"HOLY–" she almost screamed at the top of her lungs after laying her eyes on the scene that she happened to witness after making a turn.

It was a man with peach-colored hair lying on the cold ground with bloodied clothes that were torn apart, he was breathing softly and slowly and it looked like every breath he took, pain was the only thing he felt.

But he was not the only person that Avy saw, there was also a child, four or five years old sitting next to him. He had jet-black hair and shining golden eyes.

Of course, her presence and voice were noticed immediately by the two people as the little boy stood on guard, holding a small knife in his little hands. Eyes filled with determination saying 'he needs to protect the man'.

"A... a child? And a half-dead man, are you kidding me?" she told herself, shocked. It was her first time seeing someone in such a state, well aside from when she saw her lifeless body lying on the ground of course. She may be a calm person, well most of the time, but a person covered in blood as if he just came from a battlefield is not something you'd see in your daily life.

"I-I'll call a doctor. Wait here!" she was anxious, but before she even took a step away, the man mustered all his strength to stop her from leaving.

"Don't...! Ungh..." he groaned in pain.

"W-What?" she must've heard it wrong.

"Don't..."

"Don't? Really? Do you think I know how to heal or something? Well... You're dying! If you want to know." she was not in the right state of mind to even stop herself from speaking so rudely to a person on his deathbed. She was still processing that she was inside a novel and she sure didn't want to have another thing to process in her mind.

"I will soon depart... Calling a doctor in the humans' territory... will only endanger his life." He said, looking at the child.

Damn it, She shouldn't have stepped out of the mansion. Then does she have to watch this man die? Avy frowned deeply as she looked down at the person who was indirectly telling her to ignore his condition.

"I may not be a good person... But my conscience won't let me sleep if I leave a dying man and a kid." she looked at the small boy, and her conscience quickly got the better of her when he saw his eyes.

If there is a thing that she can call her weakness. It's that she has a soft spot for cute things.

"Don't look at me like that! Damn it all!" she retorted, put the torch down and walked towards the man, and sat beside him, taking things out of her big bag that Mariel prepared.

"Damn you, irresponsible guardian. Are you seriously leaving your son, your brother, or whatever that kid is here alone? You stupid shit." She ripped off a part of her cloak and soaked it with water and started wiping the blood on the man's body, in a not-so-careful manner.

"Please do it carefully–"

"Don't order me around. Don't you dare complain? I didn't want this. I'm not helping you, got it?" she snarled at her, glaring with her sharp red eyes.

"A doctor could do ten times better than me, why do you oppose the idea so much?" she asked, still frowning.

"We don't have a good relationship with humans." the man answered making Avy look at him confusedly.

"You talk as if you're not one." She said.

"We are not."

...

...

...

"What."

"We are not. "

It took a couple of seconds for it to register in her head, but she still didn't believe it right away.

"No way." She was skeptical, but not until she saw the man's serious expression. She glanced at the child behind her and saw him with the same face too. They were not joking.

"Don't tell me... You're the beastman who attacked hunters yesterday?" she asked, surprised.

Of course, she was shocked, in the novel, beast people are portrayed as evil beings, it was written that they toy with humans and use them like lifeless things for their own amusement.

"Lies. The humans attacked first. Harris was forced to fight back so that we would not get captured to be slaves, or worse, get killed for our cores." the child commented, even at an early age he already had resentment visible in his eyes.

Quite deep words for a kid like him. Avy shifted her gaze back to the man.

"So it wasn't you who started the chaos?"

"I was careless. One of the hunters saw my beast form... when we entered the forest.... and started chasing us."

"Aren't you afraid I'm a tattletale? I'm human."

The man named Harris chuckled softly before speaking. "No, you're not. You're different. I can feel it." he said

Avy stared at him with a deadpanned face. "How surprisingly stupid. I really can't understand the people's logic in this world."

