9 A Loving Family

I was asked to say the same phrase over ten times before my mother felt satisfied. A little while later, Mimi came back much more relaxed and without fear in her eyes when she looked at me, which made me feel relieved. My mother seemed to not want to let me go as she carried me to the bath and even helped bathe me. She seemed to have a weird obsession with cleaning my feathers. Although it did feel relaxing.

It was strange. I could feel her fingers on each feather as she touched them. It was such a weird sensation, yet it seemed natural to me, just like how I could naturally move my wings on my own or wave my tail around. It was all natural.

After my bath and getting into a nightgown that my mother had the maids fix to take into account my new wings and tail, I went back downstairs, this time on my own two feet and Mimi at my side. As we got to the bottom step, Mimi leaned in close and whispered to me: "Sorry…."

"Don't worry. I am not mad."I smiled and held her hand, causing her to relax even more.

When we reached the living area, where we had many couches and other kinds of chairs in front of a large fireplace that was crackling away, my father was already there waiting for us. He stood up and walked over to me, and hugged me tightly. "It's good that you came back okay. You did well in protecting your brother."

"No…." I shook my head. I do not need any gratitude for protecting Ray. "He did his best to protect me at first, but the bald headed man knocked him out."

"I see… And the man?" My father asked, his voice going low.

"Dead… I killed him and the other one…." I replied with my head lowered. I did not dare to look up. I did not know what they would think of their five year old daughter killing two grown men.

"As it should be…. But Bella, are you going to be okay?" My father's question was something I did not expect. I looked up at him in confusion. He was wearing his usual blank expression, but his eyes held a tinge of seriousness. "I am asking, are you going to be okay? You killed humans."

"Father…. Those men could not be considered human after they hurt Brother. No. Before even that, due to the fact that they were kidnapping little kids and selling them off. They had planned to sell me off before they left the capital and then sell Ray off to some noble with special tastes." I answered firmly before lowering my head and adding: "Did you forget what I have said before? In my second life, killing was what I did for a living ...."

"I do not care about your past lives!" My father suddenly yelled out. "I care about my daughter in this life. The little girl who loves to run around and cause trouble! My precious daughter Bella! I am asking you, are you okay!?"

My father's shout made me look up at him, and when I heard his question, I once more lowered it as I said: "Ah… Mm… I am just happy that I was able to get Ray out of there. I did not care too much about the two men, but I had to do what I did in order to escape. If you do not want me to kill anyone anymore I can…."

"Bella!" My father cut me off. "Whether you killed someone or not doesn't matter. You did what you had to do. You protected both yourself and your brother. I am very proud of you. You did well. Very well. If anything had happened to either of you and we could never see you again, your mother and I both would have been devastated. We would have used every bit of gold and assets we have to search for you. We would not give up until the day we died."

My eyes began welling up with tears once more, but it seemed my mother had noticed as she hugged me. "No matter what happens, as your father said, we would always keep searching. Luckily…. Luckily this time, because of your change, you two were able to return safely."

"Yes… Your mother is right." My father nodded as he patted my head. "Pixal!"

"Hieee!" Pixal, who had been sitting on top of the fireplace, suddenly squealed at my father calling her name.

"From now on, you are to stay with Bella if she leaves the house. You can make honey any time, but my daughter is more precious, understood?" My father narrowed his eyes at Pixal, who quickly nodded and saluted. I do not know what kind of deal my father has with Pixal, but she seems to have become my father's subordinate.

"Don't worry, Master, I will make sure to stay by her side no matter what when she leaves the house," Pixal replied.

"Mmm, good… " My father answered while nodding his head. I do not know how I feel about Pixal calling my father master, but we will just leave it alone for now.

With things finally settled, I was allowed to go see Ray. When I walked into the room, Preston was also in there, sitting at his bedside. When he saw me, he did not say anything but instead got up and hugged me. It seemed my family really didn't care one bit about my appearance. Such a family was well worth protecting, and I will do whatever I can to protect them.

The doctor said that Ray hit his head pretty hard but only had a minor concussion. He had been knocked out, but with the added stress and fear he had been subjected to, the doctor said that he would probably not wake up until the next day.

Luckily it was nothing too bad, but the doctor did say that he would keep an eye on him for the next few months to make sure everything stayed okay.

After a hot meal, I went back to my room. Mimi followed me in and sat by my bedside on a small stool as I laid down. "Bella, are you really okay?" She asked. The eyes that she looked at me with were filled with worry. I smiled and nodded my head. "I am very much okay. Mimi, if you are worried, just spend the night here tonight."

"I do not think I should. I am just a servant, Bella." Mimi replied, which I figured she would. I did not force her since she was always a stickler for this kind of thing. I just smiled and told her good night. But I could still feel her at my side even as I drifted off into a deep slumber.

The next morning I woke up slightly early. But before I even opened my eyes, a small message had appeared within my vision.

[Current Dominance changed: Demon → Neutral ]

I quickly checked my status menu once more…

[Name]: Bella Rinehart

[Age]: 5

[Race]: Angel and Demon

[Current Dominance]: Neutral

[Demon Shop Points]: 10

[Angel Shop Points]: 0

[Skills]

"So I am back to normal?" I uttered as I sat up. And sure enough, I no longer had any wings or tails. Even after patting my head all over, I didn't find a single trace of horns.

"Bella?" A voice came from my side. I looked over to see Mimi rubbing her eyes, still sitting on the stool that was next to my bed. This silly girl! She could have slept in the bed but slept in the chair instead. "Why didn't you just get into the bed!"

"I…. I am just a ser…." I suddenly cut her off. "If you planned to stay the night anyway, you should have just climbed into bed. No one would yell at you!"

"Bella is right." My mother's voice came from the entrance of my room. I looked up to see her walking in with a glass of water. "You are back to normal, I see. Maybe sleep is the key to reverting back. Or it could be a mental thing. We will be doing some tests to see if we can get you to change into your forms. It would be good if you could do it at will and avert these kinds of situations from now on. This way, if you do get kidnapped again or something else happens, you can escape before you have to dirty your hands once more. "

Hearing my mother's words, I wanted to let her know that it was fine, but she pushed her finger against my lips. "I do not care about your past life. You are Bella now, not the Little Demoness as you described yourself from your past life. You are now a member of our Rinehart family and should not have to dirty your hands. But if it does come down to it, I want you to be able to use every option you have at hand to defend yourself. At that time, you should do what you need to do."