Chapter 002. Preparation for the Ball

Diana was the daughter of an ordinary tenant farmer who, more than anyone else’s life, wanted to protect her own.

Thanks to that, she had fortunately avoided being crushed after falling from a seven-story tower.

“…Um… is there anything you need, Your Highness?”

The address “young lady” had been replaced with the honorific “Your Highness,” and her constantly bowing posture now bent automatically, as if wound by a spring.

Anastasia felt… surprisingly, unexpectedly good.

“Yes.”

“What shall I prepare?”

What shall I prepare. She had lived confined in this tower ever since she was ten years old.

It all dated back to something that happened when she was ten.

It was because Louis Yanpotz, the first prince of the Yanpotz royal family, had taken an interest in her.

Her older sister, Janice, could not tolerate it.

She whispered to their father that the witch’s daughter should be imprisoned before she could uproot the royal family’s foundation. Coincidentally, Sorvan also wanted to remove her, who had become an eyesore.

“Diana.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“When was the masked ball this year?”

Diana’s face turned pale. If the rest of the family found out that Anastasia intended to attend the masquerade… she might not be the only one to suffer.

“S-Surely… you’re not planning to go to the ball, Your Highness?”

“Why not?”

Anastasia no longer wanted to weigh or hesitate over anything. Sacrifice and service belonged to her previous life.

Now, she would take what was hers.

“Th-that… um…”

“Go downstairs and prepare the carriage. If I remember correctly, it’s tomorrow night.”

“W-Would that be enough…?”

“No. Also prepare hot water. I don’t go to get fitted for clothes without washing, do I?”

Anastasia’s sharp tone—so different from before—made cold sweat run down Diana’s back.

Just yesterday, the young lady would freeze at a single word from her… and yet now, Diana was the one feeling intimidated. The small girl before her felt like a hawk baring its sharp claws.

“I-I understand! I’ll bring it right away!”

“Wait.”

Anastasia called her back and slowly approached her step by step.

“Y-Your Highness…?”

Diana unconsciously backed away in response.

Thud.

Her back hit the stair railing.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

“Your Highness, wh-what is—”

Anastasia knew well how deceitful humans could be. And she had a faint understanding of how difficult it was to change people’s perceptions.

“I didn’t mean bring it. I meant prepare it.”

She raised her small, pale hand and grabbed Diana by the collar.

“…Eek!”

With a shove, Diana’s back arched precariously over the railing.

“Y-Your Highness! I-I was wrong! I’m sorry! I was completely wrong! Aaaah!”

By now, the entire household would have turned their attention this way. Diana was well known for her loud voice.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Diana.”

“Y-Yes…?”

“There’s just… a shortcut down to the first floor that I happen to know.”

The moment Anastasia let go of her collar, Diana realized there was nothing left to support her body.

A complete free fall.

“Kyyaaaaaa!!!!”

A long, piercing scream echoed through the mansion’s garden, and when Diana had fallen about two-thirds of the way down the tower, Anastasia snapped her fingers lightly.

Thud.

The impact on her hips would likely feel no different from an ordinary fall. After all, a deceleration and impact-dampening spell had been applied at the end.

Anastasia casually leaned over the railing and called down to Diana.

“I’ll give you ten minutes, so fill the bathtub with water. If you don’t, next time I’ll show you a faster way down. Interested?”

“N-No, ma’am!!”

Diana dashed inside as if her backside were on fire.

“…I should’ve done this from the start.”

Thinking back calmly, she was probably the only proper witch in this kingdom.

Priests of the Church claimed to perform miracles of God, but all they could do were healing wounds and imperfect prophecies.

The magic towers? They had long since disappeared, their legacy reduced to nothing.

The House of Etranger had begun as a great family of mages, but as the mystical elements of the world vanished and the age of magic came to an end, most of their power had been lost.

“Probably… up until my father’s generation, there were still faint traces of magic.”

Perhaps Sorvan Etranger had taken in a witch as a surrogate mother just to preserve the image of his family as one of magic.

Otherwise…

He would never have treated Anastasia as merely a tool.

In her previous life, Anastasia had indeed been nothing more than a strategic weapon and political instrument of House Etranger.

At that moment, a long strand of black hair fell from her shoulder.

“…Huh?”

Diana had short brown hair. Anastasia herself had long, abundant golden hair.

Black hair… as far as she remembered, there was no one with black hair in this mansion.

“…Whose hair is this?”

Carefully, Anastasia picked it up.

At that instant, a distant, splitting headache pierced through her mind like a final memory resurfacing.

