The squawking of the seagulls attracts my eyes, so I look out the window. The sky is clear, and the sun is shining, making all the little white houses glow so brightly that I suddenly feel like jumping into a cold pool. It makes you sweat just by looking at it.

Then I notice the faint whisper of the waves, and a sigh escapes my lips.

I want to go out.

So I close my book and take a look at my wardrobe. With the sun so hot, there's no question that I need something white, so I pick a thin, breezy dress and put it on, then I tuck my tail through the back hole and choose some cute yellow shoes because I need something with a more striking color.

Now I leave my room and make my way to Mom's office. It's a short walk since our house isn't that big, but it's still a very quiet walk because there's nobody inside, so the only sound that I hear is that of my shoes clacking loudly against the floor, which is spooky, so I hurry up.

I open the door and see Mom doing accounting with her abacus. She glances at me once I come in, then adjusts her small, round glasses and continues writing. Her long, silky black hair is tied in a ponytail to keep it out of her face, which makes her gorgeous face look so striking that I just stare at her in silence.

Since she's the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen, every time she changes how she looks, it stuns me with how beautiful she can be. I hope I get to look like her one day.

But I didn't come here to stare, so I swallow heavily and quietly ask, "Mom?"

"Yes, honey?" she replies without lifting her eyes as her long, white fingers write with grace and speed, showing off her high "Speed" and "Dexterity."

"I want to go out," I request and brace myself for what's to come.

"Bring Shervin with you," she immediately answers exactly how I predicted.

So I frown heavily and whine, "But Moom! Shervin scares the others…" Then I realize that this won't be enough to convince her, so I clasp my hands and fall on my knees. "I don't need him watching over me. I'll behave this time, I promise!"

But she slowly lifts her eyes, and her cold glare gives me shivers. "Don't make me repeat myself," she warns with a tone that I know very well.

So I immediately straighten up and nod obediently, then she returns to her work, and since I'd rather not annoy her even more, I just skedaddle out of there.

Heh, skedaddle.

Once I'm on the main staircase, I stop because Mom warned me not to run down the stairs, then I sigh and resign myself to my fate. I dread the reaction of the others when they see Shervin shadowing me.

At least Mom's books are improving my vocabulary. These hard words impressed Khadima.

I go downstairs to look for Shervin, and I see Khadima come in, then she begins to wax the tiled floor. The old maid is calmly humming a song as she works while her tail flabs about, barely staying upright.

"Khadima," I quietly call her.

She turns to me and smiles warmly as she answers, making her wrinkles deepen, "Yes, Little Rox?"

"Don't call me 'little,'" I reply with a pout.

But her smile widens. "Sure, Little Rox."

I just can't get mad at this woman.

So I pout a little more at her playful smile, then I exhale annoyedly and ask, "Where's Shervin? Mom said I have to bring him if I want to go outside."

And her smile starts to fade as she becomes serious again. "He's not here yet, but his shift is about to start, so you can just wait, and he'll arrive soon."

"Okay…" I quietly accept, and she pats my cheek with her tanned and wrinkly hand then goes back to work. She smells of the flowery perfume from the cleaning products, but it's a good smell.

But now, what do I do?

The main hall is a bit chilly to wait in, so I go behind the staircase and take the corridor toward the backyard, then I cross the door to the kitchen and catch the smell of something sweet being baked in there, but I can't go in because Mom gets mad when I eat out of time.

I reach the end of the corridor and realize that I don't really want to stay in the backyard, but now I don't feel like walking anymore, so I'll just stay here. I really don't want to go back to my room.

The pool looks enticing, so I decide to sit down on the edge then remove my shoes and dip my feet in the cool water. I also think about just jumping in, but Mom gets mad when I do that.

Mushtal is working on the flowers, and I decide to watch him for a bit as he carefully inspects each one of them and… does whatever it is he's doing because I can't see what he's doing when he has his back towards me. But that's not important, what I'm really wondering is where does an old man like him gets so much energy to work like this?

