Someone walked up to the blond man who was feeding a parrot, giving him a quick bow before shouting; 

“Your Majesty! I have something very important to tell you.”

“…….”

The blond man let the parrot fly away and turned around to face his servant. He shook off the bits of birdseed left on his fingertips with an indifferent expression. The sunlight hit his beautiful face.

“The ring has been found!”

The man’s eyes lit up once he heard that word.

***

“You useless little girl!”

The nosebleed wouldn’t stop. The voice that she was so accustomed to hearing was especially harsh today.

The child bit her lips and wiped her nose hastily with a dirty sleeve .

“You pitiful little bitch! I hired you out of plain generosity, the least you can do is do your job right!”

 The girl clutched her shoulder, mocking the man under her breath.

“For heaven’s sake… You pay me two shillings a week. I’m the only person you could possibly hire.”, she muttered. 

He raised his hand again. Blondina clenched her teeth and shut her eyes tightly.

She felt a blow to her head. The blood from her nose dripped down her chin and stained her filthy collar.

As the man raised his hand one more time, she decided to run. Run away from the inn and from that man as fast as her little legs would take her.

The child’s name was Blondina. She’d been working as a clerk at the inn  ever since her mother’s death.

The work wasn’t easy – her hands were swollen from her slow and tedious tasks. But it was the only option she had. For a young orphan like her, it was either this or being sold to some rich pedophile.

She let out a wheezing breath. Blondina didn’t stop until she reached the entrance of the village.

She held on to her necklace tightly, her mother’s voice ringing in her head.

“Blondina. This is a gift from your father. Always keep it with you.”

Her mother handed her a small pouch with a necklace in it.

Inside the worn little bag, along with the necklace, was a shiny ring. It was her sole reminder of a father she never got to know.

Her mother always told her that it was the only thing her father left behind, fleeing as soon as Blondina was born.

Tears started streaming down her face as she caught her breath, but she forced herself to hold them back.

I have pride. This can’t make me cry. 

She felt the ring, safely in the pouch. She desperately wanted to protect her mother’s legacy. The necklace. But… 

“Mom, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

This was it for her. She had to put her own survival before a ring given to her by a father that abandoned her and her mother.

Blondina started running through the winding streets of the village. She was going to sell the damn ring. Right now.

The jewelry store was at the end of a small alley.

The smell of perfume hit her nose as she pushed open the heavy wooden door. It smelled exactly like a place fancy ladies would visit.

Blondina’s heart was in her throat. She still couldn’t help but feel guilty for selling her mother’s legacy like this. 

An old man holding a magnifying glass, the owner, stood behind the counter.

“What brings you here?”

“Good morning, mister.”

“Ah, I assume Nordi sent you to sell something again. He’s got to stop with his funny business if he doesn’t want his hands cut off.”

Nordi, the innkeeper, often asked Blondina to sell jewelry so he would have money for gambling.

Blondina slipped off the necklace and took the ring out of the pouch. The owner finally raised his head as the jewelry clanked against the glass countertop.

“I’m here to sell my own things today, mister.”

“Yours?”

“Yes. My mother left them to me…….”

Just that simple sentence was very hard to say. The owner put his magnifying glass down and inspected the pouch, handling it with a disgusted face as if it was infectious. He frowned and threw it back at Blondina.

“Untie it. By the way, hasn’t it already been three years since Lily died? Just wait for a man you can hang on to…… Such a pitiful girl you are.”

Blondina’s mother, Lily, was widely known in the area for her beauty.

No common woman, what, not even any aristocrat, had her stunning golden hair and blue eyes.

Blondina took the ring out of the pouch with an expressionless face.

The ring sparkled as light hit it, even after this many years. The owner picked it up roughly to take a closer look. 

“I’ll let you off the hook on this one, it looks real, but don’t expect too much, alright?”

“Yes, mister.”

“Looks cheap, but somehow well made…….”

