A/N: I think it is quite easy to guess where the title came from if there is a trend to be picked up from some of the previous parts. This has less basis of the original story, so I don't want to call this a crossover.

[A Whole New (Demonic) World (Part One)]    

Felice sat in the room full of princesses all dressed to the nines and excited. She understood their feelings; even of those who did not show their emotions on their faces. The atmosphere was practically one of nervous tension as some ladies smiled at each other in attempts of coming off as friendly, but others simply issued warning glares to their competitors.

The hostility, too, was understood very well by Felice. Of the near fifty women waiting in the sitting room, only one would be chosen as the wife to the Crown Prince of the Sparda Throne. Only one survivor in this room would emerge as the future-queen of the world's greatest kingdom.

And Felice –like every other princess in the room –had every intention to be that woman. For her, though, it was less by choice and more by need.

Felice was not a princess –at least not in the most common sense. While she was the daughter of a king, she had never been regarded as anything more than a dirty being. Her father was the king of a tiny, poor country and her mother, a poor maidservant. Felice had been conceived after a midnight rape case, but royal blood and ties kept her and her mother from being murdered. Both mother and daughter had been grudgingly allowed to stay in the castle, but they had been labelled as dirty and bullied by everyone they knew for as long as Felice had been aware of her surroundings.

Being a victim of her circumstance made her desire to break free stronger. Besides, playing the maiden-in-need was never her image. It helped that she picked up things quickly, had a quick mind and a smart mouth and (probably) an even smarter brain. Growing up made her protective of her mother; the only person who ever loved her and saw her more than a dirty scum.

Her life was tough, but smooth as she learnt how to stay away from anyone's attention, talked to everyone in the palace with her head bowed and voice small so that she wouldn't be recognised as the illegitimate daughter of the king.

That changed when the king –her father –locked her mother up all of a sudden. Enraged and no longer caring to keep away from trouble, she had demanded to meet the man who was her father, and received a threat in reply.

The King of Limbo was looking for a suitable candidate as a wife to his Crown Prince, and had extended the invitation to all kingdoms big and small nearby. It was the perfect chance for Felice's father to create a connection to the strongest kingdom in the world. It normally wouldn't have bothered Felice a single bit of her father's power-hungry ways. But this time things were different: her half-sisters –the legitimate daughters of her father –had all been married off to other kingdoms as political connections. Felice was the only unmarried daughter with royal blood in her veins, and regardless of the fact that she was only a lovechild, she had been threatened to not only join the running for the title of future-queen of Limbo, but was also forced to win. The 'if not' was a simple unspoken implication that her father left: Her mother would suffer terribly before being executed.

Felice found herself a seat near the window, sighing. She did not belong in this waiting room. She was no princess; she didn't know how to please Crown Princes. She just wanted to be free with her mother.

"A sigh means your life's happiness has escaped." A small voice that spoke out of nowhere startled her. The whisper meant that the speaker did not want to be spotted, and thus Felice made her action of leaning against the windowsill look natural, looking down at the man hanging off the side with a strong arm and apparently no fear of injuries.

"What are you doing?" She whispered.

"About to make chaos." The young man with bright glinting eyes and a guiltless grin replied. "How do you like rats?"

"I've dealt enough with them." Felice answered. "I wouldn't try to steal anything from anyone in this room if I were you. It's all princesses from different kingdoms here. If something happens, it's going to be big and you're going to be in real trouble."

"Trouble is my middle name." He grinned, and moved his other hand to show the prize he had been hiding behind his body. All of a sudden, his question of whether she liked rats made sense. "Besides, I'm helping a brother out."

Then, before Felice could make a reply, the man swung his free arm and lobbed his prize above and over her head into the room. Felice spun around, and watched as the body of the dead rat fall splat on the floor in the middle of the room.

Felice heard a chuckle from behind her.

And then the screams began.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Idiot girl!" The exclamation was paired with a strong shove. The man, who had all but dragged her from her own room out to the garden where private conversations could be held, now had her thrown against a tree, a thunderous expression on his face. It was honestly a familiar expression for Felice. The man had learnt too much from her father.

"I know you were raised in a barn, but can't you grow a brain?" warned Vezir -her father's trusted aide, and also the man sent to make sure she wouldn't try anything funny against her father under the guise of being her escort.

Felice knew that it was always a better choice to keep her tongue despite the fact that nothing Vezir had ever said or assumed about her was correct. After all, the man held the power to report back to her father. If she tried to talk back to him, there was no saying what he would report to her father, and what would happen to her mother in result.