He suddenly stands up from the patch and cleans the sweat from his brow, then he notices me and waves. He's wearing some jumpers with dirt on his knees, but I expected him to be dirtier considering how often he gets in the middle of the flowers.

"Hello, Roxanne. Refreshing yourself?" he gently asks with a tired smile as he approaches.

"Yes," I respond without much enthusiasm and kick the water a bit.

Then he stops and grabs his waist as he looks up to the clear blue sky. "Today is a good day to go out, eh?"

"Yes," I repeat with a nod, but not a single other word feels like coming out of my mouth.

Mushtal turns to me and frowns concernedly, then he sits on the grass near the pool with a grunt. "Feeling bored again?" he asks sympathetically, making me feel guilty for worrying him.

But all I can do is repeat, "Yes."

Then he ungloves his hand and scratches his head while cringing slightly. "Maybe you should, uh… find some other girls to play with. You know… someone who has more, uh… money," he encourages me, but his tone isn't very encouraging.

And I frown angrily as a bad memory squirms into my mind. "I did, once. They were mean, and I didn't like them," I bitterly answer as I look away, then I notice Musthal's pitying gaze on the reflection of the water, so I lower my head as the twinkle of the pool suddenly becomes much more appealing to look at.

But he doesn't give up and tries to soothingly encourage me again, "People of influence can sometimes be mean, but you have to endure and get closer to them until they're less mean to you."

"I don't want to," I stubbornly answer.

And we stay silent for a long minute.

Why should I have to suffer being near these mean girls? They hate me, so I don't want to talk to them!

Then Mushtal suddenly gets up with another grunt. "I have to get back to work; your mother will get angry if the flowers wilt," he casually whispers, then his tone suddenly becomes warm. "But think about what I said, hm? For your future." And I find his last words to be hard to ignore.

But I say nothing, so he goes back to working on the flower patch.

My future? What of it?

 

"Roxanne?!" a familiar, hoarse voice calls out.

I immediately jump up and happily scurry towards the source, my wet feet leaving footprints on the warm stone.

On the doorway, there's a tall, muscular, shirtless man with wide shoulders and a longsword at his waist. He has brown fur on the side of his arms, large hands that hang near his knees, a fully furred back, wolf-like digitigrade feet, and a brown wolf head, which is staring at me with warm,glacial-looking blue eyes. He's a gorosnegee-type demon race.

"Shervin!" I shout and tackle him, but he doesn't even flinch as I'm just so light compared to him. Still, I tightly hug his large waist, and my head is tickled by the short fur on his ribs.

"Y-yes, me. Careful with your horns," he awkwardly replies and gently pushes me away. He doesn't like hugs, for some reason. "Khadima said that you were looking for me?"

"I want to go out!" I exclaim with a smile as I look up at his face, and he smiles gently as he stares down at me, then he gently pats my head, something that's difficult to do with his thick and rough hand.

"Alright, then. Lead the way," he hums with a toothy smile that shows his fangs.

 

Now that Shervin is here, the guard lets me out of the estate.

The high stone walls that surround our home were suffocating me, but seeing the cobbled road, the white buildings, and the townspeople on their day-to-day gives me renewed vigor. Still, I quickly move away from this block because I don't want to meet our neighbors since that's where the mean girls live.

Anyway, I make my way to the central square, but it's just a short walk there, so we quickly arrive.

Everyone likes to hang out in the plaza in front of the governor's mansion, for some reason, so it's pretty crowded. The shops may be too expensive for the people here, but there are plenty of stalls selling food, and they're pretty popular.

I'm not hungry yet, so I just move on.

I heard that the governor wanted to remove the stalls so that the poor people would leave, but that sounds incredibly mean. The governor is just like the neighbors; she's a snotty snooty snob.

But… well, the number of tails freely swaying about without care is annoyingly high. Some are even on the way, which is incredibly rude, especially since most of them belong to men, as it forces me to touch their tails so that I can pass.

I kind of understand why the governor dislikes the crowd, but that doesn't excuse trying to force the stalls to go away.

