COTE\OC Unpolished Diamond Year 2

Volume 0 Prologue

Zenin Toji Monologue

What's the meaning of life?

What's the point of being alive?

I never knew what this simple concept meant.

However...

As much as it can sound contradictory...

All I ever knew was how to survive for this life of mine.

From the moment of my birth, I didn't have a choice but to fight to survive. It might be due to my survival instinct that kicked in, but I fought despite being unable to understand the point of life.

I can't remember my time as a newborn baby, but from my very first memory, I cannot recall a single sign of love and affection.

A curse.

That's what I was called and treated like.

At some point, I accepted it and started to fight—to fight to survive in the world in which I was born.

A world where my father abandoned me and my mother rejected and despised me.

No matter what awaited me, I knew I would fight to get through it. 

Humanity is something I quickly erased from my mind.

Unable to understand the meaning of life, I had no choice but to turn my back on any humanity to survive.

That's how in this dull and boring life of mine...I fought against my family and the world to survive.

To protect something I couldn't even understand...

At first, it's been complicated...between the daily beat-up, harsh treatment from the people, being alone and more...every day was a fight to survive.

Yet because of this same hellish daily life...I managed to overcome any weakness and reach the top to protect myself.

I became the monster they had been seeing since the moment I was born.

That's why one day, after all the years of surviving in my world...

I learned I've been sold...

Sold to a particular man named Ayanokoji Atsuomi.

I didn't care, though.

After what I've been through, it was a simple Monday for me.

Despite being unable to understand what's the meaning of life...I knew it was something I would survive again.

With this mindset, I was removed from the Zenin family at 14 to join Ayanokoji Atsuomi, my new tutor.

However...

Despite being prepared to survive again, what I've been welcomed with was...

Atsuomi: That's all...you'll get married and have a child...

A child?

Married?

Yet despite this surprising announcement, I didn't care at all and nodded.

Once again, everything was about my survival, and I was not able to understand the meaning of life.

Even if my new environment outside the Zenin was completely different...I stayed clueless about life.

Until...

Until a simple piece of paper was given to me...

For the first time in my whole life...