The Prince’s Defender

Wake up!”

My body felt heavy…
I could barely keep my eyes open.

Two hands wrapped around my waist.

“They’re already here.”

Someone was talking to me.
But everything looked blurry, so I couldn’t tell who it was.

For some reason, the ground was shaking.
I felt someone shaking my body back and forth. I couldn’t understand what was happening.

A sharp pain in my chest snapped me awake.

I opened my eyes.

I stood up abruptly, almost violently. It felt like my body was moving on its own. I looked around.

Beside me was a boy, holding my arm.

“Finally, you’re awake.”

I looked forward.

An absurdly massive being stood there. Gray skin, streaks of electric lines crawling across its body. Two horns rose from its head, and from its back a long tail plowed through the ground behind it.

I felt pressure on my left leg.

I looked down.

I was wearing a skirt.

A skirt?!

I slid my hand underneath.

I felt something metallic.

I grabbed it tightly. Just as I thought— a weapon.

A revolver, to be more specific.

It looked stranger than the ones I knew. The barrel was extremely long.

The boy tugged my arm.

“Him,” he said, pointing at the creature.

A voice echoed inside my head.

“I’ll help you this time.”

Almost automatically, I aimed the revolver at the monster.

I pulled the trigger.

A terrifying sound burst from the weapon at supersonic speed—like the scream of a hawk diving for prey.

Within seconds, I watched the creature begin to fade.

Slowly turning into ashes.

I walked toward the spot where only a dark shadow remained burned into the ground.

“His heart?”

“You have to destroy it,” the boy said. “That’s the only way they won’t come back to life.”

I picked up the heart and squeezed it with little force.

That was a mistake.

It splattered all over my face.

Footsteps approached.

“There’s more of them!”

In the distance, dust rose into the air, forming something like a raging hurricane.

I don’t know what I was thinking, but as if I had been programmed to do it, I leapt toward them. It took me less than a second to close the distance.

The creatures surrounded me.

One shot.

Two.

Then three.

They fell one by one.

And I moved with the wind, dancing so elegantly it made me doubt whether this was really me.

At one point, the revolver refused to fire again.

I stood face to face with the last one.

It prepared to charge at me.

One, two, three.

I extended my hands toward it.

An explosion of visceral colors splashed across my clothes.

“How disgusting…”

My body began to feel heavy again.

I dropped to my knees.

I was exhausted.

The boy approached me, visibly less tense now.

“I thought I was going to die,” he said, pulling a small statuette from his pocket.

“Look, I revived you with this.”

I looked at it closely. It was made of diamond—or at least it looked like it. Not that I’d ever seen a diamond up close before.

“I’m glad you’re both safe.”

A woman appeared before us, wearing a white dress and long blonde hair flowing down her back.

“I’m the one who brought you here,” she said, pointing at me.

“Me?”

“Oh, right. Sometimes reincarnation comes with amnesia.”

I looked at the boy beside me. He seemed just as confused as I was.

“Let me give you a summary.”

She walked over and took the statuette from the boy.

“This wasn’t part of my plans,” she let out a small laugh. “During the interval—when you died—I told you that you would reincarnate, didn’t I?”

It took me a moment to remember.

I recall a dark room, illuminated only by a throne and a woman.

She told me:

“You have won a multiversal lottery.”

“A lottery?”

“What you heard, good soul. From now on, you will enjoy a comfortable life.”

It felt like I was dreaming.

Until the memory of being stabbed pulled me back to reality.

This was definitely real.

“So… I’m the lucky one?”

A portal opened a few meters in front of me.

Just as I was about to step through it—

She interrupted.

“Wait!”

She ran toward me, visibly worried.

“Some changes have occurred, so that millionaire life I promised you might not be possible. Do you still wish to continue?”

I didn’t ask questions. I was afraid that if I refused, I wouldn’t be allowed to live again. I never imagined the change she mentioned would be this drastic.

“The change was this,” she said, holding up the statuette. “The boy activated it at just the right moment.”

The boy stepped between us.

“I—I’ll compensate you.”

“This child is a good opportunity for you,” the woman said. “He’s a prince. You should accompany him.”

“A prince?”

“Of the Kingdom of Leonor,” she added.

I looked at my hands.

They were very slender.

I touched my legs. Strong, I thought.

My chest…

It was embarrassing to even look at.

I’m grateful to still be alive.

BUT DID IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?!