What I don't understand is why everyone likes this plaza so much. There are rarely any non-succubus in here, so it's kind of boring. I like people like Shervin; he makes things more pleasing to the eye, and it seems like plenty of other people also think this way, especially the women, but I don't get why they like him that much.

Do the goros-types have bigger dicks or something?

While everyone tries to flirt with him, I look for Nousha, and I quickly find her in the usual place near the candy stalls… but she's also with the usual group. The albino succubus girl is with her brother, Firuz, which makes things more difficult. He became like a kheshm-type ever since we changed houses, and I don't like him anymore.

I just breathe in deeply and bravely walk up to them. I have to talk to Nousha, I have to.

But Firuz is the first one to notice me, and he immediately scowls.

Damn…

I awkwardly stop before them and greet him first while the others turn around to face me, "H-hello, Firuz." Then I look at Nousha, and she immediately hides behind her brother, but… why would she do that? "Hello, Nousha," I greet as I start to fidget with my hands.

"Oh, it's Roxxy," one of the kids casually remarks, but Firuz glares at him, and the smile on his face instantly disappears.

But then he turns his glare towards me and angrily asks, "What do you want?"

I just ignore him and move a bit to the side to try to get a peek behind him. "Nousha? H-how are you? It's been a while since I saw you," I anxiously remark, but then Firuz stands in front of her, blocking her from my sight.

"Why are you coming after her again? Wasn't my dad enough for you?" he harshly questions and takes a step forward, his tail standing still and pointing forward threateningly.

Shervin growls in warning, and Firuz glares at him defiantly, but then he steps back and pushes Nousha to stay behind him. She just obeys and grabs his shirt, unsure of what to do, and I'm the same.

And then Firuz turns to me and continues to lambast, "Are you going to sic your dog on us now? Are you going to get him to kidnap my sister and beat her? Why don't you just leave us alone?!"

"That's… that's not fair!" I yell back and stomp my foot against the ground. "I didn't want this, I didn't want any of this, it's not my fault!"

And he scowls as wildly gesticulates at me. "I don't care! Your mother already fired my dad, and now he's drinking again! Go away! Your family became just like the other snobs!" Then he waves his hand to shoo me away.

I don't know what to say… I didn't want this, I didn't want to fight, I just wanted to play with Nousha, to talk to her again.

So I lower my head and keep it down; it's all I can do to keep the tears away.

I won't cry.

I don't want Shervin to see me cry, and I won't let the other kids see me cry, especially Firuz.

"Sorry…" Nousha whispers sympathetically, then I hear them walk away.

I lift my head and watch them leave, but they don't even look back, then I notice that there's a crowd staring at me. Some obviously dislike my mother, so they look quite smug, while the others seem to give me pitying eyes, but I don't like either.

There's nothing I can do about the people who hate my mother, but I don't like pity; I don't want their pity, I just want to play with Nousha again. I'd even like to play with Firuz because he didn't use to be so angry like this…

I just want things to go back to how they were. But this will never happen.

So I just turn around and leave.

 

I don't even know where I'm going, I just let my feet take me wherever they want, and so I go downhill and walk across the market. There's a strong smell of fish and seafood in the air, but I don't find it too bad. It also attracts the merfolk, and that's something that I like.

Most of them are tall and strong Sea Soldiers since not many commoners bother to get a permit to enter our Holy Lands, but that's fine with me since they're nice to look at. Outsider commoners tend to be fat merchants, so Soldiers are definitely the better visitors.

"Hello, Roxanne," one of the vendors cheerfully greets.

"Hello," I flatly answer, not feeling like talking, but they're smiling at me, so I at least smile back a bit.

"How are you, Roxanne?" another asks as I pass.

"Fine," I try to politely answer.

"Going for a walk, Roxanne?" an old woman gently hums.

"Yes," I hum back and glance at her.

