"...Boys...I think you've gone a little too far this time..." I said as I cracked my knuckles.

If they wanted to kill each other...how about I save them the work...?

"W-Woah. There's no need to be so violent, Lia...Let's talk about this before we do anything rash...!" Florence said as he immediately stopped his fire magic.

"Y-Yeah! Cordelia...listen to us...and calm down...!" Ash said as he also stopped using his plant magic.

"...To be honest...I'm ready to kill both of you so don't try to stop me," I said to the both of them with a smile.

Suddenly, the shadows below me wrapped around my entire body, including my arms, and picked me up into the air.

"Sorry, milady, but I can't let you use your magic carelessly...Haven't you learned your lesson yet...?" Grey said with a sigh as he binded me with his magic.

Ugh...

Why do they care whether I use my magic or not...?!

I only SOMETIMES lose control of my magic. Most of the time, I actually control my magic extremely well!

Besides, no one has actually DIED before...the most that happened was someone ending up in a coma for a few days...

"Cordelia...just...don't use your magic...okay? When you're mad...you sometimes..." Ash said with a shudder as he recalled some...unfortunate events...

"Fine! I won't! Are you guys happy now?!?!" I yelled as I gave in.

"Of course, milady," Grey said as he deactivated his shadow magic on me.

"Yes. Yes, we are VERY happy," Florence said with a sigh of relief.

"Ugh...By the way, where is Mattius...? Shouldn't he be with you guys?" I asked.

No one answered my question.

They just blatantly ignored me!

"Is ANYONE going to answer me or not?!" I said a little louder.

All of the boys' faces darkened, including Ace.

I think I sensed...bloodlust in the air...

"Well...you see...Mattius just decided to head home without us. We weren't involved with him leaving at all..." Ash said with a somewhat awkward chuckle.

His words were highly suspicious and unconvincing.

Something definitely happened to Mattius...and the others weren't planning on telling me.

Humph.

I guess I'll just go along with them for now. I'll find out the truth eventually.

"Okay then. I hope he's alright. Speaking of which...WHY DID YOU CANCEL THE ROYAL FESTIVAL, IDIOT?!" I screeched at Florence.

"Uh...Well...Um...You were hurt so..." Florence chuckled awkwardly.

"SO WHAT?! DO YOU KNOW THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO STOPPED CELEBRATING BECAUSE OF YOU?!?!"

"Yeah...But..." Florence said as he looped around my waist, "You're more important than those 'hundreds of thousands of people...'"

He gave me a flirting smirk.

"G-Get your hands off of me...!" I said as I pushed him away.

I've learned one BIG lesson ever since I came to this world...Don't underestimate the kids...

...You'll regret it.

But even though I attempted to push Florence away, he grabbed onto my hand again and pulled me toward him in a hug.

"Thank you...for being safe, Lia," he whispered as he kissed my hand.

He looked straight into my eyes and gave me a knight's smile.

I swear I could hear my heart go doki-doki at the sight of his princely display as I froze in embarrassment.

I knew he was teasing me but...he was a male lead. His charm was still too powerful for me...

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY GIRL- I MEAN MY SISTER!" Ash yelled as he pushed Florence away from me.

This is my chance to escape!

I immediately ran away from the scene around me.

The kids...are...EVIL!

Why is everything going so bad today?!?!

As I ran away, I felt some sort of wind blowing behind me. When I looked back, I could see Ace flying after me.

"A-Ace?!" I yelped behind me.

"..."

"...Ace...?" I said again when he ignored me.

"...Where are you going this time...?" Ace said slowly.

Is it me...or is Ace a little mad right now...?

"W-Well...I was planning on running away from the others...so..." I muttered.

In one quick motion, Ace used some of his wind magic to pick me up and carry me all the way back to the others.

"Sorry, Cordelia, but you're not allowed to go anywhere right now. All of us can't afford to lose you again," Ace said with a sigh.

"Okay!!! I get it!! Just let me down, please...?!" I begged.

