How much time has passed since then?
Without water to drink, without food, with a body covered in wounds, she spent her days inside an iron cage.
When would she finally be released from this suffering?
Even after all the torment she had endured, Sharon still couldn’t accept this reality.
‘Was Leona using me all along…? Was it really Leona who set me up…?’
For Sharon, the roughly four years she’d spent with Leona were irreplaceable.
To Leona, though, had it all been just a means to an end?
Thinking back, in their third year, Leona hadn’t yet been Prince Richard’s fiancée.
If Leona’s goal was to become Crown Princess—eventually Queen—then first she’d have to be chosen by a prince.
But Sharon had once heard rumors that Richard had very strict requirements for his fiancée.
‘Could it be… that she became friends with me just to fulfill those requirements…?’
From the time Leona first spoke to her, it seemed her reputation began to rise, and she became more popular.
Being friends with the popular Leona had given Sharon a bit of confidence; she’d been proud to call her her best friend.
There were times, surrounded by others, when Sharon felt out of place, but she’d told herself it couldn’t be helped.
It wouldn’t do to try and monopolize Leona, and watching the beloved Leona admired by all made Sharon proud and happy.
Leona, who was kind even to the Outcast of the Sdulc Family, came to be hailed as a saintess by everyone, and even Prince Richard took notice of her.
Everything proceeded smoothly, and Leona became Richard’s fiancée.
‘Come to think of it, wasn’t it right around when she got engaged to His Highness that we stopped spending much time together?’
At the time, Sharon had thought Leona was simply busy because her engagement to the prince had been decided.
She knew Leona had always admired Richard, so she’d cheered her on.
She truly wished happiness for her best friend.
But lately, Leona had seemed oddly sad and depressed, and the people around her were more protective than ever, not letting Sharon even get close.
Even so, Leona would secretly come to see Sharon and chat about trivial things.
Whenever Sharon asked about what was troubling her recently, Leona would just say, “Don’t worry about it.”
They spent less time together, but Leona had promised they’d stay together during the Graduation Party—
‘So… now that she can marry His Highness, I’m no longer needed?’
After getting engaged, Leona’s behavior changed—all for the sake of that public condemnation.
Sharon had simply been used so Leona could become the prince’s fiancée.
By extending a hand to the pitiable Outcast of the Sdulc Family whom no one liked, Leona had played the role of the kind saintess.
And when her role was over, she discarded her unfortunate friend without a second thought.
‘In the end, no one ever needed me…’
Having a friend like Leona made Sharon believe that there were people who would accept her even without Magic.
That’s why she’d dared to hope that if she worked hard enough, maybe even her family would recognize her as a true Heir of Sdulc.
Before meeting Leona, Sharon knew hoping for anything was pointless, so she never allowed herself to dream.
If she just emptied her mind and obeyed others, then no matter how much they insulted or beat her, nothing could hurt her heart.
And yet, having once tasted the happiness and joy of being accepted, having dreamed of being needed, now the pain in her heart was worse than any injury.
‘Abandoned by my family, betrayed by my best friend, and now about to be killed by Magical Beasts… What a miserable life…’
But she was tired of hoping.
From here on, there was no hope in Sharon’s life.
All she could do was give up and accept her own death.
“Hey, are you really okay with this?”
As Sharon cried, despairing of her life, she suddenly heard a voice.
Lifting her head, she saw a tiny white bird tilting its head at her.
Its fluffy, round form was adorable.
But there was no way a little bird could speak.
Was this just a hallucination brought on by her approaching death?
She instinctively reached out to touch it, and the little bird spoke again.
“Are you really okay with being used and dying like this?”
The bird’s black eyes stared straight into her, making Sharon gasp.
All this time, she’d simply done as her family wished, relying on Leona at the Academy.
She’d always watched others’ faces, never once asserting her own will.
That had seemed the safest way to live.
But in the end, Sharon had no one to protect her, and had been exiled from the country for a crime she knew nothing about.
All she wanted was to be with someone, to be accepted.
Was even that too much to ask?
It was just too cruel.
Her heart, torn to shreds by the blade of despair, cried out, bleeding.
“I-I don’t want this… I don’t want to die like this!”
The moment Sharon wished it from the bottom of her heart, something changed in her body.
All her wounds grew hot, and her heart pounded violently.
