Becoming an Eminence in Shadow in the New World (DxD / StrikeTheBlood)

This was troublesome.

Cid raced down the street at a steady pace, glancing from the corner of his eye at Alexia. She looked furious, almost as though someone had betrayed her, and he couldn’t help sinking into thought.

How should he put it when it came to Alexia? Her heart was in the right place, but once that bizarre brain of hers issued an order, everything she actually did went wrong.

Although Cid didn’t consider himself particularly close to Alexia, he knew perfectly well that her feelings toward him were positive. The problem was that Alexia had no idea how to express them.

More precisely, she had barely socialized with anyone since childhood, and her relationship with her family was terrible. As a result, she only knew how to express affection in strange, roundabout ways. That was why Cid never took Alexia’s outrageous remarks seriously. With Alexia being the way she was, what else could he do except humor her?

That was the problem with tsunderes. Their pride wouldn’t let them put down their dignity. They convinced themselves that their feelings were precious and embarrassing, refused to admit them openly, and would only acknowledge some kind of superior-subordinate relationship instead. Wasn’t living like that exhausting?

Of course, Cid would never say any of this to Alexia’s face. She was a tsundere, after all. Calling her out directly would only pour fuel on the fire. He could simply wait for her to grow up on her own. He had no obligation to educate Alexia.

But that was beside the point. This wasn’t the time to make excuses for her. What mattered now was figuring out how to shake her off. Cid had no intention of letting things escalate until he was forced to kill his own friend.

“Hm?”

“Caught you, Pochi!”

A force suddenly yanked him from behind. Cid stumbled to a stop and turned around in surprise, only to see a sweating Alexia… as well as the wall beside her, which she had smashed straight through to take a shortcut.

His eyes widened.

Did she have no sense of public decency? Didn’t she know that destroying public property meant paying compensation and getting dragged off by the guards…?

Uh, never mind. A princess of the Kingdom probably didn’t need to worry about that.

“Go on, Pochi. Run! Why aren’t you running anymore?”

Alexia glared at him with a vicious expression, her voice ominous enough to sound like the calm before a storm.

“Could you let go of me?”

Cid had originally intended to leave Alexia some room to back down, but since he had gotten distracted and let himself be caught, things had already reached this point. He might as well stop holding back and force the issue.

“Ha! Getting scared now? Weren’t you acting pretty cocky earlier?!”

“Yeah, yeah, you caught me. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead.”

“Hey, wait. You still don’t understand your position, do you? I’m the one who caught you. I’m the one who decides your…”

“That’s why I’m telling you to do it. Didn’t you want to lock me up? Alexia, you don’t seriously think I’m going to do absolutely nothing and stand here while you drag me away, do you? If that’s what you’re thinking, then let go of me!”

Cid ruthlessly tore his arm free from Alexia’s grip. For the first time, he made no attempt to hide how irritated he was by her endless pestering.

Looking directly into Alexia’s eyes, which now showed a hint of panic, Cid shook his head inwardly and sneered.

That was just how Alexia was. She could talk as viciously as she wanted, but during the chase she had already come down from that darkened state of mind. By now, the only thing driving her forward was the simple thought that she had to catch him.

Put plainly, Alexia herself had probably forgotten why she wanted to catch him in the first place.

If he had simply escaped, everything Alexia had said earlier would have ended up like banter between friends. She would have forgotten about it as soon as she turned around.

But unfortunately, she had caught him.

And given Alexia’s personality, there was a very real chance that she would refuse to back down out of pride. One mistake would lead to another until she actually ended up locking him away.

“Th-This…”

Cid’s sudden change in attitude left Alexia completely stuck. She wanted to keep threatening him, but when she met his irritated gaze, the words refused to come out.

Of course, according to Cid’s guess, there was always a chance Alexia would regret what she had said halfway through. In fact, once she calmed down, she definitely would. The problem was that before reaching that point, Alexia would inevitably unleash the unreasonable side of herself and make his life miserable.

“This is exactly why dealing with you is such a pain. Alexia, have you ever seriously faced what our relationship actually is? Is something you obtain through brute force really what you want? No one is going to tolerate your unreasonable behavior forever, not even your own family. If you can’t understand where the boundaries are, then calm down and think about it first. If the process is wrong, then even if you reach the same result, it won’t really be the same thing.”

Yes, yes, he knew. If he apologized and backed down now, Alexia probably wouldn’t actually do anything to him.

