I see a dream. A gentle memory from a day that will never return.
Mirabelle Beresford was isolated.
Part of it was her environment, and part of it was her inability to adapt to the Muggle world. But more than anything, the cause lay in her own immense pride and the narrow-mindedness that made her stubbornly look down on everyone but herself.
Wizards and witches begin their magical education at the age of eleven. Some learn they are magical for the first time then, while others already know. But what is true for all of them is that they cannot pass through the gates to the magical world until they turn eleven.
So where do they study until then?
There are largely two paths: attend a Muggle school, or be homeschooled.
Mirabelle, unusually for a pure-blood family, was the former.
Back then, as a young girl, Mirabelle was never without fresh bruises. It was a humiliating time, a period before her talents had fully blossomed, though she had shown just enough promise to be considered the next heir. During that time, Mirabelle was abused by her parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Beresford would both deny it was abuse, but what they did could be called nothing else.
The number of times she had spells fired at her until she passed out was countless, more than she could tally on the fingers of both hands. The number of times she was trampled and kicked in the stomach while lying in pain was also countless. She had been beaten with a whip, had her head forced into a bathtub, and even had a hot iron pressed against her skin.
Her only brother, Simon Beresford, offered no helping hand. On the contrary, he gleefully took part in this "elite education." To Simon, Mirabelle was nothing more than an obstacle threatening his own position.
Her pride prevented her from ever crying or begging for forgiveness, but there were times when she wept alone from the pain and misery.
Inside her home, Mirabelle had no allies.
And outside her home, she had no allies either.
Everyone refused to approach the eerie girl who was always covered in injuries. Perhaps a few had approached her out of curiosity, and her teachers likely acted kindly out of sympathy at first. But Mirabelle pushed them all away.
To be pitied was the ultimate humiliation. An unforgivable disgrace.
Her rigid self-esteem, already beginning to solidify at this age, would not allow her to accept others. She rejected them all.
I don't need anyone else. I don't need pity. I'm fine on my own.
She snapped at anyone who came near, and before long, no one tried to approach her anymore.
…Except for one person.
"Good morning, Mirabelle."
"...You again."
A silver-haired girl sat down next to Mirabelle in the cafeteria as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Mirabelle had been picking at a foul-tasting lunch. The girl's straight hair, which flowed down to her waist just like Mirabelle's, had an ethereal shine, and the smile on her well-featured face had a strange way of putting people at ease.
…Letis Valentine Grothetest.
She was Mirabelle's classmate, and for some reason, she had been relentlessly talking to her since the day they first met. She was also the most incomprehensible person Mirabelle had ever known.
The first time they met, Mirabelle had given her the cold shoulder when she approached with a smile.
The next time they met, she was slightly surprised the girl still tried to talk to her, but she gave her the cold shoulder again.
The time after that, she grew a little annoyed that the girl still approached with a smile, and her rejection was even colder.
The time after that, and the time after that, and the time after that…
No matter how many times Mirabelle chased her away or insulted her, she would still speak to her as if she didn't care.
It didn't make any sense. Mirabelle even wondered if her words weren't getting through to her. In her short life, Mirabelle had never known anyone who showed her genuine, pure affection.
Of course, thanks to the 'legacy of her past life,' she knew what affection was. But that wasn't her. That was a stranger.
Until now, not a single person had ever shown the girl named Mirabelle pure affection. The excessive 'expectations' from her parents, the 'jealousy' from her brother, the 'pity' from her teachers, and the 'disgust' from her classmates—those were the emotions that surrounded her, the things that had twisted her already warped nature even further.
"I don't understand… Why do you talk to me? I've told you countless times that I have no business with you."
"You have," she said. "But I've also told you countless times that I have business with you."
"..."
Mirabelle silently put down her spoon and took a sip of water. Even though it was her own country, the food was terrible. She could see why foreigners made fun of it. But Mirabelle didn't care much. Eating was just an act to get nutrients. Taste and such things had little value. Once it was in your stomach, it was all the same.
