Hello everyone, here I come delivering the second part of the prologue.

Beware, if you don't like sad content and hateful character then don't watch this prologue. This will probably be one of the darker chapter of the story!

Well it's not like you're going to listen to me so enjoy and don't hesitate to leave a little comment behind.

Enjoy!

* * * * *

Very soon, the sky returned to its original form. It was like nothing had ever happened and the blur in the sky vanished, all that she could see was the habitual moon.

At this point, the girl was thinking whether this was all just a dream or maybe an illusion. But it didn’t matter for her if it was real or not, once it was over she just burned this memory in her mind and went to sleep.

Even if it was for a single instant she had left her reality behind, forgetting about how unhappy she was.

With this mindset she went to sleep, not knowing that tomorrow would be the most important day of her life.

* * * * *

A few hours had passed since she went to sleep, and the girl woke up, as usual, the outside was still as dark as before and the sun hadn’t even begun to rise.

Leaving her warm bed, she slowly opened her door and walked in the mansion toward the kitchen.

In the house, she was the one responsible for ordering the food. She had to deal every chore no matter how tiresome or unpleasant they were, but thanks to this, she was at the very least able to find a way of getting more food.

Every morning, she would wake up an hour or two before everyone else and secretly steal a little amount of food. This was the only time where she could eat her fill.

However, today was different, much to her surprise, the door of the living room was slightly opened and the light inside were still turned on. While she didn’t know the exact time it was, she would normally wake up between 4 a.m and 5 a.m.

Everybody should already be sleeping, this made the girl slightly worried, wondering if it was a burglary or someone who just couldn’t sleep. But in either case, the result would be bad for her.

She stayed at the corner of the door for a few dozens of seconds, wondering if she should give up on the food.

It didn’t matter how much she tried to persuade herself to go back, her hunger surpassed her reason. The last thing she had eaten was a small piece of bread, if she didn’t eat now she probably wouldn’t be able to last through today’s labor.

Moreover, she was still a child in her growing period. Her body kept requesting food, it is far more painful for a child to be hungry than for an adult.

Slowly approaching the door, she took a peek at the inside.

*CLANK*

Suddenly hearing the sound of glass breaking startled her to the point of almost shrieking, but she managed to suppress it by covering her mouth with her two little hands. Her heartbeat went up by at the very least a hundred beat as she tried to subdue her accelerated breath.

“What the hell do you mean by that?! I don’t remember spending that amount of money!”

The angry voice of a man resonated in the room. Because the bedrooms were far from the living room, nobody could hear his yell as he spoke to the phone.

Around him, a dozen of alcohol bottles was smashed on the ground as well as some expensive pottery. It was Keniro’s father, his face had a strange contrast of color.

At the same time, he was reddish, probably due to the amount of alcohol he drank earlier, but it was also somewhat ashen. He was profusely sweating, his clothes were almost transparent, showing his stomach which had begun to swell as he aged.

“Shut your mouth, even drunk I wouldn’t dare to bet this much! Do you take me for a fool?!”

The man continued to argue with the person on the other side. This somehow made a faint smile form on the girl’s face, she wasn’t a saint and still felt a certain degree of happiness as she saw how desperate he looked.

His eyes were bloodshot and his breath heavy, it wouldn’t have surprised her if he soon fainted. In fact, she wouldn’t even have bothered helping him.

Sober, he would just ignore her. But when he was drunk, this man was even worse than the two others. Sometimes he would beat her without any reasons and he wouldn’t even try to hold back.

Soon, his expression suddenly turned into a terrified one. It was like somewhat had poured a bucket of cold water over his head, his body was shivering and his voice quavering.

“I..I am so-sorry. B-But this amount…”

His anger soon turned into fright, this made the girl’s frown as she understood something strange was going on. Whether he had or not bet a large amount of money, it didn’t matter at this point.

Yet, as she was smiling, the man’s next words suddenly made her face become white.

“W-What if I give you the girl? Will you… clean the debt?”

