Ashen Demon

1

She was so confused.

A woman with mint-hair and emerald eyes found herself within the fields that she doesn't recognized based on the landscape. Wearing her standard mercenary outfit, and in her dominant hand is the Sword of the Creator. Straighten herself up from kneeling down, she looks around, as Byleth tried to recount what had happened.

One moment, she was with her army to whom they had just taken down the organization who worked from the shadows. It was funny that her life would turn upside down since the night she and her late father had met the three house leaders, who would one day lead their country. Then again, she always felt like she wasn't normal since she kept having the dream of the war that happened ages ago, and the fact she talks to the girl who would later turn out to be the fell-star goddess herself.

And to think choosing one of the house leaders would make a different outcome of her life with them, individually.

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 The first time while she was naïve back then, Byleth had chosen Claude. She never knew why, but perhaps it was because of what she had sensed from the other two house leaders, Edelgard and Dimitri. She felt like Edelgard was staring at her as though she was something she needed for whatever she planned in the future. Dimitri, on the other hand, looked quite sincere but she sees a storming darkness behind those earnest blue eyes of his.

Like a caged beast awaiting to be let out. The beast that Dimitri tried to keep at bay, but would eventually consume him one day in the future.

Claude was no better compared to the two of them; he wasn't as bad though. But the smiles he has on his face each time she sees him, they never seemed to reach his eyes. So of course, Byleth chose him because he doesn't seem like he was bothered by her being in his presence. She only, in return, seemed to catch his interest like a puzzle awaiting to be solved.

She was just a simply mercenary with an infamous reputation as the Ashen Demon, who kills without an ounce of emotion on her face. No regrets, no hesitation, no nothing that states how she feels during battle. She was quick and fierce; not letting anything stand in her way and knew what needed to be done. Her swordsman skills are superb, something which would obviously catch the eyes of many who wanted her to be recruited.

Teaching the Golden Deer was interesting, even as the months go by there was something about them that made Byleth began to feel something towards them. Even though they were a bit off-put by her lack of emotions, they still interact with her to make her feel welcomed. Emotions are a fickle thing to her; Jeralt had told her she never cried once since she was a newborn. Even when she got wounded, she did not shed a tear and simply stared at her bleeding wound before getting it treated.

She overheard from the mercenaries in her father's group that it seemed like she stares right into their soul, and that she is like a living doll. Others say she is like a statue with the way she stares off into nothing, even while she is in the middle of doing chores or sharpening her weapon. Neither wouldn't believe her if she were to say that the gossip she hears about herself brought a sting to her in the chest.

It's safe to say she was heavily bothered by it.

However, instead of speaking about it, she decided to let her actions speak.

To many within the monastery, she is the daughter of the Blade Breaker. The daughter who cannot seemed to express any emotions, and wanders like a living statue. No one knows what is going on within her mind, or could make out what she is feeling. She was deemed unapproachable and some even pitied the Golden Deer for having her as their professor.