Chapter 1 - Unlucky Birth

Why is this dude here?

She stared at the sacred knight who was buried under the debris of the temple. It was impossible for her not to recognize his face even if she wanted to. His bright platinum blonde was drenched with blood. His white face was also full of red marks from being injured.

Is he dead?

She reached for him. Undeads that were roaming around the area approached her, making rattling sounds. The undeads pushed aside the debris that was on him and pulled him out by her order. His exposed body was simply appalling. He should have died by now, but his breaths were still continuing, though weakly.

“He should’ve died here,” she murmured in a plain tone.

At her words, the undeads expressed joy moving their shoulders up and down. They must mean to make him an undead to join them as their comrade since he seemed strong. But… She involuntarily let out a low sigh.

The man was the owner of the sacred sword and the first love of the heroine. However, he was supposed to end up dying in the early part of the story, for the heroine’s awakening. After he died, the heroine who decided to avenge him awakened her power and became the protector of the world who saved the world. And she annihilated evil races like her.

This was the main storyline of the novel, ‘The Bird Caught in a Snare Cannot Flee’ that she had entered. Knowing such a future, she had run away early on…

“Why are you dying before my eyes? You could’ve died a long time ago, if you were going to die anyway.”

One of the special abilities of the heroine was that she could trace deaths. She could peek into a person’s memory at the time of his death. In other words, if he died in front of her, it was obvious that the heroine would judge that she had killed him. Barely managing to run away from the tower, she thought she could now live in peace but did not see this coming. She would have never gotten out of home if she did.

“Tsk.”

However, regretting would change nothing. She sighed and gestured to the undeads to take him.

“Take him home.”

She had to save him first. The last thing she wanted was to be killed by the heroine.

***

It all began from a dark birthplace. Until then, she had only thought that she was reborn, still having the memory of the past life, but had no idea that she had entered the world of a novel. Opening her eyes, she looked around the surroundings with pure sight. It was dark everywhere. It was a dreary place without any light on. Without the moonlight that occasionally peeked out beyond the clouds, it certainly would have been pitch dark.

Her sight, which gradually became clearer, confirmed that no one was in the room beside her. She crawled to get close to the mirror. It was strange that she could move her hands and feet despite being a newborn, but she instinctively moved her body because she thought she must do so.

Thankfully the one who was reflected in the mirror was a baby, a small and cute baby whose head was still big and body was small. However, it was a baby who had long hair and uniquely shaped eyes. She went closer to the mirror. Her hair was long enough to cover her whole body. It was pitch black, but the part of her hair lit by the moonlight was indigo. She reflected her skin in the mirror. It was normal for the newborn baby, who was yet to be defiled by the world, to have smooth and soft skin. However, she was different. It was like…

Scales?

Some things like scales were sticking up in places around her neck. When she touched them lightly, they fell off feebly. However, they did not completely disappear. Something felt strange. Uneasiness smeared in her skin. She saw her eyes lastly. Her eyes were opaque yellow green as if it was drawn out from the open field. Yellow green without any impurities. She liked it so far but… her pupils, that were vertically long, were oddly clear. When they expanded, they were enlarged enough to fill the whole pupil and when they contracted, they were narrowed like a thin thread. Such eyes were horrifyingly mysterious. Whenever the pupils moved, it felt like it made a hissing sound, just like…

It’s like a snake.

Hiss. Her pupils contracted. She could feel the scales on her body tremble. Every strand of her hair cringed. It was an instinctive fear. When she crouched her shoulders and looked around, the door suddenly opened and someone entered the room.

“Are you awake?”

He was wearing a black robe. She could only see the person’s ankles as they were exposed because of his tall height. No, was he even a person? Can that be called a person? Looking at his ankles that had no flesh left but bones, she thought.

He came close to her and stretched his gloved hand to pull her chin towards him. His touch was very rough for a newborn baby, but it was not a big deal as everything was out of the ordinary already. Her mind was vacant.

He groped her eyes. Then he held her eyelids and stretched his fingers apart. She did not want to see him but could not help. She felt her stretched pupils contracting towards him.

“Sean,” he called.

Not even before he finished speaking, another man appeared next to him. His face was covered in a mask, and luckily he still had bones and flesh attached. He seemed to be human.

“Look at this guy,” grabbing and directing her chin towards the man, he said.