—

Opening in another place within the star cluster, she fell down to the ground.

The black hole she used disappeared as she struggled to breathe.

Her mind raced with many thoughts, she couldn't keep up. The panic finally manifested outside and she struggled to keep it together.

C-R-A-C-K.

It did matter.

It does bother her.

It bothered her so much.

She couldn't pretend anymore. She clutched her head and shut her eyes tightly, the onslaught of thoughts overwhelmed her.

Then, her thoughts were interrupted by panicked voices and sobbing sounds.

Her eyes slowly opened and turned to the direction of the sound. She stood up and walked towards it.

“Don't worry, daddy will get you out of there, okay? Just look at mommy.”

“Mommy… Daddy…”

Blithe could hear their voices getting clearer as she got closer.

“Uuuurgh… Just a little more… I’ll get you out of this. Don't worry, daddy’s got this.”

Blithe stopped and looked at the scene in front of her.

In the corner of this village where she warped was a family of four. The children were trapped under a rock, the father was trying to lift it up and the mother was consoling the crying children.

“Sshh, sshhh,” the mother hushed them, worried that their cries would attract the henchmen. It already did. It just so happened that it was her that got drawn to this place.

She watched the scene unfold in her eyes. The children crying, the mother comforting her children and the father trying to set them free.

Come to think of it, did she even cry as a child? Did her father ever protect her? Was her mother present and consoled her too?

She didn't know.

Why didn't she experience it?

Why was she made to follow orders?

Why was she so indifferent before?

While the questions popped into her head in a flurry, the family was made aware of her presence.

“Oh, goodness, please,” the mother cried out and tried her best to hold the children from outside their prison.

The father protectively stood before them and glared at Blithe.

“Don't you dare come any closer, you monster!” he shouted at her, his voice laced with venom. He was still trembling with fear before her, but his love for his family overcame that fear.

Blithe flinched. She closed her eyes shut and held her head.

The word echoed in her ears.

Monster. Her, a monster?

Blight.

Blithe.

Blight.

Blithe.

Her eyes started to blur. She touched the corner of her eyes and saw that tears were coming out of it.

That's right. She is a monster.

Her breathing quickened.

All the thoughts she was suppressing burst in her mind, repeating over and over again.

Burned-down houses.

Destroyed buildings.

Lifeless bodies.

Screams of horror and terror.

Pocket watch ticking.

Rain.

Blight.

Blithe.

Destruction.

Disease.

Emotionless.

Indifferent.

Blight.

Lifeless bodies.

Rot.

Destruction.

Pocket watch ticking.

Screams.

Horror.

Beloved?

Blithe.

Terror.

Lifeless bodies.

Rain.

Indifferent.

Rot.

Screams.

Pocket watch ticking.

Beloved?

Destruction.

What was she doing all these years? She was destroying lives and taking futures. All the lives she took, all the families she tore apart. She stripped everyone of their right to live.

She was done making excuses for herself. It did matter to her. It did bother her.

Why hasn't she felt anything like this before? Why was she so different from others? Why was she so indifferent?

Then, the dream she had before flashed into her mind, as if unlocking a memory buried deep into her mind.

Red eyes looked at her as the storm outside brewed with thunder and lightning. The ticking of the clock accompanied the rain in the night.

A large hand then started to cover her face.

“Ssshhh… You don't need those. Just obey without question. Unlike that unfilial bastard.”

She could feel herself crying — heard herself crying.

“You won't feel anything, my beloved daughter.”

The sudden memory all pointed to one thing.

The Dark Emperor, her father.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

She clutched her head, gritting her teeth and groaning in pain. Her head was throbbing with all the thoughts coming into her head.

The mother saw what was happening and took advantage of the situation.

“Please! Spare us, please!”

“Honey, stop! People like them will never listen,” the father whispered to his wife.

Blithe stood straight and wiped her tears. She breathed heavily, her mind still whirling from that vague memory.

