If there is a moment when you feel fate, it is when you accidentally act differently and avoid an accident that you were supposed to encounter. It is when you happen to meet someone you haven't seen in many years, hit it off, and get married. For the girl, Rafine Odium Refined, her fate was to meet a boy.
Nine years ago, ten-year-old Rafine was a tomboy so gentle and elegant that it was hard to imagine from her current appearance. She was already a big troublemaker, troubling the maids and servants of the royal castle every day. However, the servants did not pay attention to Rafine, or rather, they couldn't, because if they did, they would be reprimanded by the king, Pilar Odium Refined.
Pilar doted on Rafine so much that it didn't hurt to put her in his eyes, and he forgave her no matter what she did, saying, "Because it was done by cute Rafine." No matter how much she played pranks or acted selfishly, she was allowed. Because of her time in such an environment, Rafine grew up to be a tomboy and a cheeky girl—a so-called brat.
But there was a reason why Rafine was playing pranks all the time. Rafine had older sisters who were close in age, the second and third princesses, but unlike her sisters, Rafine lived in a separate house. Since they were close sisters, Rafine visited the main house where her sisters were several times and talked to them to play together; however, her sisters always pushed Rafine away, saying, "I don't want to play with you!"
Young Rafine didn't quite understand what or why her sisters were saying that. So, she went to play over and over again, but was pushed away each time, pouting and arguing. Her father, Pilar, was always busy and didn't care much, and the servants were aloof; she had never even met her mother.
So, she wanted someone to take care of her, so she played a lot of pranks. She thought that if she did that, everyone would pay attention to her. She was spending such days when one day came; Rafine had scattered away from the caretaker servants and escaped from the castle, thinking that if they noticed she was not there, they would worry about it.
Suddenly, entering the forest, she heard, "Thirteen thousand one... 13,102..." In the forest near the castle, she passed through a small loophole that could fit about one person and went to a clumsy secret base she had made for herself. There was an unexpected visitor; Rafine quickly hid in the shadow of a nearby tree and secretly listened to the visitor.
"Thirteen thousand one hundred and five and thirteen thousand one hundred and six..." The first thing that caught her eye was black hair, glossy and beautiful as obsidian, which is not often seen in the kingdom. He was about 10 or 11 years old; he was a head taller than Rafine, and his body was well-trained for his age.
"Thirteen thousand one hundred and twelve...! Thirteen thousand one hundred and thirteen...!" The boy lowered his body to the ground and rose, for some reason doing push-ups, and that with just one hand. Absolutely nonsense! He couldn't do that much! This liar! She thought.
Rafine looked at such a boy and thought he was a liar. There was no way a little boy not much older than her could do that many times. At most, she thought he was saying about 20 times as a number.
"Hey, is there anyone...?" As if noticing Rafine, the boy stopped doing the push-ups and turned to her. "...Huh!" She was surprised to be found, and her heart was pounding.
"Come out now, this is a warning." The boy said in a cold tone. However, Rafine did not move on the spot, hiding in the shadow of the tree. No, it would be more correct to say that she couldn't move; Rafine sensed some kind of strong pressure from the boy, and she was too scared to move.
It was the first feeling for Rafine, who had been spoiled. "...If you don't come, I'll go from here." As Rafine was confused by her first feelings, the boy approached her.
"...Ugh." When she saw the boy approaching, she noticed something. If you look closely, the boy was wearing a strange mask that covered only the eyes and nose, with no holes in the eyes. When Rafine was thinking, "...I can see ahead?" "...What is it, child?" The boy looked at Rafine and sighed a little disappointed.
That attitude made Rafine's face sullen, and she became blatantly grumpy. Why should she be treated as a child by a boy not much different from her? She was so angry that she couldn't help it.
"Don't stay here like this, go home quickly; your parents will be worried." The boy waved his hand as if to kick her out and went back to resume the push-ups. Rafine glared at the boy. "...Here! It's a big deal!" She said with a raised voice.
"...Huh?" The boy turned around and said he didn't know what she was talking about. "Here! Get out!!" Rafine shouted boldly to the boy. She was afraid of the boy, but this place was Rafine's favorite secret base in the first place; she couldn't be used by outsiders and go home quietly, so although scared, she suppressed her trembling and screamed desperately.
The boy glanced at Rafine annoyingly. "...Huh? It's not your property here, is it? Why do I have to come out?" He said, shrugging his shoulders and getting angry.
"...Okay, come out! 'Go somewhere'!" Rafine got angry and used "Word Spirit Magic" to drive him away. But... "Hmm? ...Did you do something now?" For some reason, it didn't work on the boy; there was no such person before.
