The First Drop of Life
What does it feel like to lose everything in an instant and plunge into the abyss? Monia didn't know what others would think in such a situation, but she was consumed by an overwhelming sense of anxiety.
My... my throat feels strange. She first realized it while Chester, having finished his coconut, was lost in thought.
Why is my throat like this? She found herself repeatedly swallowing, yet her throat remained stiff and parched, throwing her into a panic.
... Soon, she caught herself staring blankly at the seawater, and the realization finally dawned on her.
Am I... thirsty? Thirst. Hunger. These were physical torments she had never once experienced, having been born as the eldest daughter of the Duke's family, living a life where nothing was ever lacking.
I'm thirsty. It was a first. It was her first time feeling thirst, and her first time realizing that no matter how desperately she craved water, no butler or maid was going to bring her water melted from the snow of the sacred mountain where dragons supposedly lived, served in a crystal goblet crafted by a renowned glassmaker.
Along with this novel torment came the stark realization of her current plight—one she had denied until only moments ago. She had been abandoned. She had lost everything.
Just then, Chester suddenly stood up and began walking into the interior of the island without a word.
Watching Chester disappear into the shadows of the forest, Monia was seized by a fierce wave of anxiety. It was the terror of a young child losing their parents' hands and being left utterly alone amidst the roaring crowds of a festival day. The dread of losing the only person she could rely on in this alien environment. Fear spurred her to action.
She scrambled to her feet and hurried after Chester's receding figure.
What does he think he's doing?! I'm this thirsty, and he hasn't even brought me water! Still far too immature to face her own vulnerability, she clung to these absurd, petulant thoughts as she followed him into the woods.
Chester picked up a large stone and struck a stalk of bamboo he had spotted earlier. After a few heavy blows, the bamboo split open, and water began to trickle out.
*Slurp.* Chester pressed his lips to the split bamboo and drank his fill of the cool, clear water pooling inside.
His parched body clamored for more, so he cracked open another stalk and drained every last drop from that one as well.
"Ah... much better." With his thirst quenched, a soothing moisture coated his mouth and throat. This clean, cool water was a hundred times better than the cloying sweetness of the coconut juice.
Feeling infinitely more refreshed in both body and mind, Chester stood up with a satisfied smile.
*Gulp.* He looked over to find Monia staring at the bamboo, swallowing dryly.
"Ah!" The moment Chester looked her way, Monia hastily turned her head, pretending to be utterly uninterested, but it was already too late.
"Thirsty?" Chester tapped the bamboo with the stone in his hand.
"N-No, I am not?"
"Your voice is shaking. Want some? There's still one left."
"Hmph! Do you honestly expect me, the daughter of a Duke, to grovel on the ground and kiss a tree like some vulgar, begging peasant?!"
"Kissing a tree, she says." Chester tapped the bamboo again. *Tap, tap.*
*Gulp.* Monia swallowed reflexively at the sound, but her mouth was so dry she couldn't even summon a single drop of saliva.
"If you don't want it, I'm leaving." As Chester tossed the stone aside and turned around, Monia felt a sudden wave of dizziness wash over her.
"Ah, wait..." Her vision blurred. Her gaze darted from Chester's retreating back to the split bamboo, focusing on the damp cracks where water still clung. The moment she became acutely aware of her dry mouth once more, an unbearable thirst consumed her.
Without realizing it, she took a step toward the bamboo.
"Kyaah?!" Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath her feet, and she tumbled to the earth.
"..." Watching from a distance, Chester let out a heavy sigh and walked back to her.
"Did you fall?"
"Ugh... *hic*!" Her ankle throbbed with pain. Walking through the rough, treacherous forest in high heels felt as though her feet were being torn to shreds. She was hurting, she was miserable, she was desperately thirsty, and to make matters worse, dirt had gotten into her eyes, making her sob uncontrollably.
Why! Why on earth do I have to suffer like this?! What did I ever do wrong?!
Of course, if she had actually said that aloud, Chester would have scoffed in disbelief. He would have asked why she couldn't have just stayed quiet and let the commoner girl—who didn't know her place and dared to get close to the Prince—be quietly "disappeared," instead of making such a public fuss by tormenting her.
Naturally, he had harbored such thoughts even when he worked as her butler, but back then, Monia held all the wealth and power, so he had simply obeyed her orders in silence.
Of course, none of that mattered to Monia. She was of the ducal house, which meant whatever she did was inherently right. Thus, she could not comprehend this. She simply could not believe that tormenting a mere commoner "female" had landed her in this wretched state. What was a piece of livestock compared to her?
"Ugh... *hic*... *sob*!" A relentless barrage of incomprehensible misfortunes pushed her to her absolute limit. As both her body and mind began to fracture under the strain, she reached her breaking point.
And that limit, swelling like a balloon about to burst, finally ruptured when she took that misstep. Her ankle twisted, and with it, the heel of her precious high heels—crafted by the master jeweler Plarong—snapped.
