Sometime later Nabel exited the bathroom. He didn’t appear to be unfamiliar with the habit of washing as one would have expected of someone raised as a slave.
“…?”
‘I could have sworn his hair was blonde before…” Ronée thought as she watched Nabel emerge from the bathroom. After bathing, his hair was ebony black, and now there was a strange necklace glittering around his neck that she hadn’t noticed before.
The reason Ronée could now see the necklace was because Nabel’s clothing was too big for his size.
He was wearing a new bathrobe, one that her made Ryne usually prepared for her to wear.
“Nabel…” Ronée murmured to herself as she recalled his name.
After bathing, Nabel’s appearance was properly revealed. Without the dust or blood, he looked more like a child of nobility, not a slave.
Disregarding the wounds on his wrists and neck, his skin was pale and unblemished, as if he had been raised noble, without any discomfort or hardships.
“…”
Nabel was observing her quietly, he must have heard her murmuring his voice.
“My name is Ronée de Rieda.”
The cursed seventeen-year-old daughter of Count Rieda. A person anticipating the words of the temple’s Oracle.
More precisely, a person who waiting for the judgement that would determine the outcome of her life.
She had been reported to the temple by her stepmother as a person unaffected by divine magic, that she was someone who refused the touch of the gods.
And she would one day receive and answer from the temple for her crime of forsaking the gods. What a unique being she was to be without magic.
“de Rieda…” Nabel murmured. It was a noble surname. He seemed to understand that even though he was young.
“…It’s a meaningless name. You saw it outside before.”
Ronée pointed towards the door. She was referring to the abuse she received from her parents earlier. Nabel glanced at the door and looked back at her again.
“…”
His silence made him seem less like a child. Ronée understood why as she was also a person who tried to not act childish.
Her parents would never tolerate her pleading and crying like a child. She had to grow up quickly, living in this house, while waiting for the temple dispose of her.
“How old are you?”
“I am twelve years old this year,” Nabel answered.
‘Is this how kids his age behave?’ Ronée wondered as she tilted her head.
“I’m seventeen years old.” Of course, a seventeen year old wouldn’t be like her. The eyes of the two, who were not as old as they seemed, met.
“A five-year difference. You would be my older sister.” Ryne, who had been standing next to the two, was alarmed by Nabel’s words.
“Hey, you can’t call her that!” She immediately covered Nabel’s mouth and continued speaking at a rapid-fire speed.
“I’m glad you’re a merciful lady. How dare a slave call a noble- “
“It’s okay Ryne,” Ronée interrupted Ryne.
After all, everyone knew she was the daughter of Count Rieda in name only. Even the aristocrats of high society, who didn’t know her know her face, knew it.
