Monster Princess

Chapter 8

Translated by Schwarzel
Edited by Schwarzel

Monster Princess

Episode 8

“I want to take a break, so you can go talk to the other young ladies.”

After sending Chloe to another place, I soothed my frustration with a cool flower tea. When the young ladies moved to another place and I looked at the empty table, Judith’s face and her hesitant hand came to my mind.

I tapped my arm with the fan I was holding. Several calculations came to mind.

After a while, I called a maid who was nearby.

“You there, do you have that snack left? Pack it now and bring it to the palace.”

Because I have hidden intentions, I decided to do a small and trivial kindness to Judith now.

I didn’t feel hypocritical about Judith, who couldn’t taste the snack that she was so desperate for and got beaten up instead.

‘I’d better keep my enemies close.’

I opened the fan and shooed away the butterflies that came from somewhere.

“…Oh, my God!”

It was then that I remembered an incident that I forgot.

I quickly cast a moving spell.

“Oh, Sister Bella? Where are you going?!”

I heard Chloe calling me, but I didn’t have time to answer.

I moved to the magic garden where Judith would be struggling with a giant carnivorous plant.

* * *

“Aahhh!”

Judith was screaming in the magic garden near the palace.

According to the book in my dream, Judith was called by the third princess Liriana and went to her palace, but she got enchanted by the sweet scent of the magical garden and nearly suffered a catastrophe.

‘I didn’t know it was today because there was no mention of Chloe’s tea party!’

As I hurried into the magic garden, I saw Judith being dragged by the stem of a giant carnivorous plant.

Red flowers with purple spots spread their petals wide toward Judith, dripping digestive fluid as if they were drooling.

“Oh, First Princess…!”

Judith cried while looking at me with frightened eyes.

I magically cut off the stem of the carnivorous plant that bound Judith’s body.

“Are you all right?”

I was in a hurry, so I looked at the condition of the carnivorous plant and brought Judith to a safe distance.

Judith shivered and shed beaded tears. She looked like a black rabbit that came out of the water.

“Th, thank you for your help. I was, I was scared.”

In the meantime, Judith, who never forgot to thank me, was in tears and hugged me.

I almost pushed her body away from the unfamiliar contact momentarily. But my hands only flinched and didn’t put what I thought into action.

“Don’t you know that this side of the palace has a garden of magical plants, so you can’t go any closer than a certain distance?”

“I knew… but it smells so good…”

“A child like you who is not resistant to magic plants could be in danger. Originally…”

Originally, the royal family regularly entered the garden from an early age to develop resistance to useful magical plants.

However, as far as I know, Judith is in a situation where no one cared for her in the Imperial Palace, so she did not receive such an education. So I tried to point out that part without much thought, but when I heard Judith start crying in a sad voice, I just shut my mouth…

…Wait, but I think my clothes are getting too wet. These are tears, right?

‘If it’s anything other than tears, I’ll kill you.’

“Anyway, be more careful next time. It’s best not to come near here at all.”

After a while, I roughly coaxed Judith and sent her back first, and I swept my chest with confidence.

“My Nepentheria fruit, you’re safe.”

In truth, what I was worried about was not Judith, but this carnivorous plant in the magic garden.

In addition to the development of magic, I also had a hobby in the research of magic drugs, and the Nepentheria fruit was essential for my ongoing research.

I was worried that I might have accidentally damaged the fruit while cutting the stem earlier, but fortunately, the insectivorous plant was perfectly fine.

Even in such an urgent moment, my perfect magical control ability to shine even in such an urgent moment made me stick my tongue out.

“Oh, I heard a scream, so I came, who is this?”

It was then that a sweet boy’s voice came to my ears.

“Is it you, Arbella, who just screamed? No, it wasn’t my sister’s pretty voice.”

Fluttering down from the sky, it was a gorgeous and pretty boy with dark hair reaching down to his collarbone.

As soon as his eyes met mine, he smiled like a fox with his playful eyes bent.

Prince Ramiel, who is the same age as me.

As I’ve said before, he was born to Lady Catherine*, the second wife of the Emperor, and also the older brother* of Chloe, the second princess.

「“You want me to help you? A bastard girl like you?”」

When I recalled today’s scene that I saw in my dream, my face contorted by itself.

「“Well, then try convincing me. I’ll listen to the reasons why I should help you, and if I think it’s plausible, I’ll consider it.”」

It wasn’t me who saved Judith from here, it was him.

