Prologue

• by lemuel moo

Voice Narration

I remember the day my bodyguard couldn’t stop crying.

His usually straight posture, bent down and kneeling next to a girl—no, a beautiful woman. His hands, once filled with both grit and confidence, now quivered with a sense of uncertainty as he clutched the woman tightly within his embrace.

It was as though he was trying to pull the fading life force of his beloved back into her feeble body. But alas, that could not happen. His handsome, chiseled face had streams of tears flowing down the sides, and his exotic silver hair had faded to an overtone of grey. He was grief-stricken.

My heart ached for him, and I wanted to hug him so much. I wanted to be his pillar of support. I wanted to be the one he could turn to for help. But most of all, I wanted to muster up the strength to step forward and embrace him at this sorrowful time, for all those times I could find solace and strength in his arms. Even in the most dire and despondent of situations, he had always been there for me. I just wanted to pay him back once.

However, I could not. For the very tears he was shedding were not for me. No, he wasn’t crying for me. He was crying for his beloved.

His beloved was an amazing girl. Beautiful, both inside and out. There was not a single soul who didn’t admire her absolute kindness and beauty.

Her lustrous black hair and fair skin had shaken the hearts of many men, yet her heart had only beaten for one. But now, her fair skin was tainted with blood, and the confidence that she once exuded was nowhere to be found. It was a heart-wrenching sight to behold.

It was this otherworldly kindness that had eventually made her suffer excruciating pain and led to her demise. Despite the amount of blood flowing out from her wounds, her eyes looked at him lovingly as she struggled to stay alive.

The intimate relationship between these two could epitomize the true meaning of love, but alas, it had been too perfect. For she had given up her very life in exchange for his. They had been destined to meet but fated to part.

He whispered softly to her.

“You’ll always be my first love, darling.”

“…I love you too…”

Their soft lips touched, and tears flowed down their faces. They wanted this moment to last forever. But it was a moment filled with sadness, for they knew that they had to part.

As she gave my bodyguard a parting kiss, the remaining strength left her body. Slowly but surely, her fingers loosened until they were no longer wrapped around his own, and he found himself shivering with grief. He pressed his lips against hers, but there would no longer be any response from her.

“I will always love you.”

After my bodyguard placed her hand down and covered her body with a white cloth, he stood up suddenly, his countenance twisting in anger and his entire being slowly enveloped in a thick black aura. I peered over to examine his face, but the aura was just too thick.

He couldn’t hide his anguish. He couldn’t hide his intent to kill anymore.

It was at this moment that the room immediately flooded with a murderous aura. I had felt this very aura numerous of times in the past, but this time, the deadly aura was different. It was no longer just killing intent. It was intense bloodlust, fuelled by his potent emotions. In times past, his killing intent had only made it difficult for me to breathe.

But now, his pain was almost palpable.

The whole place shook. It felt like an earthquake, but his wrath was the true earthquake. The intense bloodlust that he released had managed to indent the ground around him, cracking the layered concrete that made up the floor.

My bodyguard grabbed his black sword tightly and turned towards the door, but I rushed forth to block his path.

“Where are you going?!”

“To right a wrong.”

“No! This isn’t the time to —”

I couldn’t stop him. He was too fast, appearing behind me in an instant.

“Take care of her for me.”

These were the last words that I heard from him, and by the time I turned around, his silhouette had already disappeared around the corner.