What Winter Left Behind (3)
Disloyalty.
The last member of the royal guards who protected the monarch, and the seed of disaster that would hasten the world's demise.
The setup didn't reveal much detail.
But after piecing together various bits of information and making some guesses, it was as follows.
It was a star.
A star that shone dazzlingly in the night sky.
However.
'Dangerous.'
The problem was that it couldn't be controlled.
A body inherently imbued with starlight.
Perhaps it was the consequence of power one couldn't handle.
The brilliant colors the girl possessed were not a blessing, but a curse that ruined her life.
The light only brought tragedy.
'A child chosen by the stars.'
The girl had shown exceptional talent from a young age.
The power to freely borrow the strength of the stars.
Countless geniuses had hit walls and despaired, and even among them, only a select few had reached the stars, but this girl was born holding such a star within her.
It was a birth without precedent in the history of the continent.
Truly a constitution loved by the stars.
However.
She was too young to wield such great power.
The ability she gained at a time when her body, mind, and heart were not yet ready caused frequent outbursts, turning the surrounding area into a field of white.
Because of this, only white plains remained wherever the girl stayed.
It was not a blessing.
It was nothing more than a terrible curse disguised as love.
The fate forced upon her strangled her.
-It hurts.
I want to stop.
I'm scared.
It feels like my body is burning.
Get out of my body.
Despite such pleas, the star's violence continued.
The girl eventually had to give up.
She was only ten years old at the time.
Two villages she had stayed in had burned down and disappeared, and dozens of people had died or been injured.
The silver-haired monster was trembling in the ashes she had created.
It was a winter with particularly heavy snowstorms.
It was then.
That someone reached out to the girl.
-Interesting... She'll be useful in many ways.
It was none other than the monarch.
The old man recognized the power of slaughter the girl possessed and intended to make her the last member of the royal guards.
From that moment, the monster's life fell into true hell.
The monarch tried to tame her by repeating all sorts of violence and brainwashing, but the power of the stars could not be refined simply by suppressing it.
In the end, the girl, having made no progress, was imprisoned deep underground.
Devices to suppress her outbursts, thousands of mana vacuum scrolls, and chains binding her arms and legs restrained the monster.
The girl's fate was helpless.
Afterward.
The years flowed by cruelly.
The monster's confinement continued for over 13 years, and the constant abuse and brainwashing had broken her.
Life no longer held any meaning.
Only the despair of self-torture and the harsh reality existed.
Eventually, the girl, accepting the hatred, resentment, and pain… finally awakened with a desperate scream, unleashing the final outburst of her life.
The starlight, exploding completely, pierced through the underground and set the empire ablaze.
Whoosh-!
As if to return the pain she had suffered to the world.
Burning.
Burning.
Burning again.
Dyeing all the scenery she cursed white.
Thanks to this, the 'War of succession,' which had not ended until then, came to an abrupt end.
Because the suddenly raging starlight swallowed everything.
The monarch who had tried to tame the girl, the administrators who had attempted endless torture and brainwashing, the other criminal organizations that had jumped into the war, and even the innocent residents at the bottom.
They were cleanly erased from the map.
-Disappear, all of you.
The endless combustion of the star.
The girl reduced 10% of the imperial territory to ashes before being stopped by the continental alliance, including the protagonist's party.
Dozens of swords and all kinds of magic pierced her fragile body.
At the moment of her last breath.
Tears streamed down the monster's cheeks.
-I never wanted this power...
-Why did the star choose me?
-Why did that damned star have to choose me?
Her silver eyes lost their light with a hollow resentment.
Around her, only the remnants of the girl's destruction scattered in the winter wind.
Is power truly a blessing?
Or is it merely a curse to satisfy the gods' greed?
It was an episode that made one think in many ways.
Many also found it refreshingly different.
Usually, being chosen by a star is portrayed as an unparalleled blessing or a miraculous utopia, but this narrative highlighted how that merciless power instead brought misfortune.
Anyway.
It was a story that remained vivid even after time had passed.
The episode itself left a very strong impression, especially since the girl was one of the unluckiest characters in the story.
Because of this, I often mentioned her when uploading information videos.
About the star monster.
'And that monster… is now right in front of me.'
I quietly gazed at the girl before me.
Long, flowing silver hair.
Her unfocused eyes showed no light.
Traces of torture remained on her pale skin, and dozens of hoses for periodic sedative injections were plugged into her.
Her arms and legs were tightly bound by chains with separate magic coatings.
It was a gruesome sight.
"I expected it, but…"
Reality was more horrific than any human could imagine.
I lightly moved my hand.
Swoosh-.
The iron bars imprisoning the girl.
I cut through the thick pillars like tofu and removed the devices and restraints that oppressed her fragile body.
My touch became cautious, wondering if it might hurt.
The girl offered no resistance, only a listless gaze.
Clang….
As I removed the last chain, the girl, who had been hanging from the wall, collapsed.
I caught her before her body hit the floor.
The weight in my arms was light.
It felt like only bones.
Indeed.
In that harsh life, she probably wasn't even given proper meals.
I supported the staggering girl.
"Please stay still. You need absolute rest right now."
The traces of violence she had endured for so long.
Scars that made one frown simply by looking at them were left all over her.
I scooped up the girl with her fading consciousness.
"From today onwards, I will be responsible for your well-being."
"Responsible…?"
"Your new master."
You might wonder.
Why I'm extending a hand instead of a sword to the seed of future disaster.
Of course, the wise choice might be to kill her here.
After all, the goal was to prevent the destruction.
However.
I hesitated for some reason.
The opponent was still a girl.
The disaster wouldn't take root for another five years or more.
I questioned whether it was justified to kill a powerless lamb based on a future that wasn't even certain yet.
I had rolled around in the gutter and taken on the mantle of evil, but.
That didn't mean I had lost my humanity entirely.
I withdrew my killing intent.
Instead.
I wrapped the scarred monster in a faint warmth.
I decided to watch over her for now.
"Shall we get out of here for now?"
Taking slow steps.
As I headed towards the iron bars, someone grabbed my sleeve.
It was the girl in my arms.
Her trembling gaze seemed to fear liberation from her confinement.
Her voice, already hoarse, echoed in the cold air.
"No… if I go out."
"What's the reason?"
"If I go outside, someone else will get hurt. That's why I have to stay here…"
"Who told you that?"
"…That man."
That man must be referring to the monarch.
Was it the result of prolonged brainwashing and abuse?
The girl seemed to fear the outside world.
No… to be precise, she feared that her existence would cause harm to others.
Did they train her not to escape?
"It's alright."
In fact, the monarch's words weren't entirely wrong.
He had instilled extreme fear, but there was no denying that she was a ticking time bomb.
It was a problem I could solve.
She might be too inexperienced to use her abilities skillfully yet… but I should be able to suppress the outbursts she caused from time to time.
It might be a demanding task that required daily management.
I quietly smiled.
"You'll be alright if you're with me."
"……?"
A puzzled expression.
We could have this kind of conversation later.
For now, I resumed my steps.
"Do you perhaps have a name?"
"Disloyalty…"
"That's a name we'll discard from now on. If you don't have another one, I think it would be good to give you a new one."
Today, I will give you a name.
I bestowed a quiet name upon her, who had only been referred to as a monster until now.
That was it.
"Neria… Neria Lightning."
Her current name.
The seven letters that referred to her life for the first time. [T/N: In Hangul ofc]
"Shall we go? Miss Neria."
"……."
No particular response came back.
I considered even that a memory as I stepped out of the iron bars.
Outside, pure white snowflakes fluttered down.
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