In this life, without noble ideals or great dreams, to pass the time of ordinary days, one must find some amusement.
Watching entertainment shows, TV series, animations, novels, manga, funny videos, playing games, building models, exercising, shopping, cooking, doing makeup, etc., everyone has their own hobbies.
In this game world, in addition to retaining the hobbies from the "real world," I have added a special one: looking in the mirror.
The anime world is often synonymous with beauty. For instance, it's rare to find a 360-degree flawless beauty in the real world, but it's easy in anime. Not only that, but I've successfully inherited the high-颜值 (yán zhí - face value) setting of the younger generation of the Zoldyck family from the original work. I look so beautiful no matter how I look at myself. Every morning, when I look in the mirror, I'm captivated by my own beauty.
Hmph, think about one of the common manipulative tactics in the "real world": putting on light makeup, messing up your hair, and then posting a selfie that's been edited an unknown number of times, saying something like "Just woke up, haven't styled it yet," which is a hypocritical statement. In reality, how they look right after waking up is definitely not as good as in the photos.
Unlike me now, I look incredibly good even right after waking up!
Anime world! Eternal paradise!
You could say that the main reason I don't indulge in buying clothes in this world, despite being born into a wealthy family, is that I think I'm already good-looking enough. Ordinary clothes are sufficient, and I don't need to waste time deliberately dressing up.
Oh, this face is so beautiful, I'm in love with myself!
Now, I...
I, who was set to be the character of my younger brother, Illumi Zoldyck, have been disfigured with a wound slashed across my entire face.
From heaven, I've fallen into hell, the eighteenth level of hell at that.
My life instantly lost all its color.
An unbelievable tragedy. If this were a novel, many would be so enraged they'd abandon it. But this is the reality. You cannot underestimate human malice. Even Meruem, the Chimera Ant King, who was the pinnacle of combat power in the original work, died due to human malice.
Illumi, you truly are Killua's biological brother. It was you who influenced Killua to slash Kikyo's face in the original work, wasn't it? After that, Kikyo always had the appearance of a character with bandages on her face!
Ordinary curses cannot vent my anger!
I'm already mute, and you've gone and disfigured me. This is too much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this something a human would do?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I beat Illumi to a pulp, my fists raining down on his face. The man called the guards outside the door, who pulled me off Illumi and subdued me.
Illumi, with a bruised and swollen face, wiped the blood from his nose and the corner of his mouth as if nothing had happened and stood up, leaning on the table. He looked at the man and asked, "Even so, do you still love my sister?"
"You brat..." the man squeezed out from between his teeth, "ruthless."
Pah! This is ruthlessness towards me, not towards himself, so of course, he could do it! Am I going to have to face the world with a bandaged face from now on?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the original work, the future Kikyo, after being slashed on the face by her son Killua, constantly wore bandages but never blamed Killua. Instead, she complacently viewed Killua's resistance as a sign of growth. She won't punish Illumi for me, and might even advise me that Illumi did this to protect me from greater harm.
Silva, a pure muscle-bound man, has no understanding of a delicate and fragile maiden's heart.
Mishmi, a baby, can be ignored.
Zeno, the former patriarch, generally doesn't get involved.
Both the original work and fanfiction have hinted and implied the Zoldyck's special "family warmth." But in reality, even disfigured, I am isolated and helpless. What family warmth is there? Damn oo Illumi Zoldyck, I will be his sworn enemy from now on, to hell with him!
"Sister, look, he doesn't truly love you. He only likes your appearance. The person who truly loves you wouldn't care about your appearance," Illumi walked closer to me step by step. "The one who gives up on you because of your appearance, the one who thinks about whether your appearance can recover, they don't truly love you."
What the hell do you know?! I care! I'm not like you! I don't have a perverted taste like you, who in the original work liked to have nails all over their body and deliberately made themselves look ugly! I care a hell of a lot about my looks! I'm a loyal fan of good looks! When I look at any fictional work, my values follow my eyes!
"Only the love of family is true love. Sister, no matter what you become, we will accept you and love you," Illumi opened his arms to me.
To hell with you, I'm just a commoner. I don't look for noble souls, I just love looking at beautiful faces!
The guards twisted my hands behind my back. I could only lift my leg and fiercely kick the approaching Illumi.
"It's okay, no matter what, Sister is still my Sister, my family." Illumi was kicked in the stomach by my left foot. He then grabbed my left ankle and continued to advance.
