Chapter 155 – Taffy (5)

“You are unique.”

Evan. You told me that back then Number 5 went out to catch frogs with the other kids, and you were reading to me. I was lying on your thigh, and you were fiddling with my ear lobe. The light in the room was weak, so I couldn’t see the words in the book, but I could hear your voice clearly.

“What?”

Then you read the part where the princess and the prince meet, and then you were holding the page. He immediately flipped through the paper and acted as if he were going to read the next story, then wrung his fingers like a rabbit hiding in its burrow. He looked at my ear closely with a hesitant expression, then, while rubbing my ear lobe, said:

“It would be more fun to play with other kids. You always ask me to read fairy tales.”

At that time, you and I had read all the children’s books in this facility. You patiently read the story that you know the end of the fairy tale book that you took out again, and you left only the last page.

“I like this.”

As I said that, I gave strength to my head. When your thighs couldn’t bear my weight and squeezed, you tickled my cheeks or stroked my hair. He looked at me as if he were looking at a younger brother, but when our eyes met, he awkwardly avoided me.

Evan. At that time, what should the two of us talk about? We are taught that love is a feeling that only adults can understand. So we didn’t know how to express the dreamy feelings we had in each other’s hearts.

Just.

“I’ve read everything now, what do you want to read?”

“There is still the last page left.”

You just averted my eyes and I didn’t know how to express my feelings. The awkward moments between the two of us always ended up with random questions and answers. When I asked you to read the last page, you laughed and said,

“Have you heard a lot?”

“Still, it doesn’t feel like it’s over until you read it to the end.”

When I whined ‘like a child’, you nodded in disbelief and began to memorize the magic sentence.

“…In that way, the wonderful knight and the princess got married. The two lived happily ever after.”

I just laughed when I heard that sentence. You laughed too, but not as brightly as I did. I was young at the time, but I could tell the difference between the facial expressions.

Why did I like that sentence? Why did you hate reading that sentence? Maybe it was because you were a little more mature? I believed that one day I could live that kind of life with you. I was actually the princess of some beautiful castle. If I sit quietly like this in this facility, the nice nobles will come to pick me up. Men dressed in elegant costumes kneel in front of me and say,

“Sorry. Princess. Is it too late?”

Then I shake my head and speak in a firm and elegant tone like a princess.

“Are you okay.”

And I’m trying to bring Evan with you, but the knights are reluctantly dragging me along. You run to catch me, but you fail to catch the carriage and you fall. You collapsed on the floor, reach out your hand, and I call your name through the carriage window.

How many years have passed like that? You will become a wonderful knight and confidently come looking for me. I open the gate, and Evan in armor kneels in front of me. They call me princess and smile. I cry and hug you tightly, and someone in the distant future will write our story as a fairy tale.

The end ends like this.

And just like that, the wonderful knight and the princess got married. The two lived happily ever after.

Evan.

I still remember the day the facility burned down. I wasn’t a fairy tale princess, but ironically, my wish came true about half of it. The village was burned, and the master who treated us warmly was thrown into the fire. I was chained to the spot closest to the fire pit. The face of the person who struggled and asked to be saved is still vivid in my memory.

The guards speared the man trying to escape, giggled and threw a bottle of oil. At that time, several other people besides the master went into the pit. They were the ‘Devil Followers’ who worked at the facility. None of us had ever seen those people pray to the devil, but the spear-bearing and armored men said that the master and his companions were devil worshipers, and that they intended to sacrifice us to the devil.

“But don’t worry! The days of being threatened by filthy devil worshipers are over! You guys will be able to go back to slavery and live a normal life!”

I saw a man who said that and a bunch of greedy people raking in the fortunes of our facility. The fat aristocrat counted the money and pulled out the large items even after breaking them.

“Since you are the property of devil worshipers, you should be burned together! We survived because of mercy! Always be grateful! Serve the new masters with a reverent heart!”

Evan, you were dragged in chains. Even as I was being dragged, he kept looking at me. Number 5 got beaten up trying to rescue me, and was being pulled away in the other direction. Ironically, the horrific memory of that time was a story similar to the fairy tale I imagined.

I was destined to be sold to some nobleman. I sat quietly in chains. Men with stern faces are coming to pick me up. Men in expensive clothes grab me by the scruff of my neck and say this.

“Follow me quietly. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have at least one finger.”

Then, unable to overcome my fear, I nod my head and barely speak with strength in my voice.

“Yes.”

And Evan, you keep looking at me, but other nasty people are ruthlessly tearing us apart. You look at me and you lose your balance and fall. You, who fell to the floor, reach out your hand, and I call your name silently through the carriage window.

And we’re getting farther apart I was taken not to a beautiful mansion, but to a gloomy cellar, a place with upside down crosses and the smell of blood and brimstone. I wasn’t alone there. An elderly grandfather was hung from the gallows, and a man who looked like a frog was also tied up, screaming in agony.

Not only that, but people of all ages and genders were tied up.

As soon as they saw me, they started screaming at the men.

“These beasts! Do you intend to experiment on such a child! Uh?”

In the corner of the basement, a man wearing a hood says:

“Be quiet!”

And according to his instructions, they hang me on the crate. My limbs are tied to an x-shaped frame, and I rise into the air. If you look at it from a slightly higher perspective, you can see the laboratory at a glance. On the other side of the cage we tied up, there was a strange monster I’d never seen before.

Little by little, people grind away the charred, rotting corpse, and mix it with water to mix it. The man in the hood says

“This is the corpse of an ancient vampire that came from the demon realm. I will infuse this power into you. From what I’ve heard, it’s said that demons who awaken their powers when they’re young are more powerful. Therefore.”

Needles twinkle, people come. The old grandfather gritted his teeth, and the man who looked like a frog whimpered. I scream, people try to gag me. The hooded man says

“Then don’t die. Because I have high expectations of you.”

Stick the needle in, the memory fades

******

How many years must have passed The experiment was so successful.

We stand over the corpses of researchers. Those who thought they would use us, cursed as if they didn’t know why they had to die. He also said strange things like ungrateful bastards.

Few survived. They weren’t all people anymore. All have pale skin, fingernails that grow at will, and bat wings have grown on their backs.

I can’t digest normal food, so I have to drink blood.

My eyes were stained bright red, and dizziness and pain came when I went out in the sun. Sleep in the morning and move only at night.

Evan.

Even if I become strange, I’ve been waiting for you. I thought that no matter how bizarre I became, only you would look straight at me. I gathered like-minded people and pretended to be nobles. The uncle who was a merchant collected his fortune, and the grandfather whose granddaughter had died took on the role of butler.

How many years have passed like that? I thought you would become a great knight and confidently come looking for me. I open the gate, and Evan in armor kneels in front of me. They call me princess and smile. I cry and hug you tightly, and someone in the distant future will write our story as a fairy tale.

But Evan.

Why are you happy with another woman?

Why did you take a picture with such a smile on your face?

Evan.

Evan.

Evan.

Are you okay.

I’ll forgive you.

I’ll raise you now

In the distant future, someone will write our story as a fairy tale.

“…In that way, the wonderful knight and the princess got married. The two lived happily ever after.”

Forever.