Ace ignored me and continued to fly me down to the others.

Ughhh...Why does no one listen to me?!

.

.

2 Hours Later

.

.

Sometimes I wish a carriage was bigger.

A carriage is WAY TOO SMALL for two annoying male leads, an irritated dragon, a strict maid, and me to sit in at the same time.

Oh...Did I forget to mention that I'm also being stalked by a kid?

For some reason, the unknown boy has not been caught by any of the people with me. He's actually pretty good at hiding and stalking people...

...Maybe I should ask him to teach me his ways...

Also...I should probably ask him for his name. It's getting kind of awkward to call him the "unknown boy."

If it comes to it...I'll name him: Ripped Boy...

...because he's kind of...

...ripped.

.

.

2 Hours Later

.

.

We finally reached home after TWO terrible hours in the carriage.

"I'm...just going to go to bed...Don't talk to me," I muttered as I began to walk up the grand staircase we had to the second floor.

"Excuse this servant, but you're not going anywhere, young lady. Please let me help you take a bath," my maid, Sophie, said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the bathroom.

Ugh...Why does she even need to ask if she can help me take a bath if she's going by to force me to take a bath anyway...?!

.

.

1 Hour Later

.

.

When I finished taking my bath, I jumped onto my bed.

The sheets and pillows...were too...comfy...!

Slowly, the comfy mattress and fluffy pillows trapped my body and begged for me to go to sleep.

...Unfortunately...I had some work to do.

I'll need to sleep later.

Quietly, while no one was looking, I ran outside of my house. I made EXTRA sure that Ace wouldn't notice me.

Unfortunately...Ace was a little too overpowered for me...

He caught me within seconds of leaving the house.

"Where are you going so late at night?" Ace asked me slowly.

"N-Nowhere of i-importance...?!" I squeaked.

"Cordelia...can you please...please stay somewhere where we can keep an eye on you...?" Ace sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Ace, but I really have to do something really important right now an-"

"Cordelia. What is so important that you can't even tell me...?" Ace said with his voice slightly raised.

I flinched.

I wasn't used to hearing Ace speaking loudly at me yet.

"Uh...um...well...you see...I...uh...er...yes...so...yeah!"

"...What...?"

"I said that I...um...need...to...uh...er...yeah..."

"Are you okay, Cordelia? I think you've lost your ability to speak properly..."

"N-No! I'm fine! I don't think I need help!" I yelled.

"Okay...then...shall we go back inside?" Ace asked after a little bit of hesitation.

"I CAN'T!" I refused immediately.

"...Why not...?"

"I...er...have some female human problems!" I chuckled awkwardly as I lied.

In reality, I was just trying to sneak off into the forest so I could show "unknown boy" where he should hide.

Besides, Ace was a dragon...so I'm sure he wouldn't know EVERYTHING about humans...it should be okay to lie about things like this.

"...You have...female human problems?"

"YES! Female humans...uh...have to sneak out to the forest...every night...to uh...do female human stuff! It's a...necessary part of maturing in humans...so I'll have...to...keep going to the forest every night until I'm...mature...enough?"

"...Oh."

"Yea-"

"Female humans are just like female dragons then."

"Of cours-Wait...What."

"Female dragons must leave into the forest at night during the young stages of their life to kill and drink the blood of rabid goats alone. I didn't know female humans had to the same thing."

"Wait. I think you're getting the wrong ide-"

"Cordelia...Why didn't you tell me this before...?"

"Well...that's becau-"

"It's nothing embarrassing to talk about, okay? I've been by your side for many years, Cordelia. If there's anything you're going through, just tell me," Ace sighed as he interrupted me again.

"Um...what...?"

"Please be safe, Cordelia. The forest may have weak monsters...however...it isn't impossible for you to get hurt..." Ace said as he recalled the time when I almost got killed in the forest.

"Yeah...so um...I'm just going to go now...[before you get any weirder ideas]..."

Ace slowly nodded his head and flew away toward the house.