He suddenly went silent. His eyes dilated as if he had seen something extraordinary. He stood up. Blondina was following his every movement. His hands were trembling. He couldn’t take his eyes off the ring. Scrawling for his magnifying glass, he inspected it closely. His expression quickly went from surprised, to doubtful, to astonished. 

The man took a deep breath.

“You, where did you steal this from! You bitch!”

Blondina could instantly tell that the atmosphere had changed.

She was afraid she’d get hit again, shaking her head aggressively.

“I didn’t steal it!”

“Then where, where……!”

“My mother gave it to me. She… she said it was the only thing my father left me!”

“I can’t believe this! This shape…….”, the man muttered with a blank stare. He motioned Blondina to a chair. 

“Stay right here! I’ll be back soon!”

Blondina didn’t say anything. She still didn’t know what was going on.

Rushing like some sort of madman, the owner locked the door and put out the closed sign. Blondina called after him quietly.

“Mister?”

He had already disappeared. What a mystery…

Blondina just stared blankly at the closed door. The dim interior of the store was illuminated with nothing but a candle.

***

Blondina entered the guest room in the imperial castle, carefully lying down on the luxurious king bed. 

She was still in disbelief of what was going on. How could she, of all people, be staying in the castle?

Two days ago, at the jewelry store, the owner returned not long after he left, with the Emperor. Blondina couldn’t bow deep enough – she had just seen a nobleman…

She was driven to the castle in a carriage. 

That’s how Blondina had been staying in the castle for days now, still not knowing the reason for anything that had happened to her.

She fiddled with the ring in her hand and looked out the window. The sun was setting on the horizon. It bathed the fields outside the window in an orange light as the sky darkened. Blondina slowly drifted away into daydreaming. Before she knew it, the moon and stars were the only things left to light up the room.  

She was interrupted by the rattling of the door.  It was usually never opened except for mealtimes…

 Who could it be?

Uneasily, she picked up a candlestick, the only useful weapon she could think of.

The door opened with an eerie creaking noise. 

Blondina put down the candlestick as she saw the gigantic male figures that stood at the door. It would be useless to try and fight them, she thought. By a glance of their spotless skin and imposing walk, she could tell they weren’t just ordinary people.

After all the tall men filed in, a strikingly beautiful young man entered.

He walked in gracefully, followed by his servants. His blond hair shone softly under the light of a torch in the dark room. He soon caught Blondina’s eye and raised an eyebrow. Blondina clasped her blanket tightly as he approached.

“Tell me your name.”

“Who are you?”, Blondina asked, avoiding the man’s question. 

He asked again, in a slightly irritated tone.

“Your mother’s name is Lily, right?”

“Do you know my mother?”

Blondina gulped and raised her head to look at the man. .

He gestured at the servant next to him, who gave him a candle. He lifted Blondina’s chin with a hand, as if he were observing a toy, and examined her facial features closely. A bit of wax dripped on the girl’s collarbone.

“Ow!”

She yelped, but didn’t really seem to care much about the pain. Only then did the man’s expression change.

“You look very similar to your mother, you know.”, he said in a low, emotionless voice. His sharp eyes shot through Blondina. 

“A mirror image, almost.”

She asked him, in a much kinder voice this time.

“Who are you, sir?”

Instead of answering, the man scanned Blondina’s face again. The blond hair and pretty, twinkling eyes. He could see that she had a very upright character.

He started laughing and stroked Blondina’s head. 

“I’m Trisé Ryn Haberti Atez. Your father…… Emperor of Athes.”

Blondina’s heart skipped a beat.

Blondina opened her eyes wide.

A fragrant, flowery smell enveloped the room and a fresh breeze came in through the window. 

The child looked at the stunning patterns on the ceiling and the expensive vase on the table next to her, blinking. She murmured in a sleepy voice,

“……yes, this is the Imperial Palace.”

She should have opened her eyes in the attic of the old inn. The flashy decorations all around her couldn’t have been more different. 

