The platinum-haired Miriette grabbed the hems of her cute fluffy dress and curtsied very politely towards the gray-haired necromancer.

”…I am the second princess of the Bellcephora Kingdom, Miriette Aperaete Bellcephora…”

The little girl added and waited in the same position without raising her head.

”Hello~ I am Apskeony – I do not have an official title but your father trusts me with helping out our kingdom when there is serious trouble.”

Aspakeony smiled looking at the gentle platinum-haired child who seemed very nervous about meeting a new person.

”…!”

”…”

The gray-haired girl snickered discreetly once she noticed the little girl flinching at the mention of having no official title.

The second princess must have felt very confused about why someone without an official position gets so much respect…

…at least in Apsakeony’s own assumption…

|Dear heavens…! She is so furious…!|

On the other hand, Zoemi placed in a strategic position amongst the pile of other plushies held a very different opinion about the whole situation.

The platinum-haired Miriette had the same body language as Miriette he knew, or at least Zoemi couldn’t stop noticing similarities.

This might have been just a wild assumption on his part, but the boy locked in the body of a stuffed toy bear couldn’t compare the images in his head.

His Miriette always had a short temper, but as if to balance that, her self control was also tremendous – in reality that meant that when she would blow up it would always turn into a large scale temper tantrum and never just a little hissy fit that could be hushed in a moment.

|Why aren’t they trying to calm her down?!|

The confused boy thought to himself, bracing himself for whatever would happen.

”Aren’t you curious why your father brought you here?”

Aspaekony who clearly had little-to-no experience with dealing with mini-Miriette asked, still under the impression that the little girl is simply timid.

”…”

The platinum-haired girl lowered her head and said nothing, she did not grit her teeth, she did not clench her fists – but she did pinch the sides of her dress with enough power to wear off the fabric.

”My lady, I apologize for her, Miriette doesn’t like talking with strangers.”

King Kasorius bowed his head to the amused Aspakeony and put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

While they stood like that beside each other, they did not give off a parent-child impression.

The platinum-haired Miriette was petite even for her own age group, with milk-like skin and a slightly grumpy look – only visible for Zoemi thanks to his vantage point.

King Kasorius – well, he was a tall and broad man, rather late in his middle age, actually, maybe even not that.

If not for the light attribute mana keeping his hair pristine gold at all times, the number of wrinkles could lead others to believe he wasn’t the father but rather the grandfather of the child next to him.

”You don’t have to be shy here. I told you that you will receive a very nice present – but you must promise to not destroy this one.”

”…!”

Seeing his daughter not even lift her head to look at Aspakeony, king Korosarius breathed out and lightly patted Mireitte’s shoulder – and made her flinch…

|Uh-oh…!|

Both he and the gray-haired necromancer thought that it was because of how nervous she was, but Zoemi braced himself for the impact.

If her could move his body, he would instinctively cover his ears too…

”Hey, your little highness – say, do you like plushies?”

Unaware, Aspaekony ended up walking closer and crouched down to make herself the same height as the platinum-haired child…

”I DON’T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU!”

”!?!?!?!?!”

”!!!!!”

…and ended up triggering the outburst, as the little girl showcased that her size and her voice do not correlate…

”Miriette! What are you doing?!”

King Kasorius gasped in shock, pulling his daughter away from the wide-eyed necromancer.

”NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! DADDY IS HORRIBLE! YOU WILL LEAVE MOMMY FOR THIS GIRL! DADDY IS A CHEATER!”

But, just as Zoemi expected, the platinum-haired girl cried out even louder while struggling to get away from her father’s grasp.

”Miriette! What are you saying?!”

In response to that Korosarious gasped, getting red in the face from the extreme embarrassment his daughter’s words caused him.

”DADDY GOT BORED OF MOMMY AND WANTS TO REPLACE HER! DADDY, I HATE YOU! I…!”

Miriette roared furiously with her eyes filled with tears and did not want to calm down even when Kasorius picked her up and tiered to coddle her – which resulted only in her kicking up and smacking against his chest with her little fist.

”…!”

|Huh…?|

Still, picking her up made a difference, but only Zoemi seemed to notice it.

The moment she was held firmly, mIriette bit her lips and stopped making any sound whatsoever.

Her father and Aspakeony both thought that it was a sign of her calming down, but Zoemi felt chills instead.

The platinum-haired girl did not clam down at all.

When Kasorius hugged her a bit tighter, which should bring her comfort, she stopped visibly resisting – but ended up trembling instead while looking away, biting her lips so hard it was only a matter of seconds until she would draw blood.

That was the first major difference between the platinum-haired Miriette and Miriette that Zoemi knew – his Miriette never acted in such a way one hugged.

She did not calm down – it was more like the ability to control her limbs shut down!

”I… I don’t know what to say – she never acts like that!”

|Youd don’t know what to say…? LET GO OF HER, YOU MORON! SHE IS HORRIFIED! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER TO MAKE HER LIKE THIS?!|

Which must have been a troublesome scene of his daughter acting bratty and unreasonable for Kasorius, seemed like a scene from psychological horror to the boy trapped in the body of a toy.

Because while Zoemi had never seen his Miriette act like that, he did see this kind of behavior.

…long ago, when two disgusting men, Edung and Boren took him to form the streets – the way the platinum-haired Miriette acted was similar to how the girls the two horrible, disgusting and repugnant filths of adults forced to…

”Your little highness, let’s make some things clear – I am not interested in his father. I do help him out but it is just like Benevirau helping out your uncle Mirrowel.”

At that moment, Apsakeony spoke up in a calming voice and mentioned at least one name that Zoemi knew, causing him to shake off the terrifying memory and refocus on what was happening in front of him.

”Exactly! Will you behave now…?”

”…”

King Kasorius nodded vigorously in confirmation and asked while gently putting down his daughter even though she did not let out even the smallest sound while tears were streaming down her face.

It really looked as if she has shut down mentally.

”…”

Aspakeony waited a bit but there was no response – she looked over at the bothered Kasorius, but he could only shake his head and shrug, unable to explain anything.

The gray-haired girl furrowed her brows and glance at the black bear she left on the bed amongst other plushies, considering something for a moment.