...Someone...shoot me now.

...What just happened...?

I have to kill poor goats every day now...

Thanks to Ace's overly strong senses, he'll easily be able to smell if I killed any goats. If I come back without a single whiff of goat blood...he'll know that I was lying.

He'll get even angrier at me.

I...don't know what I would do if he told me that he hated me...

Right now...every time I talk to him...my chest hurts for some dumb reason.

I guess I'll need to keep my real plans secret from him...

Before I left, I silently murmured my sorries to all of the goats that I would kill in the future.

After I finished, I immediately ran toward the forest. I didn't stop running until I found a nice sheltered area.

The place I stopped at was near a conveniently placed cave on the side of a hill.

I have no idea where this cave came from, but I'm just going to roll with it.

"Hey. Are you there? I didn't run all the way out here for nothing...right?" I said out loud.

Behind me, I could hear the crunching of leaves as the boy walked up to me.

His face was still covered like always, so I was a little disappointed.

"Wow...you actually managed to follow me all the way back home! Good job, buddy," I said cheerfully as I held my hand up for him to high-five.

I kept my hand up for a long time before I realized he wasn't going to slap my hand.

I awkwardly brought my hand back down and mumbled curses at him.

"Uh...anyway...you can stay here. I have an excuse to come here every night too, so just wait for me, okay? My familiar thinks I'm here to kill goats. I'll bring food, water, and medicine every night though," I sighed.

The boy nodded his head.

"Oh. Also, what's your name?" I finally asked.

The boy hesitated for a long time.

"Hello? Can you tell me your name?" I asked again.

"..."

"If you don't tell me your name, I'll have to come up with my own name for you."

"...My name......." he started to say before he paused.

"Um...can you continue what you were going to say? I kind of need to know your name by now..." I said slowly.

What's his name? I'm so curious...

"...Deux."

What?

"Can you pronounce that again? I don't think I heard it right the first time," I asked him.

"Deux."

"Doh?" I tried to repeat what he said.

To be honest, I had no idea how to pronounce his name properly...

"Deux."

"Dooh?"

"Deux."

"Doo?"

"Deux."

"Deouh???"

"...Close enough."

"Yay! I did it! I didn't think I would be able to get your name right," I celebrated.

Then, I heard a small noise come from him. I think he just snorted...

...Was he laughing at me...?

"I'm lying," Deux said unsteadily.

This guy was definitely trying to hold in his laughter.

...Wait...this kid knew how to laugh?! Based on the way he was acting before, it seemed like he didn't even know how to smile.

Also, I should have been mad at him for making fun of me, but instead, I began to laugh too.

"It's not my fault that you're name is so unique!" I chuckled as I tried to make excuses for why I couldn't pronounce his name properly.

And then I realized something.

Even though Deux's face was covered, I could tell he was smiling behind his mask.

It made me smile too.

"Oh, stop it! One day, I promise that I will properly pronounce your name! I swear!!!" I yelled out loud with conviction.

"...Do what you want."

"Thanks. I definitely will! After all, I'm going to have to deal with you for a while, so...I might as well learn your name properly," I laughed.

For a moment, the boy paused before saying anything.

"Your...name?" he asked slowly.

Oh...I don't think I've properly introduced myself to him before.

Did he not hear the male leads say my name as he was following me?

Maybe he wasn't close enough to hear any of our conversations...

Pfft. I guess I should probably tell him now.

"I'm Cordelia. Nice to meet you, Deouh."

-----------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Yes, a have just named the unknown boy "Deux." Mattius has also somewhat disappeared for an unknown reason, but I promise you that none of the male leads have killed him. ;)

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed making it! Ever since I hit 100k views, my notifications have been crazy.

There were so many comments too! I could barely keep up with them all...so, unfortunately, I wasn't able to reply to each and every one of them... ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

I'm very sorry about that! I promise I'll try my hardest to reply to them all this week!

Thanks again to everyone who read/voted/commented!

Okie byeee!

Word Count: 2238