It was like a seed had snapped open inside of Sara and its budding plant was slowly wriggling out.
She had always had faith in Hermine.
Even though Hermine had betrayed her, Sara had thought that the princess who had reached out to her when she was younger was still there, deep down.
But that was all just make-believe.
That kind princess never existed—not even at the very beginning.
“Hermine… I…”
“Oh? Don’t tell me… Is this person next to you Prince Richard? The man I was going to marry?” Hermine asked, blinking in surprise as she seemed to realize there was someone beside Sara. Then she broke out into a sweet, innocent smile—the same smile Sara used to see every day for years.
“Well… Yes, yes, I see… All right, Sara. I forgive you for all you’ve done wrong.”
“What?”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Prince Richard… Or, I suppose I should say, I look forward to living with you.”
Hermine had reverted to totally ignoring Sara as she reached out to caress Richard’s arm—but Richard flinched out of her reach right away, causing Hermine to lose her footing and slip.
Richard’s eyes were like ice as he looked down at Hermine. Sara was frozen in surprise. He pulled Sara close and wrapped his arms around her.
“I have no need for you…,” he said to Hermine. “Get out of my sight.”
“Come now, don’t say something so heartless. I’m the real Hermine. It seems that impostor has been deceiving you for a long time, Your Highness… I will be serving you as your wife for the rest of our lives.”
“I don’t want you… Hey, stay away! Don’t touch me!”
“Stop this, Hermine!”
Hermine was still trying to press closer to Richard. Sara’s mind was in a whirlwind of confusion—she couldn’t understand the princess’s thought process at all.
Hermine’s fatally wounded father is right behind her, on the brink of death; the Saleilles royal family is already on the verge of collapse; and Richard’s entire body is covered in blood from the battle.
But Hermine’s behavior had shifted entirely. Now she was trying to nestle against Richard and fawn over him… Sara couldn’t even begin to understand her.
Sara felt disgusted and distrustful, but more than anything, she couldn’t see Hermine as anything but a strange, incomprehensible creature.
Sara’s face was starting to lose color in horror. Richard held her closer as he knocked Hermine’s small hands away.
“Stay back! I heard everything about you from Sara. You asked her to take your place, and then you stole her lover! I have no desire to take a woman like that in marriage! Sara is more than enough to be my wife!”
“Come on, what are you talking about? The documents have already been submitted for our marriage, Your Highness. That maid over there has already wedded Firmin. Firmin is an idiot and a scoundrel for exposing my body—I have no love for him. Your feelings for her—your physical relationship with her—they don’t matter. I am already your consort, Your Highness.”
Sara stood there in shock. Hermine’s reasoning was too high-handed, but…frustratingly, it made some sense.
Richard had told her that the marriages had been invalid from the start. Sara didn’t want to doubt him, but she could also follow the logic of Hermine’s argument…
Right now, the marriage oath documents written and filed described two couples—Richard and Hermine, and Firmin and Sara. If you set aside the fact that the two women had swapped places, the marriage between “Richard” and “Hermine” was perfectly valid.
So that means Richard is…
Sara’s fingers went cold. Her entire body started to shake in Richard’s embrace.
She didn’t notice, but as she was hunched over and trembling, Hermine sneered down at her. Richard was silent. Hermine looked at him and gave a spellbound sigh.
“My goodness… You’re so beautiful. Your Highness, my maid has acted abominably. I will atone for the sins committed by my father and Sara, and one day, I will give birth to your child—”
“You’re out of your mind…”
Richard gave a low growl. It sounded just like a beast—
No, it wasn’t a similar growl—he was turning into the beast!
Sara felt Richard’s nails lengthen and harden where they held her shoulders. The goose-bump-inducing smell of the beast wafted from his body, and sharp canine teeth poked out of the corners of his slightly open mouth.
Even Hermine’s expression changed at the strange mood shift. Hermine had looked around the room anxiously at the low growl—when she finally realized that Richard was gradually transforming, her eyes bulged.
“Huh?! Wh-What is this?! Your Highness…!”
Richard seemed to be saying something, but the words became animalistic roars in his throat, and then the jet-black beast fully emerged.
The random soldier’s jacket slipped off Richard as he stepped protectively in front of Sara. Hermine shook from head to toe. When her eyes found his shining, sharp teeth, she let out a shriek.