"…Let's hear it."
"Huh?"
"I'll listen to this business of yours. And when you're satisfied, you will disappear from my sight."
Frankly, she was tired of this silver-haired girl clinging to her. With that thought, Mirabelle decided to listen to this 'business' that she had never once entertained. Once she did, the girl would surely leave her alone. That was her reasoning.
"Eh? Are you sure? Yay, it pays to be persistent!"
"…You do realize you were just told to 'disappear'… I fail to see what you're so happy about."
It was baffling. It was completely outside her realm of understanding.
This person must be a creature with fundamentally different values than my own, she thought, and prepared to listen to her 'business.'
"Spit it out. If you have nothing, I'm leaving."
"Ah, wait! Um, well, uh… j-just a second, please."
"...Hey."
"What is it? I'm thinking as hard as I can right now!"
"…Don't tell me you had nothing planned at all."
Is she an idiot? Or is she making a fool of me?
Mirabelle's voice was laced with anger as she asked. The girl looked away guiltily.
"Well, if I didn't say I had business with you, the conversation wouldn't have continued… You always walk off right away, Mirabelle."
"…I'm speechless."
"Aah!? W-wait, please don't go!"
The girl grabbed Mirabelle's arm as she, exasperated, tried to stand up from her seat. But Mirabelle had no intention of putting up with this vexing girl any longer.
"Let go. I'll kill you."
As she glared, her intent clear, an inscrutable aura erupted from Mirabelle, pressing down on the entire cafeteria. This was her unique, inborn talent—the majesty of a king that intimidated others into submission, a gift she possessed as a born tyrant.
I need no one to stand beside me. I am fine alone.
All beings should be beneath me.
It was a strange gift that seemed to be the very embodiment of her twisted nature.
Suffocated by that aura, every student in the cafeteria froze. The more timid ones even fainted. When Mirabelle was like this, no one could speak to her. Not her classmates, not the upperclassmen, not even the teachers. They were all simply overwhelmed.
But Letis paid it no mind at all.
"Wait, I just thought of something! So please don't go!"
"..."
Why doesn't it work on her?
As Mirabelle watched, mystified, the girl puffed out her chest with a triumphant look, as if she'd had a stroke of genius.
"Let's be friends."
…For a few seconds, Mirabelle's mind went blank.
Is this girl an idiot? No, she must be. She can't be anything but an idiot.
To want to be friends after being treated so coldly and insulted so harshly—it was a statement that made Mirabelle question her sanity.
Refusing was easy. All she had to do was say one thing: "Don't get full of yourself, you fool."And if she brushed her hand away and left, surely she wouldn't follow this time.
Without hesitation, Mirabelle opened her mouth to do just that—but then she saw the girl's face and the words died in her throat.
She was smiling. A huge, beaming smile. She was looking up at Mirabelle with sparkling eyes, as if the thought of being rejected had never crossed her mind.
Even Mirabelle, a veritable mass of ill will, must have faltered in the face of that smile, so pure and utterly devoid of malice.
She let out a small groan, her face twitching as she swallowed the words she was about to spit out. The cruel part of Mirabelle's mind whispered, What are you doing? Just say it. All she had to do was shatter that smile and walk away. It's what she had always done.
Normally, she would have obeyed that command without a second thought, but this one time, she couldn't.
After a few seconds of thought, she mumbled in a quiet voice.
"…Do what you want."
It wasn't that she wanted a friend. But now that she had at least listened to the girl's 'business,' there was no longer a reason for her to cling to her. She would soon get tired of this 'friend' thing and go away.
With that in mind, she tried to leave, but her arm was still held in a firm grip.
"That means yes, right?! You're saying it's okay! I'm just going to take that as a yes!"
"Y-yeah…"
The girl grasped Mirabelle's hand with both of hers, her voice filled with a joy so deep it was almost startling. She then shook their arms up and down, expressing her delight with her whole body.
"Then from now on, we're friends! It's nice to meet you, Mirabelle! Oh, should I stop being so formal and drop the '-san'?"
