I'm dying.

  The cool night breeze, the half-peeking moonlight, and the feeling of living as an assassin all whisper the same thing.

  I'm going to die soon.

  I looked around.

  There were numerous paths running between the trees in the garden, which looked as soft as wool.

  But there is no path to survival. There is only a path filled with the stench of death.

  “Laon.”

  I raised my head at the voice that weighed heavily on my heart. I saw a middle-aged man with long silver hair that looked like it had been combed with frost.

  This is sleeping.

  Derus Robert.

  Because of this one man, the master of the Robert family, this entire huge garden exuded a thick, toxic odor like a swamp of death.

  "yes."

  I swallowed dry saliva and opened my mouth.

  “You have shown a performance worthy of the position of the leader of the shadows. Thanks to your work behind the scenes, the growth of the family has accelerated.”

  “I just did what I had to do.”

  He didn't pretend to be happy or not. He just bowed his head like a wooden doll with no emotions.

  “But Raon.”

  He started crying softly.

  “Do you think shadows need freedom?”

  Derus reached out. His shadow on the floor reached out in kind.

  “The shadow simply follows its master. It has no need for thoughts, emotions, or a heart.”

  "you're right."

  “Knowing that, why did you move on your own?”

  Derus's voice, which had suddenly become cold, squeezed my heart.

  “How did you get rid of the brainwashing?”

  A chill ran down my spine. I bit my tongue to keep myself from looking surprised.

  what?

  I don't know how they knew the brainwashing had been lifted, since I didn't say or do anything different than before.

  “Tell me. When and how did you get rid of the brainwashing?”

  If it came out like this, it meant that he already knew everything.

  “How did you know?”

  He bit his lip and raised his head.

  brainwashing.

  That's how the Robert family operates their assassination group, the Shadows.

  They kidnap or purchase children, kill their emotions, brainwash them, and use them as assassins for the rest of their lives.

  I too was brainwashed, but thanks to a chance encounter, I was able to break free from those terrible chains.

  “Because you were preparing to run away from your family.”

  Derus continued speaking leisurely.

  “I have put two leashes on the shadow assassins, including you. The first is brainwashing, and the second is….”

  “Ugh!”

  I screamed involuntarily as the pain felt like my lungs and heart were being cut with a saw.

  “It’s a Lazy Worm. The worm I put inside you is eating your heart on my orders.”

  “Re, Lazy Worm….”

  Lazy Worm is the worst kind of sorcery that can even read the emotions of slaves.

  It seems that Delus noticed that I was trying to escape from the family using the Lazy Worm.

  “Oh, you were pretending to be fair and impartial all by yourself, and not only that, you brainwashed me and fed me the Lazy Worm? You damn fool!”

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  “It’s not just severe, it’s thorough. In fact, you’ve been brainwashed.”

  Derus smiled with the affectionate eyes he showed to others.

  “There’s a saying that everyone wears a mask while living. My mask is just a little thicker and more special than others.”

  “Derrus Robert….”

  I gritted my teeth. I sat up, enduring the pain that felt like my heart was being split in half.

  I can't die without doing anything.

  I was kidnapped at an age I don't even remember properly and raised as a hunting dog and assassin in the shadows of the Robert family.

  I lived without any emotions or feelings, but I was able to escape the brainwashing by chance.

  I thought I could finally live my life the way I wanted, but what I got in return was not the key to escape the cage, but the chains of death.

  I don't know what sin I committed to deserve this shitty life.

  Damn it!

  Red water rose into the dried-up well of emotions. It was the first time I felt anger.

  “You stand up in that state?”

  A small tremor appeared in Delus's eyes.

  “I won’t die a miserable death until the end.”

  He held the sword hanging from his waist.

  The sense of death I felt as I entered the garden remained unchanged.

  I'm dying here.

  If I'm going to die anyway, I won't just go. I'll at least get an arm, or at least a wound, and then die.

  “Eww!”

  He swung his sword, exploding the aura that filled his danjeon.

  That moment.

  The extended blade snapped in half.

