Reincarnated in the Astral World

Chapter 104: Broken Girl

Two hours ago.

The moonlight shines at the highest point in the sky above the Whittlee house; it's about midnight.

Usually the house is lively at these times due to the young children of the Viscount always promoting luxurious events with drinks and women, but today, the commotion is different: everyone is agitated due to the condition of Emilio and his severely injured children.

"Move on, you trash!"

"Faster, work faster!"

"The Viscount can't wait, do it now!!"

The foremen of the mansion push the servants to the limit, making them go up and down the stairs carrying buckets of clean water and bringing dirty clothes from the upper floor. The servants can't use the elevator and are punished if they spill a drop of blood on the floor.

As things go on inside the house, one of the guards goes out the back door and walks towards a wooden building at the back of the house.

The place looks like an old barn, clearly different from Emilio's luxurious mansion. But now that building is empty since the servants are all working in the house.

The guard circles the barn and comes to an old stone well. He quickly starts pulling the rope hard, and soon, the bucket arrives with something other than water, a little girl with a simple appearance and black hair.

"Ah?! Jaxon?" She seems frightened, weak, cold, and hungry, and of course, she is drenched.

"Come on, Hanna, the punishment is over; your Grace needs everyone," Jaxon, a tall and rude middle-aged man, grabs Hanna's thin arm and starts dragging her into the house.

"Ahh! Alright, alright…" Hanna struggles to stand, but her legs are too weak from the time spent trapped in the well, clinging to the bucket to avoid drowning.

"Damn you, Hanna!" Jaxon becomes furious as the girl stumbles and kicks her to the ground.

"Arrgh!" She spits out a mouthful of blood while trying to get up and raises a hand in a plea for mercy. "I know, I know!"

"You useless thing!" Jaxon grabs Hanna by the hair and forces her to stand before dragging her into the house.

The other guards in the garden and at the door who witness this scene only smirk mockingly. None there feels pity for the poor girl, just as they feel none for the other servants, even though those guards are also commoners.

Hanna has been through this several times, but it's impossible to get used to such treatment, and all that's left in her life is hatred and pain.

As she is dragged like an animal, she can only imagine everyone around her dead, 'Please, my goddess, help me! Send your wrath upon these bastards! Send your Heavenly Avenger to give them what they deserve!'

Seeing the fall of the Whittlees is the only reason for Hanna to cling to her life. But that is just a dream, a dark wish the girl knows could not be fulfilled.

'Why? Why am I being punished like this? Did I sin against the Gods in another life? Maybe this is because of my parents? But they died a long time ago... and I'm still here, being tortured by these damned people!'

Hanna searches for a reason for her situation, but there is no specific cause, just the natural order of the world: the weak serve the strong.

Jaxon drags the girl through the first floor of the house until they reach the door that leads to the underground laundry room. "Do your job, Hanna, or you'll go back to the well!" The man speaks in a sadistic tone and throws the girl down the stairs.

*Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud*

"AH!!!" She rolls down the stairs, her fragile bones hitting each step until she lands face-first on the cold floor.

"Hanna!" A middle-aged woman quickly runs to help the poor girl up. "Oh dear, they have no mercy, not even for a child like you."

"I'm okay," Hanna says that but her blood trickles from a cut on her forehead, her body weaker than ever, her stomach empty for days, and her mind on the brink.

"What a sin..." The woman's eyes fill with tears as she cleans the blood from Hanna's forehead and tears a piece of her own dress to bandage the girl's head. "You have no one, poor child…"

Hanna lets the woman tend to her wound, but her eyes quickly are drawn to blood-stained luxurious clothes in the laundry tubs. "Those clothes... are they Emerson's and Esmond's?" A dark, evil glint appears in the girl's eyes, her lips curling into a smile for the first time in her life.

"Yeah…" The woman glances at the bloodied clothes, "Don't ask me what happened, but it seems the young masters are injured, and even the…"

"Edgar??" Hanna's eyes glow even more intensely as she sees blood-stained sheets in one of the laundry tubs. "Did someone hurt that sadistic son of a bitch?!"

"Don't talk like that, girl!" The woman quickly pulls Hanna's ear gently. "If our Masters hear that, they'll really kill you!"

"Do you think I care?" Hanna responds in a cold tone, and the woman sees the emptiness in her eyes.

In this moment, Hanna's response reveals her growing disconnect from fear and the dire situation she's endured. It signifies a potential turning point where the downtrodden might find the courage to resist or break free, fueled by the misfortunes of their oppressors.

"Then why haven't you killed yourself yet? You want to live, girl; we all do," the woman speaks in a gentle tone.

"No…" Hanna shakes her head. "I just want to see them suffer once before I go... and it seems like that happened? Damn, I wish I had seen it!"

"Foolish girl, stop talking nonsense and start working, or the guards will come down here and punish us." The woman gives Hanna a bristle.

Curious because of all the blood on those luxurious clothes and sheets, Hanna starts washing alongside the woman.

Soon, more servants descend into the laundry room, bringing more blood-stained sheets and other foul excrement, making Hanna even more curious. "Are these all from the Viscount's room? Who would hurt him and his family in Lakeview? What the hell is going on?"

"Stop blaspheming and keep washing, foolish girl!" The woman begins to fear for her own life due to Hanna's boldness.

Hanna continues washing, but inside her mind, many doubts and even hopes arise. 'Is it because of you, my goddess? Are you finally punishing these damned?'

More and more dirty sheets keep arriving along with buckets of blood-stained water. Hanna and the woman continue washing, and after an hour, the flow of servants starts to diminish until none more reach the laundry room.

"Hmm... what strange silence is this?" the woman muses aloud.

"Huh?" Hanna snaps out of her thoughts and looks at the woman with a confused expression.

