Chapter 31: Emotions
[Ten months later (from the Legacy world perspective)]
"Sit." In a certain cave, a young man drained of color and looking more corpse than living patted his lap.
"You are going to die if I do that," replied the pink-haired girl, staring at him apprehensively, fearing for his life. If this same girl’s past self—about five to six months ago—were to see her now, she would definitely spit blood in disbelief.
"Anna, sit," he said. She gritted her teeth, unable to refute his orders, and eventually sat down.
The young man began combing her pink, unkempt hair with what remained of his hand. Yes, he only had his right hand now—something that had happened two months ago when he’d protected Anna. Something that, till this moment, she still couldn’t believe.
But who could blame her? Her master, who was her worst nightmare, the man who had as much emotion as a blank sheet of paper, who tortured her until she was literally running mad—one day risking his life to save her? That was something she hadn’t expected. She suspected this change came from his realization that there was no escaping this Legacy world, and with time he’d given up on his revenge, perhaps even letting go of the grudge he held against her.
She’d been suspicious when he started acting nicely all of a sudden. It wasn’t a complete 180-degree change overnight—no, it was more like a slowly progressive shift in character. The way he spoke to her, the way he smiled. Smiled! She’d been afraid at first, but as time passed, she began to accept these changes. After all, aside from Vivian, who had died four months back, he was the only one she could talk to, the only reason she hadn’t fallen into depression from loneliness.
With time, she became afraid of losing him, of being alone in this Legacy world which seemed to have no escape. They were trapped here, completely trapped. But like the wretched bitch fate was, she brought Anna’s biggest fears to fruition. On a day just like any other, a monster had taken her by surprise and almost killed her. Almost—because in that moment, her master had sacrificed himself. And now, now he was nearing the end of his life.
"Don’t die, please." She was genuinely afraid at this point, afraid he would leave her here alone and she would wander this cursed island alone for the rest of her life until she too met her end.