CH 1

The Sharkani Empire is a strictly hierarchical society.

The classes go down in the order of the royal family, nobles, commoners, and slaves. You can break it down further into knights, merchants, and priests, but we’ll set that aside for now.

The important thing is that ‘Slaves’ are at the bottom of that pyramid.

It is in the same context as the royal family, who inherited the blood of the dragon, is superior to any other classes.

And, unfortunately, the worst of the slaves are the merchant slaves on this salt island. It was the lowest of the low, and the worst of them all.

“Seth.”

Mrs. Noah’s voice came into my ears. It was a reminder that it was finally time to wake up.

Actually, my mind was already awake, but my body just refused to start the day.

“Yes, I’m coming.”

Every cell in my body was violently protesting, but I ignored them and pushed myself up.

In this place, no one will ask you if you’re tired and no one will care and understand you.

You have to get up at a certain time and work a certain amount of hours. No one cares if you’re sick, young, old, or have any excuses.

That’s the life of a slave.

The word ‘Slave’ was something I only read about in books. I never thought that I would have to live that life too.

Even now, when I pinched the flesh on the back of my hand for no reason…

“Ah.”

It hurts again. So It’s real. Damn.

“If you don’t make your quota again today, you’ll starve.”

The supervisor was looking at me as if he wanted to catch someone again today.

The salt island has been getting busier lately. That’s because Salt Island was becoming even more popular, but what does that have to do with the slaves, who couldn’t even get a share of it?

As if the work wasn’t hard enough, the mood in the cave grew darker as they desire for more.

“What are you doing in there?”

Whip, crack!

The whip struck the floor. If it had missed, it would have grazed my back. A cold sweat suddenly run down my spine.

Bang, bang, bang!

I didn’t want to get hurt, so I slammed the pointed tool down with all my might. White crystals fell from the cave wall.

We dig and dig and dig, but there’s always not enough of it, unless we get rid of all the salt in this mine, it will never be enough.

The daily routine here is to dig for salt from morning until evening.

I’ve been doing this kind of thing ever since I was 10 years old, so I guess this is my fifth year now.

⚘

“I’m… a slave?”

Five years ago, I possessed this girl’s body.

The 10-year-old girl was an orphan and the youngest slave on this salt island.

When I opened my eyes, I could only see the cold cave walls, and I immediately fainted.

And when I opened my eyes again, I knew for sure… I knew that I was inside a 19th-century gore novel.

The original story was titled 「Blood-Soaked Moon」. It was a story in which the protagonists love each other, but ultimately meet their deaths after being sabotaged by the villain.

From the beginning, the female lead approaches the male lead, who was the crown prince, in order to kill him, and the Male lead lived in pain until he finally meets the female lead, who opened his eyes to the emotion of love.

The setting itself was a set-up for a bad ending, but the Male lead was so charming that it kept me going until the end.

His desire to only seeing the female lead made me pay for the next episode, and the afterglow was immense.

But… Why, a slave?

I don’t even want to be one of the main characters of this novel. I would have been satisfied if I were just a passing nobleman.

You know, like when you suddenly wake up and there’s a huge bed with a canopy, and a maid suddenly comes in and says, “Miss you’re awake!” or something like that. Or I would have loved to be the one who dresses up and brushes my hair and says, “You look so beautiful!” How nice it would have been if I played a role like going to a party in a carriage after hearing those words.

No, I don’t need all that.

At the very least, I wish I had possessed a random commoner, not a slave, so I could enjoy the simple things in life. I wouldn’t have to spend every day doing heavy labor, if that makes sense.

So, why, why, why a slave?

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It took a lot of effort to slam the salt down.

It didn’t make any sense. What have I done wrong? Of all the slaves that I had to possess it had to be a merchant slave!

“You’ve lost your mind.”

Beside me, the other slaves began to whisper.

“The island is going to explode, did you hear that?”

“I thought she was going to die and live quietly. She must have lost her mind.”

I’ve heard it so often that it doesn’t hurt anymore. I just pity them for not knowing the future.

So, yeah. The explosion.

That was the big problem.

This salt island is going to explode sooner or later.

It’s one of the events that connects the Male Lead and the Female lead in the original story.

The Male Lead thought that the salt island explosion was caused by his own actions, but the female lead told him that it was actually set up by his brother, to kill him.

Instead of revealing that her father was also involved in the incident, the female lead asked him to become her fiancé instead, and so their relationship began.

Knowing this, I had to stop the explosion somehow.

“This place is going to explode, we have to be prepared!”

“Yuck, it stinks! Will you get away from me?”

“I’m serious, just trust me for once!”

“Don’t come any closer! Do you have any proof?”

“Well, it’s just… I can actually see the future in my dreams.”

“Explosions in your dreams?”

“I know, it sounds crazy, but you have to believe me!”

That day, I was punished by starving myself for the rest of the day, and from then on, whenever I looked at her, she would frown.

“There might be explosives in there already!”

“You’re crazy! You’re dirty! Wash up!”

“We could all die!”

“Get away from me!”

Again, no one believed the young slave. I know it’s hard to believe, but I couldn’t give up.

“Auntie. If the explosion starts, you have to stay by my side, okay?”

“Did you wash yourself?”

“Oh, I’m sweating too much. More than usual, Auntie. If this island explodes, you’ll be dead.”