  Click.

  I hear the sound of the necklace around my neck falling to the ground.

  The world spun around, Delus' cold eyes turned upside down, and the moon stood upside down.

  ah….

  Now I know. My neck was cut off by Delus' sword.

  But there's more to an assassin's sword than meets the eye.

  An eerie aura hidden behind the broken blade flew towards Delus' pale face.

  “How dirty.”

  Delus waved his hand as if he was annoyed. With a light gesture as if shooing away a fly, the last sword strike went out like a candle.

  As expected… .

  Delus is the strongest warrior on the continent. It's only natural that I can't win.

  He's strong and I'm weak. There's nothing I can do. So there's no way I can... how could I!

  The anger that had been spreading from the bottom of my chest boiled up like lava.

  It was unfair that I had been toyed with by Delus my whole life, and I was maddened that I could not complete the 'Ring of Fire' that I had obtained by chance.

  I can't die like this.

  God or devil, both are fine.

  The moment my whole body was filled with the rage to rip off Delus' mask and cut off his head at any cost, my world turned red.

  *

  "hmm…."

  Derus Robert raised his right hand and frowned.

  'I clearly blocked it.'

  Even though the piece of trash perfectly blocked the last sword strike, a small cut opened up on the back of his hand.

  I don't know how many years it's been since I've had a bleeding wound.

  'That's ridiculous.'

  He un-brainwashed himself, endured the torment of the Rage Worm, and even injured himself.

  I was puzzled as to what had happened to the hunting dogs that had been raised as consumables.

  'but.'

  Raon was already dead. He was beyond common sense, but there was no need to worry about him anymore.

  “Clean it up.”

  As Delus turned his back, the unmanned soldiers hiding in the shadows of the garden jumped out and approached Raon's corpse.

  Woohoo.

  Raon's necklace, soaked in red blood, was emitting a blue light, but no one could see it.

  [You have been chosen by .]

  [ descends upon your body… The vessel is dead!]

  [An error occurred…]

  *

  Reincarnation.

  A fantasy concept that most people believe exists but do not believe in.

  Raon also didn't believe in reincarnation.

  I had been brainwashed my entire life, and when I was released, I was so busy preparing to leave the Robert family that I never even thought about such absurd things.

  I thought that if I died, it would be the end.

  however….

  “Sunshine. Look here!”

  A red-eyed beauty with soft blonde hair flowing over her shoulders waves a blue rattle.

  “There’s red too!”

  He also held out the red bell he was holding in his left hand.

  Knock knock!

  The blonde woman frowned at the sound of two clappers clashing together, but she didn't stop her hands.

  “Ahh.”

  Raon let out a small sigh and reached out his hand towards Ddalrang.

  “Okay! Come this way!”

  The blonde woman laughed heartily and twirled the rattle more excitedly.

  There are two things in sight now: a sausage-like, plump arm and a woman shaking a rattle excitedly.

  ‘I still can’t get used to it. That arm is my arm, and that person is my mother…’

  That woman's name is Sylvia. It's still hard to believe, but I was reincarnated as that woman's child, with all the memories of my previous life as an assassin intact.

  At first, I thought it was a dream.

  I thought it would all be over after I took a nap, but no matter how much I slept, this strange dream wouldn't wake me up.

  After 100 days of such suspicious days, Raon finally accepted the fact that he had been reincarnated.

  “Sunshine! This way!”

  "cadet!"

  As we slowly crawled towards the rattle, Sylvia backed away little by little.

  “Right! Just a little more!”

  Raon followed Sylvia and crawled, reaching out his hand towards the rattle.

  "flattery…."

  But unable to overcome the heavy weight of his head, his body tilted to the right.

  "omg!"

  Sylvia threw the rattle away and threw herself forward, hugging her own body as it tried to fall.

  'That's fast.'

  Her body was agile. Although she didn't feel any aura, she seemed to have learned some martial arts.

  “Surprised? It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  Sylvia patted Raon on the back.

  "cadet."

  Raon waved her hand. She wasn't surprised at all, so she said it was okay, but her pounding didn't stop.

