The only thing I clearly remember is a sword covered in blood.

  I know what happened.

  But if I were asked what I remember, it’s the only thing.

  I woke up next at home.

  Mom and dad told me we were attacked. They told me I protected myself.

  But I know what they mean. The aftermath is burned into my brain.

  That sword covered in blood.

  Blood I spilled.

  A person I killed.

  And that broke me.

  I was in my room when they told me this. Afterwards they told me I should rest some more.

  But when a maid called me to dinner, and I tried to leave my room, I couldn’t.

  I tried, but when I tried to open the door, I threw up, and fainted again.

  It wasn’t until ter, when my parents came to see why I didn’t come to dinner that they found me.

  Thinking something was wrong, they called a doctor for me.

  But when I saw them, I freaked out again and forced them out of my room when they tried the check up.

  After that day, I would let anyone else into my room. Not maids, not even my parents.

  They came daily to check on me, but I couldn’t even speak to them anymore.

  I was just broken and alone.

  ∴

  About a week after Nyx had locked himself in his room, Hardon was in his office with Cordelia. He was reading some paperwork that his information network had gathered for him.

  After reading the paperwork, he smmed them down on the desk.

  “Everyone, all the way down, and no name was found” he said, rage entering his voice.

  “Then we widen the search. Instead of focusing on the bandits, we look at our enemies instead” Cordelia offered.

  “I know that that is the right option, but as far as I know, we don’t have any. Historically, the only one was the people we killed” he said.

  This was the truth. The only enemy of the Blut family was another noble, who had since been completely annihited.

  “Well, there has to be something”

  “I KNOW!” Hadron yells. “They attacked my family. They knew what carriage it was going to be. They knew I wasn’t going to be there. And they knew you would leave to find anyone who ran. But, there is no one who could know all of that!”

  He was angry. He had once sworn to Cordelia that he would always protect her. And he swore to her that their kids would have the same protection.

  And he believes he has failed her.

  “Honey, no one bmes you.” Cordelia said, walking up next to him. “You weren’t there, and even then, no matter how far it was, you came so fast”

  This brought back memories of his rampage. He hadn’t lost it like that ever, outside of training. He was lucky Cordelia remembered how to save him from it.

  They stayed in silence for a while, thinking about what had happened.

  Eventually, Hadron spoke up again.

  “I have something to talk with you about”

  “What is it?” Cordelia asked.

  “I know you were against this since Lilith was born, but I want to appoint a personal maid to Nyx”

  He expected a response right there, but she said nothing.

  “I want it to be a member of blood night. This is to make sure that if something happens again, and we aren’t there, someone can protect him”

  “That makes sense. But, he won’t talk, or even look at anyone. Do you have a pn there?”

  He never got the rejection he saw coming. He looked at Cordelia and noticed she had the same look he had.

  She wanted, needed, to make sure that Nyx was safe.

  They pnned on quickly having him start sword and magic training from here, but they thought he might have lost interest in it.

  Seeing training and live combat are completely different feelings.

  “I have one, but I’m not sure it will work”

  ∴

  Several of the night blood members also worked inside of the mansion. They were there to protect the Blut family from attacks. They were among the maids, butlers, and kitchen staff.

  By the basic rules of the night blood, not even Hadron knew who all of the members were.

  If someone outside the group did, it would lead to massive problems.

  But outside of that rule, no matter the request made of them, they would follow it.

  This is what led to the events of today.

  Hadron had requested a bodyguard for his son, the young master Nyx. But he did not want anyone, including Nyx, to know about this.

  So a night blood maid was chosen. One close to him in age, as to be able to follow him in his life.

  And luckily, they had just the choice.

  The step-granddaughter of the current head of the night blood. She was a few months older then Nyx. She was fully trained from a young age, and had recently learned all of the necessary skills for being a maid.

  She was the obvious choice.

  ∴

  I don’t really know how long I have been staying in my room. Every day, people come talk to me, but I never respond.

  Outside of my constant fshes of the bloody sword, I also remember the man a lot. What he said.

  I had nightmares about what would have happened if I hadn’t killed him.

  So my life was stuck in a constant fear of what I did, and fear of what could have happened.

  And the only good thing is staying in my room.

