Natalia was halfway up the ramp, hands outstretched toward Yuri's throat as her fingers twitched eagerly. If she had to throw him out of the room herself, then that's what she would do! But then her Shadow sang out.

"Oh yeah, rough him up! Then you can compare his body to Asch's. You always did like the rude ones."

"Be silent!" Natalia whirled on her Shadow, fed up. And she wasn't spoiled, Anise! (But she appreciated the sentiment just the same.) "The others are right. It doesn't matter who I really am, it's what I do with my name that matters, either as a citizen or a princess!"

There was an edge to the Shadow's smile, and her eyes glowed a little brighter. "Then you're denying me? The girl you were truly born to be? How sickening." She raised the back of her hand to her mouth and giggled girlishly. "You haven't once spared a thought for your poor mother and father. Not even to ask after their names! Instead you insist on clinging to the robes of the man who rejected you without a second thought...the one who served you poison! Can you believe him?! 'So you wouldn't suffer.' That's where your real anger lies, isn't it? Not in Van, not in the pitiful lazy wretches who left those people to die, not in the second-prettiest swordsman standing right over there."

Natalia clutched at the front of her vest, feeling a tight and uncomfortable lump forming in her throat. Her true parents... Yes, the thought had crossed her mind once she found out about them. Why hadn't they kept her? Because the Score said so? And the king...

"I don't...I don't hate him..."

"He doesn't care the way you do. He doesn't see you for all you could do for the kingdom! He's holding you back, Meryl. Maybe you should reject him, and let him taste how bitter that feels!"