Deep red eyes sparkled like glass beads. The child innocently smiled and asked.

“Who are you, big brother? Why are you coming out from there?”
The scene was anything but peaceful, yet a chill ran down Hadel’s spine. Hadel asked in a stiffened voice,

“……Who are you?”

The child responded with a pout,

“I am the princess of this country.”

“Don’t lie.”

Hadel pointed his finger at the child’s chest.

“You’re not human.”

“Oh.”

The child blinked, then tilted its head.

“How did you know?”

“……. ”

Instead of answering, Hadel, with a tense expression, assumed a posture ready to use fire magic at any moment.

The reason Hadel could perceive that the child in front of him was not human was that he felt no mana from the child.

‘My sibling had a wind attribute.’

That’s why he was even more repulsed by himself.

The child, who was giggling, grinned and said,

“Aha! You’re Hadel, right? Am I right?”

Hadel didn’t answer, but the child continued the story on its own.

“I’m Dante. I’ve been waiting for you.”

Due to Espen’s threat, I eventually wore the deep pink dress that Espen had chosen for me. It was a dress that exposed the shoulders and had multiple layers of ruffles.

‘It’s not my style.’

Even when living comfortably as a princess, I never wore such dresses. If my pouting lips were visible, Espen alone smiled with satisfaction.

“Pretty. It would have been nice if you had dressed up like this earlier.”

I bit my lip. Such compliments didn’t make me feel good.

Now that I had changed clothes, I thought Espen would leave, but he settled in one corner of the room.

Seeing that, my sunny voice flowed out involuntarily.

“Don’t you have any work to do? Aren’t you busy? How long are you going to sit here?”

Espen replied lazily with a sleepy tone.

“I’ll have lunch with you and then leave. I’m not busy.”

It wasn’t even morning yet, and he mentioned having lunch. I clenched my fist and complained.

“If the fact that I spent a long time with you in the palace gets known, strange rumors will spread.”

“What’s that?”

Espen grumbled.

“I chose the royal family to find a suitable match for your heart, and I stayed as a prince because it’s easy to control. But you’re here. Is there a reason to care about rumors?”

Ah, right.

I let out a sigh. If that’s the case…

I pretended to be uninterested and threw a casual remark.

“Then, Hadel and his family can be released. Since I’m here, as you said.”

As soon as Hadel was mentioned, Espen sharply reacted.

“Not that guy. He has your heart.”

He spoke as if he could extract Hadel’s heart at any moment. Since I couldn’t concede that, I also replied in a serious tone.
“I already told you, I’m a vampire bat. I can’t handle things like human hearts. Haven’t you received a response from Evelin yet?”

“Neris is slow.”

It seems like he’s really trying to send a genuine letter to Evelin. It was the moment when I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Espen looked at me with a sharp gaze and said,

“And I also think you’re hiding something. According to what you say, shouldn’t you have returned as a vampire bat by now?”

“……. ”

Upon hearing that, I sealed my lips. I was also clueless about the correct answer.

‘That’s strange for me too.’

Even though there’s a magic circle drawn in the Chancellery to control fire, I felt comfortable using mana. And despite not having any contact with Hadel for a whole day, my mana did not decrease.

‘What kind of change is happening in my body?’

Evelin should arrive in the capital soon, and then I might be able to find the answer. While I was taking it seriously, Espen, who had stood up from his seat, took one step closer to me.

“And to satisfy you, isn’t it better to have power and money in your hands?”

It was a relief that he couldn’t even touch my hair. Suppressing the urge to step back immediately, I responded with a cold voice,

“As I’ve said before, expensive dresses and jewelry have no special meaning to me.”