‘Cold…
so cold…’ As the cold wind howled through the forest, the snow accumulated on the trees suddenly loosened and slid down, falling entirely onto the small figure beneath the tree, gently murmuring.
“Ugh!” Struck by the accumulated snow, the small blue figure beneath the tree suddenly awoke, opening her beautiful, bewildered violet eyes.
“…?” After clearly seeing the unfamiliar scenery before her, the girl’s eyes, in addition to bewilderment, also showed surprise and confusion.
She then tried to struggle to her feet.
However, before the girl could stand steady, the stiffness of her body caused her to stumble.
Only by instinctively grabbing a large tree covered in silver frost beside her did she avoid the fate of falling into the snowdrift again.
But clearly, reality did not give the girl much time to observe and think.
The next moment, countless memories instantly erupted in her mind.
“Ugh!” The pain made her involuntarily let out a muffled groan, and she also clutched her small head, trying to alleviate the pain.
“Ah…
who exactly…
am I?
Haruneko…
or Griseo?” Because the number of memories surfacing in her mind was too vast, and they didn’t belong to the same person, the girl became confused about her own identity.
The relatively brief memories in her mind told her that she was just an ordinary person from Earth, but another seemingly monotonous but extraordinarily vast memory told her that she was one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era, a MOTH with the Signet of [Stars]…
“…” After a while, when the pain in her head subsided…
the girl quickly calmed down and began to sort through the jumbled memories in her mind.
And after calming down, the things she had previously overlooked were now noticed.
Although she couldn’t see her face without a mirror, by observing her body and attire…
she could confirm that she should be Griseo now, at least her body was.
Otherwise, the girl didn’t believe that an ordinary person could survive barefoot and bare-legged, wearing a thin dress, in such a cold, unknown place.
But even now that she had calmed down, the girl still couldn’t distinguish whether she was a transmigrator who had become [Stars], or Griseo with the memories of a transmigrator.
Both sets of memories were too real and vivid.
Whether it was the ordinariness and unwillingness in Haruneko’s memories, or Griseo’s deep-seated loneliness when facing the universe alone at the end, the girl felt and was touched by them deeply, as if she had personally experienced them.
“So…
how to draw the world?” The sky was already dim due to the blizzard, and the forest, with its tree cover, was even more so; dimness, cold, and stillness filled the air.
“Gurgle~” The expressionless Little Girl, in blue, now clutched her wailing stomach, trudging through the dim, cold forest, leaving a footprint with every step.
From afar, an unaware observer might mistake her for a pure spirit of the forest’s snowy ground.
But she knew her own situation; the girl…
no, Griseo, was very aware that her inner self was not as calm as she appeared on the surface.
She was cold and hungry.
Although these two points were not fatal and had no major impact on a MOTH, they were still uncomfortable.
What’s more, rather than saying she was outwardly calm, it would be more accurate to say that Griseo simply showed no other emotions on her face.
Although her inner self would become active due to the influence of another set of memories, this activity, also due to Griseo’s memories, remained only within her heart and showed no outward signs.
“Hmm…?” Suddenly, Griseo stopped in her tracks, tilting her head slightly as she gazed ahead.
Through the trees in front, she saw some light and heard faint human voices.
“…” For a moment, Griseo hesitated.
She didn’t know if it was wise to rush forward like this.
But she was also eager to understand the current situation, and if possible, she wanted to fill her stomach.
So, after a moment of internal struggle, Griseo decided to go and see.
She lightly lifted her small feet, which were already somewhat flushed from the cold, from the snow and walked forward…
However, when she truly approached the firelight, Griseo realized that everything was completely different from what she had imagined.
What she heard was the noisy cursing and loud, sinister laughter of a group of people…
What she saw was a thin, blood-stained figure, and around her, people with ferocious expressions holding gleaming, cold weapons…
and a patch of darkness.
“Boss, a little brat popped up over there, what should we do?” While Griseo was shocked by the scene before her, someone also noticed her figure.
“Tsk, why even ask?
Of course, kill her!
We absolutely can’t leave any survivors who see us doing this!” The boss who was asked, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes, snarled impatiently.
“Wh-what…” The injured deer-horned girl, who had been cornered by the crowd, heard this and turned her head back in horror, looking behind her.
And as she turned, her beautiful eyes met Griseo’s directly.
In that instant, only one thought remained in the girl’s mind: to do everything she could to keep this adorable child alive.
“Run…
run quickly!” “…?” Clearly, Griseo, who had suddenly fallen into thought, did not react quickly according to the girl’s words.
Instead, she stood still, watching her with a puzzled expression.
And in that short time, among the people surrounding the girl, a man with a long saber and a ferocious face had already rushed towards Griseo.
His posture suggested he intended to cut the stunned Little Girl in half with a single stroke.
“No!” Watching this scene, the fear and urgency in the deer-horned girl’s eyes involuntarily turned into boundless rage.
She dragged her injured body, erupting with a speed she usually wouldn’t dare to imagine, and pounced towards Griseo, wanting to embrace the Little Girl.
Even though the girl knew that doing so would almost certainly lead to her death, and that it wouldn’t protect Griseo for long, perhaps only for a single breath, she still did it…
The moment they made contact, the immense force of the deer-horned girl’s pounce directly knocked Griseo to the ground.
Before Griseo could say anything, the girl hugged her tightly, covering her completely with her own body.
“Don’t be afraid…
Sis…
big sister is with you…” After doing all this, the girl didn’t forget to softly comfort Griseo in her arms…
“…” At this moment, Griseo noticed the dark colors around her quietly fading, replaced by a faint, warm, yellowish hue.
However, looking up again at the turbid colors on the person about to swing a knife down at them, a ripple appeared in her heart…
“Mr.
Knight, please!”