“…Ah.”

Her strength gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.

Long black hair.

Flowing beneath a helmet.

“…That was strange.”

The final spell she had used was an ancient great magic known as the “Lightning of Usurpation.”

At that moment, it was powerful enough to be called divine punishment—but it was a thunderbolt that could no longer be used by anyone.

Yet even after being struck by it, she had not died. In the end, it was only after her father Sorvan cut his own wrist with a blade that she lost all her strength and closed her eyes.

How had she survived?

Under that divine storm of lightning, where dozens of consecutive strikes fell even after the caster had died…

How had she survived?

“…No way.”

At the end of the dozens of lightning strikes that had brought down Aquila Castle, what had covered her when she finally regained consciousness…

It had definitely been the monster of Aquila Castle.

That warmth was not from the cold ruins of the castle—it had been something protecting her.

From the lightning and the rubble.

“…Otherwise, I would have been crushed by the debris and died. Father or my sister wouldn’t have bothered clearing the rubble just to mock my corpse.”

A sharp ache lingered in her heart.

Perhaps even that castle’s “monster”… or at least the knight resembling it, had some kind of story.

“…And I just killed him.”

Anastasia clenched her small fist tightly.

The distance to Aquila Castle was two full days by carriage along the road.

She missed the man she had only seen once. The one who, paradoxically, had stabbed himself with a blade to resist her spell.

What had driven him to shield her beneath the collapsing ruins? Was it penance for killing her while his body and soul were turning into something monstrous?

Though he was already dead, the embrace she had felt was warmer than any family’s she had ever known. Holding his black hair in her arms, she silently thought:

After tomorrow’s ball ends, the first place she must visit is Aquila Castle.

With that resolve—

“Your Highness!”

The bathwater must have been heated.

“Alright. I’ll be down, wait for me.”

Anastasia lightly touched her neck to amplify her voice, then grasped the hem of her skirt and leapt over the railing.

All the servants in the mansion turned to look.

A girl in a pure white nightgown descending from the sky. Her pale skin, almost translucent under the sunlight. Her hair shining like molten gold.

And that impossibly slow, dreamlike descent.

As she lightly stepped onto the grass, Anastasia realized something had changed in the way people looked at her.

“Why are you all staring like that?”

At the single question that slipped from her small lips, the servants froze, as if struck with guilt.

But that was not what Anastasia wanted.

“Aren’t you going to greet me?”

Her deep blue eyes narrowed.

“G-Good morning, Your Highness!”

“H-Haha… you look as beautiful as ever, Your Highness!”

Empty flattery.

News traveled quickly within the mansion, and no one seemed eager to experience a fall from the tower like Diana.

In her previous life, such words had once made her feel pleased. Now, even without wanting to, she could see through their intentions.

“Good. Thank you for your hard work.”

She understood that people bowed their heads and knelt before authority and power.

“The bathwater is heated over here…”

Diana guided Anastasia with a respectful gesture, and the servants parted like a receding tide.

“Who will attend to my bath?”

“E-Excuse me…?”

That was unfortunate.

Up until now, no one had ever assisted Anastasia with her bath.

All she had ever used for washing was a single bucket of cold water.

Even that was brought by Diana, usually after finishing her meal late, grumbling all the while.

“No one?”

“Well…”

“Forget it. I don’t need anyone.”

Anastasia tapped Diana’s forehead lightly with her fingertip and entered the mansion.

“…Yes, ma’am.”

Diana, crestfallen by Anastasia’s sudden change, had no choice but to follow.

“The mansion is quiet.”

“Well… the duke, the lady, the eldest young lady, and the young master went out by carriage to the main street to pick up the clothes they had tailored.”

I see.

Otherwise, Janice or the duchess would have stormed in and made a fuss about the bathwater.

“Good. That works out.”

Thanks to that, she could enjoy a quiet, leisurely bath. The bathroom was on the second floor, and Diana quickly opened the door for Anastasia, who had stopped in front of it.

That was proper. Members of the ducal family did not touch doorknobs.

Anastasia unfastened her nightgown buttons and let down her tightly tied hair.

“Go up to the tower and bring my outdoor clothes.”

Diana’s eyes widened.

“Outdoor clothes…?”

“And did you prepare the carriage? I’m going to get fitted for clothes now. To the main street.”

“…What?”

Anastasia quietly turned her head back. Her blue eyes remained as deep and dark as the ocean.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Her voice was cold as a blade, and Diana nodded again.

“Understood. I’ll have it prepared…”

“Good. Thank you.”