But Tabitha. Humans are weak.
Weaker than me.
“Quick, into the house!” She and Walnut hold me between them as they move.
“Bring that monster girl back!”
Ethan and the guards surge forward, creating a human barrier in our wake. There are so many arms, legs, bodies everywhere. The flash of a wooden stick raised overhead. I can’t tell what belongs to whom anymore.
But I’ve practiced!
SNAP!
A crack echoes through the grounds, and the stick, along with the arm holding it, is suddenly encased in ice.
I did it!
“…Huh?” Brianna’s eyes are wide. The man with the summoning blooms seems stunned, for his fireball vanishes. That’s right, nobody from Longhurst knows that I can wield magic.
“Freeze,” I murmur belatedly.
“My lady…”
The man was going to throw the stick at Tabitha. I promised my lord husband that I’d protect the house and everyone in it.
Brianna and the others are shouting, but a ringing in my ears muffles their voices.
Magical power courses through my body.
The Monster King was stronger than the other monsters.
But it wasn’t the boss. It didn’t protect the ones who lived in its forest.
It shouldn’t have saved the small human that day at all.
I was a monster then, and those were the monsters’ rules.
My lord husband used to hold me while teaching me how to control my magic.
I know how to do it now.
“A-A-Aaah!”
“W-Waaahhh!”
Oh, but the power is swelling, leaking out of my grasp.
Ice begins to crackle up from the ground around Brianna and her men. Ethan and the guards falter a step back. Good.
If I kill a human, thousands more will come in revenge.
I was once hungry, cold, and weak.
I’m no longer hungry.
And I’m human now, so I’ll follow human rules.
The ice creeps upward, freezing them up to their waists.
“You’re not needed,” I tell them. I take a deep breath, my ears still ringing. I’ll use an incantation, just like a human. “Free—”
“No, my lady! Master will be sad!” shrieks Tabitha as she embraces me.
Somewhere far away, I hear someone else yelling. “Abby! Let me do it!”
And then the overpowering magic disappears, and I hear the cries of Brianna and the men again.
My lord husband feels sad when I’m hurt, but I’m not hurt. In fact, I’m doing well. Will he feel sad? …Oh.
“Everyone, get down!” At Ethan’s shout, the guards and Tabitha drop to the ground, Tabitha yanking me down as well.
“Cut!”
I peek out from her arms, toward the source of the incantation.
The wind whistles sharply, then I hear screams and what sounds like drops of water hitting the ground.
“Abby!” My lord husband dashes over the cobblestones. He’s so fast. I see Rodney tailing him. His black hair is tied behind his back, and he must be using body fortification magic because he reaches us in no time. So very fast!
“My lord!” I stand up with Tabitha and hold my arms wide. He scoops me up in an instant. “My lord, my lord! Tabitha is—! We don’t need that human! I’m not supposed to heal! But Tabitha—”
“Abby, Abby, are you hurt?” He strokes my cheek as he checks. I’m not, because I wielded my magic well.
Yet, although the magic is no longer flooding my body, something else still buzzes inside.
“I don’t need that human!” I shout.
“Calm down, Abby.”
“It’s just a scratch, my lady.”
“But—”
“Let me do it. Don’t waste your magic on such vermin.”
My lord husband once told me that I don’t have to be the Monster King anymore. Even though he knows that I’m very strong. And I can cast any type of magic, yet Tabitha asked me not to do so. Even though she knows I can.
I just don’t understand humans…
But this smells nice. My lord husband smells so lovely. I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze, and he squeezes me back. He feels different from my thunderbird plush. His hand pats me on the head before brushing down my neck, again and again.
Slowly, the buzzing inside me recedes.
…Oh. Why is he back already? “My lord?”
“Yes?”
“You’re back early! But there was an incident! What happened?!”
“I’ll tell you more later, but I ran into a servant as he was making his way to headquarters. Now, about this…” He sighs before glaring at Brianna and her men.
All of them are groaning or wailing, their bodies ripped open by his wind magic. My ice has melted, but they seem unable get up and flee. The guards surround them, spears out.
Ethan briefly summarizes for my lord husband what’s happened. I use the lull to inform him that everything is fine at the ravine too. Of course, I whisper that part quietly in his ear.
“I see. I guess that means the boss there has taken care of that man?”
“Yes, because it’s smart!”
“Good job. As expected of my wife, you’ve done well protecting our house. Thank you.”
“Yes!”
He praised me! I’m certain I’ll get a reward later.
Meanwhile, Rodney orders the guards to bind Brianna and the men with rope. In a pile on the drive, they call repeatedly for a healer. The request is ignored.
Tabitha shakes her head, saying that leaving them there is unsightly, and tells the guards to move them away from the gate to a more secluded spot. She’s wrapped a large shawl around the gash on her shoulder, and I wouldn’t guess from her movements that she’s injured at all.
“They caused the rockfall just to hold me back?” My lord husband clucks his tongue in annoyance. “Let’s say they did kidnap Abby, what then? Longhurst isn’t going to return to its former glory.”
“We’ll know more about their motives once we interrogate them…which I’d like to do myself,” Ethan says in a low voice.
My lord husband still seems upset but kisses my nose when he sees me watching him. I return the favor.
“They’ve definitely caused a disturbance, attempting to use summoning blooms within the capital… Unfortunately, that means we’ll have to turn them over to the proper authorities. I told a servant to relay the message to His Highness Prince Dominic instead of the royal guard, so he should be here soon.”
Abruptly, Brianna speaks. “Why? Why do you protect that monster?” She is bound, though that doesn’t stop her from crawling in our direction. She scowls up at us, and her face twists as she bares her teeth, screaming, “You! You monster! Don’t act so cocky!”
“…You know, we only need one man alive for the interrogation. What do you think, Ethan?”
“I understand your sentiment, Master… But you’ll be letting her off easy by killing her now.”
“Fair enough… Damn it. I’ll make sure they interrogate her as thoroughly as possible. You, gag her with something. Abby, let’s go inside. I have souvenirs for you.”
“Monsters ought to act like monsters! Nobody will ever love y—” Brianna thrashes as a cloth is forced into her mouth, blood flying everywhere. She looks just like a raccoon caught in a trap. I conclude that she and Nadia are wholly the same.
Never love me. I recall my lord husband saying something similar to me on the first night we met. Back then, I didn’t understand what that meant. But now…
“That’s what she says.”
“Abby?”
“But my lord, you said you love me. Me too. I love you too.”
I understand, because he’s taught me.