Chapter 1: This Was An Accident!

An endless expanse of black covered the continent, its sources of light limited to the flickers from fireflies and the weak glow of stars.

Mist, thin as a silk veil, shrouded the dimmed city.

A voluptuous sculpture stood in the city center. One only needed to tilt their head slightly to witness its glory once they had entered the city's domain.

Her countenance--pure, ravishing, dignified--would take anyone's breath away on their first entry.

The sculpture seemed to come alive, entrancing the citizens with its mysterious aura as well as its sensuous figure.

Despite the statue's allurance, none of the civilians dared to commit blasphemy.

After all, she was the ruler of the city.

She wasn't known for symbolizing freedom, faith, or harmony; more often than not, she represented strife and death.

The people titled her the Goddess of War due to her feat of conquering the tumultuous region in the span of only a year.

It was also her who finally created some sense of law and stability for the citizens of the territory.

...

The city guards were slacking: they held no regard nor sense of responsibility for the immigrants, allowing hoards of reeking beggars inside.

Kai Zhu had been lingering in front of the gate for a while. Seeing the group of beggars enter, he immediately cut into their ranks, successfully camouflaging himself among them in the city of Aeter.

He didn't understand a single word of what they were saying, but who knew which war-torn place they were seeking refuge from. They all wore expressions of shock when they saw the statue of the War Goddess and, after pausing for a few seconds, proceeded to leave in a dejected manner.

Originally, they were part of a renowned group called the Pinus Tribe. Although their land wasn't vast, they still had their own city.

A year ago, the War Goddess decimated their city: the corpses of all the prominent leaders had been laid out neatly for all to see, and the citizens lost all of their protection. Half became homeless fugitives while the other half became slaves. After meandering for a place to settle, they've somehow ended up in the jurisdiction of their destroyer.

It was actually quite humorous. In just one year, all of their thoughts of vengeance and retribution were grinded to dust by the hardships of starvation, poverty, and lack of shelter.

They're only asking for a wall to protect them from the beasts and wilderness, a dirty alleyway to live an ignoble existence--even if all of this belonged to the very same person who destroyed their home.

"Porridge in the back street," a buck-toothed man wearing official sentry garments walked over, scrutinizing the group of beggars as if they were a bunch of cockroaches or mice.

"Sir, I'm actually a merchant from the town Murum nearby, here to transport some silk. I look like a beggar because I was robbed of all my possessions on the way here. Would you mind notifying Mr. Wang from Murus as well? So he can come pick me up?" Kai approached the sentry politely.

"What? Get away from me, you scum! If you don't want to eat the porridge and die of starvation, at least do it somewhere else. Not on this street that I'm in charge of, OK? If our lady the City Lord* saw this, my head will get cut off," The bucktoothed sentry yelled angrily, ignoring Kai's request.

*City Lord: Literally, he was saying female city lord, or 女城主.

Kai could have only left, helpless. Excited from the thoughts of food, all of the beggars rushed for the backstreet to get first dibs, ensnaring him in the process.

In comparison to the main street, this one was much shabbier and worn. There were barely any mud or wood huts that remained standing, and anyone could tell with just one quick glance of the road that it was not a populated place.

Indeed, the sentry did not lie about the free porridge. Inside a yard at the end of the street, a female attendant handed out bowls of the soupy mix.

Her smile was kind, and there were no signs of disgust on her face despite the state of the wanderers, many of whom were full of lice and dirt. She still kept handing out bowl after bowl, even if her pale, slender hands were soiled from contact with the refugees.

Kai was also hungry. Since this was what the situation has become, he might as well go with the flow and accept the generosity.

Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong…

It didn't take long for the beggars to fall down; one-by-one, some began to face-plant straight into the ground while others weakly crumpled.

Scared out of their wits, the few refugees still-conscious made a run for the streets. It was a good attempt, if not for the fact that they suddenly started twitching and foaming at the mouths only a few steps in.

Kai was stunned.

'No way… '

There were rumors going around saying that some rulers would poison the wanderers, fugitives, and beggars in their city and bury them later to make the territory seem prosperous and perfect.

It's as if they were exterminating some rats living in the sewers…

'To think that I would meet my end like this, there's no way I can accept this!'

'More importantly, if I died, who would raise the little brat that I'm caring for? He eats so many mulberry leaves that it's unbelievable!'

DONG! DONG! DONG!

