─A maid of Tane was murdered.
But the incident was never revealed.
This place, after all, is a land of long-standing academic tradition. A space for growth, where people strive in their studies regardless of bloodline and sweat through their training.
To avoid stirring unrest among the students, the incident was covered up. Only the faculty at the professor level were made aware.
The most that made it into student conversations were minor things like malfunctioning magical lights and such.
And perhaps, a few mentions about how Sasha, the biggest troublemaker since midterms, hadn’t been seen around lately.
And so, Tane carried on with its usual days.
No one knew what was rotting and festering beneath the surface. The days simply passed, each one indistinguishable from the last.
Always peaceful, just the same as ever.
“……”
But there was one person.
One who fully understood the circumstances behind the incident.
Silently, he became the feet that moved beneath the surface.
Object Manipulation.
Creak.
A window in the Hirein dormitory opened. Stepping inside via the desk, he lit the magical lamp.
“……”
Fzzz—
◆ [Total Magical Structure Analysis] activated.
As he triggered his Trait, Adel pulled a small vial from his coat.
Without hesitation, he scattered its contents throughout the room.
It was a solution containing dissolved Headflower extract. It was leftover from his battle with Camilla.
Originally, it was a chemical that turned extremely toxic when it reacted with demon blood.
Headflower extract had a known property of changing color and nature in response to traces of demonic energy, making it a common choice as a reactive reagent.
Sssssssss—
The scattered liquid turned black. Like bubbling, boiling tar.
The view granted by his Trait showed the same, and the reagent’s reaction confirmed it.
“……So it’s true.”
What he had feared had come to pass.
Clean.
He purified the room, erasing all remaining traces of demonic energy.
And then—
“……”
There was a notebook on the desk.
When he opened it, its pages were filled with tightly written words.
– I want to rest
– I want to eat something delicious
– I want to sleep properly
– I wanted to learn the sword
– I wanted to experience love
.
.
.
A… bucket list?
He was about to just set it down again.
“……”
However, strangely enough, he couldn’t take his eyes off it.
Adel read through those insignificant wishes. They were far too modest to have been written in earnest by someone…yet they were.
– I want to live in a world where no one knows me
After reading up to that point, he looked around the room once more.
It was too clean. No…more accurately, it felt barren.
A room with no signs of life. As if its occupant had obsessively minimized their belongings.
.
.
.
– I just want to live a normal life
He quietly closed the notebook.
***
Sasha Koskov woke up on a bench somewhere in the imperial capital.
Morning was breaking.
It was her first time welcoming the day from outside like this.
Her insides were churning.
“……”
But the storm of emotions that had once overwhelmed her was now calm. She felt nothing.
It was as if her emotions had gone numb.
Sasha pulled her hood over her head.
As everything seemed to sink inward into the depths of herself, she muttered:
I’m sorry, Adel.
To you, who believed in me. I’m sorry.
Everyone else was right. The Special Task Knight Commander’s suspicions were justified.
…Thank you for believing in me.
She had run away.
.
.
.
—Day 1.
She couldn’t sleep at all.
Even the inn bed she had paid for only served to hammer in reality.
Her heartbeat was too rough. She couldn’t even lie still.
“…Urgh.”
—Day 2.
She went to the home she had once lived in.
She didn’t know why. Almost like she had been searching for something, she found herself standing there.
What was once the Koskov estate was now occupied by someone else. Hearing sounds from the far side of the garden, she instinctively listened in.
– …And then, you know? Dad!
– …Haha. I see.
“……”
A loving father and daughter, perhaps. Or maybe she was hallucinating.
It was all too bitter.
Still, there had been days like that for her too.
Now, even the color of those memories was impossible to recall. So far away it felt like a dream.
Everything sounded muffled, like she was wearing earplugs. It was strange.
—Day 3.
Morning. The mark on the back of her neck had crept all the way up to her eyes. It had settled inside her pupils like a tattoo.
She lowered her gaze and curled her body inward.
So she wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.
“…….”
It felt like the world itself was refusing to permit her existence…… and she wanted to run away to somewhere no one was.
—Day 5.
It rains.
All day long, sharp pain tore through her lower abdomen. Her rain-soaked body felt as though it were suffocating, slowly dying.
Spots began to appear in her vision. Had she collapsed from the dizziness? At some point, her body was caked in mud.
Her hood had been torn to shreds.
……Come to think of it, it was a hood her father had given her long ago.
—Day 7.
I’m not that man’s daughter. I am that man’s daughter. No. Yes…….
She plucked a flower by the roadside and pulled off its petals one by one.
She knew nothing would change from doing this. She knew. But still, if she didn’t at least do this…….
“Yes” remained after all the petals had fallen.
“…….”
Her fingertips trembled. The emotions she thought had gone numb surged in like a raging tide, then receded.
Yes.
The same blood flows in me too.
She couldn’t deny it.
The filthy bloodline of a criminal.
That was why a demon had latched onto her.
—Day 9.
Night in the alley. Among the thoughts she forced herself to recall every night, a conclusion surfaced. From deep within her fading consciousness.
“……I, I…….”
She had to confirm it. She wanted an answer.
Was it you? Was it something you did?
A question she had turned away from for ten years. She wanted to hear the answer directly from the person involved.
Otherwise, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to endure it. She wanted to seize even the smallest spark of hope.