Then a young, female vendor cheerfully catches my attention. "Taking a stroll with Shervin, eh? Why don't you spend some time at my house while I 'talk' with him?" she suggests with a naughty smile and glances at him. But then she hurriedly adds, "I can give you lots of cookies again."

Getting free cookies isn't that great of a thing, though. If I eat them, then Mom will know because I'll be less hungry for dinner, so what's the point, really?

"Shervin can 'talk' with you in his free time," I sternly answer, making Shervin choke on his spit and start a coughing fit.

Then another young, female vendor shouts from her stall, "Hello, Roxanne! Please tell your mother how your father is always a pleasure to deal with!"

"Okay," I answer flatly. Dad's popularity seems to help a lot with making Mom so successful…

Then a rather desperate merchant gets in my way and offers balls of wriggly tentacles as he charismatically pleads, "Roxanne, won't you take some Tickly Tentacles for dinner? I know your mother will love them. You know how mine are better than even the merfolk's!"

The last thing I want right now is to eat, really, so I just dismiss him, "Another day." And I quickly move on before Shervin tries to intervene.

Then I finally leave the market, and the assault ends.

 

The smell of sea salt becomes quite heavy once I reach the pier, and the constant whispering of the waves feels nice on my ears, but my feet don't want to rest here. I continue on and find the shore, then I walk a long way until I get past the bathers, and I stop before a thick patch of trees, but this is a familiar spot to me.

There's a very faint track that only Nousha, Shervin, and I know about, so I go down the winding path, then I enter a small cave and take in the beautiful sight. The sunlight creates reflections on the stone ceiling that flicker as the tide comes and goes while the whisper of the waves echoes throughout the cave.

This is just so soothing that I'm already feeling sleepy, but here is also the only place where I can truly feel "alone"... though I do still have a shadow called Shervin following me.

"Can't you leave me alone?" I harshly ask, feeling very frustrated.

"No," he answers flatly. "If I do, you might run away and get into trouble again."

I actually might…

So I just sigh and sit on a dry rock.

Past the cave's entrance, I see a green flag on a buoy, which means that the Sea Soldiers are on patrol, so it's safe to enter the water. Not that I want to, I just want to stay here without the risk of anything crawling out of the sea.

"You shouldn't have come, you made things worse," I whine and hug my knees.

"You know that's not true," Shervin softly replies.

But now the anger is starting to boil, so I glare at him as I shout, "Yes, it is! Firuz hates you, and you made him mad!"

And he raises his lips in anger, showing his white fangs. "Hey! No, I didn't. You know exactly why he hates you!" he shouts back, his powerful voice echoing across the cave, but he isn't trying to scare me, so he takes a breath and sighs. Then he runs his hand across the tall fur on his head as he awkwardly apologizes, "I'm sorry, Roxxy, I shouldn't yell at you. Look, Firuz is a kid, and so are you. He's taking his anger on you, and though it's not fair, that's just how things are. One day, he'll calm down, and then you can become friends again."

I frown then turn forward again and stare at the water. The waving lights on the rocks are much more enticing than Shervin's pitying gaze.

Yes, I understand what he said, but I don't want to think about it. I just want to play with Nousha…

But… there's nothing I can do anymore, so I just… stay here for a while longer. I don't want to go home, and I don't want to do anything, really, so I might as well just let my mind wander.

The sounds of water and the waving reflections are mesmerizing, and for some reason, I feel like it's gradually soothing my bruised heart. At least today won't be a total downer.

But I become so entranced that I don't even notice as my mouth begins to move and speak absentmindedly, "Father says we're going to leave Mashoor."

"Hm?" Shervin hums confusedly as he also got distracted.

So I speak with intent this time, "He hired a magic instructor. He said that he got me a spot in the Holy Academy for once I'm old enough. We're going to Xane in a few years."

And his tone becomes gentle as he's legitimately happy for me. "Oh… then you can make some new friends over there."

"I don't want to," I whine again and hug my knees harder.

But he just insists, and his casual tone gets under my skin, "You will, soon enough."

I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to!

