My name is Benedict.
The eighteenth princess of the King Dragon Kingdom.
This sounds like an extremely prestigious status.
But for me, the title "princess" has never brought any glory.
I have no right to the throne, nor any special privileges.
Simply because—my mother is a demon.
In the eyes of the royal family, her status was lowly, while I, because I inherited her bloodline, was labeled a "bastard".
I don't even understand what I did wrong.
Was I able to choose where I was born?
Is bloodline something I can choose?
But from the day I was born, it seemed as if the ending of my life had already been written by someone else.
Nobody had any expectations of me.
Nobody thought I could be a useful person.
The people in the palace always looked at me with contempt, mockery, and disdain.
Over time, I even got used to those gazes.
Because I know they don't care about me at all.
So I was abandoned in the most remote detached palace of the royal palace.
It was far from the center of the palace, and also far from those who truly held power.
No teacher taught me to read.
No one taught me manners.
No one taught me magic, and no one taught me swordsmanship.
There wasn't even a single person to talk to.
Other princes and princesses were given high expectations from birth; they received the best education and were taught how to govern the country and how to be a qualified member of the royal family.
And what about me?
There was nothing there.
A nickname even gradually began to circulate in the palace.
"A useless princess who can't do anything."
I've heard it many times.
At first, I was sad.
Later, I became numb.
And then...
I even think they're right.
After all, what value can someone have who can't even read?
My life has become incredibly monotonous as a result.
Have a meal.
daze.
sleep.
day to day.
Year after year.
I'm doing everything all by myself.
Eating alone.
I'm taking a walk alone.
A person sat in the courtyard.
A person watches the sunset.
A person faces the long night alone.
I have no friends.
No relatives.
Nobody cares.
Sometimes, I even think about it.
If I suddenly die one day, will anyone find out?
Perhaps not.
Perhaps it won't be until the person delivering the food discovers that the food hasn't been touched that anyone will realize I'm dead.
As for tears...
Surely no one will leave me behind.
Because in this palace, I was always an unwanted person.
Nothing will change without me.
The princes will still vie for power.
The princesses will still attend the banquet.
The ministers will still discuss matters of state.
The sun will still rise.
No one would stop for the disappearance of a princess named Benedict.
This is how I live.
Like a forgotten doll.
It has no soul.
There is no goal.
There is no future either.
I don't know why I was born.
I don't know why I'm alive.
They had no idea what the meaning of their existence was.
That cramped detached palace was like a cage with no exit.
And I am the one trapped inside.
I used to think that I would probably live like this forever.
Until death.
Every day I wake up, it's the same routine as yesterday.
Close your eyes every day and wait for tomorrow.
Without expectations, there will be no disappointment.
Even so, I still harbored a last glimmer of hope in my heart.
I love the sky.
Whenever I have nothing to do, I sit in the courtyard and look up at the sky.
The sky is very blue.
The clouds were very white and soft.
They drifted away on the wind.
No one commanded them where they should go, nor did anyone tell them which places they were unworthy to reach.
I envy them.
I also like the wind.
I always have a strange feeling when the wind blows through the courtyard and tousles my hair.
It seemed to come from a distant world.
A world I've never been to, yet I yearn for it so much.
I often think about it.
I wish I could be like a cloud.
Go wherever you want.
Watch whatever you want.
Not bound by identity.
Not bound by bloodline.
It cannot be defined by anyone.
If we could really fly into the sky...
That must be very happy.
But I know.
For me at the time, such a wish was nothing more than a distant fantasy.
So, I gradually gave up my expectations.
It's meaningless.
There is no hope.
There is no future.
These words have become increasingly unfamiliar to me.
I've started to feel that it doesn't matter what tomorrow brings.
It doesn't matter what happens in the future.
They didn't even care what they would become.
Just live like this.
Like a soulless shell.
I once truly believed that my life was predetermined.
There will be no turning back.
Nothing will change.
No one will come to save me.
I will be trapped in that dark, secluded palace forever, guarding that unattainable dream, until I die.
Until that day.
A young man in white has entered my world.
Sunlight fell on him, and his white clothes swayed gently in the wind.
He stood in front of me without giving me any strange looks.
There was no mockery.
There was no contempt.
They didn't show any disgust because of my bloodline.
He just looked at me.
It's like looking at an ordinary person.
Then he extended his hand to me.
That hand was very close to me.
It felt as if it spanned more than a decade of my life.
He said to me:
Let's fly together into the sky.
At that moment, I was stunned.
Flying into the sky?
That place I've looked up to countless times, but never dared to truly hope for?
I looked at him.
Look at the smile on his face.
That smile was warm and radiant.
Like a ray of sunlight, it pierced through the darkness that had accumulated in my heart for many years.
turn out to be...
There really are people willing to reach out to me.
turn out to be...
There are indeed people who believe that I, too, can have freedom.
For the first time, I realized that my heart could beat so fast.
I'm afraid this is all just a dream.
I'm afraid that if I reach out, everything will disappear again.
But he didn't urge me.
Just wait quietly.
So, I finally mustered up my courage.
He reached out his hand little by little.
Then, she grasped his hand.
In that instant, I felt something awaken completely within me.
I want freedom.
I want to fly into the sky.
I want to touch those clouds that I could only look up at from afar before.
I want to feel the wind whistling past my ears.
I want to see the world outside the palace.
I want to be valued.
I want to prove that I'm not a loser.
I want to prove--
My birth cannot determine my life.
My lineage cannot determine my worth.
I want to change.
Even though the future remains uncertain.
Even if the road ahead is still full of thorns.
I don't want to go back to the past.
Because I finally understand.
I couldn't choose my birth in the past.
They cannot choose their parents.
One cannot choose one's bloodline.
I have no say in how others perceive me.
But from this moment on, I am at least able to choose the path I want to take.
I don't know what the future holds.
There might be danger.
It might fail.
Perhaps I will be ridiculed again.
But so what?
At least this time, I don't want to admit defeat again.
That girl who once cowered in a dark corner, afraid to look forward to the future, afraid to dream of freedom, and even unsure of the meaning of her own existence...
He died the instant he grasped that hand.
Starting today.
I am no longer that "useless princess who can't do anything".
They are no longer "hybrids" to be defined by others.
It is not the kind of puppet that can only be trapped in the detached palace and wait for death.
I am Benedict.
The eighteenth princess of the King Dragon Kingdom.
And my life...
It's up to me to decide.
I don't know what lies at the end of the sky.
But at least, I have grasped the hand that leads to the sky.
So even if the future is full of thorns, I will continue to move forward.
Because I finally have a dream that truly belongs to me.
--I want to fly to the sky.
Go and see for yourself that world I could only ever look up to.
And my story will begin from this moment.