Volume 1 Chapter 91 The Captive Princess
As I slowly opened my eyes, my vision was blurry.
My arms felt really painful, and my whole body seemed to ache.
It felt like the day after an intense workout, with my body creaking all over.
My wrists hurt a lot, but everything else also felt sore.
(What happened to me...?)
In the palace courtyard, shrimp tempura was flying around, and Eir-Eir skillfully caught it and ate it.
Then, everyone was helping to stuff shrimp tempura into the mouths of the soldiers and nobles.
I also fed shrimp tempura to Sir Stefan.
And then, my feet got all muddy, and I fell somewhere.
As my memory became clearer, the foggy vision started to clear up.
I'm----in a dim, stone room.
There are no windows. The walls are lit by magic stone lamps.
It feels like a basement or a dungeon.
The light doesn't reach the corners of the room, so it must be quite a large space.
Behind me is a wall, and there's nothing in front of me.
Beyond the empty space, the darkness thickens where the light doesn't reach.
"Ugh..."
As my consciousness sharpened, the pain in my body intensified.
The pain comes from the shackles digging into my wrists.
Two chains hang from the ceiling, and my wrists are bound by the shackles at the end of theirs.
Because I'm suspended from the ceiling, I have to keep my arms raised like I'm saying "Hooray," and the tips of my toes barely touch the floor, so just relaxing a little makes the shackles dig into my wrists.
"Lydia, have you awakened?"
A voice comes from the darkness.
With a clatter of footsteps, a beautiful man in a splendid white robe appears before me, with golden hair and blue eyes.
It's my father, Feldur.
I don't know how old he is, but he looks very young.
I've never seen his expression when the frown lines on his forehead disappear.
He always looked grumpy in front of me.
"Father... why...?"
I knew he hated me.
He hated me enough to do terrible things to me.
I thought he just disliked me because I was useless or didn't meet expectations.
"When you were young, you underwent a magic power assessment, Lydia. At that time, you had no magic power. However, the power of the goddess Alexandria is within you. That power is meant for Francois. It is an unworthy power for you."
"Yes, that's right, that's right. My sister is so useless that she can't think for herself, so give me that power. I will make use of my sister's power."
Francois appears silently next to Father.
(Useless and unable to think for herself ...)
That might be true.
I've always hated it.
When Mr. Lucian told me that cooking had a mysterious power, I denied it.
When Sir Ciel asked for my help, I denied that I had any such power.
Sir Roxas asked for my help, but I denied it, saying I couldn't do anything.
"You worthless girl, I have been supporting you at the Rest priest's house. And yet, you plan to repay my kindness with betrayal, Lydia."
"Father, I..."
"You know how important the goddess's power is to this country. To deceive me and keep things hidden..."
My body and heart shrank as if I had returned to my old self.
I am useless. Unwanted. A failure.
"How did you hide it? Lydia, what do you know?"
"I... I don't know anything..."
"Just as I thought, you are useless."
My father said this mockingly.
Useless.
Maybe that's true.
But.
I thought that maybe even someone like me could be of help to someone.
I was happy when my cooking healed Olive and the others.
I was glad that the Kirschtein people could avoid fighting.
It felt like Sir Stefan returned to his kind self----.
"Father, I hate you! I'm not useless!"
Shaking off my shrinking heart, I shouted.
My father slapped my cheek hard, but I glared at his defiantly.
He looked at my face and, for some reason, took a step back in confusion.
I'm not scared anymore. I can be angry now.
"Why do you want to be a saint? Is it because you like His Highness, Francois?"
For example, if Francois was in love with Sir Stefan.
If she couldn't accept that I was chosen as his fiance and was manipulating Sir Stefan, I could understand that.
Also, Sir Stefan said Francois was concerned about her background, so if she had the power of a saint----no matter her background, she could become special.
I felt like I understood that feeling a little.
I was not special; I was a failure and all alone.
But now, Sir Ciel, Mr. Lucian, Sir Roxas, and Sir Rail have become my friends.
That was because my cooking had power.
If I had nothing, just a cook at Lobelia Diner House, I would have continued cooking in a corner of the town, and that would have been it.
"Do I like the prince of the Bernard royal family...? No way. That can't be true. That's my mother's wish. I will become Alexandria... that hated Alexandria, the one that took everything from my big mother...!"
"Isn't Francois's mother Soiree...? Or is it the witch Sylphina...? You are Eir-Eir's sister..."
"You're all wrong, sister. Useless, a failure, a fool. But I'm glad you're still alive. If I had killed you, the power of the saint would have been lost."
Francois slowly approached me.
Her small hand caressed my cheek, which still throbbed from my father's slap.
Then that hand traveled down my arm to touch my wrist, which was bound by handcuffs.
"There's blood, big sister. If I had power, I could heal the wound right away... But all I have is my mother's power. Illusions, visions, obedience, and the amplification of desire."
Francois said in a sing-song voice, relaxed.
"Sir Stefan said I cursed the king with death, but I can't do that. I can amplify the desire to die and slowly lead someone to death, or increase hatred and make theirs fight each other."
"...Francois, you really are the daughter of a witch, aren't you...? You fell from the red moon..."
"Even though I was always by your side, no one noticed your magical power. It's silly to think of using magic for cooking. I thought the rumor that eating food would make you better was ridiculous, but... it stood out too much in Kirschtein. On top of that, sneaking into the royal palace..."
"Why do you want to hurt someone...? Are you trying to take revenge like Eir-Eir...?"
"Shut up, big sister. Stop pretending to be good. Hate, despise, it hurts, doesn't it?"
Francois placed her hands on my shoulders and leaned her weight down.
The weight pressed down, making the shackles on my wrists dig in deeper.
Tears spilled from the pain. I desperately held back the urge to scream.
"I was mistaken. Because of that, I wasted so much time... I thought the power of a saint was something given by a holy beast to the children of the Rest priest family."
"A holy beast..."
"I thought if I could capture a holy beast, I could gain that power. I caught the holy beast, but I couldn't become a saint... No matter how much mother tormented it, the holy beast can't die. How sad."
Francois said this with a tone of pity.
A dimly glowing mirror appeared in front of me.
The mirror was wrapped tightly in thick chains.
Inside the mirror, a beast resembling a dog, with a fluffy tail and pointed ears, was curled up.
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