I had barely calmed down by the point I've reached the table, the entire walk over riddled with thoughts about me answering back to Father. I hadn't done that before, his presence always seemed too intimidating for me to try and talk back to him the way I did just now. 'Is this because of Cerolus?'

Cerolus was not in his chair, seemingly disappearing from sight. I had considered talking to him about... well, everything, but I now had to find a new conversational partner. I knew there was one person who understood me here, so I had to go to her.

I reached Magdalene's table, where I found her in a conversation with other noble ladies. She saw my approach and beckoned me with her hand as I took a chair out and sat, trying to remember these women's names. I had just realised I hadn't interacted with any nobility in two months, being completely isolated in my castle. My entire days were devoted to learning the language, training in magic, and studying combat. 'No, wait, it's studying the language...'

I was engrossed in my thoughts so much to not notice that every woman at the table was looking at me. I was obviously asked a question but did not hear it. I put a small facial cue out to Magdalene for her to repeat the question, my face slightly nodding in her direction. Thankfully, my sister is a lot better at social gatherings than I ever was, a fact which some people always reminded me of.

"So, Sophia, how have you been these past months?" Magdalene feigned interest since she already knew almost every detail. I tried to think of any way to make a proper conversation with that question. I simply wondered what all these people thought about Cerolus or Demons in general because if they were anything like me in the beginning, there would be little point in trying to dissuade them. Many of these women lost their family in the war, so the only emotion I could build upon was anger, and I wasn't comfortable with that because eventually, that would seep towards me as well.

"It's been fine. Dralarag is quite nice. The plantlife could use some improvements, to be honest, but it's not bad." I attempted a laugh, but only a pained chuckle managed to escape. My audience seemed more puzzled by my words than entertained or interested, and that moment was the one where I realised I would be treading on a completely new territory from henceforth. 'A wife of a Demon or a Human Princess, how do these people around see me as?'

Thinking it would only be fair, I then tried to further my cause in letting others understand what Dralarag is like to someone who had barely heard, let alone seen it. My tries to unravel the mysteries of the things I've seen have gone mostly... awry.

"So, the tree produces lovely white flowers?" General Kalus' wife was the first one to understand the concept of the Seraphim tree that I had tried to explain a few times.

"Yes." I inwardly sighed, the prospects of some of my explanations giving roots seemed to take a lot of energy, mostly mental rather than physical, out of me.

"And then the flowers burn the ground they land on?" Oriana Kalus was a smart woman. Someone who was married to one of the leaders of the army had to be both smart and educated to manoeuvre around the man that gave her the last name she wore. But even she seemed to found the concept of the tree baffling. 'With good excuse, to be frank. I'm not even certain what part of the explanation made sense.'

"Well, yes. The flowers are actually used only to attract the insects the tree wants. Since it grows in areas rich in magical power, the flowers simply use the unstable remnants of the energy they develop in to also serve as a last ditch defense against animals that would harm the tree." I've almost repeated that sentence mechanically as I've heard it. Tiana had to hammer that one in over the course of a couple of sessions, her observation that I learned better when listening about things I could imagine having some solid construct of believability. It would've been either that or me being too stupid to understand the perfect logic of the flaming tree.

"And the flowers don't ignite until they hit the ground?"

"No, they ignite if they hit anything," I mimed a Flame Burst without accidentally doing it, as the mere action already tried to make use of some of my mana. Cerolus described the process as muscle memory, something he had said would eventually come naturally to me like it does for most of the better-trained Demons. Some scary thought ran throughs my mind that day, me being on fire was one of them. I recalled having to scrap a dress because a wind decided to blow too strongly on one particular afternoon, the same day Seraphim was apparently 'in full bloom'.

The crowd around me gasped, more in confusion than in shock. Some murmurs went around the table, as women whispered between one another. I just watched everything unfold, everyone around me treating me like some kind of a story teller. 'Or a lunatic.'

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"So, why do you have that outside of your home?" The question was actually a sensible one, but it seemed quite naive in its essence.

"Because..." I stopped to think a bit about the answer, trying to put together something that didn't seem like half-assed or comical. "Because the flowers are beautiful, and it doesn't actually seem that dangerous. The smell is also divine."

I think the women laughed at me rather than with me on that one. The portion of those that did, in the least. Some of them retained their demeanour from before my answer, their faces incredulously akin to a mask, a single expression plastered across a pale canvas. 'How was I even looking forward to these when I was younger?'

Magdalene took one of my hands in hers. "I'm sure it's amazing when you get to actually see it."

