Thinking about it, I was always a spoiled child.
But no one let be that way.
I was born with the potential of the Sun.
And born with the Lunar Magic.
I would beco the future leader of the Azure Wolf Tribe.
I was the flower expected to bloom beautifully.
-Child. As of now, only the Lunar magic has blood within you, however......
That’s what Granny Andes, the eldest Elder of the Tribe, said.
The Tribe Leader, the most respected figure within the tribe, and also my father continued after Granny.
-You also have the potential of the sun within you. The Sun and the Moon. That’s the rarest and most powerful magical attribute. That’s why one day you will beco the Sun that will guide our Tribe.
No...Father was wrong. I wasn’t strong enough to lead the Tribe.
Just thinking about it made choke up.
-That’s why this old woman will na you.
Yet, I couldn’t bear to disappoint them.
-Sol De Roka. One day you will beco the Sun of the Tribe and shine on our kin even after this old woman is gone. How about it? Not a bad na at all right, lass?
Father always had high expectations for .
Because of this, my brothers and sisters were always jealous.
Mother was also strict with . So, naturally, I grew up to be a rigid child.
However, the truth couldn’t be far from that. I was just a child using a mask to hide my cowardice and fear.
That was . When Father died, when Mother died when my older sisters were brutally killed...The reason tucked my tail between my legs rather than baring my teeth was because my mask shattered.
Just like a crab that can’t regrow its shell once is broken,
My mask shattered along with my self-esteem as I was kicked and whipped. What remained was just a pitiful child who had no choice but to reveal her true and cowardly face. In other words, .
But I couldn’t understand why would Master be like that for a worthless slave like .
Eup.
He would always look at with those warm eyes,
Always preparing delicious als for , and leaving clean clothes at my door.
He never forced himself on ,
And he would always smile and pray.
Pray to a God I couldn’t understand. A God I didn’t even know the na.
At first, I was scared.
No matter how much I thought about it, there was no reason for him to show such kindness to .
But as ti passed, my wariness dulled. He asked nothing of .
And that made feel even more uncomfortable.
I am a beast, an animal.
A slave.
I’m not worthy of such treatnt.
But he kept treating like a person.
Every ti I received that caring gaze, my body stiffened.
With my mask shattered, I didn’t dare to face that gaze. I ran away, fled, or hid.
If...If I didn’t...It felt like sothing inside would burst.
That’s why I thought I could just ignore my Master.
But I couldn’t do that at all. It’s not because I was afraid he would scold .
On the contrary, if he were to whip , at least I would know that the fault was mine, that I had done sothing to deserve the aggression.
Then, on that night. The night when the moon was shining brightly.
The day I dared to ride on sothing my Master had done.
I thought I would be punished, but instead, he pushed my back.
At that mont I beca certain of sothing,
-My Lord. Please, allow this child to have a happy life.
It was a small and quiet prayer, so quiet that the wind almost buried it.
But I managed to hear it.
-Please. I beg you.
The Master...My Master, who always served his God devoutly.
Asked sothing of his God for the first ti.
For . For sothing like . This worthless slave. He prayed to his God.
I wanted to pretend I hadn’t heard it, but I couldn’t do it. All I could do was just hurriedly run away after finishing the swing ride.
Without being able to say a single word of thanks,
I could only run away without showing the tears welling up in my eyes.
As ti passed and passed, I beca more and more distressed.
I desperately tried to build so walls around my heart. I wanted to block those raging emotions.
But I didn’t know that every wall I built was already cracked to begin with. I simply built and built.
Then, I realized it,
The reason I was struggling to ignore him.
The reason I was struggling to distance myself.
It’s because in the end, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t ignore him.
As I tried to ignore him again and again,
As I continued to build more walls,
The simple thought of Master abandoning made it hard to breathe.
I felt like I was going to cry. I couldn’t handle it.
Sneakily.
Hurriedly.