But the problem was that he had done nothing wrong from beginning to end. Alexia was the one who had cornered herself and cut off her own escape route. Why should he have to give way because of her mistake?

Once again, as one of the strongest people publicly known in this world, Cid respected the personhood of every living being equally.

“W-Wait…”

Just as Cid had said before, someone with Alexia’s personality only needed to be ignored until she matured. Eventually, she would realize she had been wrong and correct that awkward personality on her own.

In other words, someone else could let Alexia run headfirst into a wall until reality finally broke through her defenses. Cid himself had no interest in educating her.

But since she had already latched onto him, and that irritating personality of hers had flared up again, he might as well correct Alexia on First Princess Iris’s behalf.

And if their friendship ended here, then so be it. Better to end it sooner rather than later.

“Either use your authority to trample on human rights, or face yourself properly, Alexia. You’re always like this. Hesitant, soft-hearted, unwilling to change. Your feelings, your family relationships, your friendships, everything is a complete mess, and all you ever do is drift along with it. I don’t have any reason or interest in continuing to indulge you. Isn’t it exhausting, hiding every feeling you have inside yourself day after day?”

“I…”

“I originally didn’t want to say any of this. But if you have no intention of changing, Alexia, and you really think you can trample on even the most basic respect and friendship between us, then I’ll be the one to end our relationship.”

“N-No, that’s not right. Back then, you were clearly the one who wanted to be my Po…”

“Seriously? You’re still clinging to that even now? Do you really need me to spell everything out for you? I’ve never once thought I was beneath you. If you don’t think that either, then do it. Go ahead. You’re still looking for excuses to hide your awkward feelings and your own weakness. Someone who can’t even face herself honestly, can you at least… Forget it. I’ve already said enough. If you don’t want to change, saying anything more is pointless. Hopefully we’ll see each other again someday. Just consider this one my fault.”

With those merciless words, Cid turned away without another thought and began to leave.

Alexia stood frozen.

Cid’s words had struck her so hard that her mind was reeling. Everything she had been thinking, everything she had tried to hide, had been dragged into the open.

All she could do was stare blankly at his retreating back. For a moment, she even forgot to stop him.

Her thoughts were a complete mess. She had no idea what she was supposed to say. She wanted to speak, only to immediately close her mouth again. She wanted to give in, yet another part of her wondered why she should. She wanted to use her authority as a princess to prove that she was right, but Cid’s words replayed once more in her mind.

No.

That wasn’t right…

Alexia reached out with her right hand, trying to grab Cid.

She didn’t know what she wanted right now. She didn’t even know whether what Cid had just said was right or wrong.

But she did know one thing.

If she let him walk away now, she would definitely regret it.

“Wait, just…”

“Smack!”

Just before her hand touched Cid’s back, someone slapped it aside from the side.

Pain shot through Alexia’s hand and into her head. A bright red handprint appeared across her pale skin.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

The angry voice came from a blond, cat-eared Therianthrope who had suddenly appeared in front of Alexia. Her hostile purple eyes glared sharply at her.

“What happens between Cid and me has nothing to do with you!”

Alexia tore her gaze away from the strangely familiar-looking Therianthrope and fixed it on Cid behind her, speaking without the slightest trace of politeness.

Then she tried to move around the cat-eared Therianthrope and continue after Cid, only to be blocked again.

“Who even are you? Get out of my way!”

After being interfered with twice in a row, Alexia no longer cared whether the Therianthrope in front of her was just a well-meaning passerby. She tried to forcefully shake her off, only to discover in surprise that even after using all her strength, the hand gripping her didn’t move at all.

“I asked you a question! Stop causing trouble for other people!”

“This is my business. I have no obligation to explain myself to some stranger. You’re the stranger causing trouble for me.”

Realizing that she might not be able to break free from this bizarre woman who had suddenly appeared, Alexia could only grit her teeth and explain, hoping she would hurry up and let go.

“Ha. You were chasing after him. Who knows what kind of trouble you were planning?”

The blond Therianthrope gave a disdainful laugh, but her grip on Alexia remained firm.

“This is between me and my Pochi. He ran away, so I chased after him. I’m just trying to get my Pochi back. Is that good enough for you?”

Alexia shouted while struggling against her restraint.

The instant those words left her mouth, however, the hand holding her suddenly tightened.

A sharp burst of pain shot through her arm.

“Huh? Who did you just call your Pochi?!”

The blond Therianthrope could no longer suppress her anger.