Damn, stupid, shitty, filthy... argh! Skritter-brains!

I don't control my mother, I don't tell her what to do, and she certainly wouldn't fire Firuz's dad just because of some stupid shit we did!

IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

If I could just-…!

I stand up then raise my arms above my head and start casting a [Fireball]. I barely have the concentration to chant properly, so I just mutter some stupid words and curses in a voice Shervin can't hear, but for some reason, it feels so good to do this that I can't stop myself.

"… and rip them apart! [Fireball]!" I suddenly finish with an angry shout and swing both of my arms forward as if I was throwing the spell.

The ball of fire follows my movements and flies into the waves, then it explodes, and a wave of steam and scalding water flies in all directions. But I only have a split second to cover my face before it hits me.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" I cry as I rush to the cold water then sink my arms into it to soothe the pain.

"You stupid kid, what did you do this time?!" Shervin angrily yells as he rushes to my side.

He suddenly pulls me out of the water and splashes an HP potion on my face, then another on my chest and arms, and a third on my legs. The pain immediately starts to fade, so I bite my tongue and wait while it works on my burns.

Thank the Gods for my glasses. If that water touched my eyes, I would be in much more pain.

"What kind of damn spell was that?" he continues and looks over where my spell hit the waves. There's a small whirlpool quickly decreasing in size over there, and even I know how that looks impressive. "How much mana did you even use?"

"Not much," I grumble in a low tone and walk back to my dried rock so that I can suffer while sitting instead of standing.

And he puts his hands on his waist as he starts to ponder while staring at the turbulent water, "You know how to manipulate magical concepts? That must have been an explosive [Fireball]."

"I guess so," I hum and shrug.

Then he turns to me and smiles encouragingly, showing all of his long fangs and sharp teeth. "You have some talent; you'll become a good mage one day."

"I'm tired of hearing that," I mutter stubbornly.

He knows that; he heard it so many times since he's always following me, so he immediately cringes, and I look away. I'm also tired of these pitying gazes.

I grab some pebbles and start to throw them at the water, but my aim is actually pretty bad, so they never go where I want them to. If only I could cast [Fireball] without having to aim, then I could blow the snobs with just a thought.

But then my skin starts to feel itchy because of the seawater, and I notice that there's also some red gunk stuck to it from the low-quality HP potion, so I cast [Conjure Water] to remove what I can with my hand.

But then I get a naughty idea. If I use Fire and [Water Magic] properly, then Mother won't notice I dirtied my dress with seawater. I have fourteen "Willpower" and five levels in [Mana Control], so it should be enough for some mild elemental manipulation.

First, I have to heat my body and pull out the water from my clothes along with whatever is dirtying me. Dad said that visualization is the most important part of magic, so I conjure more water, then I close my eyes and meditate.

Fire creates heat that turns water into steam. Fire creates heat that turns water into steam. Fire creates heat that turns water into steam.

I imagine the flames tickling and licking the water droplets, who get scared of the heat and scream while running away. They feel the heat on each other and panic, so they begin to run in all directions and from each other, scattering into increasingly smaller droplets until they just turn into a cloud of hot steam.

My mana starts to drain, and my body heats up until it becomes uncomfortably hot, then I hear the water on my skin begin to sizzle and dissipate into steam. But the drain on my mana is quite heavy, so I quickly get tired, but I hold on to it until all the water is gone.

I open my eyes and see that Shervin is meditating on a dry rock. Good thing his [Sense Mana] is low, or else he would tell Mom I'm doing this, which would make her mad, and then she would force me to improve my [Clean] until my head hurt.

Bleh, who needs [Clean]? It's harder but more fun to do it this way.

Now I turn to the water again and continue throwing pebbles, but I end up stopping after a short while, then I just stare at the waves in silence. I still don't know what I want to do, but I also don't want to go back to my stone cage again.

 

Time flies while I enter a trance, but then Shervin suddenly stands up and requests, "Roxanne, dusk is coming, and I'm hungry, so let's go home."