"Can't you just follow a single simple instruction? Do exactly what the other princesses do! Monkey see, monkey do. What part of that is too difficult for you?" Vezir was on a roll, so Felice wisely kept her head down, schooled her expression to show the right amount of guilt and did not speak. She tucked away the retort about being unable to get the attention of anyone –much less the Crown Prince, which anyone had yet to see in real life –if she tried to copy everyone else. Grabbing the attention of the Crown Prince was only the start, and Felice knew better than anyone that copying everyone else around her would only make her fade further into the background.

"I don't care how dirty you were back home, but you are supposed to be a princess now. When everyone else screams at the sight of a rat, you scream. If they faint or swoon, you will do exactly the same, do you understand me?" Vezir grabbed the front of her dress roughly, twisting his fist in the cloth to give her a sharp glare that was probably meant to threaten compliance out of her.

"When they scream at the sight of a rat like you, I would definitely join in the fun." Felice could not stop her low mumble beneath her breath, and was unfortunately heard since the man was putting himself into her personal space. For a second time, Felice found herself thrown against the thick and stable trunk of the tree, her back stinging.

She was rather sure she would have received a slap for her impudent words –she had the experience of being slapped many times by her second mother the Queen, and half-siblings as and when they liked –but she guessed that presenting her plain, white, un-slapped cheeks to the royalty of Sparda throne was still top priority.

"Watch yourself, you dirty little scum. You might feel powerful dressed up in your sister's dress, but don't even forget for a second that you are only here for one thing. Both of us know what is going to happen to your mother if you even think of trying anything funny, so grow yourself a pig brain and do what you are supposed to do." Then, because bruises could be hid under dresses, Vezir gave her a strong warning shove that sent her roughly to the floor. Felice's million words of counter was swallowed as Vezir gave a disdainful spit, then stormed off.

Felice made sure she cut herself a pity figure for as long as Vezir was in view, and then picked herself up quickly after he disappeared around the bend.

"What does he have up his ass?" The sudden comment startled Felice, and she spun around immediately just in time to find a familiar face jumping from the tree that she had just recently been thrown again. "Did his mother feed him lemons every day for such a sour face to come up?"

"W-Why were you up the tree? How much did you hear?" Felice asked, the first of many question flooding her at the sight of him.

"I was sleeping at the other side of the tree but was woken up when you guys made a fuss. It wasn't appropriate for me to leave, so I climbed up. I guess I heard everything." The guiltless grin was completely at ease once again, and even though the man had unintentionally been eavesdropping on them, Felice didn't feel angry. There was just something about that 'Oops, I did it again' face that Felice couldn't bring herself to be angry about.

"I guess I have to apologise for waking you up." Felice answered, but something of higher importance popped up in her mind shortly afterwards. "But why did you do what you did? You gave the princesses a big scare, and many of them are considering quitting the selection because of your warning."

"What warning? What did I do?" The man asked nonchalantly in reply.

"The warning that women who cannot stand a little dirt or are afraid of rats should just go home, or else." Felice answered blandly, but instead of getting some form of confession, all the man did in reply was grin bigger and shrugged his shoulders in a 'who knows' gesture.

"Well, then did you get the warning?" He asked. "Sourpuss-Face didn't look happy."

Felice assumed Sourpuss-Face was the name for Vezir and could not help a small smile. While the man didn't understand the complicated relationship between Felice and Vezir, she was satisfied to know that at least this guy didn't like Vezir right off the bat. The enemy of an enemy was always a friend, and Felice somehow felt a distant sense of camaraderie with this guy whose name she had not been informed of.

"He wasn't happy that I didn't scream or faint like the others. I just don't see a point in screaming about something dead." Felice answered honestly. There was nothing for her to hide since the guy had heard their whole conversation.

"Do princesses in your country sleep with rats? You seemed awfully okay with them."

"I've caught a few rats by hand myself." Felice answered. "I'm not a normal princess; not here, and definitely not in my kingdom as well."

"I understood the fact that you're not a normal princess when you said you were okay with rats, but in your own kingdom as well? What gives?" The guy seemed interested enough to hold a conversation, and Felice never minded holding a conversation with a person who was as amiable as him. Not many people talked to her without having a disdainful look in their eyes, after all. It was nice to communicate with someone who didn't know about her identity as the illegitimate daughter of a king.

"If I tell you, you will look down at me." She answered. "I'm used to being looked down on, but I don't want you to look down on me. You're the only person who has talked to me properly ever since I came here."

"Woman, I am a guy who climbed 3 windows biting a dead rat's tail between my teeth just so that I can play a prank on princesses. If anyone's afraid of anyone looking down on anyone, I'll say I should be the one afraid of you turning your nose up on me, Princess."

