Chapter 84

Chapter 84 – Happy By Herself, Bella

Since she had to ride the carriage for an hour or two to reach the Imperial Palace, Bella did Shuria’s request by waking up early in the morning for the first time in a long time.

“But, can I do this? What if people see it?”

“I know where people don’t come, so let’s go there.”

The place she arrived at after moving a little stealthily was a fairly large empty space.

“There are places like this in the annex of the imperial palace. Fascinating.”

The annex built in each region were used for various purposes. In particular, the place where Bella was currently located was the closest to the Imperial Palace. It was always open to families who had urgent business in the capital but did not have a separate house in the Capital.

“Because many knights come.”

Shuria threw the sword she was holding at Bella. She threw it without warning though Bella took the scabbard with one hand without thinking.

“If Jenkins finds out, I think he will say something to Lady again.”

“We can do it without him knowing.”

“Now, the lady of the Duchy is saying this?”

Bella laughed and drew the sword from the scabbard.

The sound of the swords clashing against each other sounds rather like music, and with every drop of sweat, Bella confirmed their close friendship. If it weren’t for the sword, would she really be able to have such a good relationship with Shuria?

“Gasp…”

Both gasped at each other, but before long, Shuria gripped the sword right. Then, all of a sudden, she had a thought.

‘…What’s going on?’

For quite some time, Shuria swung the sword nonstop as if to express what she had been holding back. Honestly, if it weren’t for her physical ability as a demon, Bella wouldn’t have been able to accept her sword.

‘At times like this, it’s better to be a demon.’

By the time, she was covered in sweat.

Although she naturally assumed that there were no people around. Before she knew it, there were quite a few young ladies peeking from a distance.

‘What… Why are there so many people?’

And that gaze continued even after the sparring ended.

‘I think they are following me…’

Bella just thought it was an unfounded worry and tried to ignore it, but she couldn’t ignore it. Even after washing up, there were people coming and going in the hallway, like they were waiting for her to come out of her room.

When she timidly went to the left while hesitating around, the young ladies who had been going to the right were following her before she knew it.

‘Did I just have a fight for no reason?’

She realized more about why she had to stay out of sight.

Shuria was waiting for Bella with preparations to see her off on her way to the Imperial Palace for the last time.

“Everybody is looking at me…”

Hearing that, Shuria glanced at Bella’s back and laughed.

“Miss Bella. Make them all on Miss Bella’s side.”

“…Yes?”

“I have told you before. The easiest thing to deal with is love. In a way, envy is also love.”

“Are they looking at me because they like me…?”

“Well, there are some examples that they aren’t. I see some young ladies who are anxious to get close to Miss Bella.”

“Really?”

“When you enter the Imperial Palace, try sparring with the knights. It’s something other ladies can’t do so that Miss Bella will stand out.”

At that, Bella laughed as she touched the nape of her neck.

“I just want to be normal…”

Shuria smirked at those words.

“If you want to live in the name of the Cruelle family from now on, it won’t be easy.”

“Well…”

“You are participating in the competition on behalf of Shuria Cruelle. So, Miss Bella should get the things I need to get from here instead.”

At those words, Bella thought, rubbing her chin with her hand.

‘Maybe… Yes?’

Apart from the novel, if she thought about it calmly, yes. Anyway, Bella came instead of Shuria. She also participated as a daughter of the Cruelle family…?

“Well. I see.”

“I will write often. Always let me know what happened. I may be lacking, but wisdom shines the more it is shared.”

Bella smiled at Shuria, who had smiled, too. Her favorite was always the center, so how could even the second child help her so much?

‘Even if I possessed the Demon King, I’m truly blessed.’

Then, with all her heart, she took Shuria’s hand.

“Thank you. I feel reassured.”

* * *

She finally arrived at the Imperial Palace. Bella looked at the appearance and it reminded her of the day, quite some time ago, when she, as a cat, lingered in front of this place for a moment.

‘Kiehl said that he would remove the divine power barrier…’

When she gently touched the wall, Bella felt the roughness of the wall just like before.

Perhaps after some time, the barrier would reappear, so she cut her goodbyes with Shuria short and hurriedly went inside.

“When I see the Young Master like this, he’s quite thorough.”

Jenkins and Pur’s expression was bright.

“Still, if we’re going to do this, we should bring Sir Zanbar, too. Why did you leave him behind?”

“They’re both out of control. I’ll stay here for a while before summoning them.”

Bella paused as she answered.

“But, why are you looking for Zanbar so much? What are you two really up to?”

“….”

“Did you really fight and reconcile with a kiss?”

“Pur is—!”

When Pur tried to speak as if her mouth itched, Jenkins immediately covered her mouth with her hand.

