and let her bury her face in my chest.
I could feel her trembling against me, her tears soaking my clothes.
As I held her in a warm embrace, her trembling gradually subsided.
Her sobs also quieted down.
I thought she was okay now and loosened my grip, about to step back…
But then I noticed her wrist.
“This is…”
“Ah…”
Scars covered her wrist.
They had been hidden by makeup, but the rain must have washed it away.
They were messy, as if inflicted by a knife.
They didn’t seem recent, but rather old…
Alicia quickly hid her wrist from me, as if she had forgotten about them.
I wondered if I should ask about the scars.
An awkward silence filled the air as I hesitated.
Linda, who had finished recharging, rushed over and looked around, trying to assess the situation.
[Is there anything I can help you with?]
“Could you help her with the bath? I’ll get her some clothes to change into.”
[Of course, Master. Come this way, please. You should take off your wet clothes first. You might catch a cold.]
Linda exchanged glances with me and then led Alicia towards the bathroom, seeming to understand the situation.
Alicia’s state was worrying.
Those scars on her wrist were also bothering me.
I couldn’t leave her alone since something might happen, so I sent Linda with her.
If it wasn’t for Linda, I would have had to go in with her myself.
“I guess I’ll wait until they come out.”
I picked up Alicia’s wet clothes, which she had shed like a snake shedding its skin, and tossed them into the laundry basket.
Then I went outside.
It was clear that Alicia had gotten on Yerina’s bad side…
But I needed to hear the details from her directly.
“Ugh. Maybe I should take a nap.”
Seeing Undecided still sound asleep, oblivious to the world, made me sleepy too.
I plopped down on the sofa and hugged the lifeless Undecided.
She fidgeted in her sleep, frowning as if she were hot, but…
…She was a perfect body pillow to me.
“Don’t even think about sleeping. You have to finish replenishing my essence.”
“Ah.”
And the moment I closed my eyes…
The centipede mouth crawled up the sofa and faced me.
Ah, right.
I was supposed to kiss a centipede.
My vision blurred.
…
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[The slippers are right here.]
Linda… was it?
Following the artificial soul’s guidance, I stepped out of the bathroom and put on the slippers.
As I walked towards the lounge…
“Oh, are you done?”
Yoo-jin, who had been dozing off, looked up and called out to me.
Beside him was the blood ghoul he always had with him… and… he was holding another woman.
How could he be so consistent?
That thought brought a sense of comfort.
I found myself letting go of the heavy weight in my heart and chuckling.
“That’s a rude question to ask a lady.”
“Is it any ruder than peeing your pants in front of someone?”
“Hey?!”
“Don’t be mad. Come here. You must be hungry. And the clothes look good on you.”
“G-Good? They’re… way too small…”
I hesitated for a moment, feeling self-conscious under his gaze.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, the clothes I was given were nothing but a flimsy nightgown.
It was so thin that I could see through it.
Thankfully, Linda had already washed my underwear and brought it to me, so I was spared the disaster of having to wear such scandalous clothing with nothing underneath.
It seemed the blood ghoul had washed my underwear.
Yoo-jin wouldn’t have done it himself…
“Of course they’re small. I bought them for Undecided to wear as pajamas.”
“…I… don’t really… sleep… so… I’ve… never… worn them…”
“They’re practically new. Keep them if you want.”
“I don’t need them. These childish pajamas.”
“…Hmph.”
No wonder they were so small.
If I lifted the hem of the skirt even slightly, my underwear would be visible.
And my chest felt like it was about to burst.
Still, I was grateful to have something to wear, even if it was just a temporary solution.
“You two are meeting for the first time, right?”
“Yes… Is she your new slave?”
“Something like that.”
I meant it sarcastically, but Yoo-jin just agreed, and the mysterious woman sitting next to him also reacted nonchalantly, leaving me speechless.
She was actually a slave…?
“She doesn’t have a name yet. You can call her Bug, if you like. She’s a monster.”
“I don’t like that! Just try calling me a bug! I’ll bite your bunny ears off!”
“Eek!”
“And this is Alicia Yevgenia.”
“Ah… Ah, yes. The one you mentioned… the one with the faucet on her head that dispenses lemonade…”
“Hey?!”
My face flushed bright red.
What had this man been telling people about me?!
I was furious, and the memory of that incident sent a shiver down my spine.
That bastard.
I don’t even have my inhibitor right now…
“Just come sit down and have a burrito. Hey, you! How did you manage to eat all of that?!”
“Mmm… It seems like I need to consume more calories as I grow bigger.”
“…Pig. Stop… eating…”
[Ahaha. I’ll make more soon. Don’t fight.]
“…”
I was annoyed and angry…
But I couldn’t deny that I was actually quite comfortable in this atmosphere.
They hadn’t questioned me about why I had suddenly shown up…
They hadn’t even asked about the scars on my wrist…
The thought that there was no one here but a wandering mercenary and two monsters who wouldn’t gossip about me put me even more at ease.
Moments ago, I had felt like I had lost everything.
Soaking in the bath, staring at the reflection of my miserable, bunny-like face in the water…
Looking at the old scars on my wrist, I had felt like I was drowning in the pain of the past again…
But as soon as I came out, my spirits started to lift.
Well, to be honest, it was because I was angry…
But did it really matter…?
“Thank you. I feel much calmer now.”