"If only that lady didn't show up," she heard the child murmur behind her. Remembering that the novel's protagonist was seen in that forest the day before, his statement piqued her interest.

"Why? Did that lady attack you too?"

The child shook his head. "That lady's ability is special. She was given the divine magic, and it is the enemy of our race. Their life force to us is like poisons are to humans. If she did not show up, Harris could have fended off those hunters without getting hurt."

Avy's brows twitched. She knew there was a loophole in the protagonist's powers. Devine Magic her foot. Whoever created that power is racist. All for the sake of the main lead to look good since beast people are said to be villains in the novel.

"May I ask for your name, my lady?" Harris stated weakly.

"Why do you ask? I'm nothing important for you to know."

"Death is already at my door, I just want to know the lady–"

"Stop reminding me that I will be seeing a dead body soon," she said bitterly, standing up from her position and walking to the side to sit, a couple of meters away from Harris.

But it seems like she was bugged by her conscience that she muttered her name per the stranger's request

"A... Avy. That's my name." She said in a low tone but loud enough to be heard by the man.

"I am.... deeply sorry, Ms. Avy." he apologized.

That was the last straw of Avy's patience.

"Screw your opinion!" she retorted, standing up abruptly from being seated on the ground. "I'll go back to my house, it's a little far but I'll run. Just wait for an hour. No. Thirty minutes. I'll get someone." she said, taking her bag and walking past the child.

"He's gone." she stopped in her tracks when she heard those two words coming from the silent boy. She froze.

"What?" she didn't turn around, she was rooted on the spot.

"He's dead."

Avy forcefully chuckled. "That can't be. He was just talking..." she trailed off when she turned to see for her own.

Harris' eyes which were slightly opened just a moment ago were closed, and his soft breathing that made his chest go up and down stopped. And there it was, she saw a corpse, a lifeless body of a man.

She was speechless, it was no less than ten minutes since she met him, but it was her first time seeing someone die before her. Talk to someone seconds before they take their last breath. The world inside a novel is messed up.

She couldn't utter any word, but not until the child walked towards the corpse and tried to move him. She snapped out of her thoughts.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I will bury him," He answered without even batting an eye on her. Avy pursed her lips in a tight line, seeing the small boy struggle, she finally spoke up.

"I'll do it," She said.

"You must be a noble from this Empire–"

"That's not my point. I'm sixteen, compared to a four-year-old, I can do it much easier," She told him and made her way next to Harris' body.

"I am already five."

"You're only five."

The child didn't argue with her any longer and just kept his mouth shut creating an unsettling silence. Avy paused from what she was doing and faced him, only to see his tired and dull eyes staring into space. That's right. She didn't realize it because he was calm, but he was way more devastated than she was.

She walked towards the child and knelt in front of him before speaking. "You're exhausted, aren't you?"

"Is this your first time seeing someone die?" she was taken aback by his question, for a child not to even show any emotion after witnessing another person's death is not normal. Well, she is inside a novel so it's not surprising at all, but to think that a child can be so emotionless, what kind of things did he experience in the past for him to act that way?

"Well... Yeah... It was," she answered.

"I saw everyone die." Avy's brows furrowed at those words.

"Everyone around me died." his words became heavier and heavier, but not once did he shed a single tear. Avy didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to comfort anyone, much more a complicated child she didn't even know.

'This could break him mentally...' she thought.

"You look so tired. I thought you just visited your Auntie's house?" Lucy asked her as soon as she stepped inside the house, dragging her feet without any energy.

"Apparently, she had to do something urgent and left her seven-year-old son to me. I had to watch over him, he cried and whined all day. I don't even know how to make a crying kid stop, I'll never babysit again." she complained and she dropped on the couch.

"Sometimes, you just have to listen to kids and ask what's bothering them. You used to give me hugs when we were children whenever I cried."

"No. You used to cling onto me and wipe your snot with my clothes."

