Chapter 6
Marcella desperately wished this was a dream.
Of course, she had dreamed of attending the Founding Festival, of making her debutante there, but she had never wished to be trailing after the Emperor like a puppy.
As they left the banquet hall and walked down a corridor, Nell suddenly stopped. Marcella, who had been hurrying to keep up with him, nearly crashed into his back, worried he might scold her for being slow again.
“You seem out of breath.”
*Because Your Majesty’s pace is so fast I’m trying to keep up.* She wished she could say that, but she couldn’t.
Marcella shook her head vigorously, indicating it wasn’t difficult. Nell then tilted his head slightly to the right and moved his lips.
“Is that so.”
His voice still felt indifferent. Yet, he remembered a promise made three years ago.
Marcella herself had forgotten about it, as she never thought that monster hunter boy could really show her an imperial treasure. It was just a memory of, ‘Oh yeah, I met a strange boy once. Almost died that day.’
She wasn’t sure who was more indifferent, but Marcella was convinced it was Nell.
Just then, footsteps echoed from within the shadows of the corridor. They sounded heavy, unlike human steps.
Feeling an ominous presence, Marcella stared at the shadows. Soon, the growling roar of a beast was heard.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
Marcella called out urgently to Nell, but he watched with disinterested eyes as *it* emerged from the corridor shadows toward them. The monster, now fully revealed, opened its maw wide and roared.
“Kyaaaaah!”
It was that monster from back then. Marcella screamed. The Emperor had no weapon!
As the monster charged at them, Marcella panicked and screamed. She screamed again, hoping desperately someone would hear and come running.
But that would be too late. Surely, they’d be monster food before anyone could help.
“Your Majesty, get behind me!”
Marcella shut her eyes tight, stood in front of Nell, and spread her arms.
*I have to buy time before anyone comes. Even if it means becoming monster food, it’s better that I die than the Emperor.*
*Pfft.*
A deflating, snorting laugh was heard, in stark contrast to her desperate, tragic voice.
Marcella peeked open her eyes. The monster, which had been about to pounce, was now rolling on the floor laughing. Marcella’s jaw dropped.
– *Your Majesty, get behiiiiind me!*
Mimicking her mockingly, the monster chuckled and wiped tears from its eyes.
– *Must be nice having a loyal subject who thinks you’re this helpless.*
The monster, rolling on the floor laughing, lifted its head, gave a little hop upwards, and transformed into a human form.
He swept back his mane (hair), pointed at Marcella, and clutched his stomach again.
“Ah, I’m dying. Humans are so funny, I think my stomach’s gonna split and I’ll die.”
He laughed so hard he seemed to be in pain, making a pained expression as he laughed.
Marcella turned as ripe as a tomato, just like she had in the banquet hall. Moreover, she felt her hair standing on end.
“Why, why are you laughing at me!”
“*Whyyy are you laughing at meeeee!*”
“Tamarin.”
Nell called the creature who was teasing Marcella. The monster, Tamarin, finally stopped laughing, looked at Nell, and shrugged his shoulders.
“It hasn’t even been a day since Arther scolded you for not staying quietly in your room.”
“That guy’s the worst. If he wants me to behave, he shouldn’t make things so boring.”
“…It seems you left the fire in your mane alone because you were bored.”
“Fire?”
Tamarin sniffed the air, then patted his hair with his hand. With a *hiss*, the fire went out. A little smoke rose, but he didn’t seem to feel the heat.
His purple eyes glared at Marcella as he grinned.
“You dared to set my mane on fire?”
“I, I was trying to protect His Majesty…!”
“I never intended to attack Nell? You just assumed wrongly.”
“That’s…”
*That’s absurd…* He was clearly about to pounce. Marcella’s eyes shook with indignation.
Tamarin chuckled, folded his arms, lifted his chin, and looked down at Marcella.
“You dared to lay hands on the Emperor’s Divine Beast.”
“…Divine Beast?”
When Marcella asked with a serious face, Tamarin grinned and placed both hands on her shoulders. It felt like a heavy lion’s paw pressing down, making Marcella’s brow furrow.
“You’ve got nerve. You know that’s a serious crime, right? It could be seen as treason.”
“It wasn’t on purpose, it was unconscious!”
“Oh, so if you set someone’s hair on fire unconsciously, it’s not a crime?”
“Th-that’s!”
“How should I kill you?”
Tamarin opened his mouth wide.
“Kyaaaaah!”
Marcella’s desperate scream echoed through the corridor.
Thinking her head was about to be crushed, Marcella was in a panic, fighting for her life, hitting and kicking him with all her might without hesitation.
But Tamarin paid no mind, gnawing playfully on her head a few more times before finally letting go.
“Nell, hear that? Your knight is making a fuss because her head got nibbled a bit?”
“Marcella is not my knight.”
