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Hixson shouted loudly.

“Hey!”

“Uncle, it’s okay. My sister won’t hurt me.”

“No, that’s not it.”

Hixson’s eyes, as big as marbles, trembled with emotion.

“I’m disappointed, Viola.”

Viola momentarily didn’t understand Hixson’s words.

Disappointed? About what?

She looked at Hixson’s face.

‘He really is disappointed, huh?’

She thought she understood why he was acting like that.

“No. I trust you, Uncle. I think you’re a good adult.”

“Then why am I being excluded?”

“Because I want to talk to my sister alone.”

“So why do I have to be left out? That’s not fair.”

Hixson sounded like a little girl telling her dad, “Daddy, I got a boyfriend!”

“Well, you can’t help it if you’re disappointed.”

“Why so stubborn?”

“Can’t I be?”

“I wish you wouldn’t be.”

Hixson let out a deep sigh, “Hoo~”

Then he turned to Tundra.

Of course, Tundra was the easy target.

“This won’t do. We need to have a heated conversation.”

“Uncle, don’t take it out on my dog.”

“It’s not taking it out; it’s training.”

“Then why do you have that murderous look in your eyes?”

“……Did it show? Hahaha!”

But Tundra’s response was even more amusing.

“Please take care of me, Master.”

Hixson felt disappointed in Viola but was shocked by Tundra’s powerful shock therapy.

He kept getting stimulated.

It was the same when he met Prince Kundo.

And it was the same now.

‘If I really had a reliable partner, I could be here too.’

Talking just between themselves.

In other words, they didn’t want others to know.

I was also included in that “others.”

‘It’s because I didn’t give enough trust.’

Viola said she would stay by her side.

When she lost her father and sister, she had reached out her hand.

‘Someday, I’ll extend my hand to you, My Lord. I’ll become a reliable partner.’

So, she had to get stronger.

Looking seriously at her teacher, she said, “I’ll ask without holding back.”

*

Viola was left alone with Medea.

Medea sheathed her sword and looked at Viola.

Lilac-colored hair and eyes.

Still a small stature for her age.

She looked delicate and fragile.

‘They said she didn’t eat well in her childhood, right?’

She heard that the effects still lingered.

“Sister, you said that if you were my enemy, I would be dead.”

“Right.”

“Do you think I didn’t know that?”

“You understood?”

“Yes. I knew.”

If Viola hadn’t shown herself as ‘Black Bellatu,’ those words might have sounded absurd.

However, Viola had already passed her qualifications.

From the very beginning, she had shown a Bellatu-like demeanor and recently even made an achievement in subduing mountain bandits.

Of course, it was really Hixson and Tundra who did that, but Medea didn’t know that.

“Then why do you think I recklessly charged in?”

“Well, I don’t know. Why did you?”

“Because I trusted you.”

“Is there any objective circumstance or evidence that I’m trustworthy?”

“I just said it earlier. If you had made up your mind, the 2nd and 3rd Princes would have already been dead.”

If she had a personality like Bichen, then the 2nd and 3rd Princes would have already been found as corpses.

She would have further strengthened her position as the heir.

“Sister.”

She called Medea again.

Medea didn’t dislike being called ‘sister.’

There was something special about how Viola expressed such blind faith and affection towards her.

‘Is it a political calculation?’

The Iron-Blooded Bellatu.

Capable of wearing a thousand masks.

Is this why she approached me with a mask on?

“I always live wearing a mask.”

“I know. We all live with masks.”

Viola briefly stared into Medea’s eyes.

Medea’s eyes were red.

They looked like they were carved from red jewels.

“You know well what I’m saying, sister.”

“I don’t know.”

Medea herself was living with a mask.

As the 1st Princess of Bellatu, she didn’t want to kill her own flesh and blood.

She loved her Bellatu family more than anyone.

That’s why she chose to become strong.

“If you won’t be honest, I’ll be the first to be.”

“……”

“I don’t like this.”

“What don’t you like?”

“Interfamily wars. All the schemes and power struggles to become the heir, I hate it all. I’ve always longed for family.

The family I dreamed of and admired is not like this.”

Medea’s expression hardened.

A thick murderous aura flowed from her ruby-like red eyes.

“Viola. You’re not very Bellatu-like.”

“That’s because I wasn’t born as a Bellatu. I was just an abandoned child born in a very ordinary situation.”

Honestly, Viola was taken aback.

Medea was a first-class knight recognized even in the Empire.

Among them, she was distinguished as a 1-Star Knight by the Swordmaster.

The murderous aura emitted by a 1-Star Knight could not even be compared to the one exuded by Bichen.

It felt like endless darkness was falling over Viola and the entire world surrounding her.

It felt like she was sinking into a swamp of darkness, suffocating.

‘Get yourself together.

I know how influential an author’s setting values are in this world.

So I won’t back down.

“I’m an adopted daughter.”

“That doesn’t excuse your whining. Are you regretting becoming an adopted daughter?”

“No. Bellatu is a good place. Much better than where I originally was. My mother died a long time ago, and my father abandoned me. I had no siblings. Before coming to Bellatu, I was very, very tired and lonely.”

As she spoke, emotions welled up unexpectedly.

