She stood there, staring at the body that had been devoured by the flames with cold jewel eyes.
This is the third time this month. The assassins sent by the enemies of the Imperial family grew stronger, seeing as the injuries she received this time were more severe than before. In the future, she might not survive with just her current strength.
"I have to find a way to cover up these damn eyes," she muttered, as she walked away.
Three months had passed since her mother's death. And since then, nothing can hide these blue jewel eyes from the world anymore. The amulet that her mother had made as a last resort vanished as the last assassin cut it off. Fortunately, her neck had not been cut off, too.
"Bella? Are you hurt again?" Was the sentence that greeted her as soon as she entered a pub.
It was past midnight, and this pub on the outskirts of this small town had been closed a few hours ago. All the tables had been cleared, except for one table which was occupied by a 16 year old brown haired boy with sea green eyes.
"Sorry to bother you, Leo. But I need your ability." Bella said, plopping down on the chair in front of Leo.
Leo clicked his tongue, but with a worried expression on his face. He went to the back for a while, before returning with a towel and a basin filled with water.
"Show me your wound." Bella obeyed the boy's words without saying much and showed the slash wound on her right shoulder.
"It's worse than before," Leo declared. "Even with my abilities, this is will definitely leave a scar."
"I don't care about stuff like that," Bella said flatly.
"You have to. It's not sexism or anything, but you're a girl." Leo started to clean her wound. "An eleven-year-old girl. You should enjoy life playing with children your age."
"Too bad my situation isn't for that kind of environment, right?"
At that question, Leo just fell silent. He placed a towel covered in blood in the basin filled with reddened water. His hands began to be enveloped in white light, and he placed it at the wide wound on Bella's shoulder.
Leo is someone who is born with divine power, but not strong enough to become a priest in a temple. His divine power can't heal internal ailments, but it's still enough to heal minor physical injuries.
Pretty handy, and Bella doesn't regret getting a broken bone to save him from the thugs three years ago. Because now not only did she got a personal healer, but she also got a friend.
"I still don't understand why you didn't try to contact the palace and instead troubling yourself into hiding like this," Leo complained. "Rumor said that the Emperor loves the Princess very much, you know. He'll probably have no problem getting another daughter."
"And rumors said that the Princess is a sweet, cute, charming and lovely child. Do I have that four categories in me?"
Leo snorted. "You're right. You are a barbarian girl and I don't see those four categories in you at all."
Bella immediately elbowed Leo, which the boy couldn't avoid as he was still in the process of healing. Bella chuckled at his grunt.
"But that's not the only reason you don't want to go to the palace, isn't it?"
Bella didn't answer, because what Leo said was true.
Four years ago, Bella opened her eyes and found herself waking up in a body that wasn't hers. The body of a seven year old girl who had red hair like fire and jewel-blue eyes. Like, a literal jewel.
This body that Bella suddenly possessed has a mother who has the same hair color but with normal purple eyes.
Bella knows enough from the stories Rissa (her friend) reads, that what she experienced was what she would call an isekai plot. So to be sure, Bella started to collect informations about her mother.
Cassandra Ignacio. A traveler from outside the continent who decided to stay in this Empire after giving birth to her daughter. Cassandra is a fire type elementalist, who can scorch a small forest in the blink of an eye (if her adventure stories are to be believed). And that talent was passed on to her daughter, as evidenced by the charred backyard when Bella tried to use her fire.
She didn't complain, really. Because she actually has an affinity for fire.
Bella breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't recognize any of the names and stories her mother had mentioned. But as soon as she asked about his father, she was in shock.
Bella's father turns out to be an Emperor of the Empire they currently live in. Obelia Empire.
Mother met Father when he was still a prince, drunk and angry at the world. Mother had just set foot in Obelia and intended to stay for a long time, meet Father and became his drinking buddy that night.
And you know those clichés involving alcohol and two people, right? They sleep together. And the next day, they agreed to think that it was just a one night play.
But then Mother got pregnant. She wanted to tell Father, but He was still leading a rebellion against his brother who was the tyrannical Emperor at the time. So Mother put the news on hold.
Five years later, Mother went to the palace to tell Father that he had a daughter with her. But what she found was that F ather had massacred all the concubines in Ruby's palace on the day his other daughter was born into the world. And with that, Mother thought that it would be better if her father was not in their lives, and that it would be safer if no one knew about the whereabouts of another Princess of the Emperor.
'Why did the story sounds familiar?' Bella thought on that day. So to be more specific, she asked what her father's name was.
"Your father's name is Claude de Alger Obelia."
"Oh?"
She remembers. The Korean comic that Rissa forced her to read. Which she eventually stop because that comic isn't her type at all.
'At least his father isn't the villain of the story.'
And Bella agreed with all her body and soul that it would be better for her not to live in the palace. She didn't want to be stuck in the drama that would unravel later on.
(Of course it's just a vain hope. Because Fate seems to have a hobby of messing with her.)
"Bellatrix de Alger Obelia. How does that sound?" Leo asked, as he bandaged the now-healing wound.
"Sounds like bullshit to me," Bella said.
Also, because even though four years has passed since she became Bellatrix, she still won't forget her past as Isabella Ardhiana Raiyya.
♔♔♔
Bella knew, with more and more rumors spreading in the back Alley that there's an Obelian blood roaming outside the palace alone unattended, sooner or later the Palace would surely heard that as well. Even though it's partly her fault.
That day, it rained heavily with the weather getting colder because winter was only days away. Five months have passed since her mother's death, and the attempted assassination of her still exists until today. And that day, the assassins also came to her.
There's three people this time, were very skilled at using daggers, and one of them used poison. Bella got cuts in her arm, and a knife with paralytic poison was stuck in her left calf. Bella managed to defeat the assassins with a little swordplay combined with her Fire.
Maybe because Bella's mood at that time was not good, so she unknowingly made the fire bigger while burning the remains of the assassins. The fire that Bella made alarmed the nearby Knights, and immediately ran towards the area where the fire was burning in the rain.
"That's the source of the fire!"
"There's a child in there!"
"Wait, those eyes..."
"It's the Imperial Family blue jewel eyes!"
Bella noticed the knights too late, and they already saw her without the hood that usually covered 3/4 of her head. Forcing her left leg to work, Bella immediately ran from that place.
One month later, Felix Robain, who was known as the Knight of The Crimson Blood, personally went to collect Obelia's descendant. And he managed to bring home the Imperial Princess who had been outside the palace for a long time.
♔♔♔
Hi!
This is the first story I wrote in english. Please forgive me if there is incorrect grammars and the like.