Naivy stared at the place around her.
Pale gray walls. A familiar scent.
It was… the smell of home.
That scent reached Anas's nose as he leaned his back against the wall, staring at Naivy, who showed faint signs of surprise.
"This… is your house? Why didn't you tell me you're rich?"
Anas tilted his head.
"No, I wouldn't say my family is very poor. But this is an ordinary house. Let me guess—was the place you lived in so bad that you think this belongs to someone rich?"
Naivy fell silent for a moment. She seemed lost, her eyes growing dull as if she did not want to remember anything about that place. Then she finally spoke, as if forcing herself to do so.
"I used to live on the edges of the city walls."
Silence settled for a moment.
Only now did Anas realize how miserable Naivy's life had been.
In this walled city, the class system was harsh. The closer you were to the center, the more comfort and development there was, and even the place itself was cleaner and filled with all life's conveniences. But the farther you moved away from the center… the more poverty increased, and the more people lacked even the simplest necessities. And the worst place of all was the edge districts…
In that area, life was like living in a garbage dump.
The wall guards, those who worked for the noble class, even the nobles—and sometimes even commoners—would vent all their desires on the people of the edges.
And by everything, he meant literally everything.
Contempt, stripping away all human rights, starvation, and much more.
Simply living there and surviving was closer to the impossible than to a normal life. In that place, the law of the jungle was applied in its literal sense, as if it were not meant for humans.
No matter how much Anas hated classism, it was perhaps nothing compared to what this girl had felt throughout her life.
How had a girl like her even managed to survive in such a place? No—the real question was: what had she endured to stay alive?
Perhaps she had even wished for death, to disappear from existence.
As all those thoughts flooded Anas's mind, he finally understood why the girl had been so happy when he agreed to let her accompany him, and how much she would have suffered if he had refused. He understood her willingness to do anything to survive, and her unwillingness to be abandoned or lose him.
After a somewhat awkward silence, Naivy broke it, fidgeting with her foot against the ground.
"Will you leave me now?"
Anas looked directly into her eyes and answered.
"No."
The moment Naivy heard his answer, she froze. Her eyes widened, as if she had been expecting the opposite—or perhaps expecting nothing at all.
She hesitated, then her voice came out.
"B–but I'm from the edges. I might carry diseases. I'm beneath you, I… I…"
She began to cry, her voice breaking between sobs as she wiped her eyes forcefully.
"So what? When our mothers gave birth to us, we were all just pieces of flesh with no power or strength. We are all equal as humans. What makes us different from animals is not our bodies or our intelligence—it's our spirit. Would you say my spirit is not equal to yours? If that were the case, we would have killed each other until only one person remained. But we need each other. Whether we like it or not, we cannot live without at least one person in our lives."
Anas pushed himself up from the ground with difficulty, using the wall, and approached Naivy, whose crying had begun to fade into scattered sobs. He stood at arm's length, looking at her.
"So I won't leave you. Besides, you didn't leave me when everyone else did. I value actions more than anything, and you, to me…"
He fell silent before finishing.
But Naivy did not care—she understood what he was going to say. She was important to him.
She had been accepted despite everything. For the first time in her life, after everyone had abandoned her, she had finally been accepted. For a moment, she felt as if she did not regret anything that had happened to her, because it had led her to this moment.
Meanwhile, Anas felt his mind flood with the sense that he had said more than he should have.
'Damn it, it seems humans become talkative when they feel companionship. I need to control this more,' Anas thought.
Then Anas slid back down against the wall, closed his eyes, and said after a light sigh, "Come on, let's sleep now, even if just for two hours. What matters is that we recover some of our fatigue."
Naivy immediately responded to his words, doing the same and closing her eyes. They were both exhausted. In the end, running while hiding yourself and expecting an attack from anywhere is not easy—it is tiring.
But… Anas had learned something in this life.
The wolf sleeps with one eye closed and the other open. If that meant anything, it was that danger exploits moments of rest to strike. Therefore… he was not truly asleep…
Before he could realize anything, he stood up suddenly, seized by a strange feeling.
The moment he raised his eyes, he saw the ceiling split in two. Then that nightmare appeared again, staring at him. And as he raised his hand, it detached from his body.
'What?'
That moment of shock was cut off by a scream filled with pain and suffering.
It was Naivy beside him—without limbs. Blood gushed from where her limbs had been, and she sobbed.
The monster stepped toward her, thrust its mouth into her abdomen, and began devouring her insides as she cried, staring at Anas. It was as if the world was proving to him how insignificant he truly was.
"Anas… please… I don't want…"
Her words choked in her mouth with her blood.
"I don't want to die now, not after I was finally accepted… this is ظلم, ظلم… Anas… help me…"
Anas felt something burning inside him to the point of madness, as if he were about to explode.
He wanted to rush forward and tear that bastard apart, but the world flipped upside down—or rather… he saw it that way.
He had been split in half at the waist.
The sight of him was pitiful—no, even pity was too little for him.
Without an arm, unable to move, while the one he had said he would place above himself was being eaten alive, and all he could do was watch.
Yet… he was laughing?
Why wouldn't he laugh?
He hated promises, yet he had made one—and could not fulfill it.
He was nothing but filth, while he had thought himself strong. In truth, if luck had not been on his side, he would have died long ago.
And worse, the ability he had gained forced him to see what was happening to Naivy up close, in full detail.
Her insides being devoured.
Her crying and pain. The suffering filling her face.
She had suffered enough to feel that being accepted by someone was something incredible and strange, and now… she was suffering as she died?
Did they have to suffer this much? Was the last thing he would see nothing but another person's suffering while he did nothing but watch?
All his coldness, all he had believed, all he thought made him special—none of it had any value now. Every laugh only made him suffer more, as if he were in an endless hell.
He realized his true worth in this world—he was worth nothing.
He realized how the world had mocked him, and all his years vanished in a single moment.
He was laughing and crying.
Yes, he was crying—for the pain within was greater than the pain without.
But… even so, something burned inside him… it was hatred.
He hated this world to the point of madness.
It was a bitter, filthy taste.
Time passed as if it were an eternity—no, thousands of years compressed into every second.
His desire for death was greater than ever before. And yet, ironically, he could not even move his hand to end his own life…
And amidst all those emotions, something inside him finally went out and shattered into pieces.
At that moment, all emotions disappeared… except two: pride and hatred.
He wanted to crush that monster into pieces.
Anas cast a cold, emotionless gaze at the monster, so devoid that the monster froze in place and took an involuntary step back.
At that same moment, the light faded from Anas's eyes, and he sank into pitch darkness.
Then suddenly, he sucked in air in a sharp gasp like a drowning man, his eyes snapping open wide. The first thing he saw was Naivy, staring at him up close.
He felt something warm on his cheek.
When he raised his finger and touched it, he found that he was crying.
'I'm crying? Why…?'