Scared, Sharon squeezed her eyes shut.
It felt as if her blood was rushing backward, surging through her body.
Suddenly, the body that had been frozen with cold and pain felt light as air.
It was as if she were wrapped in fluffy feathers, and she hardly felt cold at all.
Timidly, she opened her eyes to see a world of pure white.
For a moment, she thought she’d ascended to heaven, but she could still feel her body.
She moved her arm to brush aside the white in front of her, and a wing spread open, revealing the iron bars.
‘Huh? A wing? Now that I think about it, where did that little bird go…?’
She looked around for the bird, but it was nowhere in sight.
More than that, it felt like the carriage had suddenly become enormous.
Even the iron bars looked huge.
Looking down at her own body in confusion, she saw herself covered in white feathers.
‘What… what is this?’
On her wings were rose-red markings.
That rose-red was exactly the same as her most hated hair color.
No, no, that couldn’t be, she thought, and peered at the iron bars as a substitute for a mirror.
Though it wasn’t clear, she could just make out a vague silhouette.
Her own face should have been reflected there, but all she saw was a little bird tilting its head.
When she moved in wonder, the little bird did the same.
The two tufts of rose-red hair sprouting from its head bobbed up and down.
‘N-no way… Don’t tell me I’ve turned into a little bird—!?’
For some reason, she’d transformed into a bird.
“BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP!”
Just then, the Detection Magic installed in the empty carriage activated, and a warning siren began to sound.
Since it detected by weight, it must have determined that Sharon was gone when she transformed into a bird.
Word would soon reach the Foren Kingdom.
‘Th-this is bad!’
She had to do something.
Sharon looked outside the iron bars.
At the size of a small bird, she could squeeze through.
‘I have to go now!’
Spurred on by the blaring alarm, Sharon burst out of the moving carriage.
She instinctively spread her wings, and her fall slowed just a little.
The ground was blanketed with snow, softening her landing.
Her wounds ached from the movement, but she’d managed to escape from the carriage and breathed a sigh of relief.
But she couldn’t rest.
The siren still blared.
‘Uh, which way should I go…? F-for now, anywhere away from the carriage!’
Enduring the pain, Sharon started to run.
If she was a bird, she should be able to fly, but she didn’t know how.
She ran until the siren faded into the distance, and finally collapsed onto the ground.
Her wounded body had reached its limit.
‘Come to think of it, where am I?’
With panic and pain clouding her mind, she had no idea how far she’d come.
Looking around, she saw trees and leaves as black as night, and clouds of darkness floating in the air.
Because of that black haze, it was dark even though it should be daytime, and she couldn’t see far ahead.
In this strange scene, several pairs of glowing eyes appeared out of the darkness.
“Grrrrrr…”
She could hear what sounded like the growls of beasts.
‘Are those… Magical Beasts!? Did I end up in the Forest of Evil!?’
The Forest of Evil, which all those exiled from the country must pass through.
If she was here, it meant she’d already crossed the border.
She’d tried to avoid being killed by Magical Beasts, only to throw herself straight into the Forest of Evil.
What a foolish thing to do.
No point regretting now—the Magical Beasts wouldn’t wait for her.
“GRAAAH!”
All at once, the Wolf-Type Magical Beasts charged at her.
‘Eeeeeeek!’
Sharon frantically tried to escape from the beasts.
But no matter how fast she ran on her little bird legs, they caught up to her in no time.
Surrounded, the beasts seemed to be enjoying toying with her as she darted about.
Perhaps tiring of the chase, one of them finally attacked.
‘Ow!’
A large, sharp claw raked her wing, and she was slammed against the trunk of a tree.
Her tiny body was seriously injured and couldn’t move.
The beasts approached to finish her off.
As they bared their fangs and opened their jaws—
“GAAAH…!”
Suddenly, Ice Arrows appeared and pierced the Magical Beasts.
Relief washed over her at the fall of the monsters, but the Ice Arrows still floated in the air, ready to strike again.
If those rained down once more, she’d be done for.
‘Eep, they’ll hit me too…!?’
She had to get away from here, no matter what!
Sharon tried to move, but her injuries left her paralyzed.
Beyond the freezing air, she could see a dark, ominous figure radiating a terrifying aura.
‘I can’t… I can’t take any more…’
Between the pain of her wounds and her fear, Sharon lost consciousness.
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