Book Five: Return from the Other Shore - The Girl Named G (2)

"How rude of me! I only meant well in resolving the dispute."

"Cut..."

C was clearly very agitated by being suddenly disturbed by outsiders, but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to dislike G.

The girl with the Number G is a special person.

She was gentle and friendly to everyone, while maintaining an impeccable balance of humility and arrogance, keeping a respectful distance from everyone.

Between "fairly good" and "friendly," she reportedly didn't have a single true friend among all the orphans in the orphanage, but neither did she have a single real enemy, thus avoiding all unnecessary trouble with just the right amount of moderation.

This kind of thing might be normal for a seasoned socialite, but for a seven-year-old girl... it's a bit chilling. In fact, one of the reasons no one bothered G was that the other children had a strange sense of awe towards her.

C was the same, but at this moment her competitive spirit was even stronger.

"What's it to you! Don't cause trouble, or you'll get a couple of slashes too!"

"Don't be like this. Why are we being so hostile to each other here? Those who are sold last will become playthings of nobles, while those rejected earlier will be thrown into cheap brothels. Perhaps there is light hidden at the end of darkness, but overall it is still a tragedy. Why not try to get along before it becomes a tragedy?"

"Huh? You idiot! Anyway... anyway, that's how it'll end up. Shouldn't we at least strive for a slightly better outcome? I'll do everything in my power to please the nobleman who bought me, and climb the ranks little by little! And then... and then..."

"And then what? Go on?"

"And then... I'll be able to eat delicious food... wear nice clothes? And... no one will yell at me anymore... And... and... I'll have a really soft bed to sleep in?"

Faced with C's sudden confusion, G simply smiled gently, like a mature adult looking at a naive and inexperienced child.

"So... in the end, we're all just children, you are, they are, we're all just children who crave love. If we're all the same, why make things difficult for each other?"

"Look at what you're saying, as if you're the only one who's so great! Aren't you just a kid too? Stop pretending! Let go of my hand!"

C roughly pulled his hand away from G and stabbed R in the face with a knife.

Pfft! Blood flowed out.

But that wasn't R's blood.

C, R, and everyone else were stunned.

G, however, remained oblivious to her bleeding hand, which was bleeding profusely from gripping the blade, as if the hand did not belong to her at all.

"Well... I guess so. I'm just saying nice things, but I'm only a kid myself, but..."

Her delicate, slender fingers slid across the blade, cutting the already bleeding wound even deeper, yet G's smile remained unwavering.

"What I yearn for, what I bear, everything I must face... is hundreds of times more troublesome than your naive wishes, isn't it?"

The bloodied hand slid from the knife to C's hand, who was paralyzed with shock, and traveled up her arm, leaving a long, striking trail of blood.

"I've never wasted these years here, because I've been trying to figure out some things from the past, to know who that face in my memories is, and to figure out what I should do in the future..."

The Blood Hand finally reached C's face, its five fingers, etched with wounds, stroking her delicate skin, staining her entire cheek, with drops of blood even getting into her mouth. G leaned close to her ear and continued to murmur in her still gentle and beautiful voice.

"I have things I want to do, people I want to kill, and all of that is my reason for living. Unlike you people who live like zombies, I have a 'reason' to keep me alive. Do you understand?"

"I don't understand what you're saying at all," C wanted to say, but she was too scared to speak. Large tears welled up in her eyes, and she was about to burst into tears. G sighed softly and released her face.

"So, please don't let me see you causing trouble again. It's getting late, go home before the building manager checks the rooms."

Upon hearing this, the children scattered as if granted a pardon, and C also ran out crying, wiping the blood from her face as she ran.

Suddenly, only G and R were left in the small room.

"G... G? Your hand..." R asked weakly as he got up from the ground.

"Oh? It's alright. This kind of wound looks deep, but it heals very quickly. It can be treated with a little care."

"But... doesn't it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts, but pain isn't something that's hard to endure if you want to, right?"

"Um... well, G, bandaging like this might be inconvenient for one person, right?"

"Yes, a little."

Looking at G like this, R was actually very scared—but before that, a strange joy filled her heart. For so long, she had been the one being bullied, and she couldn't help but cry whenever she thought about the tragic future, and she had almost collapsed several times.

Today, for the first time, someone stepped forward to help her when she couldn't hold on any longer, and the mere fact of that made her so happy she almost jumped for joy.

Very good.

Even someone as cowardly and useless as me can finally make friends.

When facing pain, I will no longer be alone...

But what should friends do together? I don't know... Anyway, let's help each other out first!

"Hey G! Let me bandage you up—"

"--No, I can do it myself."

As he spoke, G took a step away from her.