"E-everything's gonna be fine." she hesitated to offer her shoulder but she did anyway. She opened her arms and let him rest and cry on her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was my fault." he cried out as he sought the warmth of the person who appeared before him. He didn't feel the need to restrain himself from crying when Avy slowly caressed his back, trying her best to comfort him.

The first time she saw someone die. The first time she consoled a child she only met. The first time she couldn't do anything but watch.

She doesn't want it to happen again.

~~~

"Are you sure you don't want to go with me?" Avy asked for the nth time as she watched the small child eat the food that Mariel prepared for her, it turned out that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday because he needed to keep an eye on his injured companion.

After spending two hours burying Harris' body, Avy tried to convince the child to go with her. She doesn't know how the people in the estate would react if they saw her bring home a child but she thought she would sort it out rather than leave him alone in the cave. But he refused.

"It'll take two weeks for Harris' core to disappear. The only reason why animals don't go near here is because of my presence, if I go with you, they will dig his grave and eat his body. If a human has equipment that can know if a beast-man's core is in the vicinity, they would find his body without me here." he explained. "I am truly grateful for your help. But please understand." he was so young yet polite and smart, traits that Avy likes in a person. She seldom meets people with those things though.

'But it doesn't mean he won't get cold and hungry.' she thought.

"I'll be back."

~~~

"I haven't seen your sister all day. Is she in another Noble's house?"

It has been almost five hours since Prince Light arrived at the Arkwright Estate but not once did he see the lady of the house, even her voice nor her shadow.

"Sister never liked going out of her room. Much more leaving the estate." Ciel answered, they already finished their sparring but as expected, his sister didn't come out of her room.

"Just like the rumors stated." Light said.

"What rumors?"

"That Lady Avana is always alone."

Of course, Ciel knew about it. Everyone in their family does. Since Avy uses all her time to learn what can attract the Prince's attention other than interacting with other people, she's always shut inside her room. She also doesn't like social gatherings because people really don't stand her unique attitude.

"She prefers to be alone."

"I heard the Crown Prince escorted the Princess of Reynight. Is it true?" both of the youngsters heard a couple of maids passing by the training grounds.

"Oh no," Ciel mumbled which didn't escape Light's ears.

"What do you mean oh no? My brother was just tasked to escort the Royal families in the north–"

"I don't mean it that way." he cut him off. "It'll get ugly if my sister hears those."

~~~

It took Avy almost two hours to run back to the town next to the forest, buy what she needed, and go back to the cave where she left the child. With a small cart that she got to put the things she bought, it was much harder for her to walk on the rocky way, she was careful so that it won't get stuck on some pebble and scatter everything.

"I'm... I'm back..." she had her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, she really hates physical activities. It's not as if she's blessed in that field too.

"What is that?" the child asked, referring to the small cart behind her.

"Good question," she said and took her cloak that she used to cover the things she bought. She then took clothing for a small kid like the one before her.

"I don't know if it fits, but I tried my best." She said and then pulled a sphere-like object that was in a metal container, it was glowing much brighter than the fire inside the cave that lit up the surroundings.

"The old man said that it's a magic stone or whatever but it'll help so that you don't need to start a fire to keep warm and for the light of course."

She also bought food that could last him at least five days and two gallons of water, as well as blankets and pillows. She calculated everything that he would need to survive without her around, after all, she felt responsible.

"I can't come here every day. But I will visit you. I hope you stay alive." she told him.

"It's already dark, I need to go back." She added and gave the child one last glance before turning her back, but she was stopped when she felt a tug in her dress.

"Kill is my name." the child said, finally introducing himself.

Avy looked down, he was giving her a fresh apple that she believed he got from the trees outside.

"Thank you for the meal." He said as soon as she took the apple from his hand. Avy's feature softened, and she's starting to despise novels. How much do they have to give someone a tough life for development? Much more to a child.

She took off her tattered cloak and wrapped it around the boy. She looked straight at his pair of golden crystal eyes and smiled genuinely.

"Don't die."