Bella sat at the dining table, looking over her notes once more. Today was the day of her last exam before Jane would be able to legally certify her with a proficiency degree in Japanese, one of the dead languages of the Gold continent from which their current language, Auran, is derived from.
As she looked the page up and down, she was reminded of the entire reason she started studying the language in the first place: Leon. The mysterious person had appeared in a ball of fire, evaporated Hokuto Lake, and then made his home in the Clairborne mansion.
His brazen attitude towards her own helplessness only exacerbated the issues Bella felt that she had, including the feeling that she was utterly useless and relied on her grandmother for everything.
However, his way of expressing this was so direct that Bella was offended by it instead of accepting the fact which she feared the most. In addition, she was indirectly told this by Leon, someone who thought Bella couldn’t understand him, and that lit a fire under her belly to prove him wholly wrong.
However, much to her dismay she fell asleep before he came home and missed his return completely. She frowned, “Stupid Leon.” She muttered. “It was all his stupid fault since he didn’t come back when he was supposed to.”
Ordinarily, just missing him by a few hours wouldn’t be enough to annoy her so much, but the intruder just had to pass out after eating a bowl of soup and hasn’t been up in 3 days!
Her pouting was held up by the arrival of Jane, who sat down at the table across from her.
“Good morning child. I hope you got an adequate amount of sleep last night considering your exam?” Bella smiled as her only reply. It was unfortunate that her grandmother spoke so kindly, not knowing that she was the very cause of many of Bella’s insecurities herself.
In spite of the fact that Jane treated Bella like a princess at times, the fact was that since her daughter’s death, unless Jane had something to gain from interacting with Bella, she never once did so willingly.
So one couldn’t blame Bella for feeling cautious that Jane was seeming to help her selflessly when it came to Japanese.
Bella cocked her head. Or, more like she wanted to help Bella whenever it had to do with Leon…
Her face suddenly lit up in a blush as a harsh reality hit her. She knew that Jane was interested in Leon as a test subject, so what if her entire plan was to use Bella to seduce Leon into becoming a willing slave!?
“Bella… are you alright?” Jane cocked her head in confusion while Bella shook hers in disgust.
No, no, no! Not even Jane would think of something that obviously dumb, and Leon wouldn’t even fall for it if he wanted to. Focus. Focus!
“I’m ready grandma. Let’s get the exam started.” Jane smiled and, in spite of herself, Bella found herself smiling back. So what if Jane had some ulterior motive? This was something Bella wanted for herself, and if she thought that it would go any other way, she could go straight to hell.
---
“What did you just say?” Bella looked blankly at her grandmother while she went over the results of the test.
“Oh, I said you passed.” Jane had a surprised look on her face when addressing Bella. “Was it really so shocking that you did well, child?”
A vein started to throb on Bella’s forehead. “Not that, it’s what you said after.”
“Oh. Leon said he made contact with a village of goblins that was headed by Hazeel the Conqueror. Apparently he took part in the festival and fought their champion, winning Hazeel’s heart along the way. Really, I haven’t seen her in so long that I should actually take a visit to the forest tomorrow.”
Bella twitched in her seat, happy at the news that she passed but also unbelievably annoyed at Leon’s seduction of another woman.
While she was busy at the mansion bettering her understanding of a foreign language, and also taking mana control lessons with Jane, Leon had been screwing around, barely taking Brago’s lessons seriously and making a promise to the wood elf to rekindle their romance at a later date?
That scumbag, womanizing cheat! How dare he!?
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
After organizing her hurricane-like thoughts, she stood up from her chair with such force that it went hurtling backwards and slammed on the dining room floor.
“Bella, what’s wrong?” Jane calmly asked, as if she had nothing to do with why Bella was riled up. Bella looked at her for a moment before smiling.
“Nothing really, I just need to tell Leon the good news.” She picked up the chair and set it straight before walking away, causing Jane to shiver in her seat.
Jane smiled and rested her head in her hands. That girl was growing up to be just like her mother, even awakening her Demonic Aura earlier than her by a few years to boot.
---
“Argh, just die Leon!” Bella was seething as she walked up the staircase towards Leon’s room.
“You leave me worried for an entire night and I find out you enter a blood contract with this beautiful dark elf to make her practically your slave? Ugh, every time I think you hit a new low, you manage to go even lower than that.” Huffing as she got to the top of the stairs, an unaware Brago tried to greet her.