“Are you crazy? I told you not to walk around without washing!”

Mrs. Noah was the one person on the island who still felt sorry for this girl. She might be a little harsh, but she was actually very caring.

“Wash yourself as much as you can. Never show this face in front of anyone. Do you understand?”

She scolded me a few times while I was still confused about why I was a slave.

At first, I misunderstood her reasoning and was deeply hurt.

I hated her, thinking, ‘Why is she being so mean?’ But now I understand that Mrs. Noah was right.

This girl was unnecessarily pretty.

It wasn’t enough that she was a slave, she was also very pretty. Pale brown hair, almost silver in the light, violet eyes, and a stubby nose.

In my previous life, these would have been things to aspire for, but on this island, beauty is a kind of poison. Especially for a girl with no backer.

So she purposely shaved her hair haphazardly and smeared dirt on her face as soon as she washed it.

The smelly grass that Mrs. Noah taught her had a direct effect, so no one dared to come near her.

“Auntie, if you feel anything strange, come to my side, okay?”

“Watch your mouth.”

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Mrs. Noah glared at me coldly. She was the only one who knew my secret.

「The Ephiro, who had the ability to travel through space, but were exterminated for opening a dimensional rift.」

In the original story, demons were very important. Demons began to invade the Empire after the opening of the dimensional rift, and it is said that this was done by a race called the Ephiro.

They’re not a major race in the novel, but there are several scenes where it’s explained how evil they are, and in the ending, the Male Lead and Female Lead died because the dimensional rift widened allowing more demons to pour through.

‘But I guess I’m just like the Ephiro.’

I felt sorry for myself as a slave who would die in an explosion for doing nothing but labor, and fate had to make me possessed an Ephiro, which is part of a race that were said to have been exterminated long ago.

「Teleportation」, I cheered when I first learned about it.

‘But so what, I can only go to where I’ve been before.’

I’ve possessed a girl who’s been living on an island for her entire life, so there’s no way she had ever been off the island. Even if she did, it meant nothing now.

‘No matter what, I’m going to escape before this island explodes.’

Bang, bang, bang!

I slammed the salt with determination.

⚘

It was a very rainy day.

The slaves’ quarters were inside a cave, so they couldn’t see the weather. They could barely see outside through a small hole.

Officially, it’s forbidden to leave the cave, but there were no guards on duty in such bad weather.

There was little danger of escape on the island anyway, and the slaves were not inclined to venture out after a day of heavy labor.

“Let’s go to the mountains today.”

But I was different, and even though I was exhausted, I couldn’t give up on finding a way out. It’s been five years since I came into this world, and the time for the reunion of the Protagonists must be getting closer and closer.

That means the time for the Salt Island explosion is also gradually approaching.

As I lay there pretending to sleep, I imagined being transported out of the cave. I clench my fists as the heat rises from my toes and reaches the top of my head, immersing myself even further in my imagination. I picture the place I wanted to go to as closely as possible.

When I woke up, I was there.

It was a rainy day and I was soaked all over. I felt even heavier after working all day.

“It’s very cold. So cold.”

I wanted to go back to bed right away, but I purposely kept my voice cheerful and kept walking.

Tomorrow could be the day of the explosion. Hypnotized by the coolness of the rain, I approached the mountain, which was normally off-limits. For a slave, everywhere but the workplace was off-limits, of course, but this mountain in particular was off-limits to everyone, including the supervisor. It’s supposed to be swampy, but I’ve yet to encounter one in the few times I’ve come here, and I’ve been exploring it intensively lately to see if there’s a way to escape.

By the way, it’s so dark….

It was definitely dark in the mountains with no light at all. I had to be careful because if I made a mistake, I could fall into the swamp.

I could barely see an inch in front of me. I almost had to crouch down and had to look at the ground to see. I was lucky that the trees were dense enough to muffle the rain.

“Ha… ha..ha.”

My body suddenly felt heavy. As I walked around and tried to take in everything I saw, I got tired faster.

I needed to memorize everything about my surroundings as much as I could so that I could navigate here again later. I squinted as I shifted my heavy legs.

Flap!

“Oh, that scared me.”

A large bird suddenly flapped its wings in the silence of the forest. My body tensed and my breath caught in my throat. I still didn’t know this place, and I had to be very careful.

“Huh? Novenium?”

I looked to where the bird had flown and saw a lot of herbs. It was Novenium, an herb that is especially effective for labor pains. I can’t believe such a precious herb has grown so big already. It was very small when Mrs. Noah told me about it, but it must have grown to this size because no one comes here.

‘Somehow, I think it will be more effective. Compared to the ones I was given.’

As important as escape is, I couldn’t pass up the Novenium herb. Even today, I can’t tell you how sore my hands are from the popping blisters. This herb will keep the pain at bay for a while. The herbs grew in rows, like a pathway, and I eagerly picked them as I walked along. I gathered as many as I could carry with me.

Flap! Flap! Flap!

Just then, several birds suddenly soared into the sky.

“Oh my gosh!”

The sound was too loud to not be alarmed. I casually took a step to the side, only to find the place plunging downward.

“Swamp!” I thought, as my whole body went down. It was as if someone had grabbed my ankle, and my body was quickly pulled down underneath.