The Rakshasa Princess’s Love (7)

By the time Ryoga finished looking back on the past, he had reached his room. As he placed a hand on the handle to enter, he sensed that someone was already inside.

Suppressing the anger rising within him, he slid the door open and found Yoka standing there as though she had every right to be.

“What is the meaning of this, Ryoga?!”

Ryoga glared back at Yoka as she approached, her entire body trembling with rage.

Yoka was the daughter of a family known for its pride even among the branch houses. She frequently came to this residence and pestered Ryoga, insisting that he return to his homeland and marry her. No matter how many times he refused and sent her away, she would simply show up again and disrupt his daily life.

There had been days when he had considered simply killing her, but if he laid a hand on her, the oni from their homeland would never remain silent. If conflict broke out, the Aberrations who had gathered around Ryoga out of loyalty to him could also be harmed, so he had tolerated her until now.

“I will not forgive this! I’ll kill that little girl right now!”

“What did you just say?”

Ryoga closed the distance between them in an instant, seized Yoka by the jaw, and tightened his fingers.

“Ghk—w-what are you…”

She clearly had not expected him to attack her. Yoka’s face went deathly pale as she struggled desperately, trying to pry Ryoga’s hand away, but her resistance was meaningless.

“Do not get carried away. The only reason I haven’t killed you is because dealing with the consequences would be a nuisance. Never forget that, if I chose to, I could wipe out your entire family along with you.”

“…!”

For the first time, Yoka’s expression changed completely.

“If you lay a hand on Mei, I’ll gouge out your eyes.”

“Aaaah!”

His anger made it difficult to control his strength, and blue flames flared in his palm.

The fire scorched Yoka’s white skin.

The sickening smell of burning flesh filled the room.

“Never touch Mei again. Do you understand?”

Ryoga pressed his thumb against her throat as he threatened her, and Yoka nodded frantically.

When he released her by throwing her down against the floor, Yoka trembled like a weakened insect.

The face she turned up toward Ryoga was unmistakably afraid.

“No matter what happens, I will never take you as my wife. There has only ever been one woman I gave my heart to, and that has been true for a very long time.”

“Ah…”

Yoka let out a pitiful whimper, tears welling in her eyes, then crawled away and disappeared from the room.

At last, silence returned.

Ryoga’s shoulders slumped weakly.

(—Mei.)

He loved her so much that he felt he needed nothing else.

How could he protect her?

How could he cherish her?

Ryoga still had not found the answer.

Mei thought she heard someone crying and forced her heavy eyelids open.

The room was dim, and the air outside the futon was chilly.

At the faint sound of birds singing, she realized she must have slept straight through until dawn.

She slowly sat up and looked around the room, but no one was there.

Perhaps the crying had been something she imagined, or part of a dream.

When she slid open the door and stepped into the corridor, she found Gen curled into a small ball, sleeping soundly.

Apparently, he had been standing guard there the entire time.

Mei did not have the heart to wake him, so she left him as he was and stepped away.

As she headed toward the kitchen to get some water, she noticed someone sitting on the veranda.

“…!”

It was Yoka.

She sat curled up with her knees hugged to her chest like a child.

She looked like a completely different person from the woman who had attacked Mei in that very place the day before.

Mei considered turning around and fleeing back to her room, but then a faint sound reached her ears.

(—Is she crying?)

Could it have been Yoka’s sobbing that Mei had heard earlier while half asleep?

“Yoka-san.”

At Mei’s voice, Yoka’s entire body jerked dramatically before she looked up.

“Y-you!”

“…! What happened to your face?!”

There was a painful-looking burn scar across Yoka’s cheek, and her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Mei.

Mei instinctively hurried toward her, but Yoka stiffened and drew back as though she might run away at any moment.

“Stay away from me!”

The way she rejected Mei with her entire body resembled a hissing cat.

Yoka had seemed terrifying the day before, but perhaps because of her injury, Mei did not find her nearly as frightening now.

“This is your fault! Because of you, Ryoga…!”

As Yoka burst into tears, Mei caught her breath.

“That wound… Ryoga-sama did that?”

“I threatened to kill you, and this is what happened! Curse you…!”

It was a rather terrifying thing to hear, yet strangely enough, Mei felt neither fear nor anger.

Perhaps it was because Yoka, sniffling and crying like this, looked like nothing more than an ordinary girl.

“…May I touch it?”

Mei slowly drew closer so as not to frighten her and placed a hand against Yoka’s cheek.

She thought Yoka might slap her hand away, but there was no resistance.

Frowning at the rough, painful texture beneath her fingers, Mei slowly poured her power into the injury.

“Please don’t move.”

The wound was shallow and only affected the surface, so within a few seconds, it vanished without leaving a trace.

Yoka must have been able to feel it happening.

Her already large eyes widened even further as she stared at Mei.

“…There. It’s all right now.”

Mei slowly removed her hand, and Yoka cautiously reached up to touch her own cheek.

She ran her fingertips over it again and again, as though confirming the texture.

“The wound really is…”

Yoka froze in astonishment, her tears stopping altogether.

Mei smiled at her.

“Will you stop trying to kill me now?”

“Wha—!”

Yoka’s eyes flew open, and her face turned bright red.

Mei knew she had said something rather mean, but considering Yoka had nearly struck her the day before, surely she could be forgiven this much.

After remaining silent for a while, Yoka pouted sulkily.

“…You’re more gutsy than you look.”

“This is the only thing I have, after all.”

Mei answered her lingering stare with a wry smile, and Yoka let out an exhausted sigh.

“Oh, how ridiculous.”

She shook her head hard enough to send her beautiful hair flying, then snorted and turned her back on Mei.

“I’m going home. Ryoga rejected me, and now you’ve shown me pity… I’ve been completely humiliated.”

“What?”

Mei felt as though she had just heard something she could not ignore.

“Um—”

She raised her voice to stop Yoka, but she had no idea what exactly she should ask.

Perhaps noticing Mei’s agitation, Yoka turned only her head back toward her with an annoyed expression.

“That Ryoga said there’s a woman he’s loved for a long time. Infuriating.”

Though she spat out the words bitterly, Yoka’s expression looked somehow lonely.

She said nothing more and left.

Mei remained where she was, standing there in a daze.

(—A woman he’s loved for a long time.)

The words Yoka had told her left Mei deeply shaken.

The shock was even greater than when Yoka had claimed to be Ryoga’s betrothed, and Mei’s legs trembled.

Yoka had not truly been his betrothed.

Mei had barely finished feeling relieved about that before discovering that she apparently really had lost her love after all.

She did not know how long Ryoga had felt that way, but if it had been for a long time, then it certainly could not be Mei, whom he had only met recently.

Each time she was shown that this love could never come true, she was forced to realize it all over again.

Just how deeply she had fallen for Ryoga.

She envied the woman who held Ryoga’s heart.

Overcome by a sorrow and jealousy that seemed to burn through her very body, Mei silently began to cry.