“Huh? For what?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know… I have something to tell you.”
Thud.
I sat down on a single-seater sofa, picked up a burrito, and started talking.
It was the first time I had ever spoken about my past in such a relaxed atmosphere.
It would be a long story.
I stroked the rough scar on my wrist and slowly began to speak.
The Yevgenia family.
A prominent beastman family in the magic-barren North, known for producing numerous Archmages.
But like the hidden side of everything beautiful…
The Yevgenia family also had a dark underbelly.
One of the advantages of being a rabbit beastman was their rapid reproduction rate, and the Yevgenia family took advantage of that rare advantage.
Unlike other noble families who limited their offspring for fear of diluting their wealth and power, the Yevgenia family actively produced children.
They then tested all the children for magical aptitude…
Those with talent were sent to the main family to be educated, and the rest were abandoned.
‘Abandoned’ meant literally that.
They were expelled from the family, left to starve or whatever.
The Yevgenia family didn’t care.
That was how they weeded out bloodlines without magical aptitude and cut costs.
They built their success on the sacrifices of countless children.
That was how the Yevgenia family rose to stand shoulder to shoulder with the traditional magic families of the South.
And I, Alicia Yevgenia, was born the eldest daughter of the patriarch, but…
…Being a child of the main family didn’t mean the standards were any different.
I had to take the same test as every other Yevgenia child, and if I failed, I would be expelled.
Those were the rules of the Yevgenia family.
But my test results were abysmal.
I had no magical aptitude.
Or at least, it seemed that way at the time.
I can still clearly remember the cold stares of the adults, their expectations turning into disappointment as soon as the results were announced…
I was just a child, barely able to speak.
That day, I was supposed to be expelled along with all the other children who lacked aptitude.
But my father broke the rules.
He declared that he would keep me in the main family, refusing to send me away.
No one could overturn the decision of the patriarch, who wielded absolute power…
…But there was a lot of backlash, naturally.
My father might have saved me from freezing to death on a cold winter day…
But he couldn’t protect me from the scornful gazes within the family.
Useless child.
Trash.
Shameless girl.
Barely human.
These were the things I heard as I grew up.
I grew up in the main family, but I wasn’t treated as one of them.
I didn’t receive the same education as my cousins.
I had to eat their leftovers.
The adults openly insulted me, my peers ostracized me, and the servants treated me like I was invisible, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.
Even my father avoided me, wary of his subordinates’ disapproval.
I was the only one in Yevgenia Castle who didn’t have a Yevgenia’s Crest.
I could have endured all that.
It was hard, and painful, and sometimes I cried…
But as long as it was external humiliation and persecution, I could overcome it by hiding my fragile heart and hardening my shell.
But what truly hurt me was guilt.
The children who looked back at me with longing in their eyes as they were taken away…
Every year, one by one, news of their deaths reached me, and it was unbearable.
They had all died during the winter or were struggling to survive, working hard labor…
…While I was living in a warm house, eating proper meals.
I should have been living the same life as them…
But I had been spared, just because I was a little luckier.
That was what made it so difficult to bear.
“Hey. Did you hear? About the kids who were expelled in our year?”
“They were still alive?”
“Half-dead, half-alive, they say. And apparently half of them are being sold as slaves to the South.”
“Hahaha! That’s a step up for them! They get to live in a warm place like the South, in the homes of nobles!”
“Hey, trash! Why don’t you get sold as a slave too?”
“…”
The bullying intensified as I got older.
The more I matured, the more I thought, and the more my guilt grew.
I started to believe that maybe they were right.
Why was I still here?
Wouldn’t it be better for me, both physically and mentally, if I had been expelled with the other children and sold as a slave?
Why was I the only one who had been saved?
No. Was it even salvation?
Was my father truly looking out for me?
Or had he deliberately protected only me, just to make me suffer?
All sorts of thoughts filled my mind when I was alone.
My head pounded with those thoughts.
There was only one thing that could make me forget all that pain.
Greater pain.
I think that was when I started cutting my wrist.
Perhaps I chose such a visible spot as a form of protest…
But the biggest reason was that… when my blood flowed, my mind became clear.
When my wrist burned with pain, my head stopped spinning.
But as the bleeding stopped and the wound healed, the intrusive thoughts and headaches would inevitably return…
And I couldn’t stop self-harming.
I became dependent on it.
It was around the time the scars had multiplied, covering my entire wrist…
“Alicia. What is that?”
…That my father finally noticed.
At that moment, I felt a surge of… joy.
I had hoped that someone would notice my scars.
I had hoped that someone would see how much I was hurting, how much I wanted to die, and pity me.
That’s what I thought, in my childish mind.
“Wear gloves to hide that. It’s unsightly. The elders will reprimand you if they see it.”
“…”
I was foolish.
No one would pity me.
I had no one on my side.
I learned that after ten years of living in this house.
Having realized that I couldn’t escape this despair through self-harm…
I, as a child…
Thought about death.
I truly wanted to die.
It wasn’t that I imagined my father, the elders, my cousins crying and regretting after my death.
I was just… in so much pain.
I just wanted to escape this reality.
“Bring out the head of this family! I am Yerina Frost! The future monarch who will bring Yevgenia to its knees and make them my subjects!”
It was around that time… that I met my sister.
And my life changed completely.
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