TCNS Prolouge

Prologue: The Death of the Reaper

Sssssss—

The sound of reeds rustling in the wind echoed in my ears. The poison that had spread throughout my body had long since blurred my vision. It was hard to breathe because of the hot blood rising from inside my gut. Lying there with my head buried in the dirty mud, I managed to lift only my eyes. The man I trusted and loved more than anyone else in this world was smiling a fishy smile.

“How does it feel to have your head stuck in the mud, Kyla?”

It turned out that the only man I had ever loved could speak with such a voice full of malice. And it turned out that I learned that fact only now, as I lay dying. I felt like laughing bitterly.

“Yeah, I know it’s hard to answer. There’s poison on the blade. You must know what kind of poison it is, don’t you?”

Ian Angel.

The only man I ever loved, and the deputy leader of the continent’s greatest assassination squad, “Breath of the Angel.”

‘Was I truly oblivious?’

No, in truth, I always knew what kind of person he was. Thorough, cold-hearted, and a man who knew only the goals set before him. I just wished I could always be an exception for him.

“I thought reapers didn’t die even if you killed them. Seems that’s not true.”

Ian stepped on the dagger lodged in my back, driving it deeper. He then squatted down beside me and grabbed my face, forcing me to meet his gaze. In his ashen eyes, like ruins, burned a fierce flame. At one time, I found those eyes irresistibly lovable, but now, they were unbearably hateful.

“Why, why…”

I managed to speak, hoping to hear at least a reason, but he only sneered.

“Who knows? Why do you think?”

Ian murmured quietly, with an expression I had never seen before.

“…You should know the reason better than anyone. Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

If the face of the man who stabbed me in the back seemed sad, did that mean I’d gone mad?

After a moment of silence, he suddenly stood up. My face was pushed back into the mud again as he did.

“Then take this chance to think long and hard about it. Why I’m doing this.”

He turned his back on me without hesitation, a cold aura rising from him.

“In the afterlife.”

As Ian walked away, the dark silhouettes that had been standing behind him rushed forward, as if they had been waiting for his command. Their swift movement was unmistakable.

“Burn it. Leave not even ashes.”

The assassins, cloaked in black, approached me with torches. One of them poured oil all over my body, leaving nothing untouched.

“Ian, please…”

I tried desperately to move my lips, but begging was pointless with these people. Without hesitation, they threw the torch onto me. The flames, fed by the oil, flared up black, ready to burn me to the bone. I could feel my entire body disintegrate in an instant, without even time for a scream.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, the poison that had spread throughout my body left me feeling no pain.

‘Is this my end?’

For a life I had fought so hard to live, it was a truly wretched end.

Finally, I slowly closed my eyes. On the day the blade of the one I loved more than anything pierced me, on the day the flames consumed my still-breathing flesh, I lost everything. The organization I had served my whole life. The lover I loved more than my own life. The life I had fought so tenaciously to preserve.