Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Enemies Are Bound to Cross Paths

No one knew—

what Lilinai’s background had been before she was captured as a slave.

In fact, ever since transmigrating to this world, up until 5 years ago, she had been a proper, genuine man.

Not only that, she had been the young master of the Kaoenxier family—the chancellor’s family of this country’s previous dynasty.

As the former dynasty’s chancellor of the Luolunbao Kingdom, Lilinai’s father became a target for all sides once the old king fell and the new dynasty was established. Although the Kaoenxier family had long since withdrawn from political struggles, the new king needed to eliminate dissenters to establish his authority, and the noble houses attached to the new king also needed to climb higher in the new kingdom. Thus, the Kaoenxier family naturally became the most suitable living target.

Born into the Kaoenxier family and having lived with them for over a decade, it was impossible to say she felt nothing for them. After her father was framed and died in prison, Lilinai relied on the experience of two lifetimes to shoulder the family’s burden, maneuvering among all parties and balancing every side. Yet even though she exhausted every effort, with a mole inside the family working in concert with those outside, Kaoenxier was still successfully framed by the powerful ministers of the new dynasty: the entire family bore the crime of treason, and was subsequently destroyed.

As the only son of the Kaoenxier family, he was naturally to be eliminated root and branch. On the night the Kingdom Imperial Guard surrounded the mansion, Lilinai swallowed the secret medicine left behind by the family—according to her father, this medicine was only to be used when all paths were exhausted, as it could help conceal one’s identity and preserve one’s life. So Lilinai believed her old father’s words… and the result was that she turned into a girl, concealed her identity, and ended up wandering the streets.

Fortunately, this did mean that no one could recognize her as the only son of the Kaoenxier family. In the early days of the new dynasty, bandits and thieves were numerous throughout the Luolunbao Kingdom, and Lilinai blended in among the refugees, struggling to survive amid the chaos. Over the span of 3 years, she followed the drifting masses and learned quite a few combat skills, and had even taken up work as an assassin to earn money and stay alive.

And during one mission, she carelessly slipped up and was exposed, only escaping execution by playing the fool, after which she was sent to the trading house and made a slave.

The days as a slave weren’t hard to endure—on the contrary, Madam Misite gave her a great deal of freedom, and she used it to catch up on plenty of book knowledge and to learn about the kingdom’s political situation over these 2 years—mainly to memorize those nobles who had framed her family back then. The only thing that troubled her was the collar placed on her when she became a slave. As long as that thing remained, she couldn’t defy her “master.”

For this reason, she had been waiting for the moment when a new master would buy her.

That would be the moment she regained her freedom and began her revenge.

However.

What Lilinai didn’t know was—

while she was congratulating herself on her plan getting underway, her buyer was silently watching her with a gloomy gaze.

——————————

…

For Airiya, the first few years of her life had been spent in endless darkness.

The Luolunbao Kingdom of that time was precarious and unstable, with endless struggles surrounding the throne, war everywhere, and the people destitute.

Like many children, Airiya’s life was destroyed by war. Had she not been clever, she likely would have met an untimely death—her parents sold her off in order to survive, and she managed to escape the slave traders’ pursuit, drifting along with the refugees to the vicinity of the royal capital. She had drunk contaminated water, fought wild dogs over food, and survived winters on stolen clothes, muddling through day by day—until she met the Kaoenxier family.

During one outing to make inquiries, the head of the Kaoenxier family, the former chancellor Lanmiuer Kaoenxier, came across her digging through a garbage heap for food. He gave the girl a job as an attendant at the mansion, giving her, who had nowhere to go, a place to belong; and because she was the same age as the young master of the Kaoenxier family, she became the young master’s personal maid.

“Your name is ‘Liya,’ correct?”

Under the family head’s smiling gaze, the young master extended a hand toward her.

“From now on we’re family—please take care of me!”

Family—that word gave the young Liya hope. The family head’s care, the young master’s friendship, were like sweet rain after a great drought, bit by bit nourishing the girl’s shattered heart. The Kaoenxier family gave her, lonely and helpless, a warm place to belong, letting her experience “familial affection” for a time. In her heart, this was her home, and the head and young master of Kaoenxier were, without a doubt, her family.

Soon the war ended and the new king ascended the throne, and everything seemed to be developing in a good direction.

But just as Airiya thought peaceful and tranquil days were about to arrive, the Kaoenxier family’s situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Leaving officialdom and giving up power did not remove the Kaoenxier family from the sight of the rising powers. Airiya witnessed the hardship of those days with her own eyes. She wanted to do something for this family too, but against the storms of politics, a maid was truly powerless. Even so, when Lanmiuer was killed in prison and the young master was frantically busy, she still wanted to contribute her part.

But…

“I’ll say it plainly—it’s been confirmed. There’s a traitor within the family.”

That night, standing before the window lattice battered by the storm, the young master of the Kaoenxier family turned around, his gaze dark.

“The family’s intelligence has been leaking out bit by bit since 7 years ago… and you, Liya, came 7 years ago. Isn’t that right?”

She had no way to defend herself.

Merely because of this suspicion.

She was driven out of the house.

Her father’s tragic death had driven the young master to grasp at any remedy in his desperation—Airiya didn’t know that she was far from the only one dismissed during that period.

But this matter plunged the girl’s heart back into darkness.

Nearly buried by the wind and snow on the streets, a flame of revenge kindled within her.

That’s right.

She had never had “family.”

Depend on others, and one day you’ll surely be abandoned.

In this cruel world, only oneself, only one’s own strength, could be relied upon.

What happened after that was like a road of hellish suffering.

The path of magic was no easy road.

It required talent, it required fortune, and even more it required… sacrifice beyond ordinary understanding.

But she endured it all.

Out of hatred, she became a Witch.

That pitiful, weak Liya who could be abandoned was already dead.

What existed in the world now was only the rising star of the Witches’ Assembly, the strongest Witch of the young generation—the “Winter Solstice,” Airiya Moerdisike.

——————————

…

Enemies are bound to cross paths.

The reunion of the two was just this sudden, and just this dramatic.

“Liya… is it really you?”

Lilinai stared in disbelief at the girl before her, at once familiar and unfamiliar.

The tenderness of the past and the finality of their falling out surfaced before her eyes one by one.

“How did you…”

“You want to ask how I recognized you, correct?”

Airiya said with a smile.

Her smile had once been innocent and earnest, but now it was hollow and unfathomable.

“Well, this is a Witch’s ability.

“As for your ‘aura,’ I know it all too well.

“Do you know? I’ve been living in hatred this whole time… hating you so terribly, so terribly.”

“Kuh…”

Lilinai twisted her body, only to find she couldn’t break free at all.

By rights, with the skills she had trained over these years, she shouldn’t have been immobilized by a girl gripping her wrists and pinning her from above.

Some strange temperature came from her wrists—Lilinai guessed it was probably some sort of magical ability confining her.

“How unexpected, how unexpected.

“The once-arrogant young master of the Kaoenxier family has now turned into a girl.

“And what’s more, fallen from noble to slave, becoming someone else’s plaything to toy with… Do you feel wronged? Angry? Good. Because that’s exactly what I once experienced—and now, you’re tasting it too~”