"..."
This creature truly is beyond my comprehension.
Thinking this, Mirabelle looked down, exasperated, at the very first 'friend' she had ever had.
"You see, I really think the first thing that needs to be improved is how bad the food is. If you look at Italy, or France, or Japan, you can see just how terrible our country's food is. They even call oatmeal 'awful-meal,' you know? It's just dreadful!"
"…How utterly irrelevant. There is little meaning in the taste of something you consume for sustenance."
"You don't get it! Mirabelle, you don't get it at all!"
Six months after they had met, she found they were spending almost every day together. Unlike Mirabelle, Letis was sociable and must have had many friends, yet she still came to see her without fail.
Today, she was passionately lecturing on how awful the cuisine of their home country was.
"And for you, Mirabelle, I have this! I made it using foreign recipes as a reference!"
"Hoh. So you can cook, can you."
Letis, as energetic as ever, presented a lunch box. She took out the containers from within and arranged the food she had apparently made herself in front of Mirabelle.
Indeed, for all her talk, it didn't look bad.
Letis pushed a spoon toward her and watched with expectant eyes. It seemed she was meant to eat it.
Mirabelle let out a sigh and brought a spoonful of the food to her mouth.
And then—a wave of bliss she had never experienced before spread through her mouth, stimulating her tongue.
"…!?"
She had thought she knew foreign cuisine. Her mind contained knowledge of various dishes, and she had believed she understood them. But knowing about something and actually tasting it were two completely different things!
In that moment, Mirabelle was forced to realize that she hadn't understood the first thing about 'food.'
"So? It's delicious, right?"
"..."
"It's delicious, right?"
"...Yes."
It was annoying to admit it so honestly, but she knew this girl could see right through her anyway. Composing herself, she ate in silence, savoring the lunch box she had made.
Letis was smiling happily beside her, but Mirabelle pretended not to notice.
How irritating. This girl truly throws me off balance.
For the great Mirabelle to be in such a state—how pathetic. But strangely, she didn't feel bad.
If it's with her, she thought, maybe letting her see this side of me… isn't so bad.
"Hey, Letis… why did you want to become friends with me?"
"Hmm…? I wonder why."
In a clubroom with only a few members, Mirabelle spoke while looking at pamphlets showing dishes from various countries. The reason she was doing this was because she had, at some point, been made a member of the 'Gourmet Appreciation Society,' a club started by Letis.
Naturally, she was informed after the fact. She'd found her name on the member list one day. Incomprehensible.
Still, thanks to Letis's influence, Mirabelle had become quite interested in cooking herself. She had no other clubs to join anyway, so she figured this could be amusing.
"Is 'because you just caught my eye' not a good enough reason?"
"No."
Mirabelle said bluntly, her eyes on the pictures of various Chinese dishes in the pamphlet. Letis scratched her cheek, looking embarrassed, before confessing as if she had finally resigned herself to it.
"You reminded me of my younger sister, Mirabelle."
"…Does she look like me?"
"No, not in the slightest."
How could she be reminded of her sister if they looked nothing alike? Noticing Mirabelle's exasperated stare, Letis explained with a wry smile.
"She's my sister, not much younger than me… I'm always wondering if she's doing okay in her new place. Maybe that's why? You were always alone, Mirabelle, and somehow you just overlapped with her in my mind…"
"…Are you living separately?"
"Yes… my mom and dad had a big fight and got divorced a long time ago… Apparently, my middle name, Valentine, comes from my mother's family name."
Normally, that would just be the story of a worried older sister. But Mirabelle recognized that phrase: "a new place where one might be alone."
She placed the paper on the table and spoke in a cold voice.
"Is it the wizarding world?"
"! H-how did you know that?"
"My mother knew your mother. A half-blood witch raised in a pure-blood family who married a Muggle, but it didn't work out… Apparently, she came crying to my mother, asking her to find a good family for her. That was about six years ago."
"Ah… so does that mean you're a wizard, Mirabelle?"