Ignoring and forgetting them didn’t matter; fragments of unhealed feelings scratched at Viola’s heart like sharp glass.

“The only person who had ever supported me ended up leaving me.”

The strong Kang Han-jun, who grew up like family, died in a traffic accident.

Honestly, that was the worst time.

“Who was that?”

“That’s….”

Oh no.

In speaking, she had inadvertently let too much out.

“That was… Hixson Uncle’s daughter.”

Medea understood.

“Right. You mentioned that your friendship with him was related to his daughter.”

Medea looked at Viola with slightly softened eyes.

She realized that Viola lived a life vastly different from hers, who was born as the 1st Princess of the Duke House.

She believed she was the Iron-Blooded Princess, but it wasn’t so simple.

‘A thousand masks…’

Medea had confidence in herself.

No matter what others said, her values and beliefs were unshaken.

“So, does that mean the Iron-Blooded Bellatu is a mask then?”

“Yes. Just like you.”

Medea also wore a mask all the time.

To become the perfect princess.

To become the most perfect princess and ultimately swallow Bellatu.

To destroy this ecosystem of the strong preying on the weak.

“I’m certain that I’m wearing a mask.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I felt it from the welcoming banquet.

You were looking at me not out of curiosity but out of concern.”

Medea was momentarily left speechless.

Viola’s words were correct.

Medea hadn’t viewed Viola as an object of curiosity.

“‘I heard she’s seven, but she’s really small.’

‘She must be a clueless child. I wonder if she’ll be okay?’

‘If she dies in front of my eyes, it’ll break my heart.’”

Viola read all those inner thoughts through the novel.

Viola continued to speak.

“You were just too different from others in your glance, so it stood out.”

“……”

“Did I see it wrong?”

“Well…”

“If that were the case, it would be my mistake. Since I showed such a disheveled and weak side before you, I would soon collapse.

I would presumably fail as a Bellatu.”

Medea didn’t reply.

In truth, when she chose to face Viola, she had never anticipated such a situation.

Viola, seizing the moment, decided to voice everything she had to say.

“Still, sister. I’ve admired you since long ago.”

“Since long ago?”

“Even in the slums, the white cold wind of Bellatu blows, you know.”

The nickname, white cold wind, indicated just how widely it was known.

“I might be wrong about you and misjudging, and if I’m making a mistake now, that’s okay.”

“Still, I wish you were my sister.”

Viola counted internally.

‘Three. Two. One.’

She was sure there would be a reaction by now.

And her confidence soon became reality.

Medea ultimately smiled.

“You’re bold.”

“Did I make a mistake?”

“No.”

Medea approached Viola and gently hugged her.

“Congratulations on becoming Bellatu.”

“……Thank you.”

Viola suddenly felt Medea’s warmth.

‘It’s warm.’

Perhaps it was because she had liked this character since seeing her in the novel.

Medea’s embrace felt particularly warm.

She thought she had woven words, both spoken and unspoken, to touch Medea’s heart.

‘Maybe not.’

It had already been three years since Viola Bellatu came to be.

Even longer than three years ago.

The time she lived as Han Ah-rin felt more like a dream.

‘If Han-jun’s face wasn’t there, it would feel more like a distant old dream.’

Tundra’s face kept recalling Han Ah-rin’s memories, making her previous life vivid in her mind.

Now, she had become more accustomed to the body of Viola Bellatu.

‘I need… so I need.

The old Han Ah-rin was like that, too.

And the now Viola Bellatu is the same.

‘I need a family.’

And it’s true for the original owner of this body.

The same goes for the Viola Bellatu in the novel.

“Have I ever been your family, even just once?”

“You’ve grown into a wonderful Bellatu.

Family? That doesn’t suit you.”

“That’s right. It doesn’t suit me.”

Viola asked.

“Can I hug you, sister?”

“Yes.”

Viola rose on her tiptoes.

Medea’s embrace was warmer and wider than she expected.

It felt like a baby kangaroo snug in its mom’s pouch.

“Then you will be my sister now, right?”

“I’ve been your sister since you entered Winter Castle three years ago.”

“Not that sister. The real one, not just a Bellatu sister.”

Medea understood exactly what Viola was saying but acted as if she didn’t.

For some reason, this child, rumored to be the Iron-Blooded Princess, looked cute.

A little girl, smaller than a ten-year-old child. My little sister.

“Please be my Medea sister.”

She removed the Bellatu part.

It was a request to be a real sister, not a sister as Bellatu.

Medea let out a sigh.

“I never expected such an absurd situation to unfold.”

Could even this scene and situation be a contrived act created by this little princess?

‘No.’

Medea chose to trust her own eyes.

This child was not acting.

‘Much better than my original place. My mother died a long time ago, and my father abandoned me. I had no siblings. Before coming to Bellatu, I was so tired and lonely.’

It couldn’t be acting.

If it were acting, she would be truly amazing at wearing a mask.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

‘Still, I wish this were your true self.’

In the image of the child clinging to her, asking her to be her sister, she hoped it was the real Viola.

Then a voice interrupted.

“What are you doing? I think an explanation is needed.”

Medea’s body flinched, trembling.

Even 1-Star Knight Medea seemed to have felt nothing at all.

“Father.”

The Lord of Winter Castle.

It was Heron Bellatu.