NOVEL NEXT Chapter 134
134. A Lonely Past [SIDE – Sierra]
The smell of sweat and blood fills the closed-off dojo. As I try to fill the stale air in the room, I let out a deep breath.
In that instant, a bamboo sword strikes my forehead, and I fall back onto the floor.
A sharp pain strikes me. My freshly regulated breathing turns erratic, and I huddle on the floor, holding my head.
“Sierra!!”
It’s my father calling my name. He closes in on me and points the bamboo sword in his hand at me.
“What was that just now!? Why can’t you do as you’re told!? How many times do I have to say it before you get it!?”
The bamboo sword hits my back two, or three times. The sound of whipping echoes in the dojo as I silently endure the pain.
Today is nothing special. The smell of sweat in the dojo. My father’s angry voice. The sharp pain that strikes me. All of it is an everyday occurrence.
“Listen up! You don’t understand the responsibility of being the heir to the Seiten style! I’m taking the time to train you, and what’s with that attitude!?”
My family—the Hansten family—is a well-known master of the sword technique, the Seiten style.
The secrets of the Seiten style are passed down through a single heir. Normally, the eldest son would inherit it. But my parents didn’t have a son.
By the time my third sister, Fran, was born, it was decided that my life would be dedicated to inheriting the secret techniques.
Every day, from morning until late at night, I was forced to train in this dojo. I hardly ever had a break. Of course, there were no holidays like in an ordinary family.
I barely got to see my sisters, Laura and Fran. Even though I didn’t ask for this, my parents locked me away, forcing me to think only about the sword.
“Ugh… Uuu…”
The pain was too much, and sometimes I couldn’t help but cry. But whenever that happened, I desperately tried to hold back my tears. Because—
“Don’t cry!!”
If I cried, my father would become even more irritable.
“Stop whining! A useless person like you has no time to rest! Honestly, this is why—”
What he said next was always the same.
“This is why—women are…”
My parents had hoped for a son to inherit the Seiten style. In other words, I was never wanted.
Both of them were deeply disappointed in me. I’ll never forget the day, shortly after Fran was born.
Back when I still had some freedom, I ran into my mother’s room, hoping she would read me a book. What I saw was shocking.
My mother was crying. Seeing a grown adult sobbing, I was utterly confused.
Thinking back, my mother wasn’t in a stable state. The pressure from the family and the mental strain after childbirth.
With a face drenched in tears, she yelled at me.
“You should never have been born!!”
At that moment, I realized that the world hated me.
My parents, who only saw me as a tool, the dojo with its suffocating stench, the meals that were forced down my throat until I felt like I’d burst.
The sun that cruelly announced the morning, the stars that seemed to point out my uselessness, the raindrops that soaked me when I was locked out of the house, and the wind that blew as if to further push me down.
To me, the world was filled with nothing but enemies.
Everything changed when I was 12, about seven years after my training began.
One day, during training, my father stepped out for a moment, and I escaped the dojo. The increasingly harsh training had become unbearable for me.
As I walked down the hallway of our house, I passed by Laura, who was coming out of my room.
“Sister? Is your training over?”
Laura smiled innocently the moment she saw me. She probably wanted to ask me to play with her.
But I couldn’t help but think, she was happy. She lives in a different world than I do.
“…Stop it.”
“Sister? Are you hurt somewhere?”
“Looking at you makes me miserable!”
I yelled at her and immediately regretted it. Laura was stunned by my sudden outburst.
Feeling awkward, I ran off. I put on my shoes and slipped through the gate of our house.
I hid among some bags and got on a carriage. I didn’t care where it was headed, as long as it took me away from home.
I ended up in Ortia. I ran around the city looking for work and eventually became an employee at the Adventurers’ Guild.
Even though I started a new life, a knot remained in my heart.
What I said to Laura was undoubtedly just taking out my frustration. I deeply regretted it. By running away, I probably left the harsh training to my younger sister, Laura.
Many times I thought of returning home. But I couldn’t. I didn’t want to go through that again.
While pretending to be worried about Laura, I was really just thinking of myself.
I reunited with Laura and Fran five years later, when I was 17.
She came to town as part of the strategy team, and the smile she once had was completely gone.
Knowing that it was all my fault, I couldn’t bear to look at her face.
She must hate me. Anyone would, after going through such harsh training.
After that, I started communicating with my family and Laura through Fran. When I was 19, I received a letter from Fran informing me of my mother’s death.