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Ismena, a former Princess of the Athetosea Kingdom which in the past, I had defeated with my army in a large battle. I still remember quite well how all of that went. I wasn't on my best mind back then, and I was very unhinged and monstrous, much more than I am now. I was still developing who I was, my humanity, and I let go of my desires much more, without thinking about what others might think as much, I lacked much empathy, and was very possessive as well.
It's not that I am not like that anymore though, but I am not so wild anymore, at the very least, I like listening to people, even strangers, most of the time, sometimes... I think I'm better, at least. I want to think that way. I've become more emotional maybe.
And yeah, Ismena comes from all the way back then, she was a princess that ended becoming a trophy after her kingdom fell against my army. Not my proudest moment, but she and her sisters ended joining my kingdom as servants after their Kingdom became annexed to mine.
I won't go into more details, but I must say, Ismena was mostly a victim of all these things, and she suffered a lot back then. She was already struggling as a princess in such an unstable, corrupt Kingdom already, and then the whole army of monsters came clashing down on her... It must have been horrifying.
Even more because my little monster self happily ate all the heroes of her Kingdom... Hah, I was really unhinged! But I needed to do that to grow quicker, as the threats never stopped coming, literally, and had only continued rising in scale.
I did my best to take care of her though, of her necessities, of her life, and tried to slowly make her happy. It wasn't like I fell in love at first sight with her or something either, but I've grown to love her on her own little things and quirks.
She eventually evolved from a normal human into a Chaos Human, gaining fairy-like traits, and becoming a beautiful fairy-like girl, her unique power remained even now, a powerful Grimoire connected to her Soul capable of copying Monster Attacks and replicating them as Spells.
Ismena had always been a modest and calm girl, very studious, she liked investigating things, reading, and writing, and although she did her best training to get stronger and train her abilities, she never walked away from the library that much, and I left her on her own world anyways.
Nonetheless, she helped whenever it was necessary, but she willingly stepped more into obscurity, perhaps it was my fault, that I didn't give her enough attention, that I didn't make her feel more important.
Managing so many wives is a bit tiring, but I'm always doing my best to love them all and make them feel happy and special.
Seeing her now, as a maid that grew up with this world's background of myself, seeing me grow up and loving me as a big sister kind of made me appreciate her even more than before, and perhaps love her even more too.
It was a strange feeling, I also felt sad, she had mostly forgotten about us now, but she also forgot about her past, the suffering she went through, the things she cried for...
I oftentimes think, isn't it better this way?
That they had begun completely new lives now, that they are now happier than before? "How are you feeling, young lady?"
Her human form was almost identical to how she looked like the human princess of the Athetosea Kingdom, so adorable, gentle, and with a hint of motherliness, she had grown up a lot from back then after all.
"Is the homework too complex? Should I help?"
"It's fine, I can do this without issues, Ismena..."
I saw her placing the food near the table, it was some rice crackers with soy sauce flavor, and some cold green soda with ice cubes, and a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.
"I've brought you your favorite night drink!" she smiled cutely. "Please enjoy it while doing your studies. You need some sugar to keep your brain working after all!"
"Thank you," I nodded, caressing her hand a bit. "I really appreciate it."
"A-Ah... young lady," she smiled, blushing. "You've grown so much, you're all mature now. I can't believe it sometimes..."
"Is that so..." I felt a bit sad when she moved her hand away, she probably didn't even know how much love I expressed through that. "I suppose we all need to grow eventually. We have our own duties and everything, things we need to do."
"Yeah! That's exactly right, young lady!" she nodded. "You've grown so well! I guess your father has done a great job raising you."
"Ahhh, I don't think he has raised me that well, if anything he only likes spoiling me!" I sighed, crossing my arms. "It is mostly thanks to you and the other maids, Ismena."
They weren't wearing actual traditional maid outfits, but long, colorful kimonos with slight maid outfit additions that made them look very cute.
"Young lady..." Ismena covered her mouth as she was about to cry.
"You and everyone else helped raise me where I am now," I said. "You helped me learn about reading, math, history, mythology, and introduced me to many of the things of the underworld as well. I can still recall that time I ended getting into a Yokai Nest by accident when I wandered into the city alone, and you came rushing in to save me, using your powerful Grimoire to beat all the yokai."
"Hahah, you still remember that time, young lady? It has been like ten years since then! You were but around seven years of age..." giggled Ismena. "Those are memories I deeply treasure."
"I'm glad you do..." I nodded. "Can you stay some more? I would like to talk a bit more about certain things."
"Oh, but of course, I am all ears." She nodded, sitting in the Seiza way over the wooden floor, like servants usually did in Japan. "Whatever you need, I'll do it."