The Monster Princess

Chapter 6

* * *

“My goodness, this is truly incredible, Your Highness! You instinctively predicted Baron Wayston’s crime, caught the culprits red-handed, and rounded them up all by yourself... What a tremendous gift of insight you possess!”

The Imperial Knights were perplexed to see me when they arrived at the forest. However, they quickly came to grips with the situation as I tossed them the criminals and beasts I had tied up with mana chains. I also handed over the children to the knights’ commander, Sir Auguste, for protection.

A chorus of voices cheering and praising me for my extraordinary feat rang in my ears. If it were under different circumstances, I might have enjoyed it more.

I trusted the knights to clean up the mess and left the scene to return to my palace.

“Oh! First Princess Arbella!”

As I was walking the palace pathway, I encountered the one person I was hoping not to see.

“G-greetings, Your Highness!” With long black hair and eyes as golden as dandelions, Judith bent forward in a hasty bow. She seemed startled to run into me unexpectedly.

“Do you not have any maids at your palace?” I snipped.

“Pardon, Your Highness?” She seemed puzzled.

For some reason, it got on my nerves to see her like this. Why on earth was she always traveling around on her own?

“Have a maid accompany you from now on,” I said. If your maids knew better, they would prevent you from ever crossing my path.

Judith didn’t seem to feel like she had been scolded. She blushed and twiddled her fingers. With her head down, she responded, “Certainly. Th-thank you so much for your concern, Your Highness. I shall do that from now on.”

I couldn’t understand why she believed I was actually worried about her. I looked down coldly at the petite girl in front of me, then turned to leave.

“Oh, um...”

It sounded like she had something more to say, but I ignored her and continued down the path.

As soon as I arrived at my palace, I plopped onto the bed and started beating my pillow with clenched fists. “Why? Just why?! Everything is the same! Is it really destiny?!”

That miserable, wretched, cursed book! I wanted to scream obscenities at the top of my lungs. But having lived as an elegant and graceful princess all my life, I couldn’t for the life of me think of any decent vocabulary to use.

“Marina, bring me the mana stones! All of them!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After receiving so much praise, I should be acting proud and cocky as I usually did. But I was lashing out, leaving Marina looking confused. Still, like the excellent maid she was, she promptly brought me a load of labeled mana stones and laid them out on the table.

In an attempt to restore my sanity, I swiftly activated the mana stone closest to me.

“Please look this way, Your Highness.”

In the moving image projected by the stone, I saw a pretty girl of about four or five years old with blue eyes and angelic blonde hair. She sat on a large chair, legs dangling as she hugged a plush zebra. She had adorable, squishy cheeks.

“Would you be so kind as to introduce yourself?” said a voice off-screen.

“No. It’s no fun.”

The voice laughed. “You must have become weary of doing so many introductions. But so many people want to meet you, Your Highness! I would be very grateful if you could look over here and perhaps tell me your name.”

At the voice’s pleading, the girl finally faced forward, her lips twisting into a pout. After a moment of hesitation, she let out a defeated sigh and looked directly into my eyes. Almost like magic, her sour face instantly had a radiant and lovely smile.

“Hello, my name is Arbella! My birthday was just last week, so I am now five years old. I’m here today with my new friend. It’s really nice to meet you!”

Yup, that’s me. The perfect little angel that I used to be.

Marina, watching the video at my side, marveled at the adorable girl clasping the zebra doll.

“No matter how many times I watch the Smiles of the Angel Princess collection, it warms my heart. It is just so lovely,” she said. “It’s no surprise this is the best-selling stone among all the princes and princesses’ collections.”

There were actually multiple mana stones featuring me. As I mentioned before, my pure blood, unrivaled beauty, and unmatched level of mana made me quite a popular princess. The imperial palace decided to make good use of my popularity, so from my infancy, they recorded my growth using mana stones and marketed them to the public. The videos showed me doing simple things like eating, washing my hands, singing songs, and solving jigsaw puzzles.

The resulting stones were a huge hit. Not only did the videos become a sort of parental care guide, but they inspired the people of Camulita to love me as well. Consequently, the approval ratings of the imperial palace skyrocketed, and the vaults of the national treasury overflowed from the sales of my video collections.

Since then, distributing mana stones portraying the childhoods of the princes and princesses became a trend, and later, a part of Camulita’s culture. This was a big reason for my continuing popularity and status in the empire. It was proof that I was the most beloved.

So how am I supposed to accept that I am not the main character of this world? It makes no sense!

Marina probably thought that I was watching these videos to nourish my narcissistic spirit once again. However, that was not the only reason this time.

“Today, Princess Arbella, why don’t you kindly show us how to use the floating water drop spell?”

“Um... Okay. Split a little bit of mana like this, use it to cover the water drop, and then lift it up! See? Isn’t it simple?”