"Okay," I flatly hum.

And we don't say a single word during the walk back.

The vendors are closing their shops, so the market is mostly empty by now, and the laborers are coming to the plaza to hang out and drink while the ones that loitered all day leave to go home or to a tavern. Then the merfolk Sea Soldiers go back into the water and turn the green flags red, so now the sea is off-limits to anyone not stupid enough.

We enter the estate just as the guard shift changes, then the tall gate closes behind us, and I feel my body pressured again. This really is my cage.

Then we split. I go towards the master bath while Shervin the servants', but as I'm about to enter, Mom comes out looking refreshed. She stops, and I tense up, then she scans my body, especially my clothes, but she gives me an approving nod, so I breathe in relief.

Good, she didn't notice. I just hope I didn't damage this dress; I really like it.

I enter the bath and see that Dad is still in the tub, so I quickly wash myself and jump in then swim towards him and nuzzle in his arm.

"Hey, my little Rox. Careful with the horns," he soothingly cautions me then starts patting my head.

His thin, delicate hands caress my horns; his unnaturally white skin is flushed pink; his dark brown hair is swept back like always because he doesn't know any other style; and his slender arms give me a comforting hug. I feel so happy that I entwine my tail with his and close my eyes.

"Did you talk with Nousha today?" he softly whispers in my ear, sounding a bit concerned.

And I grind my teeth, but I quickly stop to not show Dad how angry I am. "No, Firuz didn't let me because he doesn't like me anymore," I answer as unemotionally as I can.

"It's fine," he whispers softly and tightens the hug. "You're still a child, so friendships will come and go, but you'll make new ones soon. Have you talked to the neighbors' kids yet? Some of them are the children from Holy Officials on vacation here. You should make friends with them because you'll meet them again at the Holy Academy soon enough."

But I just stay quiet. I'm tired of saying the same thing over and over again, and I don't want to tell Dad how that meeting went.

 

Dinner is as usual; Dad talks on, and on, and on, and on. He tells us of his meetings and gives updates on the shipments while Mom listens and occasionally interjects to suggest something. But when she starts giving her report on the finances, I just zone out and focus on savoring my food.

The conversation at the servant's table is ten times more interesting, so my brain ends up getting a few scraps from it even without me actually trying, but I can't laugh at their jokes, or else Mom gets mad. She wants me to learn business too, so their talk is also for me, but I don't know why she does this since she wants me to serve as a Holy Official.

Then I notice that Shervin is eating a mountain again.

How does he not get fat?

Soon, Dad takes a breather to actually eat, so I take the chance to ask, "Mom, can you buy some more books?"

"Have you finished the other books yet?" she replies with a questioning gaze.

"They are too boring!" I protest and pout.

So she narrows her eyes into long lines as her gaze turns cold.

But Dad always takes my side and easily mollifies her, "Come now, Sanaz, she deserves a few more books to distract her, doesn't she?" And he gives her his best handsome smile.

So she instantly gives in, though she still gives a stern warning, "Fine, but you'll have to make sure that she doesn't ditch her training, Behrouz, at least until her instructor arrives."

"Yes, my dear," he smoothly replies then grabs Mom's hand and kisses it, making her chuckle. "I'll come home earlier to measure her progress," he adds then turns to me and lowers his tone. "I want to see this powerful [Fire Magic] she has that I hear so much about."

That doesn't sound so bad.

 

I spend most of my evening on Dad's lap as he brushes my hair, then he uses his [Massage] skill on me, which feels like he's slowly caressing the inside of my brain. If Dad is using the skill on the female vendors, then I kind of get why they're always asking me to tell him to visit them.

Eventually, Mom and Dad retire early to the bedroom, and I don't feel like talking to the servants, so I go to my room and look for a book to read, but no matter how many times I look at them, none seem interesting. If Mom bought better books then I wouldn't keep asking for more so often.

But I don't want to sleep yet, so I groan and pick one I've never read before, "In Vivo Experiments of Death Valley's Flora on Humanoids".