“I’ll tell you later. First of all, you have to adapt to the Imperial Palace, Miss.”

“What is there to adapt to… It’s already very familiar, like my home. Tell me.”

“Even Pur can’t speak of it because the previous demon kings all swore an oath.”

Jenkins removed his hand from Pur and raised his hands.

“It’s my first time hearing something like that?”

“…When the Miss gets the succession someday, you will know it naturally.”

Bella thought to herself as she looked away.

‘I’m not going to take it. I’m going to live well here until the novel is over, then move on to the next one.’

She couldn’t explain the situation, so she just said, ‘okay.’ While Bella was curious, she was not interested enough to go to the Demon Realm to get the succession.

“By the way, until the first contest is over, you will share a room with other young ladies.”

Jenkins, in his own way as her assistant, talked about things he had researched in advance.

“Really?”

“And, it is the same before the contest starts.”

“Are all Duchys like that?”

“That’s why nobles with a bit of pride stay in their villas in the capital, and then come into the Imperial Palace when the contest begins.”

She had to stay in the Imperial Palace anyway because of Kiehl because she still hasn’t gotten her heart back. Even if it was not right next to him, it was okay just being in the same space.

“Then, go unpack…”

“What are you going to do?”

Unbeknownst to all of them, Bella was a pretty good student.

“I’m going to go see the knights.”

As Shuria said, she should try sparring with the knights here.

“Well. Why? I don’t recommend it.”

“Who wants to get your recommendation?”

That was how Bella turned her feet first to where the knights were, despite Jenkins’s disapproval.

* * *

As Jenkins said, the young ladies who came up to the Palace first and stayed were not proud nobles. To be clear, most of them had no houses in the Capital. They thought about this when they saw Bella, who came in with the name of Duchy Cruelle.

‘It’s the child that Lady Shuria sent instead.’

The reaction, as she had seen so far, was two sides.

Still, none of them had thought that Bella would be acquainted with the Crown Prince. So, they expressed their feelings to each other more freely.

“I didn’t know that the Cruelle family would give up on the Crown Princess.”

“I know. I never thought they would add a strange story about her coming from another world, take her in as an adopted daughter, and kick her out like this?”

The Empire was vast, and there were many families. Of course, there were also families that were hostile to the Cruelle.

“I guess they weren’t confident.”

“Honestly, only the name is Duke, but there was no one that was particularly suitable, right? If they didn’t get to be the Crown Princess, Juan would take over the Cruelle family. It’s just a shortcut to ruin.”

The young ladies pitied Bella. They thought they should be nice to her, even out of sympathy. However, a few days later, they saw her talking to the knights, and the public opinion changed in an instant.

“I thought she was pitiful, so I tried to be friendly.”

It was just a talk, and they didn’t even really say hello to Bella.

“Like a fox wagging its tail in the Imperial Palace.”

She was not a fox, she was a cat.

They were busy talking behind her back, interpreting Bella’s behavior as they pleased. Most of them were the daughters of middle-ranked counts and viscounts. Meanwhile, the young ladies with a bit of thought looked at this Crown Princess’ contest politically. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them.

“To compete with someone like that. I’m worried that she will attack His Highness for no reason.”

“I think so, too. She seems to have seduced all the knights within two days of entering the Imperial Palace.”

Half of what they said was true.

After a few sparring battles, quite a few Knights came to Bella and asked about her skills. In particular, they praised her body movement similar to the Crown Prince.

The ladies didn’t see the sparring, but they only saw her talking and was misunderstood. In addition, there were also young ladies who were uncomfortable with the group looking at Bella with disapproval.

“I don’t know what they are jealous of.”

“That’s right. His Highness seemed to be particularly interested because she came from another world. Should I give her my word?”

“He showed interest?”

Without Bella’s knowledge, factions split among those who had entered the palace beforehand. One who looked at Bella favorably, and the other one didn’t support her. The reason why they didn’t support her was because they didn’t know what political keys she held.

Jenkins sensed a strange current among the young ladies and reported it to her, but Bella heard it through one ear and let it out the other.

“What should I care about?”

“You should join the faction here, too.”

“I’m from the Bella faction.”

“There is no one in that faction.”

“As long as you and Pur were there, it was enough. If you include Kiehl, my faction will be very strong.”

Jenkins hit his chest, frustrated at Bella.

“The young master gave me something like this to keep an eye on the young ladies.”

He held out a fairly thick notebook and quickly flipped through it to reveal what was inside. Important families to beware of and the interests of each family were well organized.

“Jenkins. Seeing you so nervous…”

“Yes. To be close with the ladies…”

“I don’t want to do it even more.”

Not knowing what was coming, Bella laughed without care.