Liza POV

  Father and Mother had always kept Liza at home. Liza always wondered why, but Liza never complained because Liza was happy to be with Father and Mother and Brother. When Liza turned fourteen, Father finally told Liza why. As the children town’s Mayor, Brother and Liza had expectations to fulfill. Brother would become a warrior for Naut City and help the Players complete their Quests. Liza would become the political head of the family. Father said the political world was dirty and filled with lies. Liza knew that. Whenever Father held meetings at home, Liza would eavesdrop and find various lies in the conversation. Father was no exception. He lied as much as the other people; however, Father would never lie to his family. Liza spent each and every day without thought or worry. Liza had no ambition or dream. Liza wanted things to remain like this forever.

  This Liza disappeared when Brother and Liza overheard a conversation between Mother and Alex, one of our workers. Liza could not believe what we heard. Liza learned that Liza was not Father’s child. Brother and Liza decided to keep it a secret from Father; however, Liza was incapable of lying to Father, so Liza would say the truth if Father asked, but Father never questioned anything. Father fully trusted Mother even with her suspicious actions such as leaving the room at night. Father knew this, but he trusted Mother very much and believed she had her reasons.

  After that, Liza changed. Liza paid attention to the private lessons Liza attended. Liza would actively ask Liza’s  teachers various things. Liza thought it was necessary. If Father one day learned of Mother’s disloyalty, Mother and Liza would be removed from the family. Liza hated Alex as well. Although he was Liza’s biological father, Liza never thought of as one. Alex was the one who can destroyed Father and Mother’s relationship, and the result of the destruction was me.

  Due to learning of Mother’s disloyalty, Liza pondered about love. The concept of “romantic love” had always eluded Liza. Liza never imagined that Liza would one day marry another person. Liza said during Liza’s childhood that she wanted to marry Brother and Father, but Father said that type of love was different.

  Liza’s life changed a second time when Mother, Brother, and Alex died. Maybe Father learned about Mother’s disloyalty, Liza did not know. It was a stormy night. Heavy rained poured through the war with the Goblins outside. Liza was told to stay in the hidden room along with Mother and Brother. After night fell, which signaled the end of the war, Mother left the room and told Brother and Liza to stay. We waited for an hour, but nobody returned, so Brother left Liza as well.

  Liza waited and waited, but the constant strikes of thunder grew stronger and stronger. When Liza could no longer take it, Liza exited the hidden room as well. When Liza arrived at the main hall, Liza saw Father besides Brother’s corpse. Father emitted bloodlust towards me. Liza realized Father knew Liza was not his child.

  Liza thought that if Father learned the truth, Liza would leave and live by herself, but Liza couldn’t do it. Liza would rather die than live life without Father.

  Liza approached Father, fully prepared to be killed, but in a single instance, Father’s bloodlust disappeared. Father embraced Liza tightly and cried. Liza cried as well, for Mother and Brother. Father and Liza held each other in tears for hours.

  Liza accepted Mother’s and Brother’s death. Liza knew Brother and Father were participating in battle, so death was very possible. Liza was prepared and was ready to accept it, but the hurt it made Liza feel did not disappear. Liza grieved for months and months.

  Father gave a story of what happened and shut himself from the public. The story said that Brother and Mother were killed by Goblins. Liza did not know whether that story was true or not, but to Liza it mattered not. It didn’t change Brother and Mother’s death. Liza never asked Father about Mother’s disloyalty or anything that happened that night.

  Father spent the next six months shut in the house, but late at night, he would occasionally leave it secret. After that, Father lost his wealth and position and we were kicked from our house. We moved into the house in the slums Father bought by selling one of his marriage rings. Despite not living in luxury, Liza cared not. Liza was with Father, which was all that mattered now. Liza became a normal girl who left the house for tasks and chores; however, because of everyone knew of Liza’s family’s history, Liza never made any friends.

  When Liza turned eighteen, Father and Liza wanted Liza to work. During this time, most of the Players had disappeared from Reality, and we were waiting for the second generation’s arrival. Liza found that the previous owner of the Item Shop had retired and left the shop, so Liza decided to become the new Item Shop manager. Father supported Liza and sold his other marriage ring to rent for the Item Shop and served as capital.

  Liza began working in the Item Shop to prepare for the second generation of Players whose arrivals all Characters were informed of. Liza knew this was the only chance Liza could make friends, so Liza was excited.

  Liza’s expectations were shattered the day the Players arrived. Most merely entered the shop, operated the menu, and left. The few that remained only talked to Liza about sexual things. Some even considered raping me, but that was impossible since Characters could paralyze Players at any moment as rights given to them by Reality’s System. After the first day, Liza gave up. Father always said that most Players never thought of Characters as people, and now Liza’s sees that. Players are yet to realize that Reality is far more real that they could imagine. Of course, Characters were forbidden to talk about what Reality actually was.

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  On the second day, a boy arrived and began talking to Liza. The boy was named Hawk. He asked this and that about Reality. Unlike other Players, Hawk treated Liza like a real person.

  The next day, Hawk came again. This time Liza took the initiative of talking to him as well. We talked about various things, about Reality, about Players, about Characters, and about useless things as well. We even ate lunch together because we could not stop talking to each other.

  Hawk said it was hard for him to become friends with other Players. He said he preferred becoming friends with Characters because we were pure. Liza never understood the meaning of those words.

