Please Kill Me - Chapter 1
What on earth has she done wrong?
“Cough, cough!”
Yekaterina collapsed to the floor, coughing up dry sputum. Despite it being just that, her battered body screamed with intense pain. With wounds and fractures all over her body, she felt a pain so intense that she wanted to scream from every corner of her being.
Yekaterina clutched her broken arm and struggled to breathe. With each breath, a nauseous sensation rising in her throat blocked her airway. Her mouth was filled with a bitter taste, making it difficult to discern whether it was the taste itself or the pervasive smell of iron that lingered in this place.
If she had even a bit of strength left, she would have taken action.
But at this moment, Yekaterina didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger. Holding onto her sanity amidst the excruciating pain was all she could manage.
Yet the people standing in front of Yekaterina seemed nonchalant. No, they were expressing dissatisfaction with the fact that Yekaterina, despite her condition, hadn’t succumbed to death. Her adoptive father, Sergei, who had been watching over Yekaterina, clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Another failure this time. How many times does this make it?”
“This is the fifth time, Master.”
The fifth time they were referring to was the number of times Yekaterina had entered and emerged from the enclosure where an advanced monster lurked. While others wouldn’t have lasted a minute and would have died, Yekaterina repeatedly came out alive, each time with more gruesome injuries.
Due to being trapped in the monster enclosure until only one survivor remained, Yekaterina’s entire body was in shambles this time as well. Despite such a condition, she continued to breathe. However, with each breath, pain stabbed through her organs.
Even as Yekaterina’s consciousness blurred, she refused to let go of her sanity and bit her tongue. With barely any strength left to move her fingers, she had to repeat the action several times before her tongue was barely bitten.
However, even in her fading consciousness, there was something distinctly clear and visible through her blurry eyes flowing with warm bodily fluids.
Sergei’s heavily-frowning face and his annoyed voice.
“Despite going this far, she won’t die. Curious. Aren’t there stronger monsters?”
“I apologize, my lord. The monsters Miss killed this time were the most powerful among those we possess.”
“Tsk, useless bunch. All of them are worthless. It’s about time for Yekaterina to die.”
The word ‘useless’ pierced Yekaterina’s chest like a dagger.
In reality, it has always been like this. With just one word from her adoptive father, calling her useless, Yekaterina had always felt a pang in her chest and hurt.
Yet, oblivious to the injuries she had sustained, Yekaterina didn’t examine her wounds this time. Instead, she found herself contemplating something strangely different.
Why did the pain in her heart hurt more than the wounds on her body?
At the same time, she was puzzled.
‘What on earth was it?’
Why was she suffering like this, unable to die? No, why did she have to die?
Yekaterina, the adopted daughter of Offenbach. Her life could not continue without proving its worth. Moreover, it was a life entangled with useless emotions.
She never wished for love and happiness; those were distant concepts even in her dreams.
Living as a street orphan and later as the ‘Miss’ in the prestigious Offenbach family, a name she thought she would have never heard in her entire life.
However, why?
There was nothing she desired. Each day was a fortunate one, just to live without starving or feeling cold.
It was only natural. Yekaterina always knew her position.
All memories begin from this place. When Yekaterina, a seven-year-old orphan girl, stood in front of the mirror after being thoroughly washed, her adoptive father Sergei said these words.
“Listen well, Yekaterina. The child sleeping in the room will be your younger brother, Dmitry.”
It was a statement made with nothing resembling fatherly warmth, only through sheer coercion.
Was this Sergei’s first words as her adoptive father? It wasn’t certain. But Sergei made sure to assert Yekaterina’s position very clearly.
“Everything you wear, eat, and enjoy is possible because Dmitry is here. He is the heir to the Offenbach legacy, unlike you. You were brought here solely for Dmitry.”
“Yes.”
“So, if you want to contribute anything to Offenbach and earn your keep, what do you need to do? You have to prove your worth. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I heard from the tutor that you still haven’t mastered all the letters. Is that true?”
“…Yes.”
“Let me make one thing clear, Yekaterina. A fool who can’t even master the letter in a week is unnecessary in Offenbach.”
He patted Yekaterina’s shoulder and left. There was no sign of displeasure. He simply acknowledged what she couldn’t do, as if stating the obvious.
The fact that a seven-year-old child who had wandered the streets had accomplished something difficult was not important to Sergei.
From that day on, Yekaterina became an exceptional student, surpassing everyone else. All the tutors marveled at her, saying there was no student like her. It was thanks to this that Yekaterina could secure her life.
She learned everything—various knowledge, academics, etiquette, and even martial arts and weaponry—anything a person could do, she learned everything.
