Former Assassin – 2

Hello, it’s me again. Nice to meet you. My name is Serena Violet. I’m now six years old.

I was born into a ducal family in the Kingdom of Astra.

Although it was similar to the world I used to live in, it felt completely different.

By the way, the black-haired woman turned out to be my mother, whose name is Amaryllis.

When I first learned to speak, I straight up called her ‘Amaryllis’, but she told me to call her ‘Mother’.

At first, I was confused, but given that I used to be an assassin, I was very adaptable.

After all, an assassin didn’t just sneak around and kill. During some of my missions, I had to blend in with the surroundings and tail my target for a while. 

—and that’s when my impersonation skill came in handy.

Thus, I decided to pretend to be an ordinary girl named Serena Violet.

But I soon came to realize that it was more difficult than I expected.

It happened when I turned six.

“Kyaaa—!”

A scream erupted in the garden. The one who let out such a voice was my maid.

She screamed after I stabbed a dog that pounced on me with a cake knife.

The dog seemed to have wandered in from somewhere—with a little girl about my age.

Even though both my dress and face were bloodstained, I was unfazed. After all, it used to be a daily occurrence.

“Serena! Why would you do such a terrible thing!?”

Amaryllis, who was having tea with me in the garden, ran up to me and grabbed my shoulders.

“Terri… ble?”

I didn’t understand what she said.

I was just acting in self-defence.

The dog attacked me first. It was now lying on the ground, panting as it was covered in its own blood due to it being weaker than me.

If it had been stronger than me—if it had been nimble enough to avoid my attacks—it wouldn’t have been hurt.

That was how I’d lived until now.

But…

As Amaryllis stared at me, I looked at my surroundings.

The maid was staring at me in disbelief, the color drained from her face as her whole body trembled. 

I’d seen that look before. 

When my target realized that he was about to meet his demise at my hands, he had the same look on his face.

There’s no reason for her to be so scared, though?

“Serena.”

I turned to look at Amaryllis once again.

“Regardless of the reason, it’s wrong to hurt living beings.”

“Even if it means getting injured yourself?”

“You should’ve just dodged it.”

But how would that help?

If I don’t incapacitate it, the dog will continue to attack me. In that case, shouldn’t I strike first?

—Yet, Amaryllis said that it was wrong.

It was then that I realized my environment was completely different from before. 

Do people have different mindsets depending on the environment they grow up in?

At any rate, I should just agree with her. Otherwise, it’d be difficult to live here from now on.

“…I’m sorry. I’m terrified of dogs, so my hand just moved.”

I spoke tearfully, causing Amaryllis to pull me into a hug. I couldn’t help but stiffen. Even though I’d been hugged many times since I became [Serena], it was the one act I could never seem to get used to.

“Of course, I understand. It’s such a big dog! But promise me that you’ll never do this again.”

“…I understand.”

If it was her own life in danger, would she still say the same thing?

Now that I thought back, didn’t the knight say something similar?

“—I’ll protect him, even if I lose my life.”

Somehow, I could feel that the two were alike in that aspect.

I don’t understand.