Blondina’s fate turned around in the blink of an eye

From an unknown, small village in the countryside to the royal family of the Empire, she was now Blondina Ryn Atez. 

Her father. The day she met her father, the emperor, she was transported to the royal castle. 

The jewelry shop’s owner remained the only person who knew of her secret identity, and rumors  began circulating in the village that she had been kidnapped.

In this era of rampant human trafficking, it didn’t take too long for all the villagers to accept Blondina’s ill fate. She had no one to feel sorry for her. 

Her half-asleep daze was interrupted by a voice outside the door. 

“Highness, if you’re up, I’ll come in.”

“Yes, come in.”

Blondina sat up on the bed and stretched out her limbs as the door opened. 

The maid came in alone, with no escort. 

‘It’s probably because I’m from low birth.’

The details were somewhat foggy, but it seemed that she was a sort of bastard daughter, the result of a one-time rendezvous.

She also knew very well that her lowly blood was a disgrace to the royal family. 

Those were the only things she could be sure of, for now.

“Your Majesty invited you to a tea party today. I’ll guide you to the Imperial Palace’s garden.”

“Yes. I see.”

It was strange. Blondina was on her way to meet her father, yet she didn’t feel happy about it.

“Princess Blondina has arrived.”

A chill ran through her body as the maid called out over the garden door.

I can’t possibly face the royal family like this after living as a commoner my whole life. 

An attendant took her inside.

“Come in, Princess.” 

She carefully entered, feeling the carefully cut grass under her feet and the pleasant aroma that hovered by her. 

There was a huge stone statue of a leopard at the entrance, bigger than a bear. A statue commemorating the sacred leopard clan that was in charge of protecting the Empire.

Blondina unthinkingly cowered away. The statue reminded her of the innkeeper who hit her, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit afraid. It was an instinctive fear she’d acquired from experience.

“Princess?” 

The attendant stopped and turned around to call her. Blondina sunk her feet into the grass again and cautiously walked toward her “family.”

There were four people sitting in the sunny garden.

They were the emperor and his wife, along with Blondina’s half-brother and half-sister. They were almost seething with arrogance.

The emperor put down his teacup and called her.

“Closer.”

Blondina tottered towards him.

The emperor walked up to her and slowly started to examine her face

Their eyes met.

“I wish my eyes were as golden as your hair…”

The emperor roughly smoothed out Blondina’s hair. A smile showed in the corner of his lips.

At first glance, it looked like a very dry smile.

“Keep this in mind, Princess. Your descendance may be… complicated, but no one needs to know that .”

“…Excuse me?”

“You must not reveal your embarrassing past to anyone.”

“…….”

Embarrassing. You tell me I shouldn’t reveal your secret, but… You’re the one that should carry your past embarrassment, not me.

Blondina looked up at him silently. The emperor continued on, smiling, disregarding the girl.

“You were found in another kingdom in a sickly state and brought back to the palace.”

Blondina bowed her head, just for politeness.

“Yes.”

“Even if others don’t believe it, that’s the truth. Do you understand?”

“I will be careful of what I say and do, and live as if I were dead.”

“Yes. You must be humble, but you’re not a stupid girl.”

She already knew that for the emperor, she was nothing but some scum of low birth. Maybe that’s why his harsh words didn’t hurt all that much. They were nothing compared to the sharp pain of the innkeeper’s blows. 

The emperor shooed Blondina away as he returned to his seat. He paused to say his last words to her.

“Oh, I forgot to say – welcome to the palace. My daughter.”

Blondina thanked him with a bow before turning around.

My daughter. Could his voice have been any colder saying those words?

She walked away lost in thought. 

Why did my father ask to see me today? 

The answer was a no-brainer for her. Dealing with the aggressive mood swings of the innkeeper had taught her how to read a room.