She felt the urge to rush in the room and used her own two hands to strangle the man, he was trying to sell her off to repay his own debt. Everything she had working until now would be for nothing.

“N-Not enough?... I see. Forget it, I will pay soon.”

It was as if a burden fell from the girl’s shoulder, but her heartbeat still didn’t slow down. Even if it was just for a moment, this man still tried to sell her off who know where. This thought alone sent a shiver of apprehension through her body. If the other side had accepted, what would have become of her?

The man soon hung up, he seemed lost in thoughts and soon his expression distorted and only anger remained.

*CRACK* *CRASH*

He ruthlessly threw his phone on the ground and stepped on hit, kicking it as hard as he could. The furnitures, the tables, the various pieces of arts which had been collected after many years. The man went in a fury and wrecked everyone whatever that came into his hands.

*CLANG* *CRASH* *CLING*

“Hah...Hah...Hah…”

Everything around him was wrecked, not even a single cup was spared. As he regained his mind, Keniro’s father sighed and slightly regretted his actions.

“What should I do now?... If suddenly half of the money disappear, what will the judge say? Even if I bribe him he won’t take the risk of covering us for this…”

After gaining a large amount of money, the man started betting. The reason why they previously were crushed by debts was because of his betting issues. He had, of course, stopped after gaining a large debt, but suddenly he obtained a very large amount of money. Even after repaying what he owed, he still hadn’t spent more than two percent of the total amount.

Ever since he obtained this inheritance, he even quitted his job. He had enough money for at least three or four generation to live without working, his gambling addiction resurfaced. It didn’t matter if he won or lost, the amount he spent every month was written as ‘renovation cost’ so he avoided any suspicion.

But how could he explain that he lost more than half of the money?

Within a single night, the man conveyed the impression that he had gained at least ten years. If he couldn’t find a solution, the girl would be taken away and he would be forced to refund the money he lost. The police would perhaps even start an investigation and find out that they misused her money.

It was also the reason why he abandoned the idea of selling her. If the other side had accepted, then he could have continued to bribe anyone who came to check her living conditions. Ever since they arrived, nobody ever saw the girl. Whether she remained here or not wasn’t a problem.

But all that the man offered was a reduction of twenty percents. The amount was still large enough for the police to investigate, but if the girl wasn’t here during their investigation, what would he tell them?

“Tch... I might be able to drag it on for a few weeks, but I’ll have to discuss it with Natasha. She’s the one with the rights after all, she’ll once again scorn me.”

Still feeling angry, the man walked toward the door. The girl quickly hid behind a corner of the corridor and watched the man slowly return to his own bedroom.

She was smiling as she recalled the man’s words. If he didn’t find a solution, they might be separated and she would finally regain her own freedom. Just thinking about it, she couldn’t help but think about how beautiful her life would be afterward, she was absolutely ready to use any meant to sabotage any of their ideas.

Still, her smile slowly dissipated as she once again glanced at the room’s insides.

“Fu**, who do you think is gonna clean it up tomorrow?”

Just thinking about how she would be forced to tidy everything, she was already saddened.

Once she was completely sure nobody remained, the girl leisurely walked toward the kitchen and swiftly stole some dried meat which remained from yesterday, some fruits and a piece of bread.

Before leaving, she completed her daily ritual. She opened every bottle she could find in the fridge and took all the leftover and spat on it before mixing it, leaving no clues behind.

“Fufufu, have a nice meal.”

Sometimes she added some dust to the juice and soup, sometimes some dirt. She had developed various ways of getting her revenge on her foster family without them knowing, seeing them cluelessly eat without suspecting anything was one of her only joy.

There were some times where they cursed at their food, saying it had a strange taste. When that happened, she tried her best to restrain herself from laughing or showing emotions. She would be harshly beaten if she was caught, but it wasn’t important, she needed it, a way of getting her revenge.

Once she finished salvaging the kitchen, the girl sneakily returned to her room where she ate the only ‘meal’ she would have today before sleeping a few more hours.