"Yes. To be precise, a female magic-user is called a witch."
Letis's eyes widened at Mirabelle's confession, and she stared at her. From her reaction, it seemed she truly hadn't known. Letis scratched her cheek and spoke with a wry smile.
"Well, if that's the case, I'll just say it… It's true my mother could apparently do strange things. But she and my dad divorced when I was three, so I was always half-skeptical myself."
"I see."
"I don't really have any firsthand experience, though. I can't use magic, and my dad was just a normal office worker you could find anywhere."
Letis laughed. In that kind of situation, it would be hard to believe someone if they told you that you had wizarding blood. But the fact that Letis was not a Muggle was a joyous revelation for Mirabelle.
"…We of the magical folk are supposed to attend a school of magic when we turn eleven. A letter should arrive for you as well."
"Eh?"
"If… if you'll have me… would you come with me? I'm sure you could become an excellent witch. And… you might even be able to meet your sister."
After she finished speaking, Mirabelle glanced at Letis, as if stealing a look.
This isn't like me.
For her, the great Mirabelle, to be thinking, 'What if she says no?'
She was afraid of being rejected. She had never known such a feeling before.
"Mirabelle!"
"!"
"I'm so happy you're the one asking me! Of course I'll go! Magic sounds so cool!"
Mirabelle's fears had been for nothing. Letis took her hand, looking utterly overjoyed, and shook it enthusiastically.
Come to think of it, Letis had always been the one to take action, while Mirabelle had always been passive. She had never shown it in her words or attitude, but surely Letis must have felt anxious too. Thinking about it now, though it was far too late, she felt a pang of guilt.
"Oh, but will I be okay…? I can't use spells like Kaboom, you know. If they ask me to in an interview, all I can say is that I'm out of MP…"
"Rest assured, no one can use spells like that."
She had thought of magic school as just a place to improve her own knowledge and skills. She'd considered it nothing more than a stepping stone for her ambitions.
But if she was with this girl…
If she was with Letis, she could enjoy it without all that 'pointless nonsense.' That's how fond Mirabelle had grown of her.
…Honestly… this really wasn't like her at all.
"Kukuku… every last one of them, as soon as I began to show my talent, they changed their tune and started sucking up to me. I wish you could have seen Karkaroff's face, Letis."
"Now, now, Mirabelle. You shouldn't say things like that. You won't be able to make any friends at Hogwarts if you talk like that."
"I don't care. As long as I have you, that's all I need."
Mirabelle was talking with Letis, relaxing on the sofa in her house. No, to be precise, she wasn't relaxing on the sofa. She was relaxing with her head resting on Letis's lap as she sat on the sofa. A lap pillow.
And what was she doing in such a defenseless state? She was having Letis clean her ears.
"However, this proves your powers of observation."
"…?"
"It's a continuation of last year's question. 'Why did you approach me?' Thinking back, you were unusually friendly toward me from the very beginning. If you had approached me knowing I was the next heir to the Beresford family, then that unnaturally high level of good will would make sense."
Mirabelle continued, a sinister smile on her lips.
"Or perhaps you came to eliminate the troublesome Beresford? My father has many enemies, after all. If so, you've succeeded brilliantly. Here I am, without even my wand, completely defenseless and at your mercy. You could take this neck of mine with ease right now, you know?"
As she spoke, she grabbed her collar, exposing her neck and collarbone. For anyone who knew her usual self, it was an unbelievable sight. She never showed such vulnerability in front of others… not even in front of her own parents.
But seeing this, Letis's face contorted, her expression filled only with sadness.
"…Mirabelle… I'm going to get angry."
"..."
Hearing those words, Mirabelle let her plastered-on smile fade and closed her eyes. A few seconds passed. Then, in a small voice, as if confessing a sin, she spoke.
"…I'm sorry… I didn't want to make you look like that. …I said a terrible thing… Please, forgive me."
She covered her eyelids with her palm and let out a small breath. She knew. She knew this girl hadn't approached her for any of those reasons. That was precisely why she could allow herself to be so defenseless.