"Don't call me that." Felice answered with a laugh. "My name is Felice."

"Dan here. Just so we are clear, you don't actually look down on me throwing rats into windows, do you?"

"No." Felice answered again with a laugh. This man clearly had his priorities all upside down. Also, for someone who had caused so much chaos, he was clearly fearless in the way he was still hanging around the palace, not even bothering to hide.

"So, why are you not a normal princess, Princess Felice?"

"I told you not to call me princess. I feel weird." Felice corrected, but took a seat beside the man who had already made himself comfortable with his butt planted on the ground and leaning on the trunk that she had only just been thrown against. "But the truth is that I'm just an illegitimate daughter of the king. My mother is a maidservant and basically the whole palace hates the two of us, especially me for being born because we are stains to the throne."

"Your father doesn't do anything to protect you?"

"Impossible. My father hates us as much as everyone else." Felice no longer felt sour saying something like that. She had accepted her fate long enough for the word 'father' to not have the connotation of anyone important anymore. "Only tradition is preventing him from ordering me and my mother murdered because I have royal blood, and my mother is a relative to royal blood."

"Then why did he have you with your mother?"

"Midnight drunk rape case."

"And your mother kept silent?"

"She's just a maidservant, Dan. Our kingdom is small and poor. We don't live like you do. Our court doesn't have legal systems like how you have it here in Limbo. The King is the biggest, and nothing he does is wrong. If he makes a mistakes, it's everybody else's problem except for his." Felice answered. "This is the curse of coming from a small kingdom."

"Is it really so backward?" Dan's fearlessness clearly extended in the way he was fearless in insulting her or her kingdom in his comments. But it was something Felice appreciated. She had seen too many fearful people in her life –the citizens of her kingdom were always fearful of their king who could do no wrong, yet do so many wrongs at the same time.

"It is. The whole kingdom is at his feet, and still the King is looking for more people to trample under him. That's why I'm here to make myself a future-wife to the Crown Prince. He wants more power."

"You're helping someone like that?" This time the disgust was clear in Dan's voice.

Felice scoffed. "I'd cut my neck off before I even think of helping someone like that voluntarily. I'm forced to do this. Don't think so badly of me, Dan."

"How is he forcing you to do this? Does it have anything to do with Sourpuss-Face just now?"

"My father locked my mother up. It's a blatant threat. Marriage to the Crown Prince in return for freeing my mother. Vezir is just here to make sure that I don't try anything funny and make sure that I am the chosen princesses." Felice answered. "I don't really care about Crown Princes anywhere, and I'm really sorry for this one this time, but I have to be his wife, or my mother is going to die."

"You have a ridiculous family, you know that?" Dan's comment was so frank that Felice could not help but chuckle in reply. "I thought I had a pretty messed up family with a demon for a father, an almost-demon for a mother and a no-funny-bone for a brother, but your family topped the cake."

"I'm sure your parents are just strict because they care about your future." Felice tried to comfort even though she herself wasn't very sure. She hadn't even met the man more than twice; it was impossible to know exactly what Dan's parents thought of him.

"Yeah, right now the less they care, the better for me. Besides, they are fixated on my brother, so for now I'm okay." Dan's answer was flippant, as expected from the easy-going man. "Anyway, I have decided on something while talking to you."

"And what's that?"

"I will be a genie for you. I'll grant you one wish. Anything you want. Because I'm feeling sorry for you, and I'm also looking for something fun to do."

"There's no need for you to do something like that. I'm already glad that you've listened to me without judging me." Felice answered.

"Just a wish. Entertain me, woman." For some reason, his persistent begging almost sounded like an order.

"I don't know what to wish for even if you asked me right now."

"You wouldn't wish to be selected as the Crown Prince's wife? That will ensure that your mother is freed, isn't it?"

"Yes, but it isn't fair for the others. And also, it wouldn't be very fair to the Crown Prince himself too. I don't want to ruin his life and his future just because of my family's problem."

"Then what are you still doing here if you don't want to work to be his future wife?"

"I guess I'm dragging for time while I try to think of an alternative solution that can appease my father enough to let my mother go." Felice confessed. "Please don't tell Vezir about this."

"Tell that Sourpuss-Face? If I see him, I think he will suck all the happiness out of my world. I'd rather not talk to him at all." Dan answered easily with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's okay if you don't want to use your wish now, but I'll keep it in tally. You can use it anytime, for anything."

"I don't need it; there really isn't a need. I don't like burdening others with my own problems."

"You're not burdening anyone." The man stood up fluidly, patting his pants as if to swipe any dirt away. "But I'll just give you one advice because I like you. Hit the neck, not the heart."

