A Life of Shadows
She began telling her story, her voice heavy with sorrow.
Her crimson eyes, once filled with cold detachment, now held something raw—something fragile.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Renji," I replied softly. "You can call me Renji."
She gave a faint, melancholic smile.
"That's… a beautiful name," she murmured.
Then, with a shaky breath, she continued.
—
"I was born in a village… just an ordinary girl in an ordinary family."
She laughed—a bitter, hollow sound.
"But my life was never ordinary."
She looked down at her hands, her fingers curling.
"My mother… she died giving birth to me."
A pause.
A long, painful silence.
"I never even got to feel what a mother's warmth was like."
Her voice wavered.
"My father… he loved my mother more than anything."
Her lips trembled.
"And he hated me just as much."
My breath caught.
"He never looked at me—not once with kindness, not once with love. From the moment I took my first breath, he wished I hadn't."
Her hands clenched into fists.
"When I cried as a baby, he beat me until I was silent. Why were you born? That's what he always said. Why did she die for something like you?"
I felt a lump in my throat.
"I don't know what a father is supposed to be, Renji," she whispered. "I never had one."
She let out a slow breath.
"One day… I was bullied by the village boys. They pushed me, threw rocks at me, called me a curse."
I clenched my jaw.
"What did your father do?" I asked.
She smiled—a broken, lifeless smile.
"I ran to him, crying, hoping… hoping just this once, he would protect me."
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"But he didn't."
Her next words broke me.
"He got angry—not at them… but at me."
"This is your fault," he said. "Stop bothering me."
My hands trembled.
"And that was the moment I realized," she said.
"I didn't have a family.
I didn't have a home.
I had nothing."
She swallowed hard, her voice growing softer.
"The village chief said I was cursed. That my birth killed my mother. And just like that, the entire village hated me."
She let out a choked laugh.
"So I locked myself away. I hid in my house, too afraid to go outside. Too afraid of the cold stares. The whispers. The hate."
Her eyes flickered.
"But then… one night, everything changed."
She paused, her gaze distant.
"The village was celebrating some kind of festival. I don't know what it was—I was never allowed to join."
She clenched her fists.
"I stayed in my house, as always."
Her next words sent a chill down my spine.
"And that night… a man came."
Her breathing grew unsteady.
"He killed everyone."
A heavy silence fell between us.
"He slaughtered the entire village," she whispered. "Men, women… even children. And I…"
She bit her lip.
"I was the only one left."
My body tensed.
"He walked into my home, covered in blood, his eyes gleaming with excitement."
Her fingers dug into her palms.
"Oh? You're still alive?" he said.
"And I looked at him," she whispered. "And do you know what I said?"
I shook my head, my voice caught in my throat.
"I told him… please kill me too."
My heart clenched.
She let out a small, breathless laugh.
"I didn't want to live, Renji. Not in that world. Not with that pain."
She shivered.
"But he… he just smiled."
"Why do you want to die, little girl?" he asked.
"And I told him everything."
Tears welled in her eyes.
"And he laughed. He laughed and handed me a book."
"A book?" I echoed.
She nodded.
"It wasn't a miracle. It wasn't salvation. It was… a book on dark magic."
Her voice was quiet.
"And then… he left."
She took a slow breath.
"His last words to me were…"
"Try to live once."
I felt my chest tighten painfully.
"And so… I tried," she murmured.
"I left the ruins of my village behind. I tried to go to another village… to start over."
Her body trembled.
"But the moment they saw me… they attacked me."
She gripped her arms, as if trying to hold herself together.
"They didn't ask. They didn't care. They just saw me… and decided I was a monster."
A single tear fell down her cheek.
"And that was the start of everything."
She exhaled a shaky breath.
"I killed them."
Her voice was numb.
"I didn't want to. I didn't even know how. But the magic—the darkness—it answered me. And just like that…"
She looked down at her hands.
"I became what they always feared."
I couldn't speak.
"I ran," she whispered. "I ran to the only place where no one could hurt me.
The Nightshade Forest."
She let out a trembling sigh.
"I don't know how many times I cried myself to sleep."
"I don't know how many nights I spent starving, alone in the cold."
She clenched her jaw.
"But I survived."
Her crimson eyes met mine.
"Do you understand now, Renji?"
She took a deep breath.
"People ask what my biggest regret is."
Her lips trembled.
"My biggest regret… is being born."
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"Maybe… in another life, I could have been normal. Maybe… I could have had a father who loved me. A home. A place where I belonged."
I couldn't take it anymore.
I moved before I could think.
I hugged her.
Tightly.
Desperately.
"Please… stop," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I understand. Just… stop."
Her body stiffened.
Then—
She broke down.
She cried.
Not silent tears. Not restrained sobs.
She wept.
Years of grief, pain, and loneliness spilled out all at once.
And I held her.
Because in that moment—
She wasn't the feared villain of the Nightshade Forest.
She wasn't a monster.
She was just a girl who had been abandoned by the world.
And I…
I was not going to abandon her too.