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—Elsa Gramhilde was an outrageous woman.
“I was told to bring you back, so you’ll be coming with me.”
Their first meeting was awful. Despite her not understanding the basic concepts of liking or hating things, it was undoubtedly the worst. There was nothing redeemable about that woman.
The beasts that had somehow managed to care for a little human girl when she had nothing—the woman killed them all and then dragged that girl out of the forest.
Elsa was indifferent throughout the ordeal, saying that this was unavoidable, since she had been given an order and was wholly unconcerned about killing the beasts who had been at the girl’s side for as long as she could remember.
She thought about killing the woman.
Time and time again, she waited for an opening until finally she found her chance and sank her fangs into the woman’s neck…
“—? What? Stop it, that tickles.”
Peering down at her, the woman sounded as if she didn’t feel anything at all.
The malnourished girl was just skin and bones. She was dragged out of the woods and given a bath against her will. Then she rejected the frilly clothes she was given, and she tried to kill the woman again.
Elsa just shook her head in boredom, as if nothing of substance had happened.
In that moment, the emotions the girl couldn’t put into words—words she didn’t even have—came bubbling out as she burned with a need for vengeance.
Throwing aside the clothes she was given, she launched herself at Elsa. Beasts didn’t have a custom of wearing clothes. All they needed was what they were born with.
“Are you trying to get that dirty rag back? I’m not too concerned with fashion, either, but you’re quite the strange one, too.”
“Auu, aoooooo, aooooo…!”
“You’re quite hotheaded, aren’t you, Meili?”
Meili.
At some point, Elsa started calling her that. Meili, the girl who tried again and again to take back what had been stolen from her and get revenge for her slain kindred.
“Seems like that’s your name? It was hard to make out, but it was sewn into that rag of yours… Maybe it belonged to someone else, but it’s inconvenient not having a name to call you, so…” Elsa smiled sweetly. “You’re Meili from now on. That’s what I’m going to call you.”
—Elsa Gramhilde was an awful woman.
“Don’t become that person’s puppet. No matter how many lives you have, it won’t be enough. Not for anyone besides me.”
She had met Mother for the first time and experienced her first “punishment.”
When Mother’s hand touched her, Meili felt herself change into something entirely different. She became a beast. Then a bird. Then a fish. Then an insect. She transformed into something impossible to describe before becoming a mass of flesh.
But the worst was the experience of splitting into countless pieces.
The girl Meili had been changed into no fewer than a hundred frogs, each jumping around with a mind of its own. That branded her soul with the fear that she might cease to exist.
She would never dare to disobey Mother after that.
Her spirit was broken, and she would be nothing less than absolutely obedient if it meant she could avoid ever experiencing that again.
“You’re shivering. Are you cold?”
The black-haired woman cocked her head in confusion. She didn’t attempt to understand Meili’s feelings at all. What a truly awful woman.
Meili trembled as the fear consumed her, while Elsa sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her without another word.
She wasn’t shivering from the cold, but she couldn’t explain herself with words. All she was left with was frustration and anxiety.
That’s why—
“? Could you not? That tickles.”
—Meili bit Elsa in the neck.
—Elsa Gramhilde was a disgusting woman.
“Meili, it’s getting annoying, so could you braid my hair?”
At some point, the young Elsa had matured into a full-fledged woman, and the beast Meili had become a proper girl. Through all those years, she had remained with Elsa.
She knew how to talk now. —She modeled her speech after Elsa’s.
She started wearing clothes. —She dressed just like Elsa.
She also started doing jobs. —She learned how by watching Elsa.
—And she kept all that a secret from Elsa.
“Meili? Are you listening? I’m asking for help with my hair.”
“—Yes, I heard you. You really are sloppy, Elsa.”
Sitting together on a soft sofa, she snorted as Elsa leaned her head against her shoulder. Undoing her long black hair, Elsa seemed more carefree than usual.
That careless attitude got on her nerves.
“Omph.”
“? That’s ticklish.”
Just like so many times before, she bit into Elsa’s throat.
She could bite harder, enough to break the skin and make it hurt. Meili wasn’t a weak, frail beast anymore. She ate plenty, learned to talk, gained a name, and had gotten to know Elsa. So…
“Grrn!”
“…You’re a strange girl.”
Glancing over at Meili biting into her neck, Elsa softened her expression and let Meili have her revenge.
Elsa was an outrageous woman. And an awful woman. And also a disgusting woman.
She became so big, Meili didn’t want her to disappear.
She was an outrageous, awful, disgusting part of Meili’s life.
Her presence was so large that calling her a part of Meili’s life didn’t do it justice.
If that was going to be revealed and violated—if Elsa Gramhilde was going to be killed, then Meili Portroute would—
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