"What?"

"You heard me. Just remember those words; it will be useful eventually. I promise." Dan said, then gave a cool-guy wave without looking back, strolling away with his hands in his pockets.

________________________________________________________________________________

Felice had forgotten to ask Dan when the next time she would be able to see him again, but it appeared that the question would have been useless, because she saw him again quickly on the next day.

In fact, him hanging outside the window with something that looked like a rope wrapped around his waist that held him dangling was the first thing Felice saw when she walked into the interview room following the call of her name. It had taken a quick day for the preparations of interviews to be reshuffled following the rat chaos the day before, and Felice, like the many other princesses, had returned for their short interview which was widely understood as the first round of selection.

"Please have a seat, Princess Felice from Wittengein." One of the five people at the panel invited, and Felice tamed her expression to something to a neutral, gentle smile as she carefully picked her way to the single seat that had been taken by many other princesses before. She was on her first round of Selections, and she needed to pass so that she could buy more time to save her mother.

The questions that Felice found herself asked were expectedly of a higher level, and they were asked skilfully so that Felice would not know how to craft herself as a picture-perfect Princess, but rather had to answer them as herself. As she came to that realisation, Felice gave less and less of the model answers that were expected of a princess, and more of her personal opinions. Her viewpoint clearly surprised many of the panellists, and she could only pray that it was a good kind of surprise as they concluded another topic of conversation, opening another.

"As you might have already known, the kingdom of Limbo's biggest threat is less from humans, and more from demons. We know that the kingdom of Wittengein is fortunate to not have population large enough to be the target for demon invasions, but here in Limbo we constantly get threats like these. Not only do we have to manage to large team of widely skilled demon hunters ready to fight with their lives for the good of the country, we also require royalty who may remain calm and knowledgeable even in times where their own lives are threatened by demons. If you wish to be a suitable partner for our Crown Prince, basic knowledge of demon killing is needed." As a precursor to the questions, an introduction was given, and Felice knew that she had not been given the hardest questions yet.

Demon-hunting was definitely not a thing required of princesses anywhere else other than Limbo, and even though one part of Felice was relieved to know that many other princesses would be caught stumped here too, the other part of her was equally worried about how she would give her answers. She was basically as clueless about demons as the other princesses, and she could easily assume that answering questions about demon hunting right would earn her many points.

"Of course, we will not be suicidal to send our heir and his future consort to fight off high level demons. But also understand at the same time that our Crown Prince actually views demon hunting as a hobby, and is as capable as any top-level demon hunter we have. We expect his future partner to possess at least a little knowledge about demons." The introduction continued as Felice struggled not to let her panic show.

She knew next to nothing when it came to demons.

"Question 21 will be as such: You are alone with no bodyguards or backup. You have a sword that you picked up for self-defence. A demon has cornered you, but by extreme luck, it has caught itself in a trap keeping it in place. It is blocking the only exit in the room, and there are no windows. You should do something to either kill or cripple the demon enough so that you can escape. What do you do?"

Felice tried to imagine herself in the described scenario but it was no help, because she still had no idea what she would have done either way. If she was being completely honest, she would have just swung the sword wildly in hopes of catching something. But she also knew that it was not a good answer, because she had heard that some demons could regenerate from cut-off parts. It meant that if she cut the demon wildly, she could be creating more tiny-demons that could simply latch on to her and hold on until the main demon freed itself from its trap. She knew a good answer would be to kill the demon in one strike, but her current biggest problem was how.

Stabbing the heart was probably the best choice. She wasn't sure if it was a one-hit kill for demons, but it sure was for humans. Felice breathed in, preparing herself to present her answer with as much fake confidence that she had, when she caught sight of movement from outside the window that she had forced herself to forget.

She let her eyes wander there once, and focused quickly on Dan waving his arm frantically at her. Once he was clear that he had gotten her attention, he only grinned and pointed at his neck.

Hit the neck, not the heart.

Her decision was instantaneous.

"I would try my best to take a slice through its neck."

"Interesting choice. Most said to stab the heart." The reply came as her panellists exchanged looks with each other, no other expressions written on their faces. She couldn't gauge whether her reply had been the correct one or not given their reactions, and could only pray that Dan had not been trying to play a prank on her as the questions moved on.

Ten minutes later, Felice was finally done with the interview and walked out of the door after being instructed that the results of the First Round Interviews would be released the next day after the panel had completed interviewing every princess.

