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Millie's Past

　Cordelia showed up first, popping out of her tiny core. I needed to stretch my legs a bit, so I took the chance to stand up and go talk to her separately from the group.

　"Hey Cordie, is it really true that Millie is a princess?"

　The shocked reaction on Cordelia's face was way over the top. At first, I figured that reaction meant Millie was just joking around or something. But Cordelia immediately switched to communicating over the direct connection.

<Huh? What's with that reaction?>

　She was too demanding most of the time, but I decided to humor her for now. I sighed but dutifully began thinking of possible excuses. After thinking it over, I figured the best approach was to just pretend Cordelia needed to show me something inside her core.

　Cordelia was too distracted to introduce herself, so I excused us both and said we would be back shortly. Millie wanted to take the tanuki couple on a tour of the spaceship anyway, and once Gilda came, she also said she would help out with that while she got to know them both.

　Once we were alone, Cordelia gave me a searching look for a few moments, like she was trying to see behind my motives.

　"Did Millie really say she was a princess?"

　"Yeah, she just kind of threw it out there when we found out Byakuren was a princess."

　She just looked kind of stunned.

　"You mean the tanuki girl is a princess too?"

　"Yep. I know how you feel. I never thought I'd meet one princess, let alone two."

　"Listen, Willie, this is actually a big deal for Millie."

　Her serious tone, combined with the fact that she didn't add any of her typical weird embellishments when she spoke, got my attention. I listened as she told me a story that should have been obvious, but for some reason, it had never occurred to me.

　As I already knew, Cordelia really never had a name. But long ago, Millie did have another name. Her real name. She really was a princess. The last survivor of the royal family after the Demon Lords had attacked her world. In the end, her planet was totally conquered, and her family was killed in front of her. Afterward, she was tossed like trash into a dungeon core to be used as nothing more than a glorified battery. Everything she originally had, and everything she ever thought she would be, was stripped away in a moment by the Demon Lords. Replaced with a powerless and meaningless existence, one with no hope for anything better.

　Understandably, Millie was incredibly traumatized by those events. So much so that she became detached and depressed for years afterward. Cordelia took care of her during those dark days. Millie was so depressed and traumatized that she didn't even speak for months at a time. She was utterly defeated and hopeless. The only thing that kept her alive was Cordelia's presence and power.

　Deep in her heart, she probably still had some desire for vengeance. But with no way to achieve it, those feelings just ate her up and slowly destroyed her. Eventually, to find a way past that deep trauma, she'd come to the point of acting as if the terrified child she originally was had died. She left behind her name, tried to block out all memories of her family and their deaths, of everything about her original life. By the end of the multi-year process of shedding that trauma, along with that child's identity, there was simply nothing left behind except a carefree MIL unit.

　Cordelia behaved as the responsible one to enable Millie's escape from all responsibilities and burdens. By all rights, Cordelia should have become a top-tier core after being bonded to such a valuable MIL unit. However, that didn't happen because she instead chose to prioritize protecting Millie. It wasn't actually a very healthy relationship, not that I could blame them. One person was allowing the other to run away from reality. But Cordelia cared that much for Millie, and Millie was really just that emotionally devastated from the loss.

　I kind of already knew Millie had some bad experiences being enslaved to the Demon Lords. But because she was so relaxed and carefree, I just sort of assumed she wasn't that affected by it. However, the opposite was actually the case. She was so affected by it that she became that carefree person as a way to cope with the deep sense of loss and pain.

　A change must have started inside her when I showed up and was able to set them both free. Maybe Millie felt like she might actually be able to get vengeance now. The only person who knew the truth was Millie. But the fact that she had identified herself as a princess for the first time in a very long time might have signaled the rebirth of hope in her heart. And that she was regaining some of her original personality.

　There was no way I could understand the depth of Cordelia's feelings on the matter. But we both wanted to support and help Millie in whatever she decided to do.

　For now, We both decided there was no point in pushing the issue. Who knew if Millie was really ready to talk about this, or even if she would ever be. I would let her tell me how she felt when she was willing and able to do so. Cordelia had a much better chance of finding out before me since those two girls were so close. But now I could understand how their relationship got to be the way it was. I also had a deeper appreciation for who Cordelia really was now.

　Once I thanked Cordelia for sharing the story with me, we both went back to the meet up with the others.