She didn't know if it was a false memory created to protect her mind from collapsing but she couldn't ignore her unease anymore.

She resolved to help this family escape. She flicked her hand and with a small and short pull of gravity, pulled the objects trapping the children. The mother immediately hugged the two while the father looked at Blithe vigilantly.

She looked at the family and opened her mouth.

“Go to the—”

“Your Highness! There you are!” a henchman suddenly appeared and called out to her.

Blithe snapped into business and immediately wiped the tears on the corner of her eyes discreetly before the henchmen noticed.

“Oh, you found survivors!” he grinned sadistically. “Why are they still alive? Hahaha!”

“They'll die eventually. This star cluster will crumble with them along with it,” Blithe’s voice trembled but she tried her best to dissuade this henchman.

“Let's leave,” she turned her back and started to walk away.

“Oh, c’mon, Your Highness! What's the fun in that?”

Blithe stopped walking and furrowed her eyebrows

“I said, let's leave. That's an order,” Blithe tried her best to hang on to that emotionless facade. She was breaking inside but she had to hold on.

“C’mon, Your Highness! Just one stab, it’ll be quick and fun!” he giddily said as he pointed his sword towards the family.

Blithe remained silent.

“Well, I guess you really don't care either way. You're not exactly the most fun to serve under with all that indifference,” he muttered as he rolled his eyes, not noticing how Blithe's shoulders were trembling.

“Don't you dare come closer!” the father picked up a metal pipe as a weapon, much to the henchmen’s amusement.

“Haha! You think a metal pipe’s gonna do damage to a trained dark matter? You, a puny little star?” he grinned as he got closer.

The cries of the children got a little louder, mirroring the cries she heard in her dream.

Her own cries.

“Don’t mind me, Your Highness! I’ll be joining you at the meeting place after I’m done with this!” he excitedly charged towards the father.

She gritted her teeth. “I told you—”

“TO LEAVE!” Blithe raised her hand and created a black hole behind the henchman, tearing him to shreds. The henchmen didn't get a chance to scream. His torn body flopped down on the ground.

Blithe covered her mouth in shock over what she just did. She didn't intend to kill him, she just wanted him to stop.

She had killed thousands of people already but now that she was aware of what she didn't want to do, the weight of one more piled onto her.

All of these feelings overwhelmed her—guilt, anger, anxiety, regret.

She fell onto her knees, shaking. Her hands covered her face, clawing into it and burst out in tears, anguish overtaking her.

“Your Highness!”

CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!

She could hear the sound of a necklace and an armor clashing with one another.

That henchman hurried over to her location.

At first he looked desperate, almost as if he was expecting to find her in a gruesome situation of murdering someone but then his face shifted.

He looked at her on the ground, weeping. It was the first time he had ever seen her with so much emotion.

“Your Highne—” he stopped in his tracks when he saw the family in front of her alive and his dead colleague on the ground near them.

He didn't know what to do.

“Y-Your Highness, what is your order?” he asked.

Blithe wiped her tears, gradually calming down.

She was tired. Her mind was drained.

Her gaze vacantly turned to the trembling family in front.

“Let them free.”

“Your Highness?” he was taken aback.

The parents immediately carried their children and ran away.

“A-Are you just going to let them go?” the henchman asked.

Blithe took a deep breath. She wiped her tears and composed herself.

Her head turned to look up at the man asking her.

This man. The person who took the risk of death to handle the baby from before. The person who always called out whenever she was about to kill a survivor. The person who always crossed her path whenever her inner turmoil during a job begins.

The person who has something hidden.

It was the first time she was really looking at him, noticing him—his red hair, his blue eyes, his tanned skin filled with tiny scars and that necklace that kept on clashing with his armor whenever he walked and approached her.

Blithe committed his appearance to her memory, because she needed to watch him.

She gazed into his eyes with an intensity that he flinched.

She opened her mouth to answer his question.

“Yes.”

S-H-A-T-T-E-R.