She hadn't even taken many steps before a rough hand grabbed her out of nowhere. Her protest was swallowed and her feet shuffled quickly to follow the force that the strong hand was dragging her with. In the confusion, she caught sight of her kidnapper and realised with a sinking heart that it was Vezir once more. The man clearly cared very much about eavesdroppers, because he made sure to drag her far away from the interview room until they came to an empty corridor that Felice didn't remember ever being to.

Once Vezir was satisfied that they were alone, once more came the shove that sent Felice to the floor.

"Idiot! Do you really want your mother to die? Have you no shame in giving those stupid answers?" The angry voice was really something Felice was slowly getting used to as she made herself seem like getting up was a difficulty since she knew that she would be shoved to the floor again if she got up fast anyway. It seemed like instead of slapping her, Vezir preferred throwing her against things and shoving her to the floor to show his anger and disdain.

"Which idiot thinks of slicing the neck? Out of the twenty princesses that came in front of you, eighteen said stab the heart! Why can't you just give a normal answer?"

Apparently kicking her was not something that was below the man, and Felice curled up with her hands covering her abdomen where he had kicked her. It was nothing particularly special; she had gotten kicked at too many times for her to care about the familiar pain.

"I already knew it was a bad idea to send someone as uneducated as you out here, much less to make you pretend to be a princess. You might have royal blood, but it's the dirtiest and most useless blood that I've ever seen. You pathetic piece of trash; I really regret the day I allowed the Chancellor to suggest for your father to send you here to try for the position. I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking agreeing with your father. Having cautious hope about you succeeding was the stupidest thing I have ever done. I'll take things in my own hands from now on." Vezir was clearly too angry, because one of his kicks landed on her face and Felice felt herself fly back a little, tasting blood when the back of her head hit the wall.

Dizzy and disorientated and largely in pain, Felice blinked only to see Vezir advancing on her. Grabbing her wrists, he forced her on her feet and backed her up against the wall once more.

"One more time, you little whore. One more time that you do something as reckless, useless and stupid as you have done, you pathetic trash, and I will make sure that your mother cries for having raised someone as worthless as you." Vezir spit, and Felice watched as his free hand raised and pull back. Someone was clearly too mad to care about scarring and presenting her bruised face to the Sparda Throne.

The hand swung, and Felice braced herself.

A moment passed, but there was no sting on her face. She opened her reflexively-closed eyes, and came to the sudden realisation that they had an audience who had involved himself in their ugly performance.

"Hit the woman once more, and I will call the guards." A cold voice said, and a chill ran down her spine. It was a distantly familiar voice, but the tone of voice was so strange that she couldn't be sure if it was the same man. Also, because he had a face mask worn, Felice was reluctant to say that it was the man that she knew as she stared at her saviour who hadn't given her a single look yet; eyes completely on Vezir.

"Stay out of this." Vezir's attempt to shake away the shackling hand came to a failure. "This is business in the kingdom of Wittengein."

"Any business that involves hitting a woman within the walls of this palace comes under the purview of Limbo. If you intend to hit her, bring her back to Wittengein and do as you wish with her. But while you are still here under the invitation of the Sparda Throne, see yourself unhand the woman." The unbending voice replied, an unmistakable tone of order that was richly backed up by blue eyes that focused on Vezir so sharply that Felice was mildly surprised that Vezir hadn't melted into a puddle yet.

Heavy silence hung in the air for a few moments, but it appeared that even Vezir had proper wits to know who seemed like danger. Slowly, the fingers wrapping around Felice's wrists loosened and released its hold. Vezir did not look happy at all when his own hand was released, but the irritation was directed at Felice again.

"Remember my words, and never forget that your mother's life is always in my hand. One more stupid thing that you do, I swear, I will make her suffer." Vezir had to have his last threat, and with his words appropriately spoken, the closest adviser to the King of Wittengein left the corridor in a huff.

Awkward silence hung between Felice and her saviour as she kept her head down, smoothing down her dress as much as she could to wipe away the signs of being roughed up. She wiped the blood at the corner of her lips without a word, rubbing her abdomen to make sure that no cuts had been made by accident.

"Thank you for the help." Felice said once she was sure that Vezir had gone far enough out of their conversation range.

"I do not wish to be involved in the business of your kingdom, but keep your domestic fights out of the corridors of Limbo." The man's reply was haughty and cold, and Felice confirmed with herself that it definitely wasn't Dan despite how similar their figures were and how blue their eyes were.

"I will." She promised even though she technically didn't have the rights to. "Thank you again."

Then, because it looked like her saviour wasn't going to stick around for much more talking other than telling her to keep her business out of his kingdom, Felice gathered herself, kept her arms around her abdomen in the wish that the pain would ebb away faster, and limped away like a wounded dog.