With just a word and a simple gesture, G conveyed a clear sense of rejection to C.

"... Sigh? But..."

"C, you don't know how to bandage, do you? So I'll be fine by myself. You should hurry up and wash off the dirt and go back to sleep. If it really hurts, you can go find the caretaker."

Even though G's smile was still gentle and her words were clearly caring, C sensed a huge, insurmountable chasm between them.

"Then, I'll go first."

G left briskly, leaving C standing there dumbfounded.

One hundred and eighty-four years ago, in the alley outside the Orphanage—

"I'm sorry, I didn't buy you from the Orphanage to satisfy that kind of interest. Although I can't say it was without ulterior motives, just consider it my kindness for now. Besides—don't you have some things you want to do?"

The white-haired, one-eyed man who bought her for an exorbitant price and then took her out of the Orphanage disappeared after leaving behind these words.

She was left behind, her mind in turmoil.

The girl, Number G —now called "Givinia"—murmured the words the man had left behind.

There are some things I want to do.

That's right.

She still has things she must do; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that's the reason she's kept alive until now. She needs something to sustain her life.

That is—revenge.

Whom should we seek revenge against?

That woman who killed countless people, destroyed the family that should have been hers, and forced her to live such a miserable life.

How to get revenge?

Need I say more? Of course, I'd kill that woman myself.

She was sold to human traffickers when she was one year old, changed hands several times, and entered this Orphanage when she was three years old. Now she is nine years old.

The six years spent at the Orphanage were by no means wasted. You should know that the staff at the Orphanage have a huge intelligence network. As long as you pay attention and build good relationships with certain key figures, it is not difficult to find out what you want to know.

She was initially sold from the now-vanished Zitan Kingdom, and was identified as the orphan of a great noble family. Further records show that the person who sold her presented some proof—a token from the Prime Minister's Mansion —which suggests that she was likely a blood relative of the Prime Minister.

The subsequent investigation results shocked her. It was said that the downfall of the Zitan Kingdom was due to the Prime Minister's daughter-in-law, who was also the Prime Minister's son's legal wife. That terrifying woman slaughtered all the kingdom's upper class and the Imperial City Imperial Guard in just a few days, which was the most direct cause of the country's destruction. Even after eight years, this story was still passed down by word of mouth, and it became more and more outlandish with each retelling, making it extremely difficult to ascertain the specific circumstances at the time.

Although there was no direct evidence, Givinia already had a premonition.

It's possible that she is the same person who is her biological mother, the wife of the Prime Minister's son, and the female demon who caused the downfall of the country.

She is the person most closely related to her by blood.

"Mother..."

What a sweet name!

At the same time, it was so hateful.

But let's put those feelings aside for now; there's still a lot we need to know.

"Further investigation is needed..."

One hundred and eighty-two years ago, on the border of a small country—

A bucket of cold water woke the man who had been drugged with drugs. He shook his head and groaned incoherently, looking around with blurry vision.

"Where the hell am I... huh?"

"Brother?" "You!?"

The man was in a dimly lit room. Sitting in the corner opposite him was his younger brother, whose hair was still dripping wet, clearly having just been woken up with cold water, just like him.

"Are you both awake now?"

A slightly childish voice came from beside the older brother, and the two brothers immediately looked over—then they were both stunned. Even in this ambiguous situation, they were captivated by the girl, who looked to be only a little over ten years old. Her doll-like face, light brown shoulder-length hair, white dress paired with black capri pants, warm-colored sandals, and a folded parasol in her hand—she was truly a rare and elegant young girl. Even more striking was her demeanor; although still young, she already possessed a mature air about her, completely different from the chattering little girls her age.

"Who... who are you? I'm asking you a question—hey?"

Ding-dong--

The sudden clanging of metal startled the brothers, who then realized that their feet were chained, the shackles tightly binding their ankles, making it impossible for them to break free.

"Please forgive my rudeness, but I don't want you uncles to leave, because I have some questions for you."

"What a joke! You brat, untie me right now!"

The younger brother roared, and the older brother grabbed at the girl at the same time—they were each tied to the post with only one leg, but the rest of their bodies were still mobile!

However—smack!

The man's hand passed straight through the girl's body; it was just a realistic phantom! Then, a very sturdy parasol slammed into his face, making his mind, which had just begun to clear, relapse.

"Don't be impulsive. I just want to ask you some questions. We're all civilized people, so please have some understanding of how you betrayed me back then."

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What a brutal competition for Monthly Votes! Since becoming a paid seller, I almost fell off the Monthly Votes rankings for the first time. I only escaped the bottom of the list at noon, and now I'm back at the very bottom. The people urgently need support! /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~