What? I Actually Reincarnated As Stepping Stone In Another World?

Arthur tried to recall Elena's character in the story.

If you can say that Elena is one of the heroines who had a very sad childhood, even Alicia can be said to be a little more fortunate than Elena.

At least, Alicia was born into a very powerful family, with the mansion of Duke Asvold and all the luxuries she could enjoy.

However, Elena in the story was not as lucky as Alicia because she was born into a poor family in a village on the edge of the mountains on the border of the Balka Empire and the Savaran Empire.

The mountainous region is famous for its bandit headquarters and various evil organizations.

In addition to the rugged and inaccessible area, the two empires also did not care much about the mountainous region because there were no resources that made them have to move and eradicate it.

Thus, the bandits were always looting and killing local people and villages.

And why didn't the Balka Empire help their people eradicate the bandits?

Just kidding, is it worth spending troop resources to help mere mortals?

Of course not.

After all, it's not worth it to spend troops and supplies to exterminate them.

At least, as long as the bandits were not too rampant and did not interfere with the interests of the Balka Empire, they would not bother to exterminate them.

As a result, the bandits also preyed on Elena's village.

Several villagers, including her parents, died horribly.

Elena, who was only four years old at the time, could only cry about her fate as she watched the massacre.

She was captured by slave traders and taken to Duke Asvold's territory to be sold as a slave.

Her fate did not improve after escaping because she was tortured every day by the slave trader.

This trauma made her indifferent and cold-blooded in the future, until the protagonist, Abel, could conquer her.

However, Arthur remembered that even though Abel was able to conquer the Goddess of Light, Elena, she did not completely surrender herself to him because the trauma from her past was not resolved.

Thinking of this, Arthur smiled slightly and closed his notebook.

"Tomorrow, I have to go to Rozen, the capital of Duke Asvold's territory," he said lightly, tapping his finger on the desk.

That's where Elena should be right now.

He knew this because it was the ten-year period before the Balka Empire novel arc began, when Elena was still in the slave market and being tortured by the slave trader.

He had to cut off Abel's chance of finding and rescuing Elena from the slave market.

At least Elena had not been too severely affected by her past trauma.

Arthur stretched his arms and legs, then turned to the window and looked at the starry night.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," Arthur said as he went to bed.

...

In the capital city of Rozen

Just when Arthur was falling asleep, in a dark and dirty-looking room, there was the sound of a little girl crying and begging for mercy.

"I'm sorry~"

"I'm sorry~"

"Cough, cough," a girl's voice that sounded very pitiful could be heard in the dark room.

The little girl was lying on the ground, and her appearance was truly pitiful.

Her clothes were torn to shreds, her face was full of bruises, and worst of all, the skin on her hands and feet had very gruesome wounds.

Blood and pus were oozing from the horrifically swollen wounds.

She tried to maintain her consciousness so as not to faint; otherwise, she might get tortured by the man in front of her.

She didn't want to feel this agonizing torture.

Her tears had dried up from crying so much, and she had no strength to lift her head.

Now, she just hoped that the man in front of her would let her go so she could sleep.

She was exhausted, and her body was trembling constantly.

"Huh!"

"I'll come back tomorrow and torture you again!" A bald and fat man snorted coldly and looked coldly at the little girl lying beneath him.

Immediately, the fat and bald man walked out of the dark room and locked it.

The little girl lying on the ground did not move, and there was only the sound of slow breathing in the dark room.

Immediately, she tried to move her hands, and an excruciating pain was felt all over her body.

She could only close her eyes to endure the pain until the pain slowly subsided.

"Mom, Dad, I miss you." The little girl shed her tears again and cried.

"I can't take it anymore, mom, dad."

She curled up on the ground in pain and spoke with tears in her eyes.

The incidents she had experienced in the past five days had really left her, a little girl, devastated.

She really couldn't take it anymore and felt that death was the better option.

However, she immediately remembered her mother's words at that time.

"However, I always remember your words, mom."

"Mother once said that a good girl like me would always be happy and if I get into trouble, a prince will come to save me on a white horse."

"I always believed everything you said, mom,"

"I always waited for my prince to come and save me from this nightmare,"

"I believe..." The little girl slowly closed her eyes in exhaustion and fell asleep.

Only the sound of slow breathing could be heard in the dark room.

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To be honest, I felt too sad while writing this chapter.

Was I too cruel? hey~

However, the next chapter will be even more interesting!

Stay tuned!