“No, I mean, not that she’s *really* your knight, but… Ugh, never mind!”
Tamarin, annoyed with Nell, stared at Marcella again.
As he grinned, Marcella flinched and scuttled sideways a few steps. Tamarin then bent his torso and knees, spreading his arms wide to either side.
He blocked Marcella’s path menacingly and opened his mouth. Trying to evade him, Marcella darted between the pillars, but tripped over her uncomfortable shoe. That made it the second time today.
Marcella was angry—at the shoe, at Tamarin, at the Divine Beast toying with her, and at the Emperor who just stood by and watched. She was even angry at Theon, who had left her with Arther Digory.
Marcella saw her sparkling shoe in her field of vision, picked it up, and threw it at Tamarin with all her might.
*Is it allowed to harm the Emperor’s Divine Beast? Of course not. She’d be punished or have to pay a sum to appease the Emperor’s wrath to be forgiven. If unlucky, she might not even keep her life.*
The answer was clear, but Marcella was already under a mortal threat from Tamarin. What more could change if she suffered more?
“Oho? Now throwing shoes?”
Tamarin, hit on the leg by the shoe, gave a devilish smile and opened his mouth wide.
“I’ll chew you up painfully.”
Terrified, Marcella gasped for air and tried to run, but was soon caught by Tamarin and had her head gnawed on again.
Although Tamarin was merely pressing his teeth against her without breaking the skin, Marcella, in a panic, had no leisure to notice that.
She was just scared. Screaming and flailing her arms was all she could do.
And yet, this monster—no, Divine Beast—was simply enjoying watching Marcella’s reactions. He even looked happy.
Marcella kept screaming. Only after she screamed so hard she thought her throat would tear did Tamarin let her go.
When Marcella looked up, Nell was holding the scruff of a very small lion cub.
“Tamarin, your prank has gone too far.”
– *Why? I nibbled gently. More importantly, you wanna make me look like this in front of people? Want to see your pillow shredded to pieces again?*
“I don’t know why you’d tear up pillows, but I don’t mind.”
With tear-filled eyes, Marcella stared blankly at the conversation between the one person and the one beast.
She felt the area Tamarin had ‘bitten’ with her hand. She could feel a slight pressure mark.
“…A prank?”
Marcella clenched her fists tight. *A prank? He called that a prank?*
“I shall take my leave.”
At that, Nell tilted his head and looked down at Marcella.
Tamarin, held by the scruff in Nell’s hand, quietly gauged Nell’s reaction to Marcella’s suddenly subdued voice.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to see the sword?”
“No. I don’t want to see it anymore.”
Marcella was firm.
Nell blinked slowly, looking back and forth between Tamarin in his hand and Marcella.
“You wanted to see it earlier. I don’t understand.”
“Thank you for showing such boundless (*lit. sea-like*) generosity to a lowly one like me.”
“In that case…”
“But it’s fine.”
“I don’t understand.”
The Emperor truly looked like he didn’t understand. Tamarin pressed his lips tightly together, only rolling his eyes dramatically.
“Your Majesty will never understand in your lifetime, so there’s no need to try and find out.”
Someone born a strong person from the start would never understand in their lifetime the heart of a weak person terrified by what was ‘just a prank’ from a Divine Beast.
Marcella got up by herself, bowed to the Emperor, and turned to walk away.
Walking slowly, then a bit faster, Marcella felt tears welling up again.
Afraid he might summon her back for the crime of rudeness, Marcella ran, her own state feeling pitiful.
She felt like a fool, an idiot, for trying to protect him, thinking the Emperor was being attacked by a monster.
*Didn’t she know he was an incredible mage? Compared to him, she was an Inferior, worse than a magic stone rolling in some corner of the palace.*
*How pathetic she must have been! An Inferior with no real strength, daring to step forward to protect him from his own Divine Beast!*
Marcella asked an attendant working outside the banquet hall door to call Theon for her.
Instead of answering, the attendant glanced at Marcella’s feet. In her haste to escape the Emperor and the monster, she hadn’t retrieved the shoe she’d thrown, so Marcella was barefoot.
“I’ll fetch him now.”
As the attendant, who had been glancing at Marcella’s feet, went into the banquet hall, a group of noblewomen emerged from inside into the corridor.
They each glanced at Marcella standing there dazedly, and seemed surprised to see she was barefoot.
Sinking into a wretched mood, Marcella hung her head low.
“Marcella!”
Having heard from the attendant that Marcella was looking for him, Theon came running. He took in her disheveled hair and bare feet, his face twisting in concern.
“Sister-in-law, what on earth happened?!”
“Let’s go back.”
“Marcella!”
“I want to go home.”
The tears she had barely held back flowed again upon seeing Theon.
Marcella clung to his arm, begging him to please go back. It was the worst debutante imaginable.
