“Delphine Pembrook.”

Delphine trembled slightly at her father’s stern voice bearing down on her.

“Stand up straight!”

At those words, the child who had just turned ten hurriedly corrected her posture.

Normally, her posture would never be so sloppy. Especially not in front of her father.

But not now.

Now, when it had barely been a week since her beloved mother had passed away…

However, her father merely looked down at her with cold eyes, as if he couldn’t care less about such circumstances.

Yet there was a time when he used to affectionately call her ‘Delf’.

How did it come to this?

Delphine simply could not understand.

It had been since she turned eight.

After visiting the Imperial Palace one day, her once kind father had completely changed.

“Power… I need that power too…”

Young Delphine often saw him muttering those words as he downed another glass of alcohol.

Her mother had desperately tried to protect her from her father then.

But now, with even her mother gone,

The only one left in this vast and lonely mansion was Delphine herself.

“You must never lose your dignity as a noble! You are the sole heir of the Pembrook family!”

“…”

“Answer me if you understand!”

“Y-yes, yes…!”

Delphine cried out, sobbing.

Right now, Father must just be upset from grief as well.

Someday, he’ll return to his former kind self.

Yes. Someday…

“Delf. I bought you a pony!”

He’ll call me Delf again.

Delphine tightly clenched her small fists, fiercely holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

However, after her mother passed away, her father’s tyranny only worsened with each passing day.

Getting drunk and taking out his anger on the servants every evening was a regular occurrence.

Many could not endure his violent behavior and left the mansion one by one.

Among the long-time servants, only her nanny Anna and Wilson remained.

Despite her young age, Delphine was well aware that they stayed and endured humiliation to protect her.

‘It’s alright. Once Father returns to how he used to be, I can bring them all back…!’

Even then, Delphine still clung to her hope that her father, her only blood relative, would one day return to his former self.

Then one day.

“Young lady. It’s a new dress!”

For the first time since her mother passed away, Nanny Anna had gone into town and bought a new dress.

“Wow! …But it’s pink?”

The frilly pink dress seemed a bit childish for a ten-year-old like herself.

But Father might like it.

It was similar in style and color to the dresses she wore when she was little.

Delphine put on the new dress and strolled through the garden in high spirits.

Harboring the hope that she might run into her father.

However, what the child discovered in the stable she headed towards upon hearing strange groans was a beautiful boy collapsed on the ground, bleeding.

And her father, face reddened and hair disheveled, shouting at her.

“Delphine Pembrook! Return to your room at once!”

The ten-year-old Delphine ran to her room as if fleeing.

And that night, she snuck out of her room without anyone knowing.

In her small hand that resembled a maple leaf, she carried a single jar of ointment.

Heading towards the slave boy who had been whipped by her father, likely shivering from cold and pain.

Looking back, it was the first time she disobeyed her father’s orders since he had changed.

Thus, the lonely noble young lady and the lowly slave became each other’s only friends.

“What do you think of Pryde? I think it suits the name Ioan!”

Young Delphine’s feelings towards the boy who received her father’s whippings were very complex.

Guilt.

Pity.

But also an inexplicable fluttering in her heart when she looked at the beautiful boy.

Above all, he was the only one her age in this vast and barren Pembrook mansion.

Although she couldn’t even go see him in broad daylight.

Even if they happened to run into each other, Delphine had to simply lift her chin and act aloof while Ioan had to bow his head in greeting as a slave, due to their difference in status.

But when night fell and everyone was asleep, the two became just an ordinary girl and boy, whispering to each other.

Perhaps it was only natural for the two terribly lonely children to be drawn to one another.

Three years passed by like that.

Around that time, Ioan was growing from a boy into a fine young man.

At the same time, he found himself flustered by the inexplicable emotions that stirred within him from time to time when he looked at Delphine’s small, pale face.

As she grew older, Delphine bloomed more beautifully like a flower in full bloom.

Just as Count Pembrook desired, by then there was hardly anyone in the empire who did not know of her.

