Chapter 23 (English)

On a beautiful sunny morning, we all sat together at the breakfast table with a beautiful view of the city.

By us I mean: Bigs, Ray, Nima, Tobo, Shiro and me. 

We enjoyed the time and laughed together.

It was a moment I will never forget.

That moment felt like a pivotal point in my life.

I had achieved something.

Rather, I have achieved so much that I have too much to lose.

Since the incident 2 years ago, our territory has expanded and now we control the former Tosa Empire, Vulaj Empire and are allies with the Mubae Empire.

We are so good with the Mubae Empire that you could say we have become something like a family.

I have a lot to do with Bigs due to the plans, projects and meetings, which is why he often came to us for dinner and it has already become something "normal", and after about 2 years we have become something like a family.

However, more has changed in the two years than just the relationship between Bigs and us.

For example, the streets used to be so unsafe that not even a man should walk alone on the street in the evening.

Nowadays, a woman can even take shortcuts through narrow alleyways without worrying that something will happen to her.

Everything is guarded and controlled everywhere so that no one can do anything secretly in the background.

The borders between the Vulaj and Mt Reich have been abolished and the land itself has been improved.

This includes the infrastructure, rules, aid, renovations, new buildings and more.

The abolished borders have also made trade bigger and better.

Famine, poverty and homeless people no longer exist, as the company's existing money has been invested in the development of society.

So there has been a lot of economic and ecological upgrading.

After all this progress, I had a statue built in the center of Our Empire.

A crescent moon.

It was the symbol of our empire and was intended to represent peace. 

In addition to all the admirable progress, Tobo and Mehmet had also achieved a lot.

Mehmet's business was better than ever and he was Lubai's most famous restaurant, and Tobo, on the other hand, had sent our city into the future with his inventions.

The then broken, corrupt, socially segregated and dangerous Lubai was now a completely different world.

After all the huge change in the last two years, many people were talking about me and Shiro.

We became something like superstars, but that didn't make us snooty and arrogant, rather the opposite.

We were even more aware of our responsibility and the hopes of others than before and tried to do everything right.

Nevertheless, there were also complicated or funny moments.

For example, at the beginning, everyone really thought that Shiro was a boy and that we might have a slightly 'different relationship'.

When I found out about this, I quickly set everyone straight and told them < "Shiro is a woman, which may not be so obvious due to her veiled appearance, but I would like to make it clear that I would never do anything with a man, as I don't think that's right" >

After the speech, I was completely forgotten and everyone only talked about Shiro.

People were interested in Shiro because she was so different.

Her principles, her appearance and even her behavior were different from the masses.

As a result, a group of young girls approached Shiro and asked her directly < "Why are you covering yourself, Shiro?" >

One of Tobo's inventions was a kind of Nita, only for the masses.

It was a social network that was supposed to connect people from everywhere.

This also made it possible to record so-called videos and make them available to the public.

The girls filmed Shiro and waited eagerly for her answer.

Shiro replied, slightly embarrassed < "I used to live a life in which we women were never recognized. We were only sexualized. People always thought a woman had to look good. A woman has to have a good body or a woman has no value except to please men. 

But this covering that I was given protected me from that. 

It only allowed people into my life who respected me for who I am. Jun, for example, has never seen my face or even seen my figure to this day. Instead, I wronged him and he ended up just smiling at me and saying that I'm part of his family and hasn't wronged me to this day. This covering protected me. 

I have never been approached, no men have harassed me and only people who love me because of my character are with me" >

The girls were very enthusiastic.

After you uploaded the video, it became quite popular. 

It went so far that many women even started dressing like Shiro, or at least similar to her.

I found out about Shiro's video through this change and approached her at the next available opportunity.

Shiro wasn't even aware that the video had become so well known and was very ashamed of it at first.

I apologized as it seemed awkward for her.

Shiro, however, asked very embarrassed < "What did you want to ask?" >

I answered her question and said < "After all this time together, I thought we might have gotten to the point where I can ask you about your past. Of course, only if that's okay with you" >

There was a moment of silence, but then Shiro said < "Gladly Jun. I wanted to talk to you about my past, but I didn't know if you would be interested and I didn't want to bother you." >

< "I'm very interested in you. .... Well, of course, since you're part of my family," > I said as both our faces blushed.

