“Ouch!... Where am I?”

A sharp, stinging pain in her head woke Rina from her sleep.

“Woow... this bed is so soft.” Feeling the softness on her back, she concluded that she was currently lying in a bed, a really high-quality one at that. Since her rebirth, she had always slept on either dirt ground in the forest or on the wooden floor of her old, half-burned house. This being her first time on a bed, she couldn't keep her comment about the softness of it to herself. Unfortunately for her, the experience was somewhat dampened by the pain she felt all over her body.

So the girl mustered all her willpower to fight off the soreness and sat up to look around the room she was in. The size of the room, the decoration, the furniture, the canopy over the bed. All of these left Rina with only one conclusion.

“Is this a noble's home?”

The face of the blonde girl came to her mind. It was obvious that she stemmed from an aristocratic family. Hadn't she announced that she was the daughter of a viscount? So was Rina in this girl's house right now?

“No, more importantly, did she, or rather they, see it when I activated the black magic circles back then?” The thought made her face pale and she held her head in her hands. 'T-t-t-this is bad! Really bad! Is that why they brought me here? To kill me? But It doesn't make sense, because shouldn't I be in a prison cell instead of this luxurious room if that was the case? A-and what was that black mist? It came from those men... Was it because I have put my Dark magic seals on them? B-but this has never happened before. Is that what those knight-like people and the blonde girl think?'

The more she thought about how and why she had ended up here, the more she panicked because she couldn't come up with any answers at all. Then, as if to mock her confusion, the door of the room opened slightly and a head with blonde hair peeked through the crack as if to see if Rina was already awake. And indeed, upon eye contact, the newcomer opened the door completely and entered the room gracefully. It was the blonde girl, who had called herself Clara.

She walked up to the side of Rina's bed and greeted her. “Did you sleep well? Do you remember me?”

“Y-yes... t-thank you for asking. You said you are Lady C-C-Clara D-Dragonherz...”

“That's right, so you remember... AH!... Ahem! Forgive me my rudeness...” The blonde grabbed the hem of the long skirt of her blue dress, pulled it up a little, and gave a slight bow. “Allow me to introduce myself again. My name is Clara Dragonherz, daughter of Eric Dragonherz and granddaughter of Rick Dragonherz. Nice to meet you,”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“... Can you please tell me your name?”

“Eeehh!? S-s-s-s-s-sorry. M-m-m-my n-n-n-n-name i-i-i-is R-R-R-R-Rina.” When the girl on the bed, who had been completely stunned by Clara's graceful introduction, was brought out of her daze, she could only revert to her old personality and stammer at every word. The combination of shock, the flowery scent of an expensive soap mixed with the natural odour of a girl, and the fact that Rina had no resistance at all to talk to kind girls, had completely turned her brain to mush.

Clara, on the other other hand, mistook the stuttering for fear of the nobility and was dejected by the reaction as a result. After all, there were plenty of aristocrats who would feel offended by the slightest mistake made by a commoner. In fact, she had been one of them until she met the red-haired girl. No, she still is, it's just that the girl in front of her was an exception. For some reason, she felt that whatever happened, she would never be angry with the younger girl. She would even go further and want to be on friendly terms with her.

“You don't have to panic. I, no, the Dragonherz family won't do anything to you. So please rest assured.” To underline her words, Clara gave the friendliest smile she could muster, only for the redhead to look away. This only deepened the blonde's misunderstanding of the situation. 'As expected, she seemed to fear me.' But since there currently were more pressing matters at hand, Clara shook off her dejection at being feared by the younger girl out of her head and motioned one of the maids standing outside of the room to bring her a chair. Once seated, she spoke.

“You said your name is Rina?”

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“Y-yes.”

“Where are your parents?” At this point, it was clear to Clara, that the man who had accompanied the girl was not Rina's father. And if he was, then he would have deserved a much, much more painful death, than a single stab to the heart.

“T-they are dead.”

“I see. I am sorry about that.”

Rina shook her head, to show that she didn't mind it.

“Where do you live?”

“I w-was living in a village, three days' walk away from here.”

“...Was?”