Yet that fact irritated and displeased him to no end.

His gaze was constantly drawn to those red lips that always maintained an aloof appearance but chattered endlessly only in front of him.

However, each time Ioan felt a mix of confusion and even self-loathing.

To him, she was not just any woman.

She was a noble young lady, his saint, his goddess. The reason for this wretched life of his…

Could he dare to harbor such feelings for her?

He, a lowly slave?

What’s more, while being whipped like a dog by her father every day, why was he…

“Ioan.”

But at the sound of that soft voice, his lips curved into an arc before he could even think properly.

Simply because she had called his name.

“Yes, my lady.”

Late at night.

They were once again hiding in the shed behind the gardens at the darkest hour when everyone was asleep to talk.

Delphine, who had been gazing at the boy’s face glowing translucently under the faint moonlight, suddenly asked.

“Ioan. Have you ever heard the legend of the full moon?”

At her question, Ioan quietly shook his head.

“…No.”

Delphine realized that Ioan was a bit embarrassed as he answered.

Was it since she had given him the surname Pryde and taught him a bit of writing?

Ioan had been feeling increasingly inferior about how little he knew compared to her, having grown up as a commoner in District 3.

But Delphine, still unable to understand the sensitive heart of a boy at her age, said with an innocent face.

“Really? Well, I suppose that’s possible. His Majesty the Emperor forbids even the slightest mention of anything related to magic.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes. But these days, I hear that friendship oath is quite popular among the noble young ladies. …Of course, I’ve only heard rumors myself.”

Her father’s greed did not diminish with each passing day, but only grew.

His personality also gradually became stranger.

The greed he now showed towards her was nearly at the level of obsession.

Saying that she must not have the slightest flaw for the day she would become a member of the imperial family, she was only allowed to go out when accompanied by her father.

“If you just try harder, I can get closer to the center of the Imperial Palace…!”

What was that center her father spoke of?

She had no way of knowing, but it was probably power or something like that.

Whenever he returned from a party at the Imperial Palace, her father always muttered with a face full of defeat, “Power. I need that power…”

Each time her father tried to wield her as a mere commodity for trade or a means to elevate his status, an explosive rebelliousness writhed in her heart.

Unlike when she was younger, she had already completely abandoned the idea that her father might one day return to how he used to be.

Delphine looked up at Ioan with a face filled with a strange passion and whispered.

“…Tomorrow is the night of the full moon.”

Perhaps her close bond with the slave her father whipped also contained a bit of rebellion against him.

That was how complex Delphine’s feelings were towards this beautiful slave.

So much so that she herself did not realize for a long time that those feelings included love…

“Come to this shed tomorrow night. At the usual time we meet,” Delphine whispered in succession.

“Father will be going to the Imperial Palace tomorrow night.”

That meant that at least tomorrow, Ioan would not be whipped.

Her father was sure to stay until the very end of the party and return late.

So she could fool around with him to her heart’s content that night.

“Tomorrow night, we’ll make that oath too.”

Without even asking what she wanted to do, Ioan immediately replied.

“Yes, my lady. Alright. …Whatever it is.”

Late at night.

The full moon had risen, shining brightly.

The surroundings were excessively bright due to the unusually bright moonlight.

Because of this, Delphine had never gone to meet Ioan on nights when the full moon was out.

“…It should be fine today,” Delphine muttered softly as she snuck out of her room.

Today, she wasn’t carrying any ointment.

Although it was a very small jar of ointment, not having it made her steps feel so light as she went to meet Ioan.

Each time she applied the ointment to his blood-soaked back, her heart always felt like it would be torn apart by resentment towards her father and pity for Ioan.

‘But not today.’

Because that tyrannical father of hers was not at the mansion today.

As Delphine hummed a tune and headed towards the old shed next to the garden, that’s when it happened.

“…Don’t ignore me!”

A malicious shout rang out late at night under the moonlight.

Delphine froze in place as if frozen solid.

That was her father’s voice.