The odd anxiety I was feeling faded as I watched the videos. I knew it. I really am the most incredible! There’s no way I’ll end up like what that crazy book says.

At that moment, the video ended.

“Would you like to watch another?” Marina asked. “Are there any specific ones you prefer? Personally, I am quite fond of The Princess’s Dangerous Playtime and Summer at the Royal Villa.”

There were still many mana stones left, and I thought I needed a little more time to feel better. “Sure, turn on anything,” I said.

Marina and I both became absorbed in watching the videos. However, it was useless to try to forget about my circumstances. I knew the reality of my situation better than anybody. Even if I avoided cruel actions and a pitiful death as predicted in the book, I simply did not have a bright future ahead of me.

Magician’s Fever was the reason for my eventual doom. The incurable condition was slowly eating away at me.

“So if I must meet my end utterly empty-handed...”

The woman’s malicious voice from my dreams echoed in my head, overlapping with the sound from the video.

“Then I will destroy the whole world, the world that should have been mine. That way, no one may claim any of it.”

An odd feeling came over me. Rather than the lovely small girl in the video, I somehow felt closer to the specter of that crazed woman.

Princess Clover and Princess Dandelion

According to the book, one of the four child victims of the human hunt in Blovis Forest was supposed to die. Thankfully, I uncovered the crime early enough that they were all rescued and returned to where they rightfully belonged.

I was happy about the news as well. Innocent children did not deserve to be sacrificed for such terrible acts. It was also proof that the events of the book did not have to play out exactly as written.

Come to think of it, that boy called me Princess Clover, didn’t he? Walking through the palace grounds, I tilted my head, lost in thought. I wonder if it’s related to that stone video, the one where I make a garland of clovers for Mother...

As soon as my thoughts drifted to my mother, my mood began to sour. I shook my head to put her out of my mind and strode toward my destination.

* * *

“Bella! Welcome!” squealed Chloe.

Her tea party was being held in the courtyard surrounding the largest of the imperial palace’s eighteen fountains. Since the fountain showcased a mermaid sculpture, we referred to this place as the Mermaid Garden.

“Good afternoon, Chloe. Thank you for the invitation.”

“No, no, I’m thankful that you came! I’m just so happy you could be here!”

The hostile and intimidating girl I had witnessed bullying Judith was nowhere to be seen. Chloe had simply become a bright, happy girl beaming at me.

Next to her stood a strikingly beautiful woman with a cold expression. She had ocean-blue hair and pale green eyes. “Welcome, First Princess,” she said to me.

“Greetings, Your Majesty. It is a lovely day today.”

This was Chloe’s mother, the second empress consort Katarina Graham. “Yes, it is wonderful to see you again,” she replied. “It has been quite long since the last time. I heard you did not set foot outside your palace for a while, so I thought you might be absent today.”

Chloe was a carbon copy of her mother. The only difference between them was that this woman, unlike Chloe, despised me. I was quite used to her attempts to get a read on me as she observed me with keen eyes and a thin smile, just as she was doing now. Apart from Chloe, Katarina also had a son—Ramiel, the First Prince. She considered me his rival.

Maybe I was just imagining things, but her eyes seemed colder than usual as they bore into me. Perhaps my involvement in the recent incident at Blovis Forest had something to do with it. But I heard the second empress consort and her mother’s family, the House of Graham, were able to avoid problems since Baron Wayston was caught pretty early on.

I beamed innocently at her. “I sometimes lose track of time researching magic formulas. I simply love studying. Actually, Mother recently scolded me about getting too caught up in it.”

“That’s right! Bella is not only smart but hard-working too! Although I wouldn’t mind if she took more breaks to spend time with me.” Chloe praised me, oblivious to the atmosphere.

Her mother’s eyebrows twitched. “Is that so? My Ramiel was also up late last night studying magic formulas.”

“Huh? No, he wasn’t,” Chloe retorted. “I saw him this morning, he was wearing an ice mask because he slept for fourteen hours and his face got all puffy.”

“Be quiet,” snapped her mother. “That was because of an allergic reaction.”

The princess was undeterred. “No way! If he had a reaction to something, all the maids in his palace would have been sacked! Also, everyone in the palace knows that he’s practically given up on studying. Remember two days ago? His tutor said he was impossible to teach and decided to quit. It was a mess.”

Katarina cleared her throat. “W-well, I hired a new tutor! They’re coming today.” She glared at her daughter.

The woman’s glare was no use. Chloe, still clueless, tilted her head and muttered, “A new tutor for Ramiel? Poor soul...” The funniest thing was that she wasn’t even trying to spite her mother or brother. She was just self-absorbed.

Katarina forced a rigid smile and whipped around. “Well then, I shall take my leave, First Princess. Chloe, enjoy the party. I will see you this evening.”

Her parting words sounded vaguely chilling, but unsurprisingly, Chloe didn’t get the gist. My half-sister was simply excited for the tea party that was about to begin.