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Chapter 28
"Haah, haah...."
I'd lost so much blood that my vision had grown hazy.
Everything before my eyes blurred into a murky fog.
Lichesia, having just manifested as a fairy, was nothing but young and inexperienced.
A fairy who couldn't properly control her power was truly appetizing prey—a delightful plaything to toy with.
The hunters surrounded Lichesia with ease.
Until now, luck had kept me alive, ‌‌‌‌‌but this time I felt a powerful premonition.
Today, I ‌would truly die.
The tears I'd held back finally welled up.
Why?
How could this be?
Why me of all people?
I never wanted to become a fairy.
Not once had I ever desired this.
I simply wanted to live an ordinary life.
Tears mixed with blood streamed down my cheeks.
Lichesia didn't stop—I kept running.
My foot struck a jagged stone.
"Ahhh!"
My stumbling body finally gave way.
Lichesia collapsed to the ground.
My already wounded body crashed against the earth.
A suffocating wave of pain seized me.
The ‌‌agony was so intense that even my groans came out broken.
I tried to steady my trembling body and think.
I had to get up quickly.
But all I managed was a slight twitch of my fingers.
My body wouldn't move anymore.
My strength drained away completely.
Only one thought filled my ‌‌mind.
I'm really going to die.
How pathetic—my final moment in the Slum Alley.
Blood slowly ‌‌‌spread, soaking the filthy dirt beneath me.
Surrounded by the pervasive stench of blood, I waited for the death that would soon come.
"...."
Lichesia's lips parted.
A snow-white hand had suddenly appeared before my eyes.
The pale, pristine hand had unusually long and beautiful fingers.
Who could ‌‌‌possess such a beautiful hand?
Even as I ‌‌‌was dying, ‍‌‌I lifted my gaze with great effort, driven by that singular curiosity.
Through ‌‌‌my dimming vision, a blue light emerged.
Eyes that resembled both the sea and the sky.
The moment I beheld those pristine blue ‌‌eyes, a thought crystallized within ‌‌‌‌me.
Wouldn't it be better to die by this person's ‌‌hand ‌‌than by the hunters'?
At least then my corpse would not be desecrated.
I gathered the last ‌vestiges of my strength and reached out my hand.
I barely grasped those pale fingers and pleaded.
"Kill me...."
With those words, Lichesia lost consciousness.

***
I was not unconscious the entire time.
Though my memory was hazy, I drifted in and out of awareness.
My mind never fully returned to clarity.
I merely opened my eyes, and it seemed I spouted all manner of ‌‌‌‌nonsense.
I begged for my life, and I believe I called for my mother.
Fragmented shards of broken memory revealed the shameful things I had done.
When I truly regained my senses, it ‌‌was the dead of night, complete darkness having settled in.
"...!"
Lichesia jolted awake with a start, sitting up abruptly in bed.
The soft texture of the blanket in my grip startled me, and I trembled as I pulled back the covers to examine myself.
Then I exhaled a breath of relief, as though collapsing inward.
"Haah...."
My ‌‌‌body was intact.
I had expected the hunters to have ‌‌severed at least an arm ‌‌‌or a leg....
My wounded body was wrapped neatly in ‌‌‌bandages.
The acrid scent of medicinal herbs lingered at the tip of my nose, suggesting I had been treated properly.
I checked my condition in a daze, then cautiously examined my ankles.
Fortunately, no shackles or chains bound me.
Yet I could not afford to lower my guard.
I had endured far too much to believe this was purely an act of kindness.
I looked around for any usable weapon and picked up a fork that had fallen beside the bed.
Creak.
The old wooden door opened ‌‌‌‌with an unpleasant sound.
Lichesia immediately gripped the fork tightly.
I glared at the figure entering through the door, then felt my grip weaken slightly.
It was a Silver-haired Boy, still bearing the softness of youth in his features.
He appeared to be around ‌‌‌sixteen, the same age as Lichesia, or perhaps even younger.
The Silver-haired Boy possessed remarkably refined and delicate facial features.
His ‌‌‌precious silver hair and clear, vivid blue eyes gave the Silver-haired Boy an air of pristine refinement.
In the hands of the boy, beautiful as the first snow of winter, he carried a basin filled with water and a dry towel.
Upon seeing Lichesia brimming with wariness, he set the basin and towel down on the ‌floor.
