CATB Chapter 7

2. Back to the stage

"My Lady, Princess Ariel has come to visit."

Lily's voice cut through my contemplation.

"Ariel?"

"Yes, she's waiting in the reception room right now. Shall I tell her you'll see her immediately?"

That suspicious sister Alexa, you mean?

"Hmm~ Tell her to wait."

She usually visited once every two months anyway, so I suppose it was about time for her to come.

"Alexa?"

A slender voice trembled and echoed through the reception room.

I stared intently at the owner of that voice.

Ariella de Emerante Dwight, the kingdom's beloved one and only princess.

(It was clearly evident that Alexa wasn't treated as a proper princess, let alone receiving normal royal treatment)

Just as Jen's descriptive words had indicated, the girl standing before me was someone born to be a protagonist.

Dazzlingly brilliant platinum hair curved and flowed down, while sky-blue eyes sparkled like jewels. Her transparent skin showed veins beneath, delicate shoulders, and a voice as sweet as rolling jade made her heavenly beauty shine even more brilliantly.

'Damn, she's annoyingly pretty.'

I sighed and stepped toward the girl.

"I greet the flower of the kingdom, sister Ariel."

I briefly bent my knee in a simple curtsy and rose, but I could clearly feel Ariel's intense gaze bearing down on me.

"Are you really... Alexa? That... that appearance, how did you..."

You're talking about the furry Alexa, right?

"Sister, it's really me, Alexa. You're surprised because I look so different, aren't you? It feels like a dream to me too."

"What on earth happened? What could have occurred to make you..."

Her gentle voice remained unchanged, but she couldn't hide her trembling eyes. In the eyes of this sister looking at her transformed younger sibling, there wasn't 'joy' but rather 'anxiety.'

I approached Ariel and took hold of her hands.

"If I were to tell you, it would be incredibly long. You wouldn't understand it either, sister. What remains unchanged is that my magic has been lifted and I can stand before you like this."

"Ma... magic has been lifted?"

"Yes. I'm no longer that Alexa the Beast. I'm Alexandra de Peliazen Dwight, your one and only younger sister."

I gave her a bright smile.

"How... how do I know you're really Alexa? Alexa was..."

"It's natural that you can't believe it. My appearance was so hideous that everyone probably didn't even know what I originally looked like. But..."

I placed my index finger on the vase sitting on the table. Then I channeled a bit of the magic power flowing through my body into my finger.

Crack!

With the sound of breaking ceramic, the glass vase shattered into pieces scattered across the table.

Ariel looked at me in surprise. I smiled even more brightly.

"Is there anyone else besides me who could do something like this?"

"......"

"Now do you believe me? I really am your sister."

"Yes. You really are Alexa."

Ariel, having regained her composure, straightened her back and looked directly at me.

Warm hands reached for me.

"I'm truly relieved. That you've returned like this, I'm really..."

The blue jewel began to moisten with tears, soon releasing transparent droplets.

"When I heard you were cooped up in your room, how my heart ached... I wanted to come see you immediately, but with Father's birthday party right around the corner, I simply couldn't spare the time. I regretted so much bringing up that marriage talk with Berford."

That Marquess who's supposedly my fiancé on the surface?

Isn't the story of a sister marrying her younger sister's fiancé something you'd only see in trashy dramas?

I could feel Ariel gauging my reaction.

"I'm so happy that you've returned to being 'normal' like this. I'm really so... happy."

As she burst into tears and embraced me with her delicate arms, I had to reconsider my thoughts about Ariel.

She's more skilled than I thought. Seeing how the tension and anxiety she'd shown earlier had disappeared without a trace, she's not someone who can be easily trampled.

I could see the other ladies-in-waiting in the reception room shedding tears along with her.

"Princess Ariel has such a kind heart."

"It's so moving that I think I might cry too."

Hmph.

Still embraced by Ariel, I looked around.

Except for Jen and Lily who were staring blankly at us, almost everyone was emotionally swept up by Ariel.

This must be how she won people over to her side. She's quick to adapt to changing situations and seems to know well how to make emotional appeals.

I was very quick to pick up on atmospheres. Living alone had sharpened nothing but my intuition, and I could very quickly catch the emotions people directed toward me—especially the hostility they held against me. I'd been stabbed in the back countless times after being fooled by kind and affectionate facades. It happened when I was bullied in high school, and again in college when my landlord scammed me out of my security deposit.

My instinct told me that this princess crying so prettily here held hostility toward me.

Whatever the reason or circumstances, as long as I wasn't the real Alexa, there was no reason for me to meekly submit to the princess's hostility.

Seeing this high-level fox-like behavior, I suspected that the considerably gullible-seeming original Alexa had been played by this princess quite often, but for now, as long as I could find my own way to survive, there was no particular reason I needed to seek revenge against Ariel. Sorry Alexa, but I come first.

"Sister."