  “Our sunshine. Should we go see Mom and Kkotnim?”

  Sylvia walked to the window, carrying herself, and opened the curtains. Warm sunlight poured down softly like a cotton quilt.

  ‘It’s still called sunshine….’

  The Sunshine that Sylvia calls her is, of course, not her name but her given name.

  The head of the household was supposed to come and decide on a name, but he was so busy that I couldn't even see his nose.

  Even after 100 days, he was still called Taemyeong, Sunshine.

  'after….'

  Raon looked around while being held in Sylvia's arms.

  The room was spacious enough to run around in, the walls were covered in luxurious sea-blue wallpaper, and there were magic lights hanging from the ceiling that came on at night.

  As a child who sleeps more than 20 hours a day, I couldn't figure out much, but I knew one thing for sure.

  This is a wealthy family. A fairly prestigious one at that.

  'Not bad.'

  If I were to be reincarnated anyway, it would be better to be in a family with money or power rather than an ordinary family.

  'Because I have to get revenge.'

  The creepiness of Derus getting his throat cut is still vivid.

  I thought he had been raised as an assassin and his emotions were all worn away, but the memories from before his death were so strong that his anger and desire for revenge against the bastard clearly remained.

  'But you shouldn't be impatient.'

  Raon took a deep breath and calmed his mind.

  Since I've only lived in this room up until now, I don't know where this is or what my position is.

  It's not too late to prepare for revenge once you understand the situation.

  The most important virtue of an assassin was patience, and he was the assassin who was called the best.

  I could hold back all my emotions and desire for revenge.

  'There it is.'

  Through a chance encounter in his previous life, he acquired the 'Ring of Fire', a swordsmanship skill that was said to be the strongest on the continent 1000 years ago.

  If you learn the 'Ring of Fire' from now on, you may be able to kill Delus Robert through a head-on confrontation rather than assassination.

  We must endure and endure again for that day to come.

  ‘By the way, I’m starting to feel sleepy again…’

  As I lay in Sylvia's arms and bask in the warm sunlight, I begin to fall into a deep sleep.

  I didn't even think much about it, but I got sleepy. The baby's body was uncomfortable in many ways.

  “Are you sleepy from the sunlight? Then take a nap.”

  Sylvia smiled brightly and slowed down the hand patting her back. It was just as she was about to nod and swallow her tears.

  “Lady Sylvia!”

  The door opened without knocking, and Sylvia's direct maid came in.

  “Go, the lord is coming!”

  “Father?”

  Sylvia opened her eyes wide in surprise at the maid's words.

  'father?'

  Judging from the fact that she calls him father, it seems that the head of this household was not her father, but her grandfather.

  “Get ready, even now….”

  “It’s too late. You’ve arrived right in front of us!”

  "this!"

  Sylvia and the maids were also flustered and stamped their feet.

  Ttukbuk.

  Outside the half-open door, stiff footsteps could be heard, enough to make one flinch.

  'Who the hell is the owner?'

  Raon opened his eyes slightly and turned his head toward the door.

  A red-eyed old man with splendid blond hair pushed back over his forehead approached. Sylvia and the maids trembled at his imposing steps.

  'ah….'

  The moment you look into the old man's eyes, time slows down. His overwhelming presence makes you feel like your surroundings are blurry.

  “Oh, father.”

  “Is this the kid?”

  The blond old man stopped in front of Sylvia and nodded with a cold gaze.

  “Oh, yes.”

  Sylvia nodded heavily and handed Raon over to Gaju.

  'ah….'

  Raon's round eyes opened wide. Looking at Gaju's face from the front, he felt like he had seen it somewhere.

  'Blonde and red-eyed. And an old man with a cold expression, as if he were surrounded by ice... Ah!'

  A lightning bolt struck his small head.

  Glenn Sieghardt, the King of Destruction!

  The head of the family known as the pinnacle of the continent was looking down on him.

  A gasp escaped from her small mouth.

  It seems I was reincarnated into the strongest family on the continent.