Watching the fugitives fall one after the other, the resentment and hatred reflected in their bulging eyes. Alas, who can stop the leaders who ruled these cruel lands only to take the lives of the people--for the sake of their image--when they have already wiped out cities just at one offensive word?

Refugees who don't belong are no different from the rats that inhabit bustling streets; there aren't good endings for them, even if they discarded all their pride and dignity to survive.

Kai's head also started to feel faint.

He was a legitimate citizen of the city of Aeter: an honest merchant selling silkworms who always paid his taxes and proactively made tributes.

If these people were comparable to rats, they would, of course, die from rat poison. At least he was a loyal ox, who had unfortunately misingested the toxin in their own yard. Couldn't they spare him?

Kai didn't even have time to verify his identity before several soldiers with long, gleaming swords on their waists entered the courtyard, carrying burlap sacks.

He tried very hard to stay awake.

In the end, Kai was not able to resist the potency of the drug and collapsed as well.

Right before he lost all consciousness, a pair of feet, striding at a graceful pace, walked into his vision from the depths of the courtyard.

Kai struggled to see who the owner of this beautiful figure was, but he had already lost all awareness.

In his intoxicated and muddled mind, the image of the figure and the sculpture in the city square merged together, manifesting an unrivaled beauty. Her movements were provocative and graceful as her flushed face approached his, coming closer.

...

It was a pleasant dream. Kai felt that maybe God hasn't been so heartless after all, bestowing him a sensuous fantasy right before his neck was to be separated from his body.

He imagined that the sculpture in the city square had come alive, approaching him slowly under the soft glow cast by the oil lamps. The astonishing curves and slightly red hue on her face was a sight to behold. As for what happened next, it made Kai believe that perhaps dying wasn't such an unacceptable matter after all.

The surrounding stone walls seemed even darker and colder in contrast to the dim lights, yet her porcelain-like body was sultry in his arms.

"Ah, fuck!"

Not expecting to hear echoes in the enclosed space, Kai shouted involuntarily, thinking that it was all just a hallucination before his inevitable death.

"Ah, fuck... fuck... fu…"

Hearing his own voice reverberate, he started to gain sobriety.

Looking around, he found himself situated inside of a jail cell. The flickering lamps were not an illusion either, judging by the heat they were emanating.

'I'm not dead?'

'So it wasn't some lethal poison in the porridge.'

'This is bad... If I'm still alive, there's a high chance that I'd be sold to mines or some remote mountain as a slave.'

'To be worked to death on some faraway land--I'd rather kill myself!'

"Hm?"

Suddenly, a charming voice alarmed Kai to a presence beside him.

He turned his head, only to find a naked woman lying near him.

The sight of her dark tresses which flowed like silk and the unfaded blush on her cheeks was stunning. His heart stopped beating for a moment at the examination before it lurched wildly back into motion again.

'What was going on?'

'Wasn't I dreaming just now?'

'Why am I in a jail cell with this woman?'

Based off of her appearance, she was clearly the sculpture in the city square with the looks of a deity but the grips of a cold-blooded tyrant.

"So you're awake? You look pretty good; it seems like this homeless man treated you well last night," came a pinched, thin voice from high up the jail cell window.

The woman was still a bit lethargic, as if she were drunk.

"Who knows how many hearts will break at the news of my dear sister--who once shone like a star--sleeping with a hobo from the side of the road? But don't worry, I'll be sure to spread this story so that it'll become the most memorable after-tea gossip," the sly voice continued.

The woman was finally awake at this sentence, but the sound of the footsteps faded away before she could respond angrily. The echo of her smug yet piercing laughter remained in the dungeon for a long time.

Kai was a little confused, and he stared at the woman in the jail, next to him.

Clearly, the person was the City Lord, also known as the War Goddess to the public. Her appearance was too easy to recognize, even if she wasn't wearing any- *ahem*. That aside, Kai was sure that it was her.

Judging from what that voice had said earlier…

"You were overthrown?" Kai asked, breaking the silence in the dungeon.

This territory had always been extremely chaotic, and ongoing conflicts were a norm. The speed at which rulers shifted power was no less than the rate of change in seasons.

The War Goddess* did not speak, only using her long hair in an attempt to cover herself. Unfortunately, she was thin and curvy in all the right places, so she wasn't able to hide it all.

*The War Goddess: It's sort of like a nickname/title for her as they haven't introduced her name yet.

'blah blah blah' = internal monologue