The Sin Of Greed

"Haha! As straightforward as always, I see, just like that brother of mine. At least you have more facial expressions than him. I called you up here because you are part of today's event. It is a day of celebration. Not only did my son and daughter get good elements, but my niece is a once in a lifetime genius. As King, I must boast!" I rubbed the spot between my brow. I am only five years old, and I will have stress wrinkles before the age of six….

I was reluctantly pulled to the center stage, or more like the top of the stairs, where I was joined by Prince Zack and Princess Leslie. Each took one of my hands. I tried to slap them away, but they did not seem to get the hint. Since it was an event and they were royalty, I had no choice but to stand there and hold their hands. If this was a private setting, I would have thrown them both out the window. Unfortunately, no matter how much I wished to do it now, in the face of the public, in order to not give my family a bad name, I had to deal with it.

I watched as the King stepped forward and began to give his speech. "I welcome you all today to the awakening ceremony of my son Prince Zack, my daughter Princess Leslie, and my wonderful niece, Bella Rinehart. My son Zack has awakened the water element. My daughter awakened the fire element. And lastly, the kingdom's pride and joy, Bella Rinehart, has awakened three different elements. Dark, light, and even null. You heard me right. Not only is she this kingdom's first ever tri-caster, but she is also someone who holds three different rare elements."

Is it wrong to suddenly want to assassinate the King? I never thought this idiot would just go and publicize my new abilities. It is like putting a damn target on my back! I am starting to wonder if he is ill in the head!

"Now, let me be clear!" The King continued bringing me out of my thoughts. "If anyone dares harm even a single hair on my niece, I will wipe out you and your entire family to the very last drop of your family bloodline."

"Oh, what if it is your daughter?" I couldn't help but ask, causing the King to turn and give me a strange look.

"I would never harm Bella! I will be her wife in the future!" Princess Leslie shouted as if it was already a fact.

"Ah! Leslie, don't get ahead of yourself. I already said I was marrying Bella!" Prince Zack yelled out.

My head was starting to hurt, so my little fists suddenly hit two thick skulls causing two cries to echo through the hall. "Shut up!"

"Ouch…. Bella…." Princess Leslie whined. But I ignored her. Prince Zack was doing his best to hold back his tears, but he wasn't doing too good of a job at it.

At least they were now quiet. I turned to the King and bowed to him as I said: "Forget my question. You wouldn't need to kill them. I will do it for you."

"Bella!" My father called out. I turned and looked at him. He shook his head, causing me to purse my lips. "Fine… I will only half kill them…."

"Bella!" This time it was my mother who called out my name, causing me to let out a long sigh.

"Fine, fine! Quarter kill them! Geeze!" The whole room was silent, but that silence was quickly broken when a loud laugh filled the room. I turned to see my uncle the King laughing while holding his stomach.

"Little Bella, you are much like your father and mother. Both are blunt and honest about their feelings. I know you are already putting up with their antics, and I thank you for that. I do hope you can be friends with the both of them from here on out." I sighed and nodded my head. "I will try my best…."

"Good! Now, let the celebration truly begin!" As he said as the music began to play, and people began moving to the dance floor. It was at this time two hands were held out towards me. Both the princess and prince bowed their heads to me and at the same time asked: "Would you like to dance?"

"Hey! Don't cut in!" Prince Zack yelled out.

"I should be telling you not to cut in, Brother. Bella would only dance with someone as pretty as me and not a toad like you!" Princess Leslie shot back. I do wonder if this will ever stop.

"I am not dancing. I am only here for the snacks." I said before turning around and walking away. I could hear them still fighting behind me, but I did not care. I walked back to my seat, where my brothers were now surrounded by all the noble girls. I am sure they want to get close to them due to me now. But it seemed my day was not going to go easy as a boy around seven years of age walked up to me.

"Miss Bella, may I have this dance." The young man asked. I looked at him and nodded as I answered: "Sure you can. Have fun." And walked away and sat down.

I had no intention of dancing in the first place. It was not that I did not know how. I just did not want to. Mimi, who was next to me, was giggling away as she looked at the boy, who seemed to have turned into a statue. His hand still held out, his eyes vacant of all light. He really seemed to have died from embarrassment.

"Mimi, are you not going to dance?" I asked. I could see her envious gaze as she saw the others dancing on the dance floor. She kept patting her dress, so I knew she wanted to.

"No one would want to dance with someone like me…." Mimi replied, her eyes lowered. I sighed and turned to Ray, who looked to be having trouble with the girls surrounding him, and said: "Brother, did you not say you would dance with Mimi first? Please do. She is waiting."

"Huh? Right! I did say that." Ray blushed and stood up. He walked around the table the long way for some reason as the girls he blatantly ignored watched him with wide eyes. He made his way to Mimi and reached out his hand. "Mimi, would you like to dance?"

Mimi raised her head in shock with rosy cheeks before slightly nodding her head. Seeing her bashful smile that she was unable to hide made me smile. She was such a good girl she deserved to be treated dearly.

"Why is he dancing with the commoner? She only has a fancy dress but no…." The girl who was talking just now after being ignored by Ray's face suddenly paled when she saw me looking at her causing her to stop talking. She lowered her head and quickly ran off. I only snorted before turning back to look at Ray and Mimi.

"You really care for Mimi, huh?" My mother walked over and asked.

"I do. She is a hard worker and is always worried sick about me. While we do tease each other, she is like a younger sister to me that I want to protect and make happy." I replied with a smile.

"Bella, you do remember you are younger than her, right?" Mother asked with a chuckle. I nodded as I answered: "Physically, yes, but Mother, if you want to do mental years, then I am older than both you and father combined." I replied.

"I guess I can not argue with that. But Bella, you should enjoy this life and act like the kid you always wanted to be. I know you have things you worry about but for now, trust your parents to be there to help you with whatever you want. Feel free to act spoiled and ask us to buy you things. I feel if we did not buy things on our own for you, you would never ask for anything."

"Ahh… Well, I mean, in one life, I only owned my nun outfit and a book. In my second life, I was always running around the world with a single suitcase. The idea of wanting something is not really one of the things I worry about. Because simplicity is key to a life without greed."

"Hmm, greed is a wonderful thing, you know…." As the voice sounded in my head, the whole castle seemed to freeze in time. Everyone who was dancing stood like statues in the poses they were in when time stopped. From within the crowd, a woman with tanned skin wearing a black gown with long black hair and black horns that folded down to the sides of her head walked over and looked at me. "My name is Mammon, I rule over the sin of greed, and I am here to tell you that you are not doing your job." The demon's voice grew cold as she continued: "The game can not continue if you do not do something that moves it forward. How about I do something that will allow you to progress it further? Like... I don't know, kill your friend?"