I kicked again with my right foot, but he dodged it.
"Sister, my Sister." He successfully hugged me. "...Mine."
From now on, I can never look in the mirror again. My greatest pleasure in this world is gone. What's the point of my living?!
I hated him immensely. I bit down fiercely on Illumi's nearby side neck.
The taste of blood filled my entire mouth.
It was salty and fishy, extremely unpleasant.
But I swallowed it, one bite, and then another.
"Blood is thicker than water," Illumi seemed to be smiling. He hugged me tighter. "Blood is thicker than water, Sister."
Madman, he's a madman. I'm also a madman. I bit down deeply, so deeply.
My back neck hurt, and I lost consciousness.
"..."
I woke up on the cold floor. In the dim, yellow light, I saw that I was no longer wearing a dress but had on gray long sleeves and pants. My hands and feet were adorned with black shackles connected by chains, extending to the wall behind me.
The whistle is gone, as expected. Humph, a prisoner, unable to protect myself, how could I be qualified to care about any whistle?
I raised my hand to touch my face. As expected, it was wrapped in bandages, only revealing my eyes and mouth, much like the future Kikyo in the original work.
Do daughters truly repeat their mothers' destinies so easily?
In the "real world," just like my mother, I had no judgment when it came to men, nor the luck to meet "the right person." As I gradually discovered more and more annoying similarities between my boyfriend and my father, all the flaws my mother complained about in my father were replicated in my boyfriend. I felt like I was reliving my mother's fate.
They were all small daily details: leaving shoes and socks lying around, never putting things back after use, walking with the backs of their shoes crushed indoors, the backs of every pair of shoes being flattened; never cleaning up the kitchen after cooking, with oil, condiments, and vegetable scraps all over the floor and table; being picky eaters, refusing certain foods and having bad tempers and sour expressions when things didn't go smoothly; always replying to unimportant messages after a delay... As long as he was around, the house would become messy. I would clean and tidy repeatedly. Seeing similar complaints from other women online, I thought, "Ah, perhaps all men are inherently like this. They value career and success; housework is a minor matter, not worth mentioning."
Yes, housework is indeed a trivial matter. Even if it's never done, it won't affect a person's success in any way. Either tolerate it or break up. I finally chose to break up.
Since I can earn my own living, why should I compromise myself to accommodate others?
I don't deny that I also have some quirks. The other party probably had a belly full of grievances and dissatisfaction. Yes, I am a monster, not suited for interacting with people. Let's not do more harm than good. Living alone is the best.
Alone.
Alone, one won't suffer certain harms "in the name of love," such as forced marriage or disfigurement.
The taste of Illumi Zoldyck's blood lingered in my mouth. I licked each tooth carefully with my tongue, cleaning the bloody taste from between my teeth until I could no longer taste the saltiness.
This is a row of cells. Through the metal bars, I can see many people in the opposite cells wearing clothes similar in color to mine. They are very young, around teenage years, and a small number are around ten years old.
The people opposite are not wearing shackles. Each person occupies about one square meter of space, a bit crowded.
My cell is much more spacious. There are two of us, both wearing shackles.
I don't see Illumi Zoldyck. He will surely pay a price for provoking the man. I wonder how he is now. However, he is the eldest son of the Zoldyck family and an important plot character in the original work, so he shouldn't die so easily. I only hope I don't have to see him again anytime soon, as it irritates me.
My roommate, sitting across from me against the wall, has his upper body buried in the shadow of the cell, making his appearance unclear. From his silhouette, I know he is a bit taller than me, and definitely not Illumi.
His shoelaces and trouser cuffs are quite worn. Through the torn parts of his pant legs, I can vaguely see scratches and bruises on his calves. His pants have some black stains, which seem to be dried bloodstains, I don't know if they are his or someone else's.
Judging from the marks on his ankles caused by the shackles, he must have been here for quite some time. If I could speak, perhaps I could ask him for more information about the current situation... No, it doesn't matter. Why be so proactive? Why should I desire to live?
Now is the best opportunity. I am alone, I can do whatever I want, and die however I want.
No one can stop me.
After observing my roommate, I was about to shift my gaze when a pair of dark golden eyes opened in the darkness, like a gaze from the abyss.
"Welcome to hell," he said.
His tone was cold and full of mockery.