* * * * *

“SHITTY DRUNKARD, HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?!”

It was with those words that the girl woke up. Glancing at her window, the sun had only started to rise.

Only three or maybe four hours had passed since she ate. The girl already knew what it was all about. Keniro’s father had told Natasha about his gambling issue, she was the one managing the inheritance and so she knew about her husband’s habit.

Normally Natasha wouldn’t care about it, the amount of money he spent was pitiful compared to the total sum, as long as he didn’t spend too much it wasn’t a problem.

But how could she stay calm after being told he had lost more than half of their fortune without even recalling it. Moreover, he had bet with a certain group of people who were ready to do anything to get their due.

“I didn’t care about your addiction and allowed you to keep throwing money away as long as you didn’t go too far, didn’t I?! But you couldn’t help yourself and threw everything away!”

“We don’t even know if I really gambled, maybe they are just swindling us!”

“Who care whether you were drunk or not, you should have stopped going into such place after we managed to pay the loan!”

“Then why didn’t you stop me from going there?! You yourself knew yet never cared about it, you are as responsible as me!”

“So now I am responsible?! Aren’t you an adult?! I ain’t your shitty mother and shouldn’t need to follow behind you, cleaning your mess!”

“Leave my mother outside of this!”

At this point, the girl was totally awake and walked outside of her room. She didn’t feel the slightest bad for them and actually enjoyed hearing them argue, she was wondering about how her future life would be like after they were caught.

Very soon, the arguing became more and more violent. The man who had been drinking ever since he woke up finally couldn’t bear Natasha’s curses anymore and slapped her.

This was the beginning of a dispute, what followed was even worse to see.

“Pitiful…”

The six years old girl even felt pity for them, for money they hurt others, because of money they fought among themselves. The man wasn’t willing to recognize that all this was his fault, and his wife kept belittling him.

The fight quickly became serious, what started with slapping soon turned into punching. While the man grabbed her hairs, Natasha used her nails to tear off some flesh from his face, almost blinding him on the process.

All this scene, she watched it. She couldn’t think of them as anything else than evil people, if nobody interfered then they would probably soon try to kill each others. But she didn’t feel concerned, even if they died she wouldn’t feel anything for them.

Quickly, the man gained the lead. Despite being drunk he managed to overpower her and hit her head against the wall, making her faint in the process.

“Hah...Hah…”

He was out of breath, feeling a liquid on his hand, when the man glanced at them he noticed they were dyed in red. Some blood leaked from his wife’s head, although he could still hear her rough breathing, he had without a doubt hurt her hard enough to probably cause a concussion.

“Na...tasha? Hey Natasha, what are you doing on the ground?”

“Natasha? Who did this to you? Natasha!”

As if he had forgotten everything that just happened, the man soon started crying and held her head in his arms.

Feeling the situation started to degenerate, the girl very quickly left her hiding place. Taking a last glance behind, she had finally noticed…

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

Her heartbeat accelerated, the man stood in behind her with a murderous expression.

“You fu**** tried to kill my wife!”

“N...No… it was y-”

Before she could even finish her sentence, she was sent flying toward a shelf, her head marginally hitting one of the shelf’s corner. As she fell to the ground, she immediately tried to stand up and run away, but she found herself dizzy and her legs failed her.

“What’s going on?!”

At this moment Keniro who heard some large noises hastily hurried over, finding his mother on the ground, her head bleeding and his father ready to attack the little girl they took care of until now.

As he saw his father try to kill her, Keniro quickly tried to stop him as hard as he could. He didn’t really care if something happened to the girl, but he couldn’t let his father become a murderer.

During the time Keniro was trying to restrain him, the girl tried to run away, but after only a few step she fell on the ground, finding it hard to move any of her limbs.

‘What’s going on?... Why can’t I move?...’

Her vision slowly became whiter and whiter, the sound around her distant. She could hear people yelling around her, yet they weren’t making any sense. The figure of the two people fighting blurred.

