Escape. (15)
Looking back at Bel's life, there was nothing but misfortune.
First, she was bullied for being smaller than her fellow Beastkin; second, she was teased for being weak.
But those things were nothing.
If someone treated her like a fool, she would just treat them like a fool in return.
If she was bullied for going outside, she simply wouldn't go outside.
Yes, that day too, she was just quietly at home.
"Mom? Dad?"
She thought something unbelievable had happened.
Because, in front of her eyes, people couldn't possibly be torn apart like that.
If it weren't for the tearing screams echoing in her ears, she wouldn't have dared to even think of running away.
Actually, she shouldn't have run away.
Perhaps it would have been better to die there with her parents.
"Bel..."
If it hadn't been Ryanyori holding her, it surely would have ended that way.
In the end, all that was left for her, who survived, was one ear.
A pitiful Cat Beastkin who had lost her home and both her parents.
She chuckled.
Her own life was so arduous that she laughed for a long time.
"...Mom."
The corpse with torn limbs was her mother's.
Her face, contorted in pain, was so pitiful that Bel instinctively closed her mother's eyelids.
Rest in peace, Mother.
May the last pain you felt not follow you there.
"Huk, heueok, huk..."
The nightmare didn't end.
Her father's corpse was torn to shreds beyond recognition, and that sight kept flashing before her eyes.
"Why did only you run away?"
"I ended up like this, so why did only you survive?"
Even though she knew her father wouldn't say such things, she couldn't bear it.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for surviving alone. I should have died instead, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
After waking from sleep, she apologized to her parents.
It was the greatest atonement a disrespectful child who survived alone could make.
How much time had passed like that?
She realized that the saying about wounds dulling with time didn't apply to her.
Her heart, which hadn't even become a scar and still dripped red blood, ached terribly.
'How should I live now?'
Though she was living because she couldn't die, she had no future.
She was merely clinging to the present.
It wasn't just once or twice that she felt depressed seeing her single ear whenever she looked in the mirror.
She had to find some meaning in life.
She had originally intended to die, but it felt too unfair to die like this.
"...It's all the Demons' fault that I ended up like this."
If so, wouldn't taking revenge on those bastards be the best option?
Her wounds transformed into rage.
Red drops of blood were replaced by burning flames.
That was the beginning.
The moment Bel, as a being, became obsessed with revenge against the Demons.
"Bel, are you okay these days-nya?"
"...I'm fine."
"Why, do I look strange to you too?"
She wiped the blood from her face and smiled brightly.
Her mother, and her father, must have hurt more than this.
She pressed the blade into the Demon's body, which was precisely divided into 17 pieces.
This much wasn't enough.
"What's not okay is this damn world."
She killed Demons with the bladed weapons Demons used.
That alone was her life and meaning.
Those who fought back to the end, she killed to the end.
If it was an unbeatable opponent, she would make them drop their guard and kill them.
If she killed them, she would tear their limbs, chop them into pieces, and feed them to beasts.
"I heard the village chief-nim took in a Demon?"
"There's a rumor that she's going to do something important with the Demon, but I don't know what it is."
"So, you see—"
"That Demon—"
Demon. Demon. Demon. Demon.
"Shut up!!!!!"
Heat rushed to her throat, and she finally couldn't hold it in and screamed.
All the other Beastkin's gazes turned towards her.
When her parents were alive, their gazes had all been dismissive, but now, every single one of them was steeped in fear.
Bel. Pitiful Bel.
Pitiful, blood-soaked Bel.
Crazy bitch.
It was a nickname referring to her, who was drenched in the blood of Demons.
Another name forged by her act of chopping any Demon, dead or alive, into tiny pieces.
"...You don't know what kind of trouble you'll get into if you get involved with that one."
"Let's run away."
"What a sight, really..."
One by one, they left.
Despite being fellow Beastkin, and even having a common enemy in the Demons, their attitude didn't change.
No, if it changed, it did change.
Because it was avoidance born of fear and dread, not contempt and ridicule.
"Bel, are you scaring the others again today-nya?"
"...Ryanyori."
The most awkward person to deal with started talking to her.
She still remembered being knocked unconscious by Ryanyori in that prison back then.
Of course, she wasn't resentful of Ryanyori for something like that, but she couldn't help feeling this way.
After all, Ryanyori prioritized that Demon over her.
If she thought about it a little, she would realize it was a bit different.
