43 CHAPTER 43- Misplaced Trust

Nadya Clotine.

The daughter of one of the marquises of the North.

After marrying the Duke, she changed her name to Nadya Kazuo.

Her parents were typical nobles. They didn't have overflowing compassion for the commoners but neither were they cruel.

They didn't betray the empire and never went against any laws, but like every other noble in the middle chain, they did rake in some extra 'profits' while collecting taxes.

Nadya from the youngest age was a very kind and lovely girl. She loved going out of her mansion to view other places and meet other people.

Her parents didn't want her meeting with people who were 'lower' then them, the so called nobles, but every time she threw a tantrum, her parents being the doting people they were relented and disguised her using an artifact before sending her with a few personal guards.

And like that, one day she met him.

A young boy about her age. While she was walking out of a clothes store, she found this boy shivering at its entrance.

Unlike other children however, this boy wore a mask. His clothes were almost rags and he kept shivering.

She didn't know why but she felt drawn to him.

And like the many other people she had talked with before, she went forward to talk with him too.

"Hello…"

The boy seemed to be frightened and retreated slightly.

No matter how hard she tried, the boy didn't talk to her. Without wasting any more time in futile attempts, she left.

And she met this boy again the next day.

And the next day.

A week.

She had befriended the boy who was so shy to speak.

She felt too sad for this boy after properly listening to what had happened to him.

Apparently, he was an orphan and his face was completely burned after some noble's guard cast a curse magic on it after he was blocking the path of that noble.

Later on, everywhere, people despised him because of his face that had turned too ugly to look at.

So one day he stole a black mask from the clothing store and escaped. From that day he never showed his face, spent every waking hour stealing for food, distrusting people and staying as far away from nobles as possible.

Nadya felt sad for her new friend and consoled him.

Every day she would bring him food and sit for hours talking with him about the outside world.

It appeared as her purpose of visiting other places and meeting new people had changed to only talking to her new friend.

And then one day she revealed to her friend that she was the daughter of the marquis.

The boy's face appeared to be distorted as if he was betrayed and he immediately wanted to run away, but she stopped him.

"Don't run away! You are my only friend!"

And then the boy turned back to look at her before saying something.

"You nobles can never be friends with us commoners! I can give you everything I have without a problem, but for you bringing me even remotely close to your mansion would be a disgrace to your father's name!"

"I-"

"If you want to prove your friendship to me, bring me to your mansion! Otherwise its goodbye!"

Nadya really didn't know what she would do, but the boy uttered a final sentence that confirmed her resolve.

"Never in my life will I trust any noble again…"

"You… I will bring you to my mansion tomorrow…I really want to stay as your friend…"

However the guards herd her and reported it back to the marquis who summoned her daughter to talk about her new friend.

"Listen Nadya, making friends is never a problem. Everyone can become your friend, but being a noble you have to maintain an image. And you are our only daughter… your mother and I cannot have another child, so you will have to take over my place one day…"

"But father…"

"Make friends but never get too overly attached with them…If a person cannot accept you as a friend and forces you to do something… that is not a friend…"

To a young child, who didn't know that every time her parents didn't let her do something it was for her own good, she remembered how her new friend had told him about his past.

She took her father's advice as his bias against the commoners.

And between his parents who she knew since forever and a new 'friend' who she met a few weeks before and whose face she never saw… she chose to trust the later one.

You see… a child who hasn't really seen the negatives of life can easily make bad decisions. For her she felt like she would never lose her parents no matter what she did, they were respected nobles and had forever protected her after all.

However, if she did listen to them, she would lose her first and only friend.

And with that she made the mistake that changed her life forever.

Without informing her parents or her guards, she escaped and brought her friend back with her, into the mansion.

She knew they would stop her if she told them beforehand and she also did what she did as an act of rebellion. To show her father that she would never abandon a friend.

Looking back… she really regretted everything she did.

As she slowly opened her eyes, they focused on a amethyst eyed man sitting in front of her.

She had a splitting headache.

It was to be expected. She recently regained her original memories after all.

From what she originally remembered, when she and this boy were exploring the mansion, some people in armor charged in and started a slaughter and killed her parents. The boy protected her and brought her out of the mansion.

These people in armors left as soon as they arrived and when she entered the mansion again, it was a sight she would never forget.

Later the Duke sent people to investigate and it was declared to be a riot between the other marquises.

She became the new marchioness and started ruling the place with what was left.

However, she trusted no one anymore other than her friend and did everything as he asked her to. Hiring people he asked her to, changed her way of thinking as he wished until finally she… just wasn't herself.

One day she awakened her system and her friend told him how she could use it for the good. Killing the scum and protecting others.

She trained day and night, became an extremely strong assassin.

And then one day she was introduced to the association.

Apparently her friend had started looking at how he could take revenge for her sake and joined this red haired man the very week after her parents died in the incident.

He didn't inform her then because he didn't want her to take impulsive decisions.

And with that she became Number 3.

However now that she looked at the amethyst eyes before her that seemed to almost know everything about her she recalled the new memories that she just saw.

There were never any guards in her mansion. It was always her friend who killed everyone.

And it was never her friend as all his images in her memories distorted and a muscular man with the same mask and an eye tattoo on his right arm.

As feelings she hadn't felt for a long time slowly enveloped her she felt how stupid she was to be manipulated.

*************************************************

Ray looked at the woman before her who had just woken up.

He didn't do a whole lot…

He removed her false memories and restored them to the original.

The childhood friend part of the story? It was completely real.

That masked man had really taken a long time manipulating her.

As such he did just two things.

First he amplified her feelings towards this masked man.

Not all feelings, but her feelings of love towards this guy.

Now now… why would he amplify her love? Wouldn't that have the opposite effect he desired?

Not at all.

The more you love someone, the more you get hurt when they betray you.

As such, the moment all her memories were restored, all her amplified love turned into a hate that would never be satisfied until it achieved its purpose.

And the second thing he did was use 'Suggestion' to add a small thought into her mind.

'The person you see after you open your eyes can give you everything you want.'

Sitting there waiting for Nadya to wake up completely wake up, he imagined just how that red haired man would feel if he knew two of his association members had already fallen under him.