Rafine was born with a lot of magical power, so anyone with lower magical power and low magic resistance was made to obey. Although there was a disadvantage that she was still inexperienced in manipulating magic power and could only be used on one person, still, she was confident that if alone, she would definitely be able to make him obey.
"Go away." She commanded now using word magic. Word magic is a spell that makes the targeted individual do as the caster pleases.
But for some reason, it didn't work on the boy; Rafine was confused by this. It was her first experience that something like this occurred, and she almost burst into tears with large tears in her eyes.
"Ah... Was I a little too harsh? Sorry, it was bad." The boy appeased Rafine, but for some reason she was frustrated, and her tears accumulated even more, her lips pursing.
The boy was flustered by Rafine. "Well, then I'm going to tell you a really funny story from now on! Okay?" With that, the boy told Rafine, who was puffed up, various stories.
A daily story about a demon king who wants to live in peace and is swayed by his habitual subordinates.
A love story between a boy who has fallen out and a demon who has been kicked out as a culprit.
A heartwarming story about a knight who becomes a hero and builds an orphanage to raise children; the boy's way of telling the story was very good, and all the stories were more interesting and exciting than those of a royal bard.
Before she knew it, Rafine was engulfed in the boy's story, and the emotion that was about to burst into tears had completely disappeared. The story told by the boy was so interesting. "Have you stopped crying?" The boy finished telling another story and asked Rafine.
"...Not yet." There were no tears anymore. But she wanted to hear more stories told by the boy, so she replied. "Huh... But you're not crying anymore—" "Not yet!!" Rafine interrupted the boy and shouted.
The boy sighed at Rafine. "Huh... I understand. But is it over for today? It's getting dark... You should go home early, right?"
When she looked at the sky, the sun was already setting; she was so engrossed in listening that she didn't notice it at all.
"Then... See you tomorrow! See you tomorrow!" "Okay, okay... Lately, I've been coming back here around noon. If you want to come, come at that time; you don't have to come here." Rafine replied, "Okay!" and secretly returned to the castle.
None of the servants even noticed that Rafine was gone, and they were not told anything. That's right; the servants only thought that she was hiding and playing in the castle. In the first place, the only way to get out of the castle surrounded by high walls is through the main gate; in fact, due to the deterioration of the wall, there was a hole that a small child could pass through, hiding in the shade of grass, only Rafine knew about it.
From this day, Rafine went to the secret base every day. The boy appeared almost every day around noon and told Rafine a different story each time. For Rafine, who wanted someone to take care of her, this time spent with the boy was a blessing; she loved it.
Even if she asked questions about things she didn't understand in the story, the boy would tell her in simple words so that Rafine could understand them easily, even though it was troublesome for him to do.
She was happy that it was different from the servants who would go somewhere ignoring ger even if she talked to them.
"...So what are you going to do today? Really you want to hear that story again...?" The boy asked Rafine in a slightly dumbfounded voice, in a voice that sounds like "again?"
Rafine's eyes lit up, and she sat down in front of the boy for a moment and replied cheerfully, "Yes!" "You really don't get tired of it... Well, it's fine." The boy said as he responded to Rafine's request and began to speak.
The boy told a simple heroic story about a heroic man who defeated the demon king, saved the world, and was married to a kind princess loved by the citizens. Rafine loved this story because she thought it looked like her. For some reason, except for "a hero who becomes a king retreats into a room and does nothing," it was a story that Rafine admired very much; no matter how many times she asked him to change that part, the boy was dissatisfied that he didn't change it, saying, "This is the best piece."
"Even if it's a story... Can I become one?" Rafine, who longed for a princess like in the story, asked the boy.
The boy glanced at Rafine and laughed with his nose, "It's impossible, absolutely impossible," and said, "In the first place, this princess is not a kid who can't even use honorifics like you." Rafine frowned at those words.
"I can use it!" "Can you use it?" The boy glanced at Rafine, who was speaking in a strange honorific, and shrugged, "Do it." At this time, Rafine firmly vowed not to skip the etiquette training; she was going to look back at the boy who makes a fool of her.
From this day on, Rafine no longer skipped rehearsals at the royal castle in order to become like the princess in the story. The servants were a little confused by Rafine, but they didn't change their attitude, thinking that it would return to normal soon by a temporary whim.
But even if Rafine was cold to the servants, she didn't care anymore, because if she went to the secret base, they would be kind to her even though troublesome and she could meet that boy.
Rafine was happy; it was fun. She likes her father, Pilar, because he is kind to her, but she loves the boy who treats her as an equal more than that. "I hope these fun days will continue forever." It was just when she was thinking about that; in a happy moment, the crack came in.