Rather than approach carelessly, he stood before the door, hesitated for a ‌‌moment, then spoke.
"...It's the full moon tonight."
He ‌‌‌gestured toward the window with his chin.
"Perfect for moon-gazing."
He seemed uncertain of what to say, so he simply blurted out whatever came to mind.
At my bewildered stare, the boy faltered briefly before speaking.
"You must be hungry, so I'll bring you something to eat first." ‌‌
He closed the door again and disappeared.
Only then did Lichesia's tension finally ease, and she dropped her fork with a soft clink.
Though she had only just awakened, the strain left her hands trembling faintly.
Lichesia drew slow, measured breaths.
Her heart still thundered wildly from the tension that had gripped her moments before.
As she steadied her breathing, her gaze drifted toward the window.
"...Oh."
A truly magnificent and ‌‌‌beautiful moon hung full across the night sky.
It was a round and radiant full moon.
I could not tear my eyes from the moon, which held an elegant silver luminescence.
Until the boy returned, I continued to gaze only at ‌‌‌‌the moon.
After some time, the boy returned carrying soup and a chunk of bread.
He placed the tray of food upon Lichesia's lap.
Lichesia stared intently at the bowl of food.
Thin soup and a small flour bread.
Her stomach, hollow from prolonged hunger, ached with a bitter intensity.
Though she desperately ‌‌‌‌wanted to shove it into her mouth at once, she could not bring herself to eat.
The memory of nearly falling victim to poisoned food bound her hands tight with caution.
The boy sitting in the chair beside the bed quickly noticed Lichesia's hesitation.
The boy exhaled softly, then picked up the bowl of soup.
Maintaining eye contact with ‌‌Lichesia, he brought the bowl to his lips.
A swallow.
His throat moved distinctly.
After tasting ‌‌‌the soup, the boy tore off a corner of the bread and placed it in his ‌‌‌own mouth.
Only after confirming that the boy had ‌‌‌completely chewed and swallowed did Lichesia pick up her spoon.
The moment she tasted the warm soup, tears welled up in her eyes. ‌‌
Before she could even attempt to hold them back, tears ‌‌‌‌spilled forth uncontrollably.
She had not wanted to cry, yet she ‍‌‌‌‌wept as though something within her had broken.
The relief of having survived.
And gratitude for food eaten in peace for the first time in so long—these emotions mingled ‌together.
"...."
The Silver-haired Boy turned his gaze away in silence.
Lichesia ate ‌‌‌her soup with quiet ‌‌‌sniffles, tearing into the bread.
Once she'd emptied the bowl without leaving a single crumb, drowsiness crept over her with the weight of fullness.
The tension had finally released from her body.
She blinked slowly, her eyes drifting toward the boy.
"I don't know what happened, but..."
The Silver-haired Boy spoke as he carried away the ‌‌tray.
"I'm an apprentice knight of the Holy Empire. I have no intention of doing anything wrong, so you can rest assured."
His words struck Lichesia like a blow to the head.
An apprentice knight of the Holy Empire.
Ordinary people would have let their guard down and trusted him based on ‌‌‌‌that alone.
But Lichesia, as a heretic, ‌‌was precisely the kind of person he should avoid most.
Mercifully, the Silver-haired Boy seemed ‌‌‌‌unaware that Lichesia was a fairy with twisted power.
Had he known, he wouldn't have saved her—he would have ‌‌‌‌drawn his sword on ‌‌the spot.
'No wonder he looked like a holy knight from the start.'
Still, since she hadn't been discovered yet, perhaps staying a little longer wouldn't be ‌‌‌‌so terrible.
If she tried to flee now, she'd be caught within a few steps.
Her body ‌‌‌was in ‌the worst possible condition.
'And I'm so terribly drowsy....'
Her consciousness was already half-slipping away beneath the overwhelming tide of sleep.
As she slowly closed and opened her eyes a few times, the Silver-haired Boy, ‌‌who had been hesitating, reached out toward her.
She gazed blankly at what he was doing.
The Silver-haired Boy carefully laid Lichesia down.
He draped a blanket over her, and his touch was warm as he wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Docile ‌‌‌and unresisting, she heard the boy speak ‌‌‌in his blunt voice.
"Get some rest."
Like magic, the moment those words reached her ears, she fell into sleep as ‌if struck unconscious.
Even as she drifted away, one thought remained: she would have to escape ‌‌‌the moment she woke tomorrow.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------