With tremendous force, she grabbed Alexia by the collar and yanked her forward. Alexia stumbled, only to find herself face-to-face with a pair of furious purple eyes.

“Yes, I said he’s my Pochi. So what? What does it have to do with you?!”

Cid had already disappeared, and Alexia knew she wouldn’t be able to find him now anyway. At this point, she simply stopped caring and blurted the words out without thinking.

“Disgusting…”

The blond Therianthrope spoke almost in disbelief.

Then she raised her other hand and swung it toward Alexia’s face.

“Smack!”

Alexia raised her hand to block, and the heavy blow smashed into the back of it. Even though she had sensed the attack and braced herself, the terrifying force behind the strike still sent her flying onto the ground.

“You’re completely unreasonable! Picking fights with people on the street for no reason, hitting people whenever you feel like it. Seriously…”

Alexia climbed back to her feet and glared furiously at the Therianthrope in front of her. After everything that had happened, she was already too angry to think clearly and instinctively began cursing her out.

“Do you seriously not realize how awful what you just said was?”

The blond Therianthrope had already vented some of her anger with that punch and was preparing to leave, but Alexia’s words made her stop.

She turned back with open disgust and began walking toward Alexia again.

“Please stop. Nothing good will come from continuing this.”

Another female voice interrupted them, bringing Zeta to a halt.

Looking over, they saw a silver-haired, blue-eyed elf with an enormous slime-like chest standing on the street. A crowd of spectators had already begun gathering around them, drawn by the commotion.

Zeta exchanged a glance with Beta.

Realizing that things had gotten a little too conspicuous, Zeta gave Alexia one last irritated look before turning around and disappearing from sight at incredible speed.

“Hey! Stop right there…”

Seeing Zeta leave, Alexia was unwilling to simply let herself get punched for nothing. She started forward to stop this dangerous stranger, only for Christina, who had already caught up with her, to call out.

“That’s enough, Alexia. You can’t catch her. What’s the point of chasing after her? You’ll only get beaten up again for nothing.”

Christina, who had coldly watched Alexia get knocked down, stopped her from doing something stupid.

From an outside perspective, the strength and speed the blond Therianthrope had displayed were terrifying.

It wasn’t that Christina thought she was completely impossible to fight, but fighting someone like that for Alexia’s sake simply wasn’t worth it.

“Guh…”

Alexia’s expression stiffened.

She felt Beta’s questioning gaze as she approached, then looked around and saw that the number of spectators was still growing. Christina’s decision to stand there and watch had irritated her too.

In the end, Alexia could only let out an angry yell and give up on what she had been about to do.

She felt as though she had suffered more humiliation today than she normally would in an entire month.

“Damn bastard!”

“All right, calm down, Your Highness. How are you? Are you hurt?”

Beta walked over and crouched beside Alexia.

Looking at the large bruise spreading across Alexia’s arm, Beta momentarily couldn’t decide whether she should be impressed that Zeta had held back or shocked that she had hit her so hard.

Calling it heavy-handed…

If Zeta had truly struck seriously, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Alexia’s head had gone flying off her shoulders.

Calling it restrained…

She was only hitting the Second Princess. Did she really need to leave a bruise like that?

“I’m fine, Natsume. I don’t think there’s anything seriously wrong with me. Hiss… Damn it, that bastard hit way too hard!”

All right. Zeta had definitely gone easy on her.

Alexia still had enough energy to act tough and complain.

Beta grumbled inwardly, but outwardly she merely sighed and helped Alexia to her feet. She led her away from the gathering crowd, then took out some medicine and a handkerchief to treat the injury.

“Who is she?”

While applying the medicine, Beta glanced casually at Christina, who had followed them over.

“Christina. She’s the ally I wanted to introduce to you today.”

“Hello, Miss Natsume. My name is Christina Hope. You can just call me Christina. I’m a big fan of your books.”

“Uh… hello. There’s no need to be so formal. Just call me Natsume.”

Caught off guard by Christina’s enthusiasm, Beta gave an awkward laugh before turning her attention back to Alexia.

“By the way, Alexia, how did you manage to provoke someone like that? She didn’t look like the kind of person who normally meddles in other people’s business.”

“Who knows? All I did was say that Cid was my Pochi… Ow!”

“What did you just say?”

“Ow!”

Beta suddenly tightened her grip with both hands, making Alexia cry out in pain.

But Beta only stared at her with icy eyes.