Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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>Translator: Vine
>Chapter: 52
>Chapter Title: An Unforgettable Memory
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A memory that could never be forgotten.
Pia was with Noah’s group, but she existed in a daze. She performed her duties well and conversed without issue when spoken to, so no one realized anything was wrong with her.
Even if they had, the children’s own mental states were in such disarray that they wouldn’t have been able to look after her.
Just as one craves cool water when thirsty, she thought of Rian whenever she was in pain or felt joy. It happened as naturally as blood flowing from a wound.
[ Pia, are you okay? You didn’t eat much earlier. ]
‘Yes, I’m fine.’
[ Really? That’s a relief. Let me know if you’re not feeling well. ]
‘..Thank you.’
[ Hahaha, it’s the least I can do. After all, it’s what you asked for. ]
Pia no longer saw hallucinations of her brother. Instead, she saw visions of a gentle Rian and heard his disembodied voice.
She was going mad.
The hallucinations of Rian weren’t entirely bad. They were the only thing holding Pia’s crumbling mind together.
Thanks to them, she had been able to cling to the will to live. Despite the visions and voices, she was happier than she had been in the past.
But her happiness did not last long. The memory she endlessly pushed away, the one she screamed was not her fault, came to her on a cool night and choked her.
“Pia… why did you do that to me?”
Rian stared at her, his eyes filled with disgust.
“I always cherished you, so why?”
*I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.*
No matter how much she pleaded, she couldn’t utter a single word, as if she were a taxidermied animal.
“I told you I would help you. I told you I would save you.”
*That’s right, you said you would save me.*
Her memory was clearly twisted. She remembered words Rian had never once spoken as if he truly had, and she agonized over them.
She could no longer distinguish what she had done wrong from what was real.
“But why did you do it? Why? Why did you drive me to my death? Why, Pia?”
The resentful voice burrowed into her ears, feeling as if it were eating away at her brain. Pia, unable to bear the agony, jolted awake.
She muttered like a madwoman.
“Sorry, I’m sorry… sorry… I’m sorry…”
Her fragile mind could not accept the guilt that felt like it was melting her brain. To survive, she began to push away the overwhelming sense of culpability.
“No, no… I did nothing wrong. That’s right… it was your fault.”
Like someone cast into hell, Pia confronted her sin again and again, despaired again and again, and committed the same sin again and again. As if she were trapped in purgatory.
Her behavior resembled the penance voluntarily undertaken by priests. Perhaps that was why Pia gradually began to cultivate a strange belief.
“Salvation, yes… he’ll save me. Yes, Rian… Rian will… me—”
As humans in need of hope often do, Pia sought salvation. Her salvation was Rian.
***
Jess was a blessed beastkin, endowed with greater wisdom than her peers. She was also a slave. Her mother, always in heavy shackles, would constantly tell her.
“You have to pretend to be a stupid beastkin. That’s how you’ll live a long life.”
No master liked a clever beast. They wanted a foolish pet beastkin who could perform a few tricks. Her mother, knowing this, had educated Jess to the point of brainwashing.
Not long after, Jess’s mother was dragged into a cruel match and died.
“Jess, sca…”
Jess’s slurred speech and slightly exaggerated actions were all things her mother had taught her. Jess knew these behaviors were one of the few things that could protect her.
Therefore, she made no effort to change them. Then one day, during those trying times, she met Rian.
Jess knew instantly.
‘Ah, this is a good person.’
Jess clung to Rian, saying that anyone who gave her delicious food was her master.
Countless slave traders had given her tasty morsels or scraps of garbage, but she had never once considered them her master. Yet, she had called them “Master” with her lips. Doing so meant she might get slightly better food or a better place to sleep.
Calling Rian “Master” was for the same reason.
Jess felt an affinity for Rian, but at the same time, she was wary. Her sensitive beastkin instincts told her.
*It’s safe near him. If I stay by his side, I won’t get hurt or have a hard time.*
For Jess, who had lived as a slave since birth, the concept of ‘unconditional safety’ was as foreign as a cult’s greeting. That was why she was wary of Rian.
Then one day, ‘that incident’ occurred.
Beastkin had larger appetites than ordinary humans. It was only natural, given their higher basal metabolic rate.
The difference in strength between a well-fed beastkin and one who was not was significant. For this reason, Jess put anything she could find into her mouth. Sometimes it was a rat, other times an insect, but she ate without prejudice.
It was the only way to survive day by day.
‘There’s nothing…’
In the cell where Jess, Noah, and Nero were held, a few insects crawled about, but they were all smaller than Jess’s pinky finger. It wasn’t enough to sustain her.
‘I have to find food…!’
While everyone else was asleep, Jess crept around the cell.
‘Ah, a hole!’
When she pulled on the end of the iron bars, a small hole appeared, just barely large enough for her to squeeze through. It looked as if someone had made it to escape. If she put the removed section of the bar back in place, it fit perfectly, leaving no trace of the hole.
‘I’ll just sneak out, eat a little, and come back.’
It didn’t have to be proper food. A rat or some insects would do. Jess slipped out of the cell and, nose twitching, made her way to the kitchen.
‘A delicious smell.’
She sniffed the aroma filling the kitchen and began to rummage around.
‘There’s not much…’
There was less food than she had hoped, but it wasn’t completely empty. She grabbed half a piece of broken bread and a little cheese, then slipped into the cabinet under the sink and closed the door. She was nibbling on her find when…
*Bang!*
“...!”
An incredibly loud noise erupted. Jess tensed, her ears and tail popping out.
‘Did they find out I left…?’
Jess swallowed dryly and pressed herself into the corner of the cabinet. If her escape had been discovered, she had to remain as quiet as possible.
Some time passed.
“It’s hot…”
The kitchen grew so warm that she muttered the words without realizing it. Belatedly sensing that something was wrong, Jess pushed open the tightly shut cabinet door.
“Huh…?”
*Fwoosh–.*
Bright red flames flickered, greeting her. The kitchen was engulfed in fire.
“*Keuk, cough, cough…!*”
The acrid smoke stung her eyes and made it hard to breathe. Jess knew at once. The fire had already spread too far. There was no way to escape.
As clever as Jess was for a beastkin, it was only natural for a child her age to panic in the face of ‘death.’ With no mother’s embrace to run to when she was scared, Jess closed the cabinet door, retreated to the corner, and curled into a ball.
*Crackle, snap.*
The sound of something burning and the stench of smoke filled her nostrils. The flames had not yet reached her hiding spot, so it felt like something happening far away.
Jess imagined the impossible—a fantasy where the flames couldn't enter the cabinet, and she would emerge unscathed.
It was an absurd thought, but it was the only thing she could do. As tears welled in her eyes and she began to sob from the lack of air…
“Jess!”
She heard his voice. For some reason, the moment she did…
“*Hiiing…*”
Despite having been taught to always cry in silence, she let out a sob. The cabinet door she had closed herself swung open, and a gentle gaze filled with worry washed over her.
Her master’s ragged breath and racing pulse, and the smell of his own flesh burning as he wrapped her tightly in a damp cloth and ran for their lives.
Jess knew, in that moment, that this was a memory she would never forget.
From that day on, Jess began to follow Rian with blind devotion. She had acknowledged him not as a master in name only, but as her true master.
Jess had only one goal: to protect her master and make him happy. Though young and clumsy, she did her best to be helpful in any way she could.
Then one day, Rian, her master, disappeared. Without a word.