'Even the Lord couldn't break that woman's stubbornness.'
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So, are you trying to save her by using someone else's hand?
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The thoughts went on for a long time.
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If that's what the Lord wants.
✦ ✦ ✦
'I'll be happy to cooperate with you.'
✦ ✦ ✦
He let out a long sigh.
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As he sighed, the murky air that had filled his lungs came out.
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'Before that...'
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera's head turned towards the corner of the slums.
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One of the deepest alleys in the slums, Scavenger's Lair. He headed there.
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Vera recalled Renee's body lying in the muddy water.
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Vera's fists were clenched at the memory of the moment when an indescribably strange despair came to mind.
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'…Trash should be cleaned up.'
✦ ✦ ✦
Even though those events hadn't happened in this life, to Vera, they were sinners who had to be torn apart.
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A shabby tavern with a musty smell.
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In the middle of the tavern, where all of the equipment inside had been broken, Vera looked down at the corpses covered in blood with a vacant gaze.
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They were the scavengers who had their necks broken by him.
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It was funny that after he got a second chance, the first thing he did was commit murder, but he had no regrets.
✦ ✦ ✦
On the contrary, if he hadn't done this, he would have regretted it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Logically speaking, that was the case.
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The deep darkness of the slums. If left alone, mold would grow without end.
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If he didn’t clean up like this, they would crawl out of the slums, so it was the right thing to do.
✦ ✦ ✦
…Yes, I could have said that.
✦ ✦ ✦
'…It's an excuse.'
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera smirked.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera didn't bother to cover up his actions that much.
✦ ✦ ✦
Finding them and killing them was out of pure rage.
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The end of her life was still engraved in his mind, and he killed out of anger when he recalled that memory.
✦ ✦ ✦
The scent of blood filled the inside of the tavern. It entered one's nostrils and caused an unpleasant sensation.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera let out a deep sigh and brushed off the disgusting atmosphere.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ugh…”
✦ ✦ ✦
He won with the power of the stigma, but his body felt exhausted.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was natural.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was because his body was too weak right now.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera's gaze turned to the mirror fragment on the floor.
✦ ✦ ✦
In that fragment of the mirror, a gloomy impression of a boy with a scrawny face and black hair covering his eyes was reflected.
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Yes, a boy.
✦ ✦ ✦
His body now was that of a young boy who was only fourteen years old.
✦ ✦ ✦
In addition, he was unable to eat properly, so his skinny body was trampled on and injured.
✦ ✦ ✦
He faced the scavengers in that state, so he was very tired.
✦ ✦ ✦
'Once the cleaning is finished...'
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera found a chair that was in decent shape, then took a seat, and continued thinking.
✦ ✦ ✦
He had to plan for the future.
✦ ✦ ✦
An oath engraved on the soul.
✦ ✦ ✦
What should I do to protect her? He thought.
✦ ✦ ✦
Life can't be the same as before.
✦ ✦ ✦
…No, I didn't want to live like that, since I already regretted that life.
✦ ✦ ✦
I vowed to live for the Saint, for that eccentric woman, so I had to become a human being who could protect her.
✦ ✦ ✦
…Fortunately, he knew a suitable position to achieve that.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera's gaze turned to the stigma engraved on his right forearm.
✦ ✦ ✦
'…Paladin.'
✦ ✦ ✦
Paladin of the Holy Kingdom.
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An option he hadn't even looked at in his previous life.
✦ ✦ ✦
However, if he wanted to, it was the easiest option for him to choose.
✦ ✦ ✦
In addition, it was the perfect place to keep the Saint by his side.
✦ ✦ ✦
In Vera's head, the events that would take place on the continent in the future were lined up.
✦ ✦ ✦
'There are four years before the stigma appears on the Saint.'
✦ ✦ ✦
The year she would turn 14, the year he would turn 18.
✦ ✦ ✦
He clearly remembered because it was the time when he was collecting rumors about the imperial nobles in order to make a deal with them.
✦ ✦ ✦
'It's been 4 years...'
✦ ✦ ✦
The past life, that time was now gone.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera felt like the past was just over two weeks.
✦ ✦ ✦
He remembered that she had found himself lying at the entrance of the slums.
✦ ✦ ✦
'In the last life, you found me...'
✦ ✦ ✦
So,
✦ ✦ ✦
'In this life, I'll go find you.'
✦ ✦ ✦
A smile appeared on Vera's face.