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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Grim Reaper, Kai (1)
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"Haa... haa..."
Grrr... Grrr...
"…!"
"Hurry!"
"H-haa... haa... Yes..."
The weather was clear, not a single cloud in the sky. Though it was late, with darkness having fallen, the soft moonlight and starlight illuminated the world quite brightly.
At that hour, as the night world settled in, there were people fleeing through a forest, as if being chased.
"Haa... Haaack!"
"Mei, this won't do."
"Haa... haa... What?"
It was a man who appeared to be in his late twenties, and a young woman.
Clutched tightly in the woman's arms was a newborn baby. It was an incredibly cute infant with red curly hair and large, bright eyes.
The man, who had been running desperately through the forest, suddenly stopped and quickly spoke to the woman.
"I'll try to buy us some time, no matter what. You escape."
"B-but..."
"If we keep this up, we'll all die! Think of the child!"
"…!"
Seeing the woman struggling as if she might collapse at any moment, the man realized that if they kept fleeing like this, they would all perish.
So, the man decided to lure their pursuers away from the woman and child.
"Ron..."
"...Please take care of the child."
"H-h-hoo."
Ultimately, tears welled in the woman's eyes as the man gripped her hand tightly and uttered his last request: to take care of the child.
The man gently embraced the woman, then looked at the baby, who was smiling brightly at its father's face, oblivious to their plight, with a gaze full of sorrow.
But that was only for a moment. Knowing full well there was no more time to waste, the man immediately turned and ran swiftly in the opposite direction from where the woman was.
"Hoo..."
The woman briefly watched the man disappear, her eyes still brimming with tears, before the sound of distant hoofbeats forced her to quickly hide herself in a thicket of bushes.
"They're over there!"
"Get them!"
"…!"
At the voices of the approaching people, the woman covered her own mouth and the baby's with her hands, holding her breath.
"Hoo..."
A moment later, feeling the sounds of the noisy pursuers fade away, the woman desperately suppressed the sobs threatening to escape and quickly began to flee in the opposite direction from where the people had disappeared.
'Ron...'
She quietly whispered the name of the man she would never see again, deep in her heart.
How much time had passed like that?
"Haa... haa..."
As the woman took heavy steps, feeling her breath catch in her throat once more, the voices of her pursuers began to echo behind her again.
"There she is!"
"Catch her!"
The man had sacrificed his life to draw their attention and buy the woman time to escape, but he hadn't lasted long against their armed might.
And soon, they were back on the woman's trail, pressing in on her once more.
'Ron!'
At the voices of those close behind her, the woman instinctively knew the man was dead, and couldn't stop the tears from flowing again.
Her steps grew heavier, and the distance between her and her pursuers began to close.
*Whoosh!*
"Aargh!"
And finally, a rope thrown by her pursuers snaked around her neck like a noose, sending the woman tumbling to the ground.
Even as she fell, her only concern was the baby in her arms, so she tightly embraced and shielded the child.
"Got her."
"A slave dares to run away?"
Having caught the woman, the men approached her with triumphant sneers.
Instinctively, the woman tried to crawl backward on the ground, but the rope tightening around her neck soon forced her to stop.
"P-please, spare me!"
The man, Ron, and the woman, Mei, were slaves.
Having lived their lives as slaves since childhood, they had decided to flee, unable to bear the thought of their own child living a slave's life.
But now they had been caught again, and by the laws of the continent, runaway slaves were certainly to face execution.
"Please... please, just spare this child."
Mei no longer feared her own death. All she wished for was for her child to survive safely.
"Don't worry about that."
"…!"
At Mei's tearful pleas, the men sneered once more, approaching her and continuing their taunts.
"Because she'll live her whole life as a slave, just like you."
At the man's words, the woman's vision darkened. Her heart ached at the thought of this child, too, living a miserable life as a slave, just like her.
Recalling the child's future—a life not truly lived, a life worse than an animal's—the woman began to weep again.
*Whoosh!*
"…!"
But the woman wasn't given proper time to process such painful emotions for her child. The man who had approached her brutally swung his sword, and she collapsed onto the ground.
In agonizing pain, feeling as if she were burning, the woman couldn't even let out a proper scream. She could only gaze endlessly at the child cradled in her arms for the last time.
She couldn't die like this. She didn't want to die. She wanted to somehow ensure that this child, at least, would escape their clutches and live a happy life.
And it felt unfair. Her life, spent entirely as a slave only to die like this, felt so unjustly cruel that tears flowed anew.
"Would you like to make a deal with me?"
"…!"
At that moment, a stranger's voice began to echo in her ears.
It was a quiet, calm voice, completely out of place in the current situation, yet it pierced so clearly into her ears that the woman momentarily forgot her pain, her expression turning blank.
"Who are you!"
The others were no different. The man who had swung the sword at the woman, along with those around him, stared with tense eyes towards the source of the voice, shouting.
"Pardon me, but I will speak to you after I finish my conversation with this person."
"…!"
The one approaching them was a young man, appearing to be in his early twenties.
He was a head taller than an average adult man, with a slender build, and an unforgettable handsome face. His jet-black eyes were particularly striking.
Still speaking in a calm voice, he unilaterally excused himself to the men, then slowly walked towards the dying woman, who could barely breathe.
"I will grant you one wish you desire. In return, you must give me one thing I desire."
"A w-wish..."
"Yes."
The woman barely managed to open her mouth and speak, looking at the man with desperate eyes.
It didn't matter who he was. In this situation, she would grasp anyone's hand.
"This child..."
"..."
The man respectfully knelt on one knee before the woman, who was struggling to speak, and listened intently to her words.
"..."
"...Understood. I will grant that wish."
"Ah... ah..."
"In return, you must give me one thing."
The woman felt her vision growing dim, and with great effort, she looked at the man one last time.