Monia sniffled, her chest heaving with hiccups, until she finally lost all control and wailed.
"*Sob*... *hic*... Waaaaah!!"
"Oh dear."
She was in pain, exhausted, terrified, hungry, and thirsty. Her throat was so dry it felt like it was cracking, making it painful even to cry, yet the tears wouldn't stop, which only made her feel more miserable. One tear begot another, and she wept and wept without end.
Watching her, Chester's mind wandered through various thoughts.
She's loud. He worried that the racket might draw the attention of curious wild beasts.
Should I hit her? His fist clenched instinctively as the thought crossed his mind.
To be frank, during his time serving as her butler, there had been countless times he had wanted to beat her or even kill her. She was utterly detached from reality, completely brainless, and constantly forced impossible demands through sheer wealth and authority. If he failed, he was verbally abused, punished, and had his pay docked, so he had no choice but to comply.
Remembering those days when he had withered away day by day despite eating and living better than he had in his childhood, Chester decided he could just ignore her and leave.
"Crying won't solve anything here." Chester walked away, leaving Monia behind to cry even more bitterly.
But there was no one here to listen to her demands. Yet, she was a creature who could do absolutely nothing unless someone did it for her. Thus, weeping was the only thing she was capable of.
It was her sole recourse, and eventually, once she had cried out every last tear, she could not even do that anymore.
Collapsing onto the ground in utter exhaustion, she felt it. A misery, loneliness, terror, and sorrow far vaster than when she had been actively wailing. And above all, helplessness.
She realized that the world was a cruel place.
Having realized the cruelty of the world, she thought of the ones who had thrust this harsh reality upon her. The culprits behind her suffering.
In Monia's mind, the face of the commoner girl who didn't know her place as livestock and dared to approach royalty appeared, alongside the face of the Prince who had fallen for her.
Miraculously, strength surged back into her body at the thought. She had to crush the man who betrayed her and the commoner who forgot her place.
The commoner girl, the Prince, the sycophants who had turned their backs on her, the family that had abandoned her, and the royal family itself! A burning desire for a seemingly impossible revenge drove Monia to her feet.
Adrenaline fueled by pure rage flooded her system, making her forget her physical pain and exhaustion.
Those bastards...
Biting her lip gently, Monia stared at her broken high heel and the bamboo. Closing her eyes tight, she dropped to her knees and crawled across the dirt toward the bamboo Chester had pointed to earlier.
Mimicking Chester, she aligned the sharp heel of her shoe with the spots he had struck with the stone. She swung the shoe, hammering the heel against the stalk like a nail.
Lacking any proper strength or technique, she could barely swing the shoe straight and repeatedly smashed her own fingers, but she did not stop.
Through sheer, desperate effort, she finally managed to puncture a hole in the bamboo, and water began to seep out.
"Ah... ah." Monia clung to the bamboo as if embracing a beloved lover, pressing her lips to the tiny opening as if in a kiss.
"...!!" As the clear rainwater pooled inside the bamboo flowed past her lips, her body—parched like a barren desert—drank without even pausing for breath.
She felt every single drop sliding down her throat, and from there, the spark of life slowly returning to her dying body. It was an ecstasy of the highest order.
The joy of tasting the finest delicacies from all corners of the world. The sadistic pleasure of tormenting and ruining those who displeased her. The flutter of her heart when she was close to the Prince she once loved. The thrill of watching commoners tremble, groveling at her feet with their heads bowed in reverence.
The triumph of seizing life from the very jaws of death enveloped her, transcending every emotion she had ever felt in her entire existence.
It was cleaner and purer than the rivers born from the melting snows of the high sacred mountains, and more delicious than any delicacy she had ever tasted. It was the taste of life itself.
"Ah... ah!" Monia gasped in sheer bliss, but when a little water began to spill, she panicked and pressed her lips back to the bamboo.
"Ah! *Slurp! Slurp!*" She even began to suck at it greedily, as if using a straw.
Showing a side of herself that would have been utterly unimaginable just moments ago, Monia drank until not a single drop remained, and then stood up.
"Ugh!" A sharp pain shot through her ankle as she stood. Looking back and forth between her bare, swelling foot and the remaining high heel, Monia closed her eyes and slipped the other shoe off.
These are useless to me now. In this place, they were nothing but a hindrance to her survival.
Just as she finished discarding them, Chester reappeared.
"Well, look at that. You finally took off those heels." He carried two relatively thin logs over one shoulder, while his other shoulder was laden with vines and branches.
Seeing him look so utterly unbothered while she had suffered so terribly, Monia bit her lip in resentment and spoke.
"My ankle hurts too much to walk. Do something about it."
"Ha, unbelievable." Chuckling at her audacity, Chester set down his gathered materials and examined her ankle.
"Your feet are pretty ugly."
"Eek...! How insolent!"