"I think something happened... I'm going to see what it is; stay here and keep washing, Hanna." The woman climbs the stairs.

As Hanna continues washing the soiled sheets, she notices the lights in the laundry room beginning to dim. "Heeh? What's wrong with the lights?"

Despite the laundry becoming darker and more ominous, Hanna isn't scared of being alone; it's the guards and especially the nobles of the house who truly frighten her.

She continues washing the clothes but soon grows exhausted and stops to rest. Hearing no one and no sounds coming from the first floor, she becomes confused. "Where is the old woman and the others?"

Hanna watches as the lights grow even dimmer and eventually go out completely. "Damn, what the hell is happening?" Confused and curious, she walks in the dark to the corner of the laundry room and picks up an emergency lantern.

She manages to light a small flame in the lantern, but even the fire seems weak, almost fearful. "Weird…" With that meager light, she begins to ascend the stairs, hearing only the creaking of the wood under her feet.

Upon reaching the main hall of the first floor, Hanna struggles to see anything in the dark with the small flame of the lantern. She takes slow steps and then feels something wet on the floor.

"What?" She looks down and notices a pool of blood, from which there is a trail that she follows with her eyes to two bodies around a third.

"Esmond?!?" Hanna exclaims in a tone of surprise and joy. "Who?? Who could… my goddess? Is it really you???"

The sight of guards with gaping holes in their skulls doesn't scare Hanna; instead, it fills her with elation. She quickly thinks of someone. "Edgar? Could he also…"

Without wasting time, Hanna climbs the stairs with an expectant expression on her face. On the second floor, she finds more bodies of guards, but instead of stopping to appreciate the gruesome sight, she quickly proceeds to the third floor.

Driven by a mixture of hope and revenge, Hanna's ascent through the darkened, blood-stained house reflects her transformation from a victim to a witness of retribution, potentially standing on the precipice of seeing the downfall of her oppressors firsthand.

"More dead guards…" Hanna sees the bodies near the staircase and the elevator, then she moves towards the main corridor, where a bloody scene unfolds before her eyes. "What the hell?!?"

Blood and entrails are everywhere—on the floor, on the walls, the doors, and even the ceiling. The stench of death is revolting, but Hanna's smile only grows, especially when her eyes are drawn to the open door of Edgar's room.

"Could it be…" Hanna rushes to Edgar's room and is again surprised to see a mysterious figure standing over a pool of blood, the blood of Edgar and his sister on the floor.

"Thissss…" Hanna's bright eyes meet the cold blue eyes of the mysterious man. "You killed them!?"

"..." Arthur is curious as he recognizes the gleam in the poor girl's eyes.

"You…" Hanna slowly approaches him. "The goddess sent you, didn't she? You came to punish these bastards… you are the Heavenly Avenger, sent by the goddess herself… hahahahaa…"

Hanna falls to her knees in the pool of blood in front of Arthur, her heart beating faster than ever, surely the happiest day of her life.

"Hahahaha… you gave them hell… hahahahahah!!!"

"Thank you, my goddess…"

"I knew you wouldn't abandon me…"

"Thank you, Heavenly Avenger… you came to free me…"

"Thank you!"

Watching the girl laugh hysterically, Arthur shakes his head. "I've seen that look before, she's broken…"

"Are you going to help her?" Aria's voice sounds right beside him.

"I only know one way to bring her peace..." Arthur grabs one of his daggers, "The same peace that I only felt as Liam when the end came..."

Hanna sees the glint of the bloodied blade, and her smile grows even wider. "Please, help me... I don't want to suffer anymore... I just needed them to pay for everything they did to me..."

"I will ensure that every last one of them has a painful death," Arthur remarks as he extends his free hand to the girl.

"Thank you!" Hanna accepts Arthur's help and stands up; due to the height difference, she has to look up at his handsome face, which warms her broken heart.

Arthur turns Hanna's body, standing behind her, then he gently embraces her and places his blade on her neck. "Close your eyes... after this, there will be no more pain... you will finally have peace."

"Mm," Hanna feels good for the first time in many years, and her heart is filled with gratitude. She places her hands on his arm gently. "Will we meet after this? Maybe alongside the goddess?"

"I doubt it," Arthur responds coldly.

"I wish, though..."

"Why?" He becomes curious.

"To thank you properly, of course!" She quickly speaks in an expectant tone.

"You don't need to thank me for this,"

"But I want to! After all, you're freeing me..."

"I see..." A gleam emerges in Arthur's eyes, not a murderous gleam but a curious one. "Who knows?"

"The goddess, she knows everything, hehehe..." Hanna giggles.

"The goddess, huh?" Arthur has read about the ancient gods of the Eldoria culture in Aria's books, but those seem like just myths.

"I hope you find her..." He comments sarcastically and then cuts the girl's throat with a swift and lethal movement.

Hanna only feels the cold of Arthur's blade before her mind just blacks out. All the pain and anger in her heart disappeared as if it were just a dream that had ended...

And now Hanna's mind wanders in a sea of emptiness.

But for some reason, she still feels her own consciousness.

'Is this the end?'

'Not really.' A feminine, mysterious, and elusive voice appears in her mind.

'What?'

'It doesn't have to be the end if you don't want it to be...'

'Who's there?'

'Didn't you want to see me, dear?'

'Goddess? Is it really you?'

'Yes, my child,'

'Thank you, Goddess! Thank you so much!!'

'You're welcome, dear...'

'But... what happens now?'

'It depends... how about a second chance?'

'A second chance?'

'Yeah... I thought you might want it... maybe a chance to meet your Heavenly Avenger again...'

'Really? I wish I could see him again somehow...'

'That's good, child... so it will be.'