But she wasn't in the mood to continue thinking right now.
"That Demon, they say she's having quite a hard time living at the village chief-nim's house, so don't worry too much about it-nya~"
"...And a human came too, I heard."
She felt like she would get angry if they talked about Demons, so she deliberately changed the subject.
When the topic of humans came up, Ryanyori's ears perked up.
Did Ryanyori know something about it?
"Well, that's right-nya."
It seemed like Ryanyori was equivocating, but Bel didn't press the matter.
Because she wasn't interested in humans.
Her only interest was Demons.
Only that hateful Demon, who was still alive and well in the Beastkin village.
"The rumors say she's giving birth to a baby-nya. I don't know who the loose-lipped person is, but they said something truly absurd-nya."
"...What?"
Giving birth to a baby.
Why?
And they're just letting it happen?
Surely, they're not thinking of making her give birth to as many as she killed, are they?
A baby born of a Demon, it would obviously be a Demon, wouldn't it?
No, from the moment Demon blood is mixed, it would be nothing more than a repulsive lump.
"It must be a baseless rumor-nya. Giving birth to a baby doesn't happen in a day or two-nya."
"..."
"Bel? Bel?! Where are you going-nya!"
She moved her feet without a word, and her shoulder was grabbed.
"Where am I going? Isn't it obvious?"
She gritted her teeth, staring at the hut at the end of her gaze.
Ryanyori's face turned pale as she looked at Bel.
"What are you trying to do-nya! If you mess up, you could get into serious trouble-nya!"
"Just to check, I'm just going to check."
She didn't want to worry her only friend.
That's why, just to check.
Nothing more, nothing less, just to check.
However, if that rumor was true, she felt like she might not be able to hold back.
If that happened, there would be no choice but to kill both the Demon and the baby born of the Demon.
"Ryanyori, I'm always sorry for being a nuisance."
"Huh? Uh-huh, if you know that, it's fine-nya..."
At the sudden apology, Ryanyori's ears perked up.
Even while tilting her head, when Bel hugged her tightly, Ryanyori hugged her back.
She always says harsh things to me, but I know that they are for my own good.
Still, I can't accept it.
How can I suppress my hatred for Demons?
"So, I'll be a nuisance one last time."
"Wh—"
at.
Thump, and Ryanyori's neck snapped.
She caught the falling body and laid it down under the shade of a nearby tree.
"I'm sorry."
"But I've always lived this way."
She couldn't back out now.
Because a way of life isn't something that can be easily changed.
"See you next time."
After a brief farewell, she darted off.
A Cat Beastkin's body was quite agile on its own, so she arrived at her destination almost immediately after starting to run.
Although there were Beastkin guarding the surroundings, sneaking in wasn't very difficult.
"...The scents are too mixed."
She could faintly smell the Demon's scent, but she couldn't pinpoint its exact location.
Left? Or if not, right?
If she stayed still, she would surely be discovered, so she had to move quickly.
"Don't hesitate."
"Think of your goal."
"Don't discriminate between means and methods."
"...Demon, where are you?"
"...Hik."
"If you tell me, I'll let you go quietly."
She grabbed an Attendant passing by and held a blade under their chin.
It was a little regrettable to threaten a fellow Beastkin with a knife used to hunt Demons, but well.
That wasn't important right now.
"Oh, it's in the room at the far right..."
"Thank you."
"Hik, yes, yes..."
Perhaps because they were so terrified, they sat down on the floor and trembled.
It was a somewhat pitiful sight, but she couldn't just let it go.
They might not know now, but they could go around telling other fellow Beastkin.
Bel, who had put the unconscious fellow Beastkin into a nearby empty room, continued on her way.
'It doesn't seem like a lie after all.'
The closer she got, the stronger the Demon's scent became, so it seemed she had chosen the right path.
Although it was mixed with other scents, she could be sure.
"But this scent, it's a scent I've smelled somewhere before..."
Exactly four steps.
Only after four steps closer did the faint scent reach her, and Bel's footsteps began to quicken.
"No way."
"No way."
"No way."
Kwang!
"......Who is it?"
A Demon was right before her eyes, but her gaze was solely fixed on the babies cradled in the Demon's arms.
Pure white fur. Pointed ears rising above their heads. Tails wagging near their bottoms.
And this scent.
A nostalgic and longed-for scent she had smelled since birth.
"Mom... Dad..."
With a sobbing voice, Bel's body collapsed.