  For the next few days, more Players began talking to Liza as well. Of course, they were all part of Parties so they could never stay too long in conversation unlike Hawk. Hawk’s shopping here had become a point of anticipation for me. Every day, Liza always thought when he would arrive. Although he came every day, he would sometimes leave after shopping with a quick goodbye because he was busy, but he would always stay and talked with Liza whenever he wasn’t.

  At the end of the first week after the second generation of Players arrived, Liza returned home to visit Father. Surprisingly, Liza found Hawk in the house speaking with Father. Apparently, Hawk had somewhat become a Player who accepted most of Father’s Quests. Father would send a message to him for his Quest Requests instead of going to the Quest Guild. When Liza learned that, Liza was delighted. Father was delighted as well when Liza talked about how became friends with Hawk.

  Three days after that, Liza returned home after work because Father was sick. After a few hours, Father’s sickness disappeared; however, his movements remained limited. Liza wanted to spend the night at home, but Father insisted it would be better for Liza to return.

  Liza followed Father’s instructions and left home, but in the middle of the road, it began to rain heavily. Liza was worried. The rain itself was not a problem, but what came with it was. After a few seconds, lightning flashed across the sky, and so did the memories of that night in Liza’s mind.

  Since the night Brother and Mother died, Liza had become afraid of lightning and thunder when outdoors. Liza was perfectly fine when it was storming when inside the house, so the lightning and thunder themselves were not the problem, but if Liza could see the stormy sky as well, Liza could not move.

  Liza froze on the spot the moment the lightning struck. Dropping Liza’s umbrella, Liza went to a roofed corner and crouched down, embracing Liza’s knees. Since it was late and the weather was terrible, no person, Player or Character, remained on the streets. Liza was alone. Liza had to wait for the storm to pass, however long that may be, before Liza could do anything. Each second felt like an eternity to Liza. Time moved so slowly that Liza could count the time second by second time. Liza had reached 2000 counts, but only mere minutes had passed.

  Footsteps… in the midst of the storm Liza heard the sound of splashing footsteps approaching. Liza thought it was an animal looking for shelter, but as the sound drew closer, Liza could hear Liza’s name being shouted.

  Finally, Liza noticed and silhouette slowly appearing from the direction of the shouts. The silhouette grew clearer and clearer until Liza saw Hawk standing before him. This Hawk was different from the one Liza knew. He was disorganized and dirty, wearing his pajamas instead of his usual outdoor attire. These pajamas were drenched and translucent.  His hair was a mess and dripping with rainwater. Hawk arrived panting before reaching out his hand to pull Liza up.

  Hawk kneeled and offered to carry Liza on his back. Although Liza had difficulty moving, Liza squeezed out all of Liza’s energy to climb on Hawk’s back. Liza held Liza’s hands tightly around Hawk and rested Liza’s head on Hawk’s shoulders. Hawk walked as fast as he could to bring Liza back to the Item Shop.

  Hawk and Liza took a shower immediately after arriving. It was already midnight. Hawk worried if Liza could shower without help since it was still storming, but Liza explained Liza was fine indoors. While showering, Liza saw a message from Father. Father apologized for his incapability to help Liza, so he sent a message to Hawk to find me. Without even seeking any reward, Hawk ran half across the City in his pajamas without any protection against a storm in the middle of the night to find me.

  Liza found Hawk sleeping at the sofa. His head was uncomfortably lying tilted on the sofa armrest. Liza sat besides Hawk and gently moved his head to Liza’s lap. While Hawk showed slight movements as Liza moved it, Hawk did not wake up due to how tired he was. Liza patted Hawk as he slept.

  Liza now realized. Liza loved Hawk. Liza wanted to stay beside him. To learn more about him, especially this side of Hawk: the person Hawk, not the Player Hawk. At this time, Liza had yet realized and considered the impossibility of this love. Liza merely enjoyed the moment of spoiled the boy Liza loved.

  An hour passed like a fleeting moment. Despite the hell-like wait being longer than the hour of rest, Liza felt that this time was infinitely shorter. Liza would be happy to stay like this together; however, there were rules concerning this, so Liza woke Hawk up. Hawk resisted greatly. While still half-asleep, he buried his face deeper into Liza's stomach and thighs as he thoughtlessly mumbled his refusal to wake up. As he did this, Liza thought Hawk was cute and was still a child at heart.

  After ten minutes, Hawk finally waked up. As he sat up, Liza noticed his blushing face, which Liza also found cute. Hawk and Liza talked a bit before Hawk had to leave. He hesitated due to his worry, but Liza said Liza would be fine.

  Only after Hawk left did Liza realized the impossibility of Liza’s love. Confusion filled Liza’s heart. Liza did not know what to do or how to act. Liza had a restless night with constant worry of what Liza would do.

  The next day, Hawk arrived at the shop first thing in the morning. As he talked with Liza, Liza’s heart filled with joy. This made Liza’s worries grow even greater. Liza loved Hawk more and more as Liza interacted with him.

  The day after that, Liza made up Liza’s mind. Liza told Hawk that Liza could no longer be his friend. Hawk was shocked, but he did not ask any questions.  Liza's heart ached with great pain as Liza did this, but it was for the best. Better get hurt now and end this than sow the seeds for a greater suffering the future.

  Of course, Hawk realized this. Although he may be inexperienced when it came to love, his not asking of questions showed his realizations of the reasons behind Liza's actions. Although his face showed that he still wanted to be friends with Liza, even he knew nothing could be done.

  Hawk still came everyday to buy. Liza heart still skipped a beat whenever Liza saw him. Hawk still greeted Liza whenever he saw Liza, but Liza avoided replying. Liza had to endure this until the feelings Liza had disappeared.