"Are you absolutely certain about this decision, my little girl?"
Dan spoke in a serious and firm voice as he looked directly at the daughter standing calmly in front of him.
Sophia, his eldest daughter, stood there steadily with a composed and serious expression on her face.
"Yes, Father. I've already decided to walk this path."
Her answer came clearly and firmly, without visible hesitation.
Then she fell silent for a moment and looked at her father with eyes filled with respect and obedience.
After that, she continued in a softer tone.
"But if you want me to abandon this path, Father, then I will stop immediately and give it up completely."
Dan stayed silent for several moments, studying his daughter carefully and deeply.
Then he slowly walked closer to her and gently placed his hand on her head, softly patting her hair as he spoke.
"What are you saying, my little girl? Of course not. I would never force you to go against your true nature."
He paused briefly before continuing while still gently patting her head.
"Even if your nature isn't normal by ordinary standards."
He became slightly more serious afterward, his voice carrying clear support.
"Release yourself completely, my daughter. There's no need to suppress or restrain yourself."
"Even if you choose an extreme path, you'll always find me supporting you with all my strength."
Sophia spoke quietly, her voice filled with sincere gratitude. And it was obvious how much she enjoyed this rare and precious affection from her father.
"Thank you, Father. Thank you very much."
In truth, Sophia possessed an extremely dark and dangerous side within her personality.
A violent and bloody side. And side deeply addicted to killing.
She constantly tried to suppress it with all her effort while showing everyone only her warm, gentle, and caring smile the image of the perfect older sister kind and esponsible and reliable. After all, she was the eldest daughter and the very first older sister among Dan's children, whose number had now reached eighty three sons and daughters.
But Dan, her mother Hina, and her older brothers and sisters all knew about this dark part of her true nature. She had never tried to hide it from them or lie about it and always been honest and straightforward with her family.
The beginning of this dark transformation came from innocent curiosity. Ehile staying inside the Blue Dragon Kingdom, Sophia once wandered outside freely together with her brother Norman. During their travels, they encountered a foolish group of bandits who had secretly crossed into the kingdom's borders. Before Norman could immediately move to eliminate them, Sophia stopped him.
She wanted to experience real combat herself for the very first time even though she already possessed terrifying strength, she had never truly fought real enemies before.
And although she killed all of them in an instant with her katana style the moment she cut through living human flesh for the first time and she saw warm red blood pouring from human bodies and the heavy scent of blood filled the air around her something inside her awakened. A terrifying hunger and monstrous thirst for blood and killing.
The change happened suddenly and frighteningly fast. It was almost like a violent psychological shock had struck her mind and awakened something that had always existed deep inside her or perhaps it simply revealed her true nature. A personality obsessed with blood, violence, and death.
Her desire was completely different from her brother Leon's passionate love for battle.
Leon loved combat in a noble and honorable way he respected strong opponents and he enjoyed fair fights and he ended battles directly and proudly.
But Sophia's desire was far darkershe wanted to kill and to see her enemy's blood covering her shining blade. And even more disturbingly she wanted to see her own blood staining her enemy's sword as well.
She didn't only desire killing. She desired danger itself the thrill that came with the possibility of death. She wanted to feel a blade against her throat and to dance on the edge of death itself.
Because of that, even after awakening this dark side, she continued suppressing it beneath her warm and gentle personality.
But Dan understood perfectly well that she was forcing herself to endure everything because she wanted to carry her responsibility as the eldest sister and role model of the family.
Many times in the past, Dan had suggested that she freely leave for the outside world and completely release her true nature.
Even if there were almost no enemies capable of truly matching her overwhelming strength...
At the very least, she could kill freely and release the pressure inside her.
Even if that resulted in the deaths of huge numbers of innocent people or criminals.
Dan simply did not consider such things important compared to the happiness and mental well-being of his beloved daughter.
At his core, he was an extremely selfish man.
Although he preferred not to commit evil acts without reason. He would still do so without hesitation if it benefited himself or his children. But every single time, Sophia firmly refused him.
Her answer always remained the same.
"I don't want to completely sink into my dark desires."
"I'm afraid they'll change me."
"I'm afraid I'll lose control completely."
"I'm afraid I'll become a real monster... one that can never return."
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Hello dear readers, I hope you are enjoying this story.
I think many of you already noticed that in the image I posted of Sophia, she had very cold and sharp features. In this chapter and the next ones, the reason behind that will gradually become clearer.
I hope you continue enjoying the story, and thank you very much for all your continued support.
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I publish several chapters there before they are released here, you can join through the link partreon/Aaron4dicard Thank you to everyone who reads and supports the work.