“He’s a m-monster! What is this?! Is this some kind of mutant ability?!”
Sara simply stared at her.
“S-Sara! This is no time to be zoning out! Get over here, quick!” Hermine barked at her.
“Why would I do that?” Sara asked calmly—so calmly, in fact, that she surprised herself.
Hermine’s eyes widened. After seeing Sara’s utterly unaffected manner, the princess ground her teeth together.
“Y-You idiot! I’m telling you to protect me! Let him eat you instead of me!”
At that moment, Sara heard the shattering noise of something inside her breaking into a million tiny pieces. The master Sara used to love and respect would betray her until the very end.
Sara smiled at Hermine and parted her lips.
“No.”
Hermine started to scream something back at her, but before any noise left her mouth—
The black shadow lunged forward, brandishing his sharp claws.
Hermine’s screams intermingled with the roar of the beast.
There was a spray of scarlet blood, which arced in the air and splattered on the floor.
Richard turned away, dove into the mountain of jackets, and immediately returned to his human form. Hermine was standing in front of Sara, blood gushing from her face. She was covered in so much blood that it was almost hard to tell where she had been hit, but it seemed as though Richard had slashed her face with his sharp claws.
Richard could have nicked her carotid artery with his claws. He could have also punctured her lungs, like he did her father.
But Richard didn’t give her an easy death…
For someone as vain as Hermine, nothing would have been more painful than having to live with deep scars carved across her face.
“Ow-ow-ow! Ouuuch! Sara! Help me! It hurst! My face! It’s hot! Augh!!!”
“Hermine! Are you there?!”
The voice of the new visitor was muddled up with the sounds of the Ferrier soldiers, who had been watching the scene unfold, trying to keep the visitor back.
Sara stayed as she was, too annoyed to even turn around anymore. “You came, too, Firmin?”
“What?! Is that you, Sara?! A-Ahhh! Wh-Why is Hermine like that?!”
“So, you’re Firmin? I’ve been wanting to meet you.”
Richard, who seemed to have dressed quickly in the meantime, stood up and walked over to Firmin. Firmin stood frozen in shock in front of Hermine, who was covered in blood and writhing in pain. Richard’s right hand, hanging down by his side, was stained red on all fingers except his thumb.
Now that Sara looked at the two men side by side, she realized that—surprisingly—Richard was shorter than Firmin. But with his dignified profile on full display, he was astronomically more beautiful. Firmin remained stock-still, unable to say anything to the foreign royal from the kingdom of abilities.
“I am Richard of Ferrier. As the man who will one day be Sara’s husband, I have a personal grudge against you.”
“Huh? Sara’s—guh!”
Firmin was effortlessly bowled over when Richard’s fist made contact with his stomach.
In his human form, Richard was a slender young man with the constitution of someone who didn’t get out much. Firmin, who belonged to the Knights of the Guard, certainly had a more muscular physique. But even with this, Firmin was easily knocked down and ended up landing on Hermine. Hermine, pinned under him, let out a scream.
“Ow! Wh-What are you doing?!” Firmin shouted.
“If you want to know why I hit you, look deep inside yourself and give it some serious thought… Oh, that’s right. I’m going to return to my kingdom with Sara, and I will be marrying her as ‘Sara,’ so you are going to dissolve your marriage to ‘Sara’ immediately. After that…you can figure out what to do with that woman of yours. Well, she did tell me you were a scoundrel and that she wanted to marry me, but…I had absolutely no interest, so I refused… Sara?”
“Yes, my prince.”
Sara took Richard’s left hand and got to her feet.
Then, with all the Ferrier soldiers bowing their heads in respect, they started to leave the room. Suddenly, Sara looked back.
The man who used to be her king was rolling around on the floor, his lungs punctured, on the verge of death.
The woman who used to be her master lay facedown in front of him, her face covered with blood.
The man who used to be her lover lay in shock in a pile with the bloodstained woman.
“Hermine… Shall I respond to your last letter now?” Sara said, calling out to the half-conscious woman. “I will be happy in Ferrier, far away from Saleilles…together with the prince.”
And so, this was her genuine, final…
“Farewell.”
Sara smiled.
She shot a dignified, elegant, and slightly pitying look at the bleeding woman and the stunned man covered in her blood.
Farewell, past me.
With her hand in Richard’s, Sara looked forward.
And she never looked back again.