‘Am I… Going to die?’

She felt like she was dying, this simple idea scared her who tried to remain strong ever since she was self-aware. No matter how she was treated she endured it, yet she was going to die like this.

‘All the efforts I did… Were they for nothing?...’

‘Why me?... What did I do wrong?’

A few tears ran down her cheeks, but as the world around her slowly started to lose its color, a bright light shone at her side.

She could see it distinctly, the silhouette of a man with long silverish hairs dressed in pure white clothes, a golden aura enveloped his body which gave him a majestic appearance. His snake-like golden eyes stared at her body.

His golden eyes looked cold, yet they contained an infinite amount of warmth and grief. A few tears stained his cheeks, but they weren’t normal tears… It was tears of blood.

She felt like she was connected to him as if she knew who he was but as far as she remembered, she hadn’t seen him before. At this point, all the pain she was feeling had vanished, just like the world around her which had lost all its color.

All that remained was the two of them.

“Who...are...you?”

The man suddenly smiled as he sighed out of relief.

“You are finally ready… Shinael.”

He brought his hand to her hair and gently stroke them, making the girl faintly smile as if she felt relax and at peace.

“Sleep my daughter. When you wake up, we’ll finally all be together.”

On those words, Shinael fell asleep and her body turned into dust. All that remained of her was a purple flame which dropped in the man’s hands.

“Y-You, who are you and how did you get here?!”

Keniro’s voice resonated in the house, his father suddenly calmed down and stared at the man in shock.

The man looked otherworldly, just his eyes made him look inhuman. His golden eyes are something impossible to possess, but no matter how they looked at them…they looked absolutely natural.

Holding the purple flame in his hands, the man slowly raised his head and stared them.

“You have absolutely no idea how much I wished to meet you three… How sad that one already left this world.”

No matter how much they wished to say something, Keniro and his father were unable to even utter a single word. They felt like ants in front of him, his beautiful yet cold aura made their legs start shaking. They didn’t know why but they feared the man in front of them.

“For this pitiful mansion… For money… You went as far as harm what is the most precious to me…”

As the man stomped on the ground with his feet, they were sent flying for a dozen of meters. Within two kilometers, everything was reduced to dust. Whether it was stone, the mansion, forest or grass… Everything returned to dust. Only Keniro and his father remained.

“Where is it?... That thing you plotted for?”

Regained their spirit, Keniro’s father found himself flying… The man was lifting him in the air with a single hand. His expression hadn’t changed and he looked cold and ruthless.

“P-Please… I was wrong so...”

He now looked extremely pitiful, he didn’t know what was going on. How did the situation change into this? The mansion around him was turned into dust and he was being strangled by a strange man, his instinct told him to accept everything the man said and beg for his life, however his excuse didn’t even make him frown.

“Hmph”

The father suddenly began to burn in a blue flame, his scream echoed in the vicinity. The blue flames were extremely beautiful and slowly burnt his whole body, it was as if they were alive and tried to let the man survive as long as possible, trying to let him suffer as much as they could.

But very quickly the scream stopped and once the man released his grip, only a charred body fell on the ground which he stomped on without giving it another glance. His expression didn’t change, it was like he was stepping on a worthless bug

Keniro who saw the whole scene was trembling, his body was soaked as he imagined what sort of death that man reserved to him.

‘Is it my turn?...’

But the man looked hesitant, he seemed to be hesitating whether he would kill him or not, but in Keniro’s mind, it looked like he was thinking what kind of cruel death would be the most suited for him.

The man suddenly waved his hand at Keniro, the very next instant a golden circle appeared beneath his feets which made him levitate in the air. A bright light blinded him and he disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

“You are needed in order for her to forget, survive and serve your purpose… She will be the one to finish you with her own two hands.”

On those words, the man turned his back and walked away before vanishing, leaving behind the blue flame which was still consuming the charred body.

No human could tell how this flame appeared or for how long it would keep burning, but even after many generations, it kept burning with all its glory.