"Yes, I'm sure it's wonderful," came from someone at the table, the barely contained snickering going around.

These people were starting to mock me now. They could not understand what I've been going through so they decided to uphold it as nonsense. 'Was I like this at first?'

"I think I'll go get some fresh air and a drink," I said absently to my sister, not even trying to wait in case she did not hear me. I had enough of them anyway. I got up, an empty glass of wine in my hand. I usually didn't drink the wine, its taste being brutally sour at times, but I've somehow found myself having a few glasses anyway. In any case, it made me feel a bit more relaxed towards the situation in front of me. 'Who cares about them anyway? I'm not trying to impress anyone, and they will hardly ever get to see anything I described. Might as well leave it at that.'

I tried to find Cerolus among the crowd. For someone so large and... noticeable, he somehow always managed to blend in with the crowd. Or he simply wasn't here. 'Where could he have gone to?'

I noticed Cerolus somewhere in the distance talking to people around him. At that point, I desired to know how he could do that, get an upper hand in the crowd, keep calm and serene, and take hold of a conversation easily. People seemed to somehow like him, to my amazement.

He turned his head towards me and smiled. My mind felt like hovering, all thoughts dissipating in the moment. I started walking towards him. In my mind, that's where I felt I could be now. Where I needed to be.

My head turned slightly in my half-awake state of walking, my gaze locking with Gavin, who was in a position between sitting and standing. His face was red, his eyes faltered slightly but he managed to look straight at me nonetheless. A noticeable smell of wine and ale spread from his clothes. It would appear he decided to get drunk at my brother's wedding. I chuckled at the thought. Rounds of laughter echoed around as the people told jokes and stories.

"Well, look who we have here," he studdered briefly, his words ringing around, directed both at me and the people around him, who seemed equally inebriated.  The laughter stopped briefly as the people started to watch me.

"It's my dear sister Sophia." I thought he would choke at the word considering the obvious malice and sarcasm put into it. Whatever his problem with me was, and I didn't know of it, it seemed to be his centre of thought at the moment. "Why aren't you with the Demon, sister? I thought you never left his side."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Gavin." My stance became defensive in an instant, my hands warping around my chest. I suddenly could feel the chill of the evening air around me.

"You don't? Look at her, not knowing what I'm talking about." He made a weird gesture around the table, some of his friends, or drinking buddies in the least, picking up on the intended humour if there was any. "You go away, you don't write, you don't talk to us, and you always look for that blasted Demon when around us. It's always him, him, him.

"It hurts a bit, to be left like that, you know?" He made a small weep, then returned to his 'normal' self. "But what could I know about that anyway, here you are with your Demon husband, wearing a black dress, with red gems. You look a lot like them now. Like those Demons."

He spat, and I noticed now that most of the crowd had gathered around us in the meantime. As much as I wished sometimes to be the centre of attention, this wasn't it.

"It's not like that, Gavin."

"Oh, it isn't? Then tell me, Sophia, what's it like? You seem like you could always talk about him, I wonder what he is doing for you. Or to you." He snickered, the emphasis on the last words clearly intentional, whispers going around the crowd. "That must be it. Sophia doesn't just look like a Demon now, she likes them, too. No, she loves them. How is it then, sis?"

I was somehow lost in his insults, intended or otherwise. "How is what?"

"How does it feel to love Demons? How does it feel to have one beside you? No, one inside you. After all, you must've taken it by now, that would explain everything."

There was a subtle line there, and he managed to cross it. Gavin slowly trudged around the crowd, slowly sipping whatever drink he had in his hands.

"Hey, everyone! Sophia likes Demon co.."*SLAP* I stopped thinking for a moment. I've had enough of everyone, and everything. But this was too much. My hand moved by itself. The palm connected to his cheek. I didn't try distancing myself. Wisps of flame erupted from my palm. They burned.

Gavin yelped and fell. He tried to smother the fire that took on his hair with his hands. He screamed, he grunted, he cursed. People around us gasped, everyone's eyes were on us now.

"You bitch! You burned me! Now you are truly a Demon! I'll kill you!" Gavin gasped for air between sentences, his singed brows, burnt hair, and charred skin hanging from half of his face. It looked like a really well-made mask at times. Then the realisation struck.

'I did that. I've hurt someone. I've hurt my family.' Tears started welling from my eyes uncontrollably.

'I'm a monster' was one thought that echoed throughout my mind, as my legs decided to move by themselves, and the entire scenery became dulled and distant as I ran.

I ran to my room because that was the only place I could be right now, the only place where the monster could be alone.