ill chapter 4

“Yes,” Nayul replied meekly, though her intentions were anything but.

I’ll break this curse and escape.

The odds were against her with her rank demoted, but she couldn’t waste time as a captive. If she kept trying, she was bound to succeed eventually. For now, she decided she would gather what information she could by listening, and make her move at nightfall, when their guards were down.

Late that night, when all were asleep, Nayul easily broke free of her iron shackles. She forced the metal links apart and was about to slip out of the tent, but the seal on her wrist suddenly flashed crimson. That wasn’t all.

My body…

She couldn’t move. No matter how hard she struggled, her limbs wouldn’t obey. She focused her mind. She had to break the curse.

[Unique Skill ‘Purification (E)’ has been activated.]

[Influenced by mental fortitude, this skill has a chance to break curses of a higher rank.]

[Curse removal failed.]

Again.

[Failure.]

…Again.

[Failure.]

She lost count of how many times she tried. The result was always the same. Nayul remained rooted to the spot, unable to move a single inch, until the sun rose and the slaver found her. Only then did he subdue the glowing seal.

“Tsk. I told you not to run away.” The slaver clicked his tongue. “How on earth did you break these shackles, anyway?” With that, he withheld her food. It was a punishment meant to avoid damaging the merchandise, which whipping would have done.

Still, Nayul didn’t give up. She tried to escape again and again, even though she knew it was futile. Skill ranks weren’t improved through practice; you either Awakened with a high rank or earned an upgrade by performing a feat the system deemed worthy. Her current rank had been forcibly lowered. And yet, she clung to the sliver of hope that sheer repetition might somehow break the seal.

The result was always the same. The demoted skill showed no sign of reverting, and the curse remained unbreakable.

As these attempts continued, the slaver’s patience wore thin. Eventually, he stripped her of her clothes and locked her in a cage, forcing her to live like an animal. Faced with a degradation she had never imagined, Nayul’s resilience finally shattered. Even her formidable mental strength, tougher than most, was broken.

Soon, all thoughts of escape, of breaking the curse, of her duty to find her sister, Ha Ahra, and go home—all of it faded into nothing. Only once her will was completely crushed and she had become utterly docile did the slaver give her clothes back and begin putting her on the auction block.

So began Nayul’s life on the auction block, displayed alongside other slaves more times than she could count.

But she never sold.

The slaver was bewildered by the lack of demand. He tried lowering the price, then lowered it again, but no matter how cheap she became, there were no takers.

“You expect me to bring that into my home?”

“The sight of it makes me want to vomit.”

“I wouldn’t take her if you paid me.”

Everyone would click their tongues in disgust and look away. Of course, the merchant had no intention of giving her away. A slaver was still a merchant, and a merchant’s duty was to turn a profit. Nayul, however, was not only failing to sell but was also consuming his resources, making her a constant headache.

Still, he held on.

I kept her for the Aurels in the first place.

He would take her all the way there. If she still didn’t sell, then he would decide what to do with her.

Nayul was put on display countless more times. In that time, her hair, once a short bob, grew well past her shoulders.

Then, one day.

“This one.”

Finally, a buyer appeared.

It had been four months since she’d first arrived in this world.

“I’ll take this one as my new slave.”

Ignati Aurel pointed at her. The servant accompanying him silently swallowed a sigh.

Here we go again.