  I know it isn’t sustainable. I am quickly running out of clothes I can wear.

  I have been eating. The kitchen staff drop food off for me, since they are so nice. When I know no one is out there, I grab the food. And I give the empty pte back, with a note saying thank you.

  I was in my room, curled up in my bedding, when a knock came.

  I quickly hide even deeper into my bedding.

  But before I can do anything else, I hear dad’s voice.

  “Nyx, I know you can hear me. So I am just going to expin. I have someone with me that I want you to let into your room. They are the same age as you, and they won’t hurt you. After you let them in, you can still stay in there”

  I didn’t know what he was saying, but I just didn’t respond.

  I didn’t know how.

  I knew what he must think of me at this point.

  I was nothing more than his scared little kid.

  I don’t know what happened on the other side of the door, but I heard him walk away.

  And after at least an hour, I decided to peak out of my room.

  And I saw them.

  It was a girl in a maids uniform. She would have been the same age as me, so about 11. She had white and silvery hair, and red eyes.

  They weren’t as red as dad’s. And nowhere close to the pure crimson of Lilths.

  I quickly shut my door when I saw her.

  My breathing got heavy and my pulse quickened. This world probably didn’t have a name for this, but I knew it was a panic attack.

  But, from behind my door, the maid spoke. “Master Nyx, I am not going to go anywhere. My job, from here until I am fired by your family, is to be your personal maid. So, if you do not let me in, I will forever be outside this door”

  I didn’t know what she meant.

  But the st thing she said really got to me. “I won’t leave you”

  It took me a while, but eventually I let her into my room.

  I was still scared, and letting her in started the panic attack again.

  But I think she noticed this, and she came over to me. I don’t know why, but from there, she pulled me into a hug and patted my head. This cimed me down quickly.

  When that was done, she pulled away from me and introduced herself.

  “Good afternoon, Master Nyx. I am Rose, your personal maid”

  “Um, hello” I said, looking at the ground.

  “Why don’t you rest a little while I straighten up your room” she said. She had shown no real emotion before that, but she smiled with that st sentence.

  I decided to listen to her and id down on my bed.

  But when I looked up at the top of my bed, a message popped up.

  One that I had yet to deal with.

  *Prologue Quest - Bandit Attack - Complet*

  *Gained Bonus: Sword Skill-Guard*

  *Gained Bonus: Action Skill-Dodge Roll*

  *Sword Exp Has been Gained*

  *Sword Proficiency 0 - 1*

  *you have completed the prologue within New Game Plus*

  *All Level Caps Have been Removed*

  *You have gained access to the New Game Plus Menu*

  ∴

  In a white void, a group of unknown beings look over a computer.

  All of them looked at it in shock.

  Until a new being showed up and yelled at them.

  “How in the hell did only one of our pyers actually do the prologue!”

  This was the realm of the gods, and they have recently screwed up.

  Well, they had done that a few times in recent memory, but this one was bad.

  “Well, the prologue is fully skippable now that they have full control. We did account for this” one of them said to their boss.

  “I remember, but we predicted only one would use their knowledge of events to skip it, making their life easier. But look at them all. Outside of one of them, they all used their power to skip it.”

  “Well, they all had easier prologues set up. They were events that could clearly be skipped. If even one of them was an orphan, this wouldn’t have happened”

  “That's not important. We could only choose a character with over 1000 hours of py time, and we chose the ones with the most for everyone. It's not our fault that they pyed the most with the easier characters”

  “What about our only success? How are they doing”

  “Better than we expected for this one. They are dealing with the problems… we caused pretty well. And their reaction to death is better than our predictions. They let someone into their room today. But looking at some stuff, there is a problem that could arise ter”

  “Oh, the pyer who finished was the girl whose gender you all screwed up. Well, they have been our best pyers from the start. They are also the only ones who read our background info fully” the head god said.

  “Hey, we expined this before. How were we supposed to know that gender is maintained in the soul and ego, not body.” one of the under gods said.

  “Because we told you that before” the head god yelled at them. “That's not important right now. But, we might need to find a way to deal with this prologue problem. If they don’t use the new game plus menu, they might have problems. I want some ideas on my desk by the morning”