It was a clear warning from the emperor. It would be too complicated for him if she were to reveal the real truth. So she was destined to live as if she were dead, in a separate palace. That was it, because she was nothing but the emperor’s servant. 

It reminded her  of the childhood feelings of the Empress staring at her silently, with that look of disgust and contempt.

Blondina set off towards her palace.

At that moment, she heard a little boy’s voice.

“Hey, you.”

She stopped and turned back. Lart, Blondina’s brother and the prince of the empire, stood behind her.

Blondina instinctively bowed. She wasn’t used to being a princess, after all…

The boy smiled.

“Well, well, it doesn’t take noble blood to get here, apparently.”

He was actually younger than Blondina, but she didn’t know that. She just smiled.

“You. Blondina, was it?”

The girl nodded instead of answering.

“I see your empty head has enough space for some manners, at least. Bowing and all!.”

“…….”

“Where did you learn that? In a barn? Did the cows teach you?”

The prince’s voice was filled with contempt and ridicule.

Why would you come up to me all of a sudden and start a fight? I’m worth less than an ant in your view.

It became clear to her upon seeing the hateful look in his eyes. It was an act of nothing but unconditional contempt.

Blondina answered unthinkingly.

“Cows cannot teach humans. Don’t you know that?”

“…….”

Prince Lart’s eyes narrowed .

“How dare you make fun of the royal family with your vulgarity! You know very well you belong in a back alley!”

“Well, I’ve never been shy.”

“A royal? With your blood? I won’t stand for it!”

Blondina scoffed. It was good to finally be able to escape the innkeeper, sure. Still, she was convinced she’d be a million times happier living alone with the money from selling the ring than among all these people that loathed her.

Blondina looked around before loudly whispering her answer to the prince.

“My blood may be dirty… But half of it is the emperor’s.”

“…What?” 

“If you deny me, you deny the emperor. That’s also known as treason. You don’t want that, now, do you?”

Blondina may not have received a proper education, but she was more quick-witted than any noble lady around. The prince just stared at her dumbfounded. However, he was not about to let a street rat have the last word. 

“Well, I’m denying you.” 

A girl, a dirt-poor girl at that,  pretending to be naive! It’s no ordinary thing to see someone so unimportant with this little respect.

“Don’t mistake yourself for a member of the imperial family, you low-born scum!”

“His Majesty the Emperor welcomed me personally.”

“You don’t know anything! You…! If you are going to be disrespectful to me, I’ll……!”

Prince Lart pointed a trembling finger at Blondina.

The girl knew the prince’s threats were just empty words, the consequence of being surrounded by an illusion of infinite power at his young age.

Either way, she just watched the child’s anger bemusedly.

It was difficult for her to believe that she’d have to constantly stand up for herself, worried that was the attitude of the imperial family.

“What do you want me to do? Be angry, shout, and toss a cup of tea at you…?’

At this point, all she wanted was for her brother to leave her alone so she could go to her quarters.

Besides, her father’s warning was clear –  live like a dead man.

“Okay. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry, let’s stop. Okay?

“What?”

“I’m a little tired today, so…….”

“Go.”

The emperor said to live as if she were dead.

She would live up to that. Even though she didn’t do anything wrong, she apologized first, and it hurt to be treated like this.

I don’t want to be kicked out yet.

Unlike Blondina, lost in thought with a serious expression, Prince Lart was redder than a tomato.

“How dare a low-born leave the table before anyone else!”

Blondina sighed. Even a million apologies wouldn’t get her anywhere. The royal family was just too complicated for any commoner to understand.

Then a girl butted in.

“Lart. Stop it.”

She was Blondina’s half-sister and Lart’s twin,  Princess Adellai.

Gracefully signalling at her maid to leave, Princess Adellai stared at Blondina quietly.

Rather than the overly emotional Prince Lart, whom Blondina could easily read, the princess seemed to have much more deeply ingrained contempt in her silent eyes.

“You should stop now, too.”

An awkward yet powerful silence settled over them.

