Why?
The question was a raw, burning knot in my gut, mirroring the gnawing ache of hunger and the rasping dryness in my throat. Why me? Why did it only happen to me?
Thorns scraped against my skin, unnoticed. The damp earth seeped through my thin, torn clothes. I was huddled deep within a bush, somewhere in a forest I didn't know, wasn't sure I could even find my way out of. If I could run anymore, that is. My legs trembled, not just from exhaustion, but from a bone-deep terror that had become my constant companion.
It started like... like some twisted joke. One moment, I was just a university student, adrift in my own quiet despair. The next, I was here. Forcibly brought into this world, ripped from everything familiar. And the other Heroes... the Sword, the Spear, the Bow... they got magnificent weapons, gleaming with power.
And I... I got a shield.
Just a shield. A defensive tool. Not even a weapon. I couldn't fight with it. Couldn't attack. From the start, I was marked. Different. Useless.
They left me alone. Just like that. The other Heroes, the kingdom's people... they looked at me, saw the shield, and turned away. No one joined my party. I was isolated, adrift in a strange, hostile world, with nothing but a useless piece of metal on my arm.
I tolerated that. I did. I told myself I'd manage. I'd find a way.
And then... he joined. The first, the only one. Myne.
He seemed... charming. Kind. He looked at me with admiration, told me he believed in me. A spark of hope. Finally. Someone.
And then came the betrayal.
It was swift. Cruel. We were in a private room, just us. The charming facade dropped. His eyes... they held a look that turned my blood to ice. He was powerful, he said. I was weak. And I owed him. For joining me. For giving me a chance. He didn't say it in so many words at first, not directly, but his intent was clear. He tried to... to take advantage.
Panic seized me. The useless shield on my arm offered no defense against this. I scrambled back, heart pounding, the terror of being cornered by the one person I had dared to trust overriding everything else. The window. It was the only escape. Second floor.
I ran. I didn't hesitate. Threw myself through the glass, the shards tearing at my clothes, my skin. Plummeting to the hard ground below.
It didn't hurt as much as it should have. The shield absorbed some of the impact, I think. A cruel irony. The one time it offered a sort of protection, it was from escaping the very person it was meant to help me travel with.
I was bruised, bleeding, but alive. I tried to appeal to the Queen. Surely, she would listen? To a summoned Hero, injured and betrayed?
She didn't. Her eyes were cold. Dismissive. She barely heard my stammered pleas.
And then Myne appeared. His charming mask firmly back in place. He looked hurt, innocent. And he lied. In front of everyone. Accused me. Said I had tried to seduce him. I was the depraved one.
The whispers started. The looks. Disgust. Contempt. Just like when they saw the shield. But worse. Now I was not just useless; I was vile.
They took everything. My money. The meager funds I had been given. Every single coin. Leaving me with nothing. Bruised, bleeding, publicly shamed, and utterly destitute. I tolerated that too. I got out. Quietly. Disappearing into the shadows.
I survived. On scraps. Hiding. Saving. Every copper coin was a victory. A tiny step away from the abyss. My only thought was to find someone... anyone... who wouldn't look at me with hatred. Someone who needed saving more than I did.
And I found him. Raphtalia. A small, trembling demi-human boy in a slave trader's tent. Sick, scared, abused. But his eyes... they held a flicker of something. Trust? Hope? He didn't hate me. He was afraid, but not of me.
I bought him. With the money I had scraped together through sheer desperation. He was my companion. My only one. We trained together. Fought together. He grew stronger. His fear turned into determination. His trust in me became absolute. He was the light in the suffocating darkness of my life. My hope. My son, in every way that mattered.
I thought... I thought everything would improve. With Raphtalia by my side, I could face anything.
And then Myne found us.
He... he killed him. My Raphtalia. My son. Just like that. Cut him down. My shield, useless. My power, insufficient. I could only watch. My world shattered. Again.
But Myne wasn't done. Not with me. He stood over Raphtalia's body, smiling. And he told me. He told me that I belonged to him now. That if I wanted to live... if I wanted to be allowed to even exist in this world... I would have to... to sleep with him.
The world went numb. Grief for Raphtalia, terror for myself, combined into a paralyzing horror.
I ran. That's all I could do. Run. Leaving everything behind. Raphtalia's body. The shattered remains of my heart. Just running. Anywhere. As far as I could get.
And now... now I'm here. Hiding in this bush. Physical pain a dull throb against the screaming agony of my soul. Hungry. Thirsty. Every muscle screaming in protest. I can't run any longer. There's nowhere left to go.
The sound reaches me. Voices. Human voices. Soldiers. Searching.
"Soldiers, disperse and found her, she may not have gone far away. Now!"
His voice. Myne. Leading the hunt. Cold. Cruel. The man who killed my son and demanded my body as payment.
Heavy footsteps move through the undergrowth, snapping twigs, trampling leaves. Getting closer. My body trembles uncontrollably now. Tears stream down my face, silent, hopeless.
Then, silence right outside the bush. Too close. He knows.
"Can you come out now?" Myne's voice. Soft. Mocking. He knows exactly where I am. The System. The party window. He can see my location like a marker on a map. Hiding is useless.
I don't move. I can't. Paralyzed by despair.
"I said come out!" His voice hardens, a steel edge replacing the mock gentleness. "I know you're here, I can see your location in party window. If you didn't came out, you'll have to do much more than you have to initially."
Do much more. The chilling implication hangs in the air. The 'initially' referring to the horrifying demand over Raphtalia's body. The 'much more'...
His voice drops again, a cruel, satisfied purr. "Now it's your decision, sleep with me or all the soldiers."
The ultimatum hits me like a physical blow. My breath catches in my throat. Tears blur my vision. Sleep with him, the man who betrayed me, shamed me, killed my son, and threatened me? Or... or be found by his soldiers, and suffer... worse.
There is no choice. There is no escape. Only two doors leading to the same hell.
Why? Why does this happen? Why this suffering? Why this endless, inescapable nightmare?
Trapped. Broken. Alone. In the darkness of the bush, with the sound of soldiers closing in and the depraved voice of my tormentor offering me a fate worse than death, I finally understand. This isn't a mistake. This is my life. My curse. My destiny as the Shield Hero. And it is a living hell.
The horrifying sounds of the approaching soldiers, of Myne's patient, cruel breathing, are the only answer I receive.