Ramiel saw Judith in danger and said that, but later burned all the carnivorous plants as if he’s being kindhearted.

“Such a bad personality. Vulgar thing.”

“What, why are you cursing all of a sudden?”

Ramiel didn’t seem to understand that I’m criticizing him.

It was hard to read what he was actually up to, as depicted in the book in my dreams.

Lady Catherine, the second wife of the Emperor, openly antagonized me because she had the ambition to make her son, Ramiel, the Crown Prince. However, Ramiel, the actual party, acted as if he has no interest in such things as the throne, and maintained a light and frivolous attitude and tone of voice. His attitude towards me is also friendly.

I warned as I glanced at Ramiel.

“If you touch my Nepentheria fruit, you’re dead.”

“This? Is this what my sister plays with these days?”

Ramiel glanced at Nepentheria, clucking petals next to me, and then groaned.

“Oh, that’s disgusting. Every time I see it, it makes me want to burn it all down. Even if you give me these things, I won’t have them, so take everything as yours. I like beautiful magical plants that suit me.”

One more thing, Ramiel was a narcissist.

“Oh, wait, then, Arbella, did you feed these predators? Is the person who just screamed in that kind of boat?”

Pretending to be close, I slapped Ramiel’s shoulder with my hand.

“Don’t say ridiculous things, just mind yourself. And live a good life.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The literal meaning. Be nice to me.”

Ramiel looked at me like he was dumbfounded.

Of course, I meant it. In “The Shining World of Princess Judith,” this guy also despised and harassed Judith, and was then executed by the male protagonist who would later form a relationship with her.

If I hadn’t come by now, wouldn’t he have done something like a pervert would to Judith?

He’s like this at such a young age, so I don’t know how he would be like in the future.

However, not knowing the heart of this older sister who genuinely cares for her younger brother, Ramiel smiled and rubbed the corners of his eyes with his finger like was something funny.

“Ugh. Arbella, although this older brother likes you quite a bit. Wouldn’t that be too insulting to a really good person?”

Did you hang out with Marina? It sounds annoyingly similar.

“Shut up. You were born seven months later than me. Where are you coming from?”

“Then shall I call you sister? Sister Arbella? Do you like this?”

I looked pitifully at Ramiel and left the magic garden without further dealing with him. From behind, Ramiel said, “Come with me, sister!” and followed with a giggle, but I ignored it.

* * *

That evening.

“What’s that?”

“It was sent by the First Princess.”

Judith gazed blanky at the maid who gave her the box.

The handmaiden gave her a box and left as if she was frustrated by the quiet Judith.

Judith returned to her room with a light pink box.

The neglected palace of Judith was quiet. The maids assigned to this place have been lazy for a long time, and now they all went out to play and couldn’t see a single hair of them.

No one had ever been looking for Judith, so they probably didn’t even know that an outsider had come to the palace.

Judith put the box down on the table with only one chair. Then, when she opened the lid, she saw the pretty little cookies she had seen in the garden earlier. It was a delicious, sweet-looking cookie that Judith had never seen before in the palace where she was living.

For the first time, her cheeks were filled with warmth.

“There are a lot of bugs in the garden, maybe because it’s summer.”

“I slapped away because it seemed like a bug was going to sit on the napkin.”

When she thought of the person who gave her this snack, she naturally remembered what happened in the garden where the tea party was.

Judith, who stood still for a moment and looked down at the box, carefully reached out.

This time, she was able to touch the pretty flower-shaped snacks without anyone disturbing her. Judith’s palace was still quiet, even so, she still put the snack quickly in her mouth.

The sweets with plenty of sugar melted as soon as she put them in her mouth, giving her an enchanting taste.

…Sweet. It’s been a long time since she felt this happy. The sweetness melted away so quickly that she even felt sad.

“Are you all right?” 

Judith recalled the image of the girl who rushed toward her. It was the first time someone came to her when she really needed help. It felt like her heart was about to explode now, which had already swelled tight.

She wanted to eat all the other snacks now, but Judith held back and closed the lid. Then, she hugged the box so that no one could see it and ran to the bed, looking around for no reason.

‘I should eat them little by little.’

Now she’s happy with just one thing.

A dandelion-like smile bloomed on Judith’s face, who went under the covers and hugged the box tightly.

Under her closed eyelids, the face of the half-sister with blonde hair, which looks exactly like Judith’s eye color, came to her mind. Reflecting on the memories of her was sweeter than eating sweet-like sugar snacks.