Prince Larte shut his mouth, and Blondina, too, was silent.

The twins really couldn’t have been any more different, in appearance or personality – it seemed impossible that they had the same parents.

Adellai glanced over at Blondina, pointing a finger at her with an arrogant smirk.

“Unnie. If you ever insult the royal family, or even Lart, in front of me ever again, I will not stand up for you. This is the last time I’m turning a blind eye to this kind of unpleasant disturbance.”

Blondina was already too tired to care, both mentally and physically. She shook her head with a quiet sigh.

“I was just walking. I came here and all of sudden I’m confronted by my angry brother, stomping around and pointing fingers at me. I wouldn’t exactly classify myself as an unpleasant disturbance.”

Princess Adellai’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you saying that Lart is the unpleasant disturbance here?”

Blondina stayed silent.

She knew the answer very well. Still, she decided to hold it in for fear angering the twins again.

What strange twins. Every word I say makes them all angry and defensive.

Their behaviour was definitely a matter of good manners… But, well, Blondina’s father wasn’t the best at educating his children on manners.

You should have been trying to get to know me ever since you abandoned me.

 Adelai skimmed through the girl’s expressionless face with a sharp look. There was cold, cold rage flashing in her eyes.

As she saw with Lart earlier, the princess made a mental note of Blondina’s unusual sarcastic demeanor, muttering under her breath, 

‘I won’t be letting this go all that easy.’

She bit her lips and tried her best to put on a poker face. Being emotional would never win you a fight.

“Well, Princess Blondina. I mean, unnie. Do your best from now on. Don’t tarnish the values of the imperial family.”

Blondina nodded. No matter which way she looked at it, it was actually the twins, and not her, defaming the imperial family, but she decided to keep her mouth shut.

“Yes, Princess.”

Blondina smiled lightly, again somehow irritating Lart.

“What’s that look on your face? Are you laughing at me?!”

Blondina was quick to return to her usual expression.

Adellai quickly restrained her brother a bit before he got too out of hand.  

“Let’s go, Lart.”

The bright colours of Adelai’s dress faded away into the distance as the bickering twins walked off.

Before she knew it, only Blondina remained standing on the grass.

“……weird kids.”

Blondina turned around with a shrug. All she wanted at that point was some rest.

She walked alone to the guest palace – originally a place where nature-loving foreign envoys would stay.

For this reason, unlike the main palaces, they were adjacent to the hunting ground, and the flower beds were replaced by whole fields of flowers.

After the finely laid tulips and rose beds, clusters of trees began to appear here and there.

Blondina’s thoughts trailed off to the twins she had just faced.

She never thought they’d give her a welcome party…. 

But she never thought they’d hate her so much, either.

“Why are you making such a fuss of me when I’m your father’s ‘embarrassing past’?”

Instead of letting her feelings of injustice take over, she just smiled. 

You’re really just gonna treat me like some uninvited guest, huh?

She walked on, letting the lush grass tickle her feet and her thoughts roam free.

Blondina heard a small cry from the bushes a few steps away. She stopped walking and listened for it. 

As soon as she heard it again, she started rummaging in the bushes without hesitation.

 A small black creature crawled towards her.

Ah…… pretty.

It was an angelic black kitten. It looked like its hind legs had been injured,

His forehead was studded with jewels the same colour as his eyes.

Blondina bent down to examine the cat’s wounds.

“What an amazing cat.”

「I’m not a cat.」

Surprised, Blondina pulled back.

Could it be? 

….Magic? 

I can’t believe a cat talks to a man….! It must have been a magic cat.

She couldn’t believe it. The palace had already felt mysterious to her, but this was on another level.

“The cat is talking?”

「I told you I’m not a cat!」

“But you’re such a cute little thing, aren’t you?”

「You’re a kid who can’t communicate properly, aren’t you?」

The “cat” slapped the ground with his tail, sending up a flurry of fallen leaves.