“Oh, good morning Bella. Don’t forget that we’re going to be heading to the capital, Songrande tomorrow. Could you- eek!” She shot him an icy glare which made his spine tingle, and Brago stepped out of her way faster than with anyone else in his entire life.
“Is he still asleep?” She asked in a calm voice, but her aura struck fear into his very soul. He tried to dig himself further into the wall, which, upon seeing it was impossible, reluctantly nodded his head at her question.
“Good.” She flashed a smile and walked into Leon’s room. Brago slid down the wall he was pressed against and sat on the floor. What in the heaven’s blue skies had Leon done to trigger Bella’s aura so early on in her life?
Bella cracked open the door to Leon’s room, and watched him as he lay there, sleeping. She approached slowly and quietly, ready to jump on him and wake him with a start. However, when she got within a foot of his bed, his eyes snapped open and he lunged at her, knocking them both to the hardwood floor.
Leon held his left forearm over her throat and put his hand on the scythe that was at the foot of his bed. Bella frowned and looked into his eyes.
“Leon, get off of me!” When she saw that he wasn’t all there, still groggy and his gaze not completely clear, she felt the anger boil up in her once again.
“I said get off me!” Using the product of her training with Jane, Bella blasted Leon with a torrent of wind and he slammed into the ceiling, falling face down onto the bed and his pillow.
Bella brushed herself off and stood up, only to find that Leon had gone back to sleep once more. Feeling her ire rise once more she shouted, “Wake up!”
Leon opened his eyes slowly before reluctantly picking himself up from the soft reprieve of the mattress. “What is it Bella?” Her eyes opened as she realized he was seemingly fluent in Azurian, a fact that caused her anger to deflate somewhat.
He had been learning from Brago this whole time, although it might have not been related to combat whatsoever. However, this sudden revelation didn’t cause her to forget about the other source of her anger: the seduction of Hazeel.
“That’s what I should be asking you.” Bella spoke in fluent Japanese. This time it was Leon’s turn to widen his eyes in disbelief.
“Hm… so you’ve made some headway in your training? That’s good.” He smiled sweetly, the first time he had ever shown this expression to her. Despite her best efforts, Bella blushed and looked away from Leon. He wasn't going to make this easy.
---
I turned away from Bella and looked out the window. So much had happened last night, yet I felt no closer to understanding who I was or why I was even in this world in the first place. The worst thing of all though-
“I can’t even remember her name.” I blurted out. Bella flinched at my words, but I decided to ignore it. After all, how was I expected to explain someone I didn’t even remember being my lover in a past life? It was better to just wait until my memories returned fully, instead of trying to paint an incomplete picture.
“What did you just say?” Bella was still turned away from me, so I couldn’t see her face. I continued to stare at the window, at the burned down remains of the forest fire that I caused by landing on this planet.
“Nothing, just an idle musing. Don’t worry about it.” I wanted to continue my idle thoughts, but a cold hand that pinched my cheek brought me out of my thoughts.
“Her name is Hazeel, and she’s the one you made a slave’s deal with. Seriously though-” her pinching got tighter with each word, “how did you seduce one of history’s most famous figureheads?”
I pinched her hand, eliciting a yelp and her letting go. “Seduce her?” I questioned. “The last thing I remember is talking to her in her tent and waking up this morning. What are you talking about?”
Bella’s expression fell from her face. “What are you talking about!? That’s not the story you told grandma when you came home.”
I frowned, and came to an understanding about what had happened at the goblin village. Looking into Bella’s eyes, I could see the anger and annoyance. However, I also saw worry and fear. Maybe it’s time to tell her about what I’ve recalled since coming here. She is, by extension, my benefactor. That has to count for something… right?
“Bella, listen to me. I-” I was interrupted by a loud slam that came from downstairs, and we both got up immediately to see what had happened. We ran down the stairs, and when we finally reached the bottom-
“Yay Uncle Conrad, you came to visit!”
“Haha! Glad to see you Belladonna.” I watched as the hulking frame of a man picked up Bella and brought her close to his face so she could give him a kiss on the cheek.
Uncle Conrad. I mulled over the moniker in my mind over and over again, but stopped when I noticed the man staring at me. He grinned and put Bella down. “So… I see the boy is awake.