Then Shiro began to recount her past < "Well, there is a tradition in our village. The tradition is that women are sold to us. The men call it something else, but it's selling women. The men say, "What is my daughter worth to you?" So the value of women was "how horny" or "how useful is she". There were other values too, but they were no better. I didn't find out about it directly because I was Yakazo's daughter. My friends, however, experienced it in a very bad way. Let me start from the beginning. My friends and I were still very young, I guess around 7 years old. We used to play together without knowing what was coming. One day we found out that one of my friends was going to have a baby brother or sister and we ran to the mother, who was in the middle of giving birth. We waited outside until the birth was over and when it was time, we ran into the house with her father. At the moment when we were expecting joy, we saw a lot of anger and hatred. The man started shouting at the woman, saying "What are you bringing me, you stupid and useless piece of shit?" I gave you another chance after a failure and now you're giving birth to another girl. Are you kidding me or what? " . I tried to understand what had happened, but before I did, I saw the man grab the baby by one arm and grab my friend next to me by the other arm. Completely distraught, I couldn't do anything and just watched as the man pulled them both into the middle of the village and then lifted them up and said "I'm offering them up as I can't use them. If no one makes me an offer, then I will bury them alive right here on the spot, as I will not have my honor taken from me by two brats." No one seemed to be interested in them. By them I mean the men, of course, as the women had nothing to say. Meanwhile, my girlfriend was crying and saying "Dad, what are you doing? I'm scared and you're hurting me. Have I done something wrong? If so, I'm sorry. I promise you I'll never do it again. Please, Dad! You know I love you!" However, it left him cold and the only thing he had for her was a condescending look of total hatred. Then he had others dig a pit and tied my girlfriend up. Then, just before he was about to throw her in, the mother came running to the man and begged him if he couldn't let my friend go and take her (the mother) instead. The man looked at her and suddenly replied sweetly, "You're right, I shouldn't punish someone who can't help it." The mother thanked her husband endlessly until the man then grabbed my friend's mother by the hair and shouted into the crowd "You are not worthy to live as you have no use for me except to give me pleasure, but there are plenty of others for that too. So I'm going to wipe the slate clean by making everything to do with you disappear to start a new chapter in your life." He then tied up my friend's mother and threw all three of them into the ditch. My friend's mother, my friend and the newborn baby all lay in the ditch crying and screaming for help. But no one helped them. All the women would have ended up just like the three of them if they had done anything, and the men celebrated this moment and even motivated the father. I couldn't do anything, Jun. I just stood there and watched my friend being buried alive in front of me. I could see her body still wriggling and suffocating under the sand. I wanted to die Jun. I can never forgive myself for that," she told me as she began to cry.

< "You don't have to keep talking, Shiro, if it's too hard for you" > I tried to comfort her, but she insisted on telling the rest, so I listened carefully.

Shiro continued < "A lot changed after that event. One by one, my other friends were no longer allowed to meet up with me and in the end, all my friends disappeared. A few months passed and I asked my father to call my friends so that I could see them again. He usually always turned me down, but this time he said, annoyed, "When you finally stop being annoying, go and tell one of the servants that I'm ordering them to help you." I was happy and wanted to hug my father Yakazo, but he held out his arm and kept me away from him. When I looked up at his face in surprise, I saw that he was disgusted with me. At that moment, I realized that my father didn't love me. So I ran to the servants and told them what my father had allowed me to do so that I could see my friends again quickly and tell them how sad I was and how bad I felt because they were suddenly gone and my father didn't love me. But when I got back together with my friends, they had all changed. They were all made up and had round bellies. Of course, as clueless as I was, I asked them how they had put on so much weight. But they started crying and said "We're pregnant, Shiro!" . I was completely astonished and thought to myself that being pregnant is actually a wonderful thing and congratulated them. Suddenly everyone looked completely stunned and one of my friends said "Are you kidding us? How can you congratulate us? Although, it's obvious that you're congratulating us, you ignorant, spoiled piece of work. I'm sure you get everything shoved up your ass and don't have to worry because you're leader Yakazo's cute little girl. Do you know what we had to go through? We were raped and sold to older men against our will. Is that something to congratulate? Do you remember what happened to our last girlfriend after she had a sister? That's exactly what's going to happen to us when we give birth to a girl. Do you understand what's going on now, Miss Spoiled?" At that moment, I couldn't say anything and I was in tears. After that, my friends went home again without us being together for 10 minutes. I didn't know what had happened to them and seeing them like that was just too much for me. They were no longer who I knew and they just looked like empty shells with no will of their own. At that moment, I realized that I had to disappear before I ended up like them. I didn't know how to do it, but since meeting my friends, I had a different perspective on every situation. In the end, I decided to run away before it was too late. How I was going to survive out in the world on my own, I didn't know, but I knew I had to get away. So I ran and ran and ran until I eventually fell over from lack of strength. " >

< "What about your mother? You didn't mention anything about her," > I asked Shiro.

< "She died after I was born, at least that's what I was told," > Shiro replied.

Shiro continued her story and said < "The next thing I could remember was waking up in a hut with a veiled creature after falling over" >