Even if she were burned by the truth. Even if her hands were scorched away.
Quietly, Sasha Koskov headed toward where her father was.
North. To Harken Detention Camp, in the borderlands.
—Day 14.
Her shoes were ruined. It was from running to avoid the checkpoints set up throughout the capital.
……This was the first time she had ever come this far.
But that sense of novelty soon gave way to difficulty.
Even within the city, she lost her way again and again.
Buying a map meant having to face people, so she went on with nothing, simply heading north.
—Day 20.
……By now, struggling to breathe felt almost natural.
That wasn’t the real problem.
Which domain could this be? A place she reached after leaving the capital.
As she rested briefly in an alleyway, she was attacked.
An unknown wave of disgust surged at the filthy hands with such an obvious intent.
[Kill.]
Before she realized it, she had already severed the man’s arm.
It was strange.
Even at his screams, she felt nothing. Instead, a deep sense of satisfaction filled her like justice had been done.
[Punishment for sin.]
[Kill.]
A burning sensation that started in her lower abdomen spread through her entire body. It felt like only her blood had caught fire.
“……!”
[Kill. Tear them apart. Break them. Crush them.]
Her mind pushed to the brink of murder, and before she knew it, she bolted.
……She barely stopped herself just before slashing the man’s throat.
She clearly hadn’t had any kind of weapon.
But she had cut off someone’s arm.
Where had the blade come from…?
That thought made her look down at her hand. Her nails had grown on their own.
Metallic blades, sharp and gleaming with killing intent.
……And they were connected to her fingernails.
These weren’t human hands.
“……Urgh, uueegh……”
She vomited up bile. Her breathing turned ragged, and she felt like her lower abdomen was collapsing.
This isn’t right. There’s no way something like this is possible.
That thought consumed her with panic, and she pulled up her clothes.
“──!!”
And she saw it.
Her lower abdomen.
Where her mana core should have been.
The mark of a demon had taken its place.
“……Ah, ah.”
[Kill. Kill. Kill─]
[Punishment for sin.]
The moment of despair stretched on endlessly.
A moment that felt like eternity.
And in that long moment, there was no choice but to realize—
“……Uh, uh.”
There was nothing she needed to ask her father anymore.
The satisfaction she’d felt in that moment of near-murder.
It was undeniable proof that this thing flowing through her was filthy blood.
“…….”
Sasha covered her mouth and quietly sobbed.
……A sinister vitality surged through her, awakening every corner of her body.
—Day 24.
She forcibly suppressed her lower abdomen using mana waves. At the same time, she moved while avoiding people as much as possible.
Cold sweat ran down her body. Her stomach churned, and she felt like she might vomit at any moment.
The mana waves she was forcing to circulate through her body were lethal in themselves. That was true even aside from the demonic sigil now occupying the place where her mana core should have been.
……Adel has been dealing with this every day…….
So this was the pain that those incapable of using magic carried with them for life.
Only now did she truly realize how extraordinary his patience had been.
When she remembered how, even while bearing all of this, he had still tried without hesitation to share her burdens, a faint smile spread across her parched lips.
And then she realized something else as well—
Just how thoughtless she herself had been.
I’m… sorry.
She vomited blood several times.
After that, her vision blurred. The entire world was nothing but red.
[You must kill.]
[Deliver punishment.]
—Day 27.
When had she collapsed?
When she woke up, she found herself inside a small mansion she’d never seen before.
It seemed a kind couple had taken her in.
A husband and wife with gray hair close to silver.
“…….”
It was strange.
Seeing that color made tears spill over for some reason.
Who was it?
There felt like there was someone I liked.
But she couldn’t remember clearly.
She remembered and then forgot. Remembered again, then forgot again.
Was the demonic sigil the cause? There was no way to know.
[Kill.]
– Are you all right? Oh dear, you still have a fever……
– You should rest for a few more days.
[They pitied us. They insulted us.]
“……!”
– You don’t look well.
– Your mana waves are unstable. Still, that’s a relief. If it’s a stabilizing agent, I should have a few……
[Sin. Sin. Sin! Sin must be punished!]
[Kill! Kill!]
At the horrific voices echoing inside her mind, Sasha shot upright.
She shook her head violently and searched for her shoes. It felt like all the blood was draining from her face.
– Oh. If you mean your shoes, I brought you a new pair. I’m not sure if the size will fit.
“……I’m sorry… I’m sorry…….”
– Wait. Hey!
She fled without even managing to offer a word of thanks.
What echoed through her mind was a cry that had now become her own voice.
[I have to kill!! Kill!! I have to kill!! I have to kill──!!!]
────Day 30.
She didn’t know where she was supposed to go.
The killing intent that had surged toward the kindhearted couple was now proof she could no longer deny.
There was no need to go to the north. She had no way to get there anyway.
Whenever she encountered people, killing intent flared up. Even the mere shadow of a person was enough to make her heart cry out about sin, grinding down and shattering her sense of morality over and over again.
“Something’s wrong……”
She couldn’t feel her emotions.
It was the same even when she found something to eat and put it in her mouth. She couldn’t taste anything at all. It felt like chewing on sand.
“……Something’s wrong……”
Sasha murmured quietly. She had to go somewhere. Her entire life had been one of moving toward someplace.
……Now, everything had become impossible to understand.
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