I returned the embrace of Ariel who was holding me. I felt a slight hesitation.

"I missed you. As soon as the magic was broken, I wanted to find you, but..."

Tears mixed into my voice. I was a master at pretending to cry.

"Now I can be with you, can't I? Because I'm no longer a 'monster.'"

I looked at Ariel with bright, sparkling eyes as our bodies separated.

"Alexa. That's..."

"I want to be with you, sister. I don't want to be alone in this place anymore. With you... with you..."

I sobbed and embraced Ariel again. Since Ariel was smaller than me, it would be more accurate to say she was embraced by me, but after being flustered, Ariel began patting my back again.

"...If that's your wish... returning wouldn't be bad..."

"Really? Sister!!!"

Ariel patted me as I rushed into her embrace again.

The ladies-in-waiting wiped away tears at what they called a touching scene between sisters, but I knew.

Both I who was being embraced and she who was embracing me were lost in completely different thoughts.

At my urging, my return to the capital proceeded quite rapidly.

I decided to return to the capital immediately with Ariel, while the rest of my retinue except for Lily and Jen would slowly pack and bring our belongings. Since these two were all I truly needed anyway, it didn't matter.

As soon as I arrived at the royal palace, I had an audience with Ariel and the King.

"Father has been eagerly awaiting you. He's always worried about you."

I snorted inwardly. Worried my ass. The King was the very person who had thoroughly used Alexa. A despicable human who had exploited her to the fullest using the excuse that she was his daughter. If this was what a father was like, I was proud that I, an orphan, had been happier than Alexa.

Though my memories were brief, my father had been completely different from the King. A true father wouldn't have abandoned a cursed daughter like that. He wouldn't have turned Alexa into the nation's b*tch to keep her useful. I harbored considerable skepticism about this being called the King, or rather, this being that was supposed to be Alexa's father.

And my expectations proved correct.

"My daughter!!!"

As soon as I entered the King's reception room, a slender man came running toward me with both arms spread wide.

I just stood there dumbfounded. The embarrassed man quickly pulled his arms back and approached.

"The curse has been broken? What a relief. I've shed tears of worry about you with no dry days..."

I made a great effort not to snort and to act like the innocent Alexa.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty! Call me Father. Am I not your father!"

Disgust welled up. I barely managed to smile.

"I'm still not used to it. I'll try to become accustomed to it."

At my polite but distant tone, the King stepped back.

His two eyes above his seemingly benevolent smile were scrutinizing me thoroughly. The King spoke again in an affectionate voice.

"Of course. Of course. It would be natural for adaptation to take time. To think you would become this beautiful. Father could never have imagined it."

Well, how could you have imagined my current appearance from that furry thing?

I nodded my head in place of an answer.

"But..."

At the King's trailing words, I looked up.

"Your power... is your power unharmed? Of course I'm very happy that you've returned, but... the role you played was very important..."

Seeing him worry whether my magic power might have disappeared along with the broken magic made me nauseous.

"Of course. I'm very well aware of that. It doesn't seem much different from before, so you don't need to worry."

"Really? What a relief. Such a relief."

The King muttered as he embraced me again. I mechanically allowed myself to be held by him and tried to smile.

"Is Father still awkward for you?"

After brief greetings to the Queen—this too was a repetition of the same false and ceremonial situation as with His Majesty. The Queen's eyes glistened with tears as she sniffled, but I couldn't be certain whether it was genuine. She still wouldn't look at my face, and unlike the King who at least hugged me, she was reluctant to lay even a finger on my body—on the way to my royal quarters that the King had assigned to me, Ariel brought up the topic.

"Yeah. It's still a bit awkward."

On the way, I learned that Ariel and I were only one year apart in age. Since I was originally older anyway, using honorifics was annoying, so I received permission to drop formalities under the guise of friendliness.

"I see. But try to adapt quickly. It doesn't seem family-like that way, does it? Father... dislikes things that aren't family-like."

This seemed to be the first genuine advice Ariel had given me. As she said, the King did appear to be the type who was extremely obsessed with formalities and customs. As long as I kept my distance from the King, he would probably continue to be wary of me. Even with my current appearance, he hadn't completely let his guard down. I would need to show complete submission to the King like the old Alexa to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

The problem was that I didn't particularly want to do that. I sighed and looked at Ariel. Her innocent eyes felt my gaze and met mine.

'What kind of person is the real you hiding behind this angelic appearance?'

'Why do you dislike Alexa?'

'What are you thinking right now?'

"Why?"

She asked with a faint smile.

I sighed.

"You're my sister."

"Hm?"

"But the King isn't my Father."

"What do you mean by that? I don't understand."

"You don't need to understand. It's just how I feel right now."

I don't even know what I'm saying.

It's just that Alexa's body that I'm inhabiting right now is preventing me from completely hating Ariel.

Is it that the original owner's lingering attachment is strong, or is it because I lack complete conviction about Ariel's feelings?