Ishira

As Ishira gazed longingly over the window, he felt an overwhelming urge to check on Yue again. However, he struggled to control his emotions, especially since he had unintentionally made her sad earlier that day.

Slowly, he began to approach her sleeping figure, feeling a bit of guilt for not having the courage to speak with her. Memories flooded back to his childhood, when life was filled with joy and laughter alongside his family. He remembered a beautiful day at the park, where they had a delightful picnic. Suddenly, their happiness was shattered by a group of knights who launched a surprise attack.

In a panic, they dashed through the jungle, desperately hiding from their pursuers. While they tried to remain quiet, young Ishira accidentally stepped on a thorn, letting out a loud cry that revealed their hiding spot. His father urged them to stay silent, but the knights were already closing in.

Recognizing the imminent danger, Ishira's father made the heart-wrenching decision to surrender so that Ishira and his mother could escape. However, their attempts to flee were thwarted when his mother, exhausted and unable to continue, hid Ishira and instructed him to remain silent. When the knights discovered them, Ishira witnessed the brutal murder of his mother right before his eyes. Overcome with shock, he couldn't even muster a sound, his trauma silencing him completely.

The knights, not wanting to deal with a child, let Ishira live, leaving him to bury his parents' bodies in the forest alone. The weight of guilt from that day haunted him for years. After wandering aimlessly for five hours, he encountered a group of men who promised to help him, but instead, they trapped him and sold him into slavery.

For the next ten years, Ishira was forced to become an assassin, one of 200 children trained for this dark purpose. He was the only one to survive their brutal training. One day, nearly dead from exhaustion, he stumbled upon a queen who was feeding orphans. Hungry and desperate, he attempted to steal food from her, but was caught. Instead of punishing him, the queen offered him food, telling him not to steal, as she would always provide for those in need.

Time passed, and soon Ishira had to leave again to escape his captors. Before departing, he wanted to express his gratitude to the queen but arrived too late. However, in her place was Yue, a girl who bore an uncanny resemblance to the queen. Ishira felt an instant connection and found himself falling in love with her.

On what he believed to be his last day, he watched her from a distance, saying goodbye to the queen in a heartfelt letter. His heart ached as he turned away, unaware that fate would bring him back to Yue once again in the present.