With my courage and self-esteem at the bottom,
With my mask shattered, revealing my true self,
I didn’t even have the courage to say a single word of thanks. All I could do was just approach him and bump my head against him. Even while doing that, my mind was filled with fear.
What if my Master were to see and get mad?
What if he were to think - ‘What is this filthy beast doing now?’
What if he got angry?
I really felt like I was going to die.
“It’s okay. You can cry. Don’t hold back.”
But despite my fears, he did sothing completely different.
He held tightly. He said it was okay to cry.
His eyes were still warm, his voice was still gentle.
That was the last straw. All my faulty walls, which I desperately built, crumbled down.
The feelings I bottled inside surged alongside my tears.
“Roka...Always rember this. You’re a person. Soone who is free to cry whenever they want. You are free to act spoiled when you want. And you’re free to lean on others when it’s necessary.”
I cried and cried. I clung to him while crying and wailing.
Then, he unlocked my Slave Collar, saying I was a person. That I was free.
“In the na of my Lord. You’re free Roka. Free.”
A fla ignited by Divine Power. The single candle on the table completely burned the Slave Contract.
I kept crying. All this while, I wanted to be compensated for all the suffering I endured.
As the Divine Candle burned the contract, I was freed from my status as a Slave.
No...That’s wrong. Rather, I ended up becoming a slave yet again.
The mont Master released , he bound once more.
The wolf that was free beca a dog that couldn’t live without her Master.
I couldn’t live without him now.
But I had already fallen for him, so I couldn’t help it. Master had hunted .
As his prey, I have no choice but to live for him.
That way, even if Master abandons in the end, I won’t regret it.
Because a wolf never runs away from its own decisions.
Master. My Master. The man who made a Person.
My Master. The one who prayed for .
I, Sol de Roka. Will follow you.
Forever.
*****After that day, my relationship with Roka changed.
The Child’s attitude towards changed completely. Whenever I went, she followed closely.
When I sat down, she would rest her head on my lap, and when I stood up, she would lick my hand and act cute.
Even when I warned her not to do it because my hands were dirty, she stubbornly ignored it.
Every ti I petted her head, her eyes would sparkle.
“Master? Are you back?”
“...I told you that there’s no need to call that.”
However, the strangest thing that happened, is that Roka insist on calling her Master.
Despite burning her slave contract, making her a free person.
While there are those who are better than ,
No one is worse than .
For everyone is equally inferior before the Lord.
So, what’s the point of trying to figure out who is inferior?
If I think about how the Lord sees , why would I look down on a slave?
It would be as pathetic as a dwarf making fun of another dwarf for being small.
In the Lord’s eyes, everyone is inferior.
We are all foolish existences, blind to the truth.
We are fools who can’t even watch their steps.
Take this for example,
If a cripple and a blind man,
Despise each other and are at odds, it’s not only a ridiculous situation, but it makes their already difficult lives even harder. Just like two wild boars stuck in the mud continue to fight each other instead of trying to find a way out.
But if these two help each other, if one becos the eyes and the other becos the legs...
Only then can they overco their limitations.
People should help each other, not look down on each other.
That’s why I tried to stop Roka,
But every ti, she always resisted.
“Roka, you...”
“This is what I want. My Will.”
Chomp.
She bit my hand. It wasn’t hard enough to draw blood, but just enough to hurt a little.
There was even a rather cute growl involved, as a fla burned within her eyes.
Ah. My Lord...I wasn’t as great as You after all.
Perhaps this was my limit an imperfect being. I couldn’t liberate her. This is my fault. This servant is ashad.
“Hm? Did you release her collar?”
Later, when Mr. Rubert heard the story of freeing Roka, he ca to see and check on the Child’s condition.
He then warned .
“......Your Holiness....You see, beastkin are very different from us Humans...And they also grow up fast.”
“Oh?”
“A wolf pup might be cute, but when they grow, they might eat their owner.”
I don’t know why he gave such a warning.
“Please be careful.”
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