This time, Rina nodded. “Y-yes, I came to the c-capital to earn money and t-to train myself for the i-invasion.”

“That's... very noble of you.” Hearing that from a girl who looked younger than she was, Clara couldn't help but feel a little conflicted. As the daughter of an aristocrat, she led a very luxurious life. And as the only princess of her parents, she was naturally spoiled to death by them. So she can't imagine, what it must be like to be on your own at such a young age. The girl in front of her had even left her village to earn money and train, and was attacked by some men as a result.

'!?!?'

At sudden realisation Clara jumped out of her chair and slammed her fists on the bed, her face pale like a ghost. “Y-y-y-you! D-d-d-don't tell me you s-s-s-sold your b-b-b-body to those men for m-m-m-m-money!?!?!” 'No wait! Was this even her first time? Maybe she has already done it multiple times before?! N-noo...' The further the blonde thought about this, the more colour left her face. But when she looked at Rina's face, she was met with a really confused expression.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Ehh?”

“Eh?”

“...”

“...”

After a few seconds of silence, a now bright-red Clara sat back down on her chair, visibly relieved. “F-forget what I asked.”

“...”

“...”

“Erm, Lady D-Dragonherz?” This time, Rina interrupted the awkward silence.

“Just call me Clara.”

“Lady C-Clara?”

“Well, I guess that's fine for now... Yes? How can I help?” The blonde replied, once again slightly dejected.

“W-what happened to me? I c-can remember that the black mist was suddenly floating towards us.”

“Ah yes. But before it could reach us, you pushed me aside...”

“I'm t-t-terribly sorry for that!” Before Clara could finish her sentence Rina had slammed her head on the bed, ignoring the fact that her body was still hurting.

“Eh? No, that's not what I meant, when I mentioned it.” The blonde waved her hand and shook her head frantically as if to show that Rina had misunderstood her. “I'm grateful for what you did. You saved me back then.” This time Clara bowed her head. “Excuse me for the delay... Thank you for saving me from the mist. Without you, I might not be here right now.”

“N-no need to t-thank me. My b-body just moved as a r-reflex...” Unused to being thanked at, Rina's voice faded with each word she muttered.

“I think it's admirable that your body moves reflexly in a situation like that.” The young noble straightened her back again. “Now back at the topic at hand... After you pushed me aside, the cloud collided with you and was sucked into your body.”

“...”

“Afterwards you suddenly screamed out, like you were really in pain.”

“Y-yes, that was the last thing I can remember.”

“The guard captain, from whom the cape I gave you came, expected you to turn violent afterwards. But you didn't. You just fainted after a few minutes, and now you're talking to me with your mind intact. Normally it should be impossible after touching the dark cloud... Now let me ask... What did you do? Why are you still able to talk to me normally? Why did the cloud get sucked into your body?”

“I d-d-don't know.” Rina wasn't lying as she was as clueless as everyone else. After all, it was the first time that she had seen such an ominous cloud.

“Haaaaah, okay, fine... After you fainted, I had my guards carry you back to my home to help you recover.”

“T-thank you, L-Lady Clara.” Rina smiled at her and bowed her head.

“N-no need to thank me for that. I only did what was expected of a noble.” Blushing slightly, the blonde turned away.

“H-how long was I unconscious?”

“Not long, for about twelve hours I would say.”

“I s-see... once again... t-thank you for saving me. N-not only did you nurse me back, y-you also saved me from the men...”

At Rina's words, Clara couldn't help but feel conflicted, once again. In noble society, it was quite common for family heads to marry off their daughters for the sake of connection and influence as soon as they reached the age when they could bear children. As the daughter of a viscount herself, Clara had been taught a few years ago, what her duties as a nobleman's wife would entail. So she could understand what those men wanted to do with RIna back then. But for some reason, the thought irritated her so much that she felt her blood boil.

She glanced at the red-haired girl's face, only to instantly look away again. The irritation had disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. Instead, she could now feel her face heating up. 'I can't let her go back alone again... But what can I do?'

After a few minutes of silence, Clara nodded at herself as if she was convinced of something, and turned to Rina. With her kindest smile on her face, the blonde held out her hand and asked,

“Will you serve me?”