Chapter 43

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

---

Hixon shouted in a loud voice.

"Hey!"

"Uncle, it's okay. Sister won't hurt me."

"No, that's not it."

Hixon's eyes, as big as pearls, trembled.

"I feel disappointed, Viola."

Viola didn't understand Hixon's words at first.

Disappointed?

About what?

She looked at Hixon's face.

'He really is disappointed, isn't he?'

She thought she understood why he was acting this way.

"No. I trust you. I think you're a good adult."

"But why do I have to go too?"

"Because I want to talk to Sister alone."

"So, why am I left out? I feel disappointed."

Hixon felt as if he were looking at a young daughter who had just told him, "Dad, I have a boyfriend!"

"I can't help it even if you feel disappointed."

"Why are you so firm?"

"Can't I be firm?"

"I wish you couldn't."

Hixon finally sighed deeply.

Then he looked at Tundra.

Tundra was indeed the easiest target.

"I can't stand it. We need to have a heated conversation."

"Uncle, don't take it out on my dog."

"It's not taking it out, it's training."

"But why do your eyes flash with killing intent?"

"…Did it show? Haha!"

But Tundra's response was even more surprising.

"I'll do my best, Master."

Hixon felt disappointed by Viola and strongly shocked by Tundra.

He has been continuously stimulated lately.

When he met the third prince Kun, it was the same.

And it's the same now.

'I was a reliable companion.

If I had been, I could have been here too.'

Talking alone.

In other words, it means she doesn't want to tell anyone else.

I am also included in the category of 'anyone else.'

'It must be because I haven't given enough trust.'

Viola said she would be there for her.

When she lost her father and sister, she reached out her hand.

'Someday, I will reach out my hand to my master. I will become a trustworthy companion.'

So, she had to become stronger.

She said to her master with a serious look.

"Please be rough with me."

***

Viola was left alone with Medea.

Medea sheathed her sword and looked at Viola.

Her lavender hair and eyes.

Her small stature compared to her peers.

She looked frail and delicate.

'I heard she didn't eat enough when she was young?'

She had heard that the effects of that still lingered.

"Sister, you said that if you were my enemy, I would have been killed."

"Yes."

"Do you think I didn't know that?"

"You must have known."

If Viola hadn't shown her 'Black Bella' side, such words might have sounded unrealistic.

But Viola had already passed the qualification test.

From the beginning of her adoption to now.

She had shown a more Bella-like demeanor than anyone else and had even achieved the feat of suppressing bandits recently.

Of course, it was actually Hixon and Tundra who did it, but Medea didn't know that.

"But why do you think I charged in so recklessly?"

"I don't know. Why did you?"

"Because I trusted you."

"Is there any objective evidence or circumstances that make you trust me?"

"I already said, if you had been determined, the second and third princes would already be dead."

If she had a personality like Bichen,

the second and third princes would have already been found dead.

She would have solidified her position as the successor even more.

"Sister."

She called Medea again.

Medea didn't mind being called 'Sister.'

Viola gave her a special feeling.

She couldn't understand why she sent such blind trust and goodwill towards her.

'Is it a political calculation?'

The iron-blooded Bella.

Bella, who can wear a thousand masks.

Is she wearing a mask and approaching me like this?

"I always wear a mask."

"I know. We all wear masks."

Viola looked into Medea's eyes for a moment.

Medea's eyes were red.

They looked like polished rubies.

"You know what I mean, don't you, Sister?"

"I don't understand."

Medea, in fact, wears a mask.

As the first princess of Bella, Medea doesn't want to kill her blood relatives.

She is a person who loves Bella and her family more than anyone else.

That's why she chose to become strong.

"If you're not going to be honest, I'll be honest first."

"..."

"I don't like this."

"What don't you like?"

"The war among blood relatives. The various schemes and intrigues to become the successor, I don't like any of it. I have always longed for a family.

The family I dream of and admire is not like this."