"…I'm scared… I never knew how comforting it could be to be with someone."
The words came out, bit by bit.
Hearing that frail confession, how many people would have immediately recognized it as Mirabelle's voice? A girl who was always brimming with self-confidence, who seemed to be arrogance personified—her voice was so weak, like that of a lost child.
"That's why I'm terrified. When I lose this warmth, will I be able to remain myself? Will I be able to stay the strong version of me…? When I think about it, it's unbearably frightening."
She moved her hand and looked up at Letis's face. Mirabelle's golden eyes and Letis's blue eyes met and held each other's gaze.
"In that case, it would be more reassuring to keep my distance from you, just like I do with all the other rabble. …I've grown weak since meeting you. Now that I know this warmth, I can't let it go."
"Mirabelle."
Letis touched Mirabelle's golden hair, stroking it soothingly. Mirabelle didn't resist. She closed her eyes with a look of contentment, letting it happen.
"That isn't weakness. I think it's a kind of strength."
"…Strength, you say?"
"Yes. The strength to be with other people. You were able to obtain that, Mirabelle. So it's not weakness at all."
Mirabelle closed her eyes again and placed her own hand over Letis's as it stroked her hair.
She couldn't let go anymore. She didn't want to let go of this warmth.
"I see…"
"You don't believe me?"
"No, I'll try to believe you. They're your words, after all. Perhaps… perhaps it really is true."
The expression on Mirabelle's face now was not a wry smile, nor was it a sneer. It wasn't a cold laugh or a mad cackle, but a smile of pure contentment, one seen only on those who are truly at peace.
If this girl said it, she could believe it. That walking alongside someone else might not be such a bad thing after all.
"Hey, Letis."
"What is it?"
"…I am who I am. I can't be honest, and I say terrible things. I'm the worst kind of woman. I might make things hard for you. …Even so, will you stay with me?"
Letis had said what she said, but it was an undeniable fact that Mirabelle had grown weaker. In the first place, their inherent natures were different.
Mirabelle Beresford was, from birth, hopelessly 'evil.' She considered herself supreme, felt no hesitation in hurting others, and gave no thought to their pain. What's more, hidden deep in her heart was a twisted nature that found joy in tormenting others. No matter what anyone said, no matter how she tried to be, she was undoubtedly a being born as 'evil.'
Therefore, it was when she was committing evil acts, when she was spreading malice, that she could exert her power to its fullest and become stronger than anything. Just as a lion can never become a cat. The Mirabelle of today was merely a ferocious lion pretending to be a cat.
"What a silly question. I'm your best friend."
"I see… You're right… Thank you."
But the Mirabelle of now was the complete opposite. Drowning in warmth, losing her spirit, she was slowly changing. The natural, inborn talent she possessed as a tyrant was gradually beginning to rot.
But Mirabelle thought that was fine, too. Even if it meant being a domesticated lion gobbling up cat food, she thought… that would be fine.
"…Hey, Mirabelle…"
"…What is it?"
The feel of Letis's hand stroking her hair was comforting. This, she could say with confidence, was her 'happiness.' If there was such a thing as a god, she didn't know if it would hear her voice, but if it did, she wanted to offer her thanks.
Thank you, she wanted to say. Thank you for letting me meet Letis.
"—I'm not going anywhere. I will never leave your side. We'll be together forever… Mirabelle."
"…Yeah… I know."
A pleasant drowsiness washed over her, and she surrendered to the haze. It wouldn't be so bad to grow weaker like this, to let herself rot away. If she could be with this girl, she would hide her true nature for her entire life and discard her fangs and claws. She didn't need ambitions about being superior or a world ruled by the excellent.
All she needed was her. As long as this gentle time could continue forever, she didn't need anything else.
Please.
Please, let this moment last forever…
Let time stop, right here…
"—We'll be together forever… Letis."
On the lap of the girl she trusted more than anyone in the world, her face filled with peace, Mirabelle fell into a deep sleep.
***
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