Prologue

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Warning: This story was translated through google. May contain errors, inconsistencies, and different punctuation marks. For more information on punctuation marks, see the endnotes for this chapter.

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"I really was a disgraced bitch!"

As soon as I was able to regain consciousness and see the frightened faces of those people, that was the thought I had about myself.

In front of me were five individuals, all bruised and, although initially well-dressed, they were now in shambles.

I was the one who left them like this, with destroyed equipment and skinned bodies, spitting blood and crying for their fallen comrades. However, the hot red liquid that was supposed to keep me alive flowed out of my mouth and trickled down my skin.

The girl who lay on the ground, surrounded by the various friends who followed her in that endeavor, was the heroine. The bastion of light, truth, and justice.

Me? Well, I am the villain.

Gradually my grotesque body began to unravel, the bizarre structure that had grown around me when I accepted the darkness was shaken by the light it gave off.

That's the heroine's power, to banish all the bad.

As I crumbled into light, cracking like glass, I saw his face. Although I left her that way, with a hole in her chest; I felt, through those significant brown eyes, that she was not resentful.

What was stamped on that gentle smiling face was pity.

The moment it split, the monstrous carapace that protected my core. The moment he drove that luminescent sword into my chest. The moment she saw my face and recognized my suffering, she said:

— I hope you can live a happy life now, Develine. — He smiled, transmitting all the tenderness I never received through those pink lips of his.

"So that's what it means to be the hero, to be kind after all."

That was the complete opposite of what I was. Now that I was dying, and only now, I regretted everything I did. All my life I have believed that my actions were justifiable because that's how I was raised.

I am Develine Hydess, a spoiled young girl who was never loved by her own family. A deplorable being who, to hide his own pain, treated everyone around him as if they were garbage bags.

Such a high level of malpractice that I was kicked out of the house by the father who taught me to be what I am. Even he couldn't stand the little monster he created.

"So I should have responded to their hate with love?" I thought, just managing to laugh at such idiocy. "What a joke!" I looked away, tired to face the light of his resolve, his forgiveness, his will. "If that's my karma, so be it. I've never been loved anyway, so why should I show any love?" I struggled to face her back without being consumed by the pity on her face.

In those deep brown eyes I saw a thousand memories. They seemed to reflect my insides. At that, I quickly remembered how deplorable I was. The lie I was telling. How much you wanted to deceive me.

"No," I denied the undeniable as that woman's face reappeared in my mind. It was a tender countenance, one he had long forgotten. "I was loved." The tears flowed. "I just didn't appreciate it!" I couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

While everyone wanted to use me, delete or ignore me, she held out her hand. She tried to take me out of that world of pain and I rejected her, I mistreated her. However, to the end, she tried to give me love and affection in the hope that I could change.

"Forgive me, aunt, I didn't deserve it."

The tears flowed uncontrollably, mixing with the blood I still had and the dark nature that remained attached to my body. True tears of pain and sadness.

"It was only a few months, but they were the best of my life."

The terrifying monster with a purplish arachnid body, crammed with arms and with a female bust plastered to its top, wept like a child.

One of the members of the heroic group was offended, but about to curse the heroine stopped him from tormenting me. To torment the creature that was breaking down in tears and regret.

— Rest in peace, Develine. — She smiled, her eyes losing their sparkle and her head lolled.

His group cried, screaming; oozing the voracious hatred they felt towards me, and despite the offenses, it was like a breeze.

That person had died with a smile on his face, and I knew he was dying too. I believe that was the reason why I smiled too, the suffering was ending.

— Rest in peace, Eliseline, — I returned the gesture.

The confused countenance of the heroine's companions was strangely satisfying to behold. And among them, mixed with the light that escaped from both, from me and from the blessed young woman who also crumbled into particles, I saw the face of a person who has already passed away.

"I wish I had lived with you," I thought as I smiled at her, a girl who could be both my mother and aunt, as they were the same in appearance.

Twins.

It was hard to know if it was real or just the result of my pre- death delusions . Instinctively, I smile as if it were real.

Before the last part of my body was gone, before my eyes were sucked into the void, I saw the lips of that image move.

— So live, — she replied with a wide smile on her face, — I wish you all the love in the world, my little one.

Amidst the overwhelming darkness, a path of glowing stones formed, drawing my awareness into the light.