Talented Baby Squirrel

Chapter 0

*Beaty's POV*

I fall to the ground in pain as my childhood sweetheart bit me with his snake fangs. The pain was horrible and at that moment it seemed as if the darkness had completely covered me. I was going to die right before my dream came true, my dream of becoming a merchant, traveling around the world crushed right before me. 

-10 years ago-

I had always lived alone since childhood, the only things I considered as friends were books. As I read them, I always thought to myself, all those people in the books lived very happily....why can't I be like them? It was until a certain person entered my life changing it forever. 

As I was looking through a book my aunt, Firina Sirius, bursts into my room. She shouted, "You're lazily lying in your room again?! Wake up. We need to go." "Me?" I asked. She nods her head, and I asked myself curiously, she never left the house where are we going?

"Even though you are just a kid, you need to go out and do something worthwhile right? To being proposed by the prince is already too lucky for you.", my aunt said, and I looked at her confused.

As my aunt brings me down the long corridor, she constantly nags on how I should think of his highness as his future wife serving him explaining as if I was meeting an extremely strict noble. She tells me to bow as a young formally dressed boy walks up to us. Aunt explains that the person right in front of us carries the blood of the noble white snake. The boy chuckles at the reaction and said, "There is no need to be so rigid."

I look up to see a handsome boy, silver hair, and gold eyes who looks around the same age as me. "Hello?", the boy said, "I am the 2nd prince of Astrum Kingdom , Riter Astrum." I gazed at his appearance visibly amazed on how beautiful he was. Riter looks down at my right wrist noticing a small silver marking and exclaimed, "Wow, this the first time seeing a suin (Therianthopy) like me."

I quickly hid my wrist in panicked when he points it out. The sliver marking is called a 'Signum' which only descenders of constellation born as 'suin' have this. For ordinary people, it's something to be proud of, but to me it is bad luck. Riter noticing my sadness takes my hand assuring me " it's okay, and it is beautiful too. You know that right? That I will always be by your side."

Just like that he became my one and only friend. I became engaged to him, thinking we would be good friends. But right after that my world shrunk a lot.

"To complete the training, you must move into a separate village." aunt said aloud when we got back to my room. I knew that this so called 'training' was not the usual class. That old lady never spent a single penny on what she calls ' her annoying niece'. She used the excused of 'marrage  class ' to completely control my life. Comfortable clothes, delicious food, fun parties she said they were all too luxurious for me. But it is not all bad though. Thanks to unused books, and obsolete newspapers, I found a place to read books. Thanks to the blessing of the stars, I turned into a squirrel. I could sneak into the garden; to see everything and I also had a friend.

I was particularly fascinated by my dream of becoming a merchant, I didn't want to be living in a cramped space for my whole life, I wanted to go far away, out in the world. A place I found in my book had caught my interest and Riter supported my dream. 

Riter helped me in all sorts of ways, how to save money, how to get free rent, what major to study and when to execute the plan of leaving the mansion. I decided that we would depart on my coming-of-age ceremony and Riter agreed.

-present-

However, on that day everything to a turn. Riter came to me, and I hugged him giving a good luck to get ready our plan. Riter never said anything, and I asked, "Riter, why aren't you saying anything-"

I felt a sharp pain from my neck and quickly pulled away from Riter I felt liquid drip down from my neck as I start to cough blood out. I felt weak and feel to the floor I slowly realised what Riter had done he bit me on the neck. I looked down unable to give myself the strength to look at him.

"It hasn't ended yet?" I heard a familiar voice and as I slowly look up, I see my aunt next to Riter. Strange, I was sure that there was no one at the mansion today. Why?

Riter came forward and I don't know why but when I placed my right hand on his hand, he didnt help me up. Instead, he used some sort of magic taking my most valuable thing, my signum.

After all this time I trusted him. In the end I die in vain never to achieve my dream. Or so I thought. As I closed my eyes, I could feel some sort of weird light that came over me.

I open my eyes to hear a familiar sentence. "This person carries the blood of the noble white snake" I look around in confusion, what happen am I dead? I look in front of me to find the person who stood in front of me when I was about to die. It was then I realised, I had traveled back to the time I first met Riter ten years ago.

As I look at my now tiny hands confused, my aunt scolds me of why I was not bowing down to Ritar. Riter says it was okay because it was the first time we met so I must be a little shy. It's okay...that was always what Riter used to say all the time, even when he knew I am half-squirrel. I used to believe those words but now just looking at him makes my blood boil. I rushed up to him with an angry expression on my face and when Riter asked what is wrong, without a second thought, I slapped his face hard.

The maids around Riter panicked at the sight of this and rushed over. Aunt scolded me very loudly. But I didn't care at all, Riter deserved it, I will pluck all your hair out. I pounced onto him attempting to pluck it out when the guards pull me down.

My aunt shouted, "Hold her tight! I can't stand her anymore! I am not in a good mood today."

Before her hands could touch me, I quickly turned into my squirrel form getting free from the guards and ran up the closest tree I could find. I then leaped from tree branch to tree branch, ignoring my aunt's cursing and commands. I left everything all messed up, never turning my head around and ran.

I ran until I landed on top of a carriage I rested on the roof as I hear the driver calling out, "To the north of Aslan! Hurry up and get on right now if you're going to the north! We're about to depart!" I stayed on the carriage as it starts to leave the capital, I look back at the mansion, the place I grew up and where I died. I could remember the pain on my neck when I died. Outside, just thinking about the fresh air and the limitless area I could explore, makes me happy. But I feel a little bit strange. Going far away, where I spend the rest of my days, at a place where I have no one I could call a friend. This is where my story begins.