Blondina just smiled in surprise.

A child who can’t communicate, huh? Quite a thing to be told by a talking cat.

“Did you hurt your leg?”

「What does it matter to you?」

“I’m afraid you have an injury.”

She picked up one of its legs very carefully, deciding that tending to him was more important than all the questions crossing her mind.

The cat slapped Blondina on the back of her hand with his front paws. It didn’t do much to deter her – rather, she found it very endearing.

The cat was afraid Blondina would call him cute again if he bared his teeth, so he decided to do his best to stay silent.

The displeasure that lingered in Blondina’s mind after the meeting with her half-siblings had disappeared.

“How did you get hurt?”

The cat didn’t answer.

There was a small cliff behind the bushes. A tree was sticking out in the middle, with one branch slightly bent – it seemed to be the thing that injured the cat.

Blondina turned her head back. As she looked at the wound again, she heard a rustling sound behind her.

She looked around to see two cats trying to hide behind a tree.

“Hmm.”

Blondina didn’t take long to realise that those cats were the ones that had done the harm. Their attitudes were exactly like those of the town boys that had chased Blondina into a ditch years ago. She approached them confidently/

“Would you like to come over here for a moment?”

They froze upon hearing her words. 

Blondina’s low-pitched voice apparently held the power to tame beasts.

Strangely, there was no need for human speech.

The cats creeped towards her and she hastily bowed.

“Hey!  You guys understand me, too?”

「….meow.」

The cat was pretending not to understand her, but she could see from the guilt in its eyes that it was bluffing.

Oh, cute. 

She chuckled, but soon regained her seriousness as she thought of the injured kitten.

“Did you guys bother that black cat?”

The cat stole a glance at Blondina before ducking behind the bushes again.

Blondina peered over the bushes.

“You shouldn’t bully your friends, hey. That’s really mean.”

She couldn’t help but see herself and her half-siblings in the same situation.

「Hey, he was the one that bit our tail!」

A nervous voice snapped back from behind Blondina’s back.

「Hey! You guys hit me from behind first!」

「You’re so strong, that couldn’t have hurt you!」

Blondina grabbed the  cat’s tail in a hurry, before it could try to hurt the other more.

Moving on an injured leg only causes pain. Blondina knew this very well from her ample experience of beatings from the innkeeper. 

“Calm down, cat. If you move, you’ll bleed more.”

「I told you I wasn’t a cat!」

In the meantime, the two other cats took the opportunity to escape.

Blondina screamed after them.

“Are you just going? You must apologize later, huh?”

She heard a faraway meow in response.

Blondina approached the wounded kitty again. 

He was still wagging his tail. He must have been angry.

Blondina sat on her knees. She lowered her head to look at the cat, whose expression softened a bit.

“Come with me, cat.”

「No.」

“What are you going to do with that leg alone? I’ll cure you.”

「Why should I follow a stranger?」

“That’s all you need to know? I’m Blondina. Blondina Ryn Athez.”

「I didn’t ask for your name.」

The cat jerked its head away, but Blondina wasn’t about to give up.

“Be friends with me. You don’t have any friends anyway, do you?”

「Who said that?! You disagreeable, saucy man!」

The cat groaned. The girl was right and he knew it, so he was even more annoyed by the comment .

Blondina could tell by the appearance of the cat that he had grown up in the streets just like her. 

“Can you be my friend? I’m alone.”

「…….」

The cat flinched at Blondina’s sudden change of tone. 

“My mom’s dead and my dad got to know me days ago, but I don’t think he likes me. Even my supposed brother and hate me. I got really angry at them earlier.”

She tried to lighten the mood with a forced smile.

She was trying to instill some sympathy in the cat. She actually didn’t care that much – she’d gotten used to loneliness and bad treatment over the years.

“So please be friends with me. Let’s play together.”

The cat’s ears pricked up again as their eyes met and he unconsciously began wagging his tail again.