The Rakshasa Princess’s Love (3)

“My father was the head of the Ao family. Among the houses of the oni, the Ao family has the second-longest history. The place where I was born is inhabited almost entirely by oni connected to the Ao family.”

Unlike this land, it was said to be a frozen place locked in what seemed like perpetual winter.

Thick clouds constantly covered the sky, and every breath turned white. The snow that accumulated during the night would blanket the entire world in pure white by morning.

“If your father was the head of the family, does that mean you’re the heir to the Ao family, Ryoga-sama?”

“Well, yes.”

Mei’s eyes widened at the unexpected revelation. She had known Ryoga was a powerful oni, but she had never imagined his status was so great.

“…Is that why they call you the ‘Yasha King’?”

The words slipped quietly from her lips—the same words Gen had once muttered.

“Where did you hear that name?”

“Ah, um… I’m sorry.”

Realizing her mistake, Mei hurriedly apologized, but Ryoga shook his head as though telling her not to worry about it.

“One of your bad habits is how quickly you apologize like that. I’m not blaming you, nor am I angry.”

With a wry smile, Ryoga brushed his bangs back from his forehead.

“Oni who possess particularly great power are called ‘Yasha.’ I was born a Yasha.”

His eyes narrowed as though recalling something from long ago, and Ryoga gazed into the distance.

“And because of that, my mother died.”

“!”

Mei caught her breath at Ryoga’s confession.

“My mother wasn’t an oni. She was the incarnation of a flower. She was apparently a fragile being born from a flower called the Hundred-Petal Lotus, which blooms only here in the Otherworld. Giving birth to me, a Yasha, weakened her body, and she remained bedridden for the rest of her life. The only image I have of my mother is of her lying asleep.”

An unmistakable sadness seeped into Ryoga’s expression as he spoke.

“If I had been an ordinary oni, perhaps my mother’s health would never have failed. To my father, she was everything. After she died, he began to resent me.”

“That’s awful…”

“Ironically, being rejected by my father was what made me strong. Without a parent’s protection, becoming stronger was the only way I could survive. Before I knew it, my power had surpassed even my father’s, the head of the Ao family, and those around me began saying that one day I would become the king who ruled over all oni… the Yasha King.”

At last, Mei understood why she had been called the “Yasha’s Princess.” Yasha King must have been a title Ryoga had acquired whether he wanted it or not. That was why Gen had hesitated to explain it back then.

Ryoga tilted his head slightly, a self-deprecating smile on his face.

“At the same time that people praised me, they also began to fear me. Some wanted to install me as the heir, while others wanted to take my place. There were some vicious struggles over it.”

Perhaps remembering those days, a dangerous edge entered Ryoga’s expression.

“I never wanted any of it. They were all selfish fools. So I abandoned my homeland and chose to live here.”

Mei instinctively pressed a hand to her chest and pursed her lips.

(—Ah… I see. So that was it.)

She felt a question that had long been lodged in her heart finally unravel.

(—Ryoga-sama has been so considerate of me because we went through the same thing.)

Their positions and the nature of their powers were different, but they had both been cast aside for being different. Ryoga must have understood the suffering and sorrow Mei had endured.

Yet as she came to understand him, a faint loneliness welled up inside her.

Being a Princess was not the only reason he had brought her here. Ryoga had pitied Mei’s circumstances and extended his hand to her. Perhaps what he felt was closer to compassion than simple sympathy. Just as he healed and sheltered wounded Aberrations, he had taken Mei in as well.

“Were you… lonely?”

Mei had always been lonely.

She had spent all those years with her heart frozen, wondering why she alone had to suffer so much. If even one person had stayed beside her, she was sure she could have endured it.

“…Yes. Perhaps I was. But I’ve already forgotten. It happened a very long time ago…”

Mei found herself unable to say anything more.

“Ever since I came here, I’ve felt much more at ease. As you know, I live here with people like Gen and Aki. I kept taking in those who had nowhere else to go, and before I knew it, the household had grown this large.”

The expression on Ryoga’s face softened completely from what it had been moments before.

Just as this place had become a home for Mei, it must also have been the home Ryoga had finally managed to find for himself. Every Aberration living in the residence admired and respected Ryoga. Surely they, too, had been saved by him just as Mei had.

“I consider myself to have abandoned that place long ago, but there are still people within the family who want to make me the heir. Every so often, they send letters like this or dispatch someone to see me.”

Ryoga’s gaze returned to the letter in question.

“Then the guest you mentioned is…”

“One of them. I send them away every time, but they never seem to learn.”

“That sounds difficult…”

Seeing Ryoga’s shoulders slump, Mei’s own shoulders felt heavy just imagining how troublesome it must be.

“If I refuse to deal with them, they harass the people of this residence and cause trouble every time. If they learned about you, it would only make matters worse. Until our guest leaves, I want you to decline everything except urgent treatment and spend your time quietly in the inner part of the residence.”

It was obvious that he truly did not want Mei to encounter this visitor.

“Then will you be the one dealing with the guest, Ryoga-sama?”

“Much as it irritates me, yes. They’ll probably stay for a month. I may not be able to see you very often during that time.”

He was surely doing it to protect Mei. The kindness of it made her chest ache.

His blue eyes turned toward Mei with a displeased look.

“I really wanted to take you to the festival. There were so many things I wanted to show you…”

“Ryoga-sama.”

“To think they would come at this particular time…”

The way he spoke sounded almost like a sulking child, and it was so endearing that Mei could not keep the corners of her mouth from turning upward.

“…Then please take me to the next festival.”

“Mei.”

It was the first wish Mei had ever expressed entirely of her own accord.

Until now, she had lived simply accepting whatever she was given and doing whatever she was ordered to do. She had almost never wanted anything for herself. But now—

“I want to go to a festival with you, Ryoga-sama.”

If they could walk outside together, surely it would be wonderful.

It was far too modest to call a dream, yet for Mei, it was a sight she had never even imagined before.

“Would that… be all right?”

“Of course it would! How could it not be…!”

Ryoga rose slightly from his seat, his voice unexpectedly high with excitement.

He must have been genuinely delighted that Mei had wished for something.

“…Damn it. Now I’m even more annoyed.”

There seemed to be genuine anger in the eyes he used to glare at the letter, and Mei could not help laughing aloud.

“Please don’t push yourself too hard. If you get tired, call for me.”

(—I want to use my power for you whenever you need me.)

That was another wish of Mei’s, one she still did not have the courage to speak aloud.

She wanted to use this power for Ryoga. If only she could tell him that this power existed for his sake.

Even now, Mei unquestionably belonged to Ryoga, and he wanted and needed her as his Princess. That made her very happy. And yet, a selfish desire had begun to grow within her, telling her that somehow, that alone was no longer quite enough.

Ryoga was a mighty Yasha, and she could hardly imagine a day ever coming when he would suffer an injury serious enough to require treatment. But if that day did come, Mei knew without even needing to think about it that she would give everything she had to heal him.

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen that would require troubling you.”

At the gentleness in his voice, something deep in Mei’s heart sank heavily. Feeling disappointed was shameful, and yet a part of her she could no longer completely hide seemed to whisper in a faint voice—

Why?