Chapter 17 - Reading books by myself in a gilded cage (1/2)

My name is Sophia Ascarot. I was born as Earl Ascarot’s eldest daughter. My gentle and reliable father is the prime minister of our country, and is greatly trusted by the king. I also had a very kind and beautiful mother and older brother.

I was born into a wealthy and respectable house, and am blessed with a wonderful family. Ever since I was born, I was given a lot of happiness from my family.

Because of this though…… There was a price to be paid for my blessings……

I wasn’t born the same as everyone else.

My hair was completely devoid of any color and was pure white, and my eyes were the color of blood.

My appearance was different from everyone.

Whenever I went outside, I would be looked at strangely, and people would call me the “cursed child” behind my back.

Even so, my family loved me very much. My father would always stroke my head gently, mother would always hug me, and my brother always stayed close to protect me.

My kind family says that one day someone who accepts me for who I am will appear…… That I will definitely be able to make a wonderful friend…… I don’t think such a person is going to appear.

And so, I mostly shut myself in my room. This way, I won’t catch people’s attention……

And I would always be reading books inside my room. All the wonderful stories helped me forget about my painful reality.

I opened my favorite book, a story about the friendship between a princess and a commoner girl. “The Emerald Princess and Sophia.” One of the main characters had the same name as me. Sophia in the story is a cheerful, popular girl with beautiful black hair and black eyes. In front of such a wonderful Sophia, the princess of the country appeared.

“You really do have such beautiful hair. May I touch it just a little?” The princess said so to Sophia while smiling. Sophia smiled back shyly.

It’s a wonderful story that the cursed me will never be able to experience.

So, alone in my room, I would always imagine myself to be the main character of the story. I can only become a wonderful, popular girl in my imagination……

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“Sophia, please join the tea party at the castle.”

One day, my father said this to me. I’ve never been to a tea party before. Whenever I go outside, everyone would look at me strangely because of my appearance, so I’d rather not go outside and experience that. That’s what I said as I refused. However, father who always listened to what I wanted would not budge his ground today.

“Listen up, Sophia. You have magic power. That means that when you turn fifteen, you’ll be required to attend magic school. You won’t be able to always hole yourself up in your room. This tea party is being hosted by the princes, and many noble children will be attending. Some of them will probably be attending magic school with you. I know it might be tough on you, and I don’t mind if you come back early, but you have to start getting used to the outside world little by little.”

Certainly, it’s mandated that I have to attend magic school once I turn fifteen. I know that I can’t always stay in my room playing make believe all the time.

I have to start getting used to things little by little - I summoned what little courage I had and decided to participate in the tea party.

And so I attended my first tea party together with my brother.

The extravagant tea party was held in a corner of the castle garden. There were more people there than I had ever seen before. At first, I tried the mountains of sweets and teas together with my brother, but……

As soon as I strayed a little from my brother, I was immediately surrounded by some other noble children. All of them had grim faces.

And then they brought me over to a tree by the edge of the garden.

“Hey you, don’t you know that this is a very special occasion where the princes are hosting a tea party for the first time!?”

“That’s right! If a cursed child like you comes here, it’ll spoil the atmosphere!”

“To begin with, you shouldn’t even be coming out in public when you look like that!”

All of them were badmouthing me together.

I know that I’m disgusting, and I know that it’s to be expected for them to hate me, but…… I bit my lips. As I thought, I shouldn’t have left my room. I was thinking that it would be much better if I could always live a sheltered life in my room…… While I was thinking so -

“Could you please let me pass?”

I heard a clear voice from behind me. When I looked back to see who it was, I saw a girl standing there with a dignified air about her as if she was the Emerald Princess from the story.

With one line from the girl, she easily made the people around me scatter and flee.

I don’t really understand exactly what happened…… But even so, I understood that this girl had helped me.

And while I was still confused, the girl smiled elegantly, and went off dashingly. I just stared at her back all the while.

After that, I hid behind the tree for a while, and then returned to the tea party later after confirming that none of the people from earlier were around. Then, I met the girl from before again by accident.

I wanted to thank her for helping me earlier…… I summoned all the courage I had and tried to speak to the girl.

“Uh,”

When she turned around to look at me, her dignified appearance was unchanged from earlier.

“Uhh…… (Thank you for earlier…)”

I was so nervous that I couldn’t speak. Her light blue eyes were looking at me. And then she said something suddenly.

“Your hair is just like silk! I wonder if I may touch it just a little bit?”

“……Eh!?”

That’s a line from “The Emerald Princess and Sophia” which I’ve read dozens of times. The main character Sophia is a cheerful, popular girl that had a chance meeting with a mysterious girl in the outskirts of town. A girl with a dignified atmosphere - her name was -

“……Emerald Princess!”

By reflex, I said it out loud. Then -

“The Emerald Princess romance novel!! You know the story ‘The Emerald Princess and Sophia!?’”

Before I realized it, the girl before me grabbed my shoulders. I was just, completely lost. Exactly, why did this girl just say the Emerald Princess’s lines…… And why is it that right now, she’s grabbing my shoulders…… I had no idea what was going on.

Also - up to now, I’ve seen lots of strange looks or cold looks aimed at me, but……

This girl was looking at me with sparkling eyes for some reason. I got even more confused at seeing her eyes.

And so, I was overwhelmed by her momentum, and without knowing anything that was going on, just continued to nod in response to her questions……

“What are you doing, nee-san?”

I heard a questioning voice from beside her. When I looked towards the source of the voice, I saw a handsome boy with flaxen hair and blue eyes standing there. It seems that this boy and girl must know each other.

“Ah, I’m really sorry.”

Upon being confronted by the boy, the girl released my shoulders. And then she gracefully grasped the hems of her dress and curtsied.

“I apologize for my earlier rudeness. I am Katarina Claes. I’ll be much obliged to be in your care.”

I was fascinated by her gestures that really seemed to be like the princess from the story. And so before I realized it I was hurriedly introducing myself in return.

“……I’m Sophia Ascarot.”

And then, after that, something unbelievable happened.

“Sophia-sama! If it’s alright with you, would you like to chat with me for a bit?”

This Katarina girl was holding my hands as she said so.

What on earth is this girl talking about…… I wondered if she was joking with me.

I was just too stunned to understand the situation. And then -

“Well then, Sophia-sama. Next time, won’t you please come over to play with me at my place?”

“……Ah, okay.”

Before noticing it… I promised to visit Katarina’s place. While making the promise, I kept trying to decide if this was reality, or if perhaps this was just one of my usual dreams from my overactive imagination.

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