Ch.0PROLOGUE

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I suddenly came to my senses.

It felt like waking up from a long sleep.

I had forgotten what dream I’d been having just moments before in that brief instant, but I could vaguely tell that it had been some terribly frightening nightmare.

I shook my head to clear away such confused thoughts and looked around with stiff eyes.

“…Ugh, aaah!”

I was standing among people who had been torn to shreds.

Someone’s leg was hanging from a high tree branch, and someone’s torso had been split vertically, staining the green grass red.

That terrible nightmare I could barely remember was unfortunately not just a simple dream, it seemed.

Or maybe I was still dreaming.

That pitifully flimsy denial of reality was instantly refuted by the weight I felt filling both my hands.

I lowered my gaze to look at my own hands.

Someone’s head, with its throat torn and hot blood streaming down, was gripped in both my hands, and I had thrust both thumbs deep into the eye sockets to hold the head firmly.

The moist, sticky contents of the eyeballs trickled down my thumbs.

“Aaaah!”

Only then did I scream and hurl the head away.

Thud.

The head fell limply at my feet with a dull sound.

My trembling legs gave out, and I collapsed, landing hard on my bottom.

“This… this, I…”

I couldn’t bring myself to finish the words.

Even as I fell, my vision remained fixed on that head with its gaping eye sockets.

That damn head didn’t even roll away, just glared at me with pitch-black hollow eyes.

Holes created by my fingers.

This carnage was definitely something I had done.

I clutched my head in terror and guilt, curling up my body.

“Ugh… uugh…”

At that moment, someone embraced me from behind.

A soft, warm warmth and the faint scent of wildflowers approached silently.

That warmth slipped its arms between my armpits and wrapped around my waist, then quietly rested its cheek against my startled, trembling shoulder.

Large, soft female breasts pressed gently against me as if trying to tenderly soothe my heart that was pounding with terror.

I silently shed tears and surrendered my body to that touch.

She embraced me without hesitation despite my being covered in blood, saying nothing and simply holding me tight.

How much time passed? Only after the trembling in my body subsided did she lift her face slightly from my shoulder and whisper in my ear with a gentle voice.

It was a happy voice like birds singing joyful songs under the morning sunlight streaming through tree branches.

“Ash…”

“…Ugh.”

Sometimes I have such thoughts.

How wonderful it would be if there were magic or mechanical devices that could take you back to the past.

Having experienced so many misfortunes that I could have prevented if I had known in advance, I often indulged in such fantasies.

Well then, if I really could go back, when would I return to?

When my older sister died?

When my uncle murdered my parents, coveting the family name?

When my younger sister died in an accident while fleeing from that uncle’s subordinates?

“I told you, Ash.”

“…”

“You can’t leave now.”

No, I would definitely go back to before I saw her face.

“…Ugh.”

“You can’t leave me.”

But time travel is just a fantasy.

Naturally, such magic doesn’t exist, and such mechanical devices don’t exist in this world either.

All I had was only the future I would spend with her.

“…Yes.”

I finally clearly realized my situation.

I had become a monster.

Like her.

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