Chapter 2.5
“Grrrrr…….”
Finally, the monster stood before me.
I stopped singing and stepped back.
There was a hole in the wall that only I knew. I slipped my body through it.
Each time I took a step back, the monster writhed and crawled toward me.
Seeing it from the front, there were four bandaged protrusions on its body. They must have cut off the monster’s legs and confined it in a lab or a circus.
“Ugh…… ah…….”
The monster opened its mouth.
Its teeth had been pulled out too.
I felt a pang of pity, but that didn’t mean I could throw away my second life to a monster.
I turned my back to the hole and slowly crouched down.
But just then.
Someone who appeared behind the monster caught my eye.
“Uh……?”
That man, holding a sword pointed at the monster…….
It was definitely Aiden.
But he felt strangely different.
A belligerent smile aimed at the monster, and his eyes looking unusually red.
Is this the Aiden I know?
At that moment.
Aiden leaped from that very spot and, like a black bolt of lightning, pierced the monster’s head in one strike.
Transparent bodily fluids splattered everywhere.
The monster didn’t even let out a death cry.
The writhing body also stopped moving with a single kick from Aiden.
Soon, Aiden lifted his head.
The brusque man with violet eyes I know looked at me and approached.
“Lady Irene! Are you all right?”
“Mr. Aiden? Ah, you are Mr. Aiden, right?”
“Of course. I was late because I went to find a weapon. I apologize.”
“Apologize……. No, I’m truly alive thanks to you.”
The monster’s eyes, shrouded in a gray film, still seem to be watching me.
I tried to stand up, but my body was trembling so much I couldn’t keep my balance. Aiden extended his hand to me.
“I’ll help you up.”
“I’m fine. More importantly, it seems someone is calling for you over there.”
“…….”
Aiden frowned.
At the end of the alley, the guards were hiding behind a wall, staring only at Aiden.
“You said you’re a soldier, right? So, is it safe now? Can we approach?”
“Yes. I’ve confirmed loss of life signs. Given that its four legs, vital scales, and teeth have been removed, it appears to be a monster personally managed for experimentation by some individual. Check the tag in its mouth to determine responsibility.”
“You want me to open its mouth and check? Ah, it won’t eat me, will it? You said it’s dead, but it’s still scary.”
“…….”
Aiden remained expressionless. But I was certain that a curse was writhing beneath his throat.
“Lady Irene, I’ll go help them for a moment and return. Please wait, I’ll escort you.”
Aiden approached the monster’s corpse. Only then did the guards prod the monster with their spear tips. A metal tag glittered on the monster’s palate. The mark implanted by the monster’s handler, no doubt.
That matter will be resolved quickly.
I gave a slight nod to Aiden, then walked past the guards with a composed gait. One of the guards clicked his tongue.
“Whose daughter is she? She’s got some nerve.”
You don’t know anything.
Under my skirt, my legs are trembling.
Perhaps because I nearly died by the monster.
But as I made my way back to the shopping district, I remembered what I was truly afraid of.
In front of the shop destroyed by the monster.
The shop owner holds her blood-soaked granddaughter and mutters.
“It’s okay, just wait a little. Okay? The doctor will be here soon. I’ll make it stop hurting. I’ll make it all better soon…….”
Her granddaughter has no focus. Her hand, raised in the air, trembles. Probably shock from excessive blood loss.
The shop owner’s voice gradually becomes choked with tears.
……And I have seen a similar scene before.
Eight years ago.
Twelve-year-old me went to see a circus for the first time, holding my parents’ hands.
It was a place that provided tamed monsters as its main attraction.
Like many city children, I saw a monster for the first time there. Giant stingray-like creatures flew beneath the tent, bound in chains.
Excited, I sang along to the band’s music there, and…….
Shortly after, the circus’s monsters suddenly began to rampage.
When I came to my senses.
In front of me, my mother was holding my father, drenched in blood. My mother muttered like a madwoman.
“It’s okay, honey. It’s okay. The doctor will come soon. I’ll make it stop hurting. Okay?”
……But my father would suffer for a while in his sickbed and then die.
A past that can never be undone.
I looked at the granddaughter and grandmother in front of the shop and thought.
Dad.
Mom.
I-I did well this time, right?
I did well to sing, right?
Sensing my gaze, the shop owner lifted her head.
Her face is bloodied up to her cheeks.
Just like my parents once were.
The moment I saw that, my head spun.
The sky whirled around.
“Lady Irene!”
A familiar voice comes running.
Just like, on the last day of my past life.
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