Medea's expression hardened.

A thick killing intent flowed from her ruby-red eyes.

"Viola, you're not very Bella-like."

"Well, I wasn't born as a Bella. I was a very ordinary child who was abandoned."

Frankly, Viola was a bit startled.

Medea is a first-class knight recognized by the empire.

Among them, she is a one-star knight who received a star from the Sword Emperor.

The killing intent of a one-star knight was incomparable to that of Bichen.

It felt as if endless darkness was descending on Viola and the entire world around her.

It felt like she was sinking into a swamp of darkness, suffocating.

'Pull yourself together.

I know how much influence the author's settings have in this world.

That's why I didn't shrink back.

"I'm an adopted daughter."

"That doesn't excuse your tantrum. It seems you regret being adopted."

"No. Bella is a good place. It's much better than where I originally came from. My mother died a long time ago, and my father abandoned me. I had no siblings. Before coming to Bella, I was very, very hard and lonely."

As she spoke, her emotions welled up.

She tried to ignore and forget, but the unhealed fragments of emotion cut her heart like sharp glass.

"The only person who ever gave me strength is gone."

She grew up like family and liked Kang Jun, who died in a traffic accident.

That was the hardest time for her.

"Who was that?"

"That's... "

She realized she had said too much.

As she spoke, she choked up and said too much.

"That must be Hixon's daughter."

Medea understood.

"Yes. You said you got close to Uncle because of his daughter."

Medea looked at Viola with a slightly softened gaze.

She lived a very different life from herself, who was born as the first princess of the duke's family.

She thought Medea was just an iron-blooded princess, but it turned out she wasn't entirely.

'A thousand masks...'

Medea was confident in herself.

No matter what others said, her values and beliefs never wavered.

"Then, does 'iron-blooded Bella' mean a mask?"

"Yes. Like you."

Medea also always wears a mask.

To become the perfect princess.

To become the most perfect princess and eventually swallow Bella.

To destroy this ecosystem of the survival of the fittest.

"You're sure I wear a mask."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I felt it from the welcome banquet.

You looked at me with concern, not curiosity."

Medea was momentarily speechless.

Viola was right.

Medea didn't see Viola as a curiosity.

'“I heard she's seven, but she's so small.”

'She's just a child who doesn't know anything. I hope she's okay.'

'If she dies in front of me, it will be heartbreaking.'

Viola read all these thoughts in the novel.

Viola continued.

"Your eyes were so different from everyone else's, it was obvious."

"..."

"Did I see it wrong?"

"I don't know."

"If I did, it was my mistake. I'm about to fall apart in front of you, Sister. I'll be disqualified as a Bella."

Medea didn't answer.

In fact, when she chose to meet Viola, she didn't expect this situation to continue.

Viola, as if determined to say everything, continued.

"Still, Sister, I've admired you since I was young."

"Since you were young?"

"Even in the slums, the white gale of Bella blew."

The nickname 'white gale' was that well-known.

"Even if I misjudged you and made a mistake, I still want you to be my sister."

Viola counted in her head.

'Three. Two. One.

She was confident that a reaction would come by now.

And her confidence soon became reality.

Medea finally laughed.

"You're bold."

"Did I make a mistake?"

"No."

Medea approached Viola and gave her a gentle hug.

"Congratulations on becoming a Bella."

"Thank you."

Viola suddenly felt Medea's body temperature.

'It's warm.'

Maybe because she had a good impression of this character from the novel.

Medea's embrace was especially warm.

She thought she had made up all the words to move Medea's heart.

'It doesn't seem so.'

It had been three years since Viola became a Bella.

More than three years ago.

The time she lived as Han Arin felt like a dream.

'If it weren't for Han Jun's face, it would feel like a distant dream.'

Tundra's face, which constantly evoked Han Arin's memories, made her memories as Han Arin vivid.

Now, she was more accustomed to being Viola Bella.

'I... For me.

Even in the past, Han Arin