Before that, she had been living with her family in a remote countryside in Satsuma Domain.

The poor life in her childhood actually sharpened Lin's willpower.

With this tempered will, as well as her hard work, talent and opportunities, she established Calabash House in a very short period of time.

In fact - Lin's life has not been so miserable since she was born.

Before her father died and her brother took away all the family's belongings and ran away from home, Lin's life was not one of luxury, but it could be considered a comfortable life.

On weekdays, I even have free time to play on a hillside not far from home.

Looking at the hillside in front of her, looking at the extremely familiar plants and trees in front of her... Lin guessed that her eyes now must be quite gentle.

This was her childhood paradise.

It is also a "treasure" that she cherishes very much until now.

However, just as Lin looked at this treasure place that meant a lot to her with nostalgia, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a petite figure from the corner of her eye, which made her open her mouth involuntarily.

She saw herself.

She saw herself, who was two sizes smaller than she was now, running towards a dead tree on the hillside with the unique "bounce-bumping" gait of a child.

--etc……!

Lin's pupils shrank suddenly after seeing this scene.

——This is...!

She suddenly remembered.

Thinking back...this was "that incident" that happened when she was 4 years old.

Stop, don't go there - Lin subconsciously wanted to warn "Little Lin" who was still running towards the dead tree.

But she found that she couldn't make a sound.

Her body couldn't move either.

She could only...like a spectator, watching "Xiao Xiaolin" running toward the dead tree and the young man who was squatting under the dead tree.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

"Xiao Xiaolin" asked the young man abruptly.

The young man raised his head and showed a gentle smile to "Xiao Xiaolin".

"A smelly cat scratched me just now, so I'm trying to teach it a lesson."

"I just wanted to see if a cat would still be cute after being skinned."

After saying this in a matter-of-fact and comfortable tone, the young man moved his body to the side, leaving enough space so that "Xiao Xiaolin" could see clearly what he had been tinkering with just now.

Under the boy's body was a kitten that had been skinned from the head down, with only half of the skin removed.

The kitten only had half of its body and fur left.

Only the bloody body was left in the upper half of the body.

When the boy moved his body to the side, the kitten's furless face happened to be facing "Xiao Xiaolin".

The kitten's eyes, which had lost any vitality, happened to meet the eyes of "Xiao Xiaolin"...

At this point in the dream, the scene in front of me began to blur and become distorted.

When the dream was shattered, the last sound Lin heard was the scream of "Little Xiaolin"...

…

…

"Um……"

Lin murmured softly and slowly opened her eyes.

——Am I...?

Lin, who had just woken up from her dream, and her mind was still in chaos, scanned her surroundings with blank eyes.

She found herself in a slightly dark room.

There is almost no furniture, only desks, cabinets and other simple furniture.

Lin subconsciously wanted to move her body.

But after moving her hands and feet, she suddenly realized that she couldn't move.

He quickly looked down - she was tightly tied to a European-style wooden chair.

The upper body and the back of the chair are tightly tied together.

The two legs of the lower body are tied to the two chair legs respectively.

The only part of the body that can move is the area above the neck.

The memories before falling asleep flashed quickly in Lin's mind at this moment.

Invited by Yukimura, who is almost half of her Calabash House, she went to Yukimura's house alone for a dinner...

Before I had even taken a few bites of the meal, a large group of unknown people holding muskets suddenly rushed out...

Due to the surprise attack, she was not able to prepare in time. In addition, the enemy was large in number and armed with artillery. The terrain was also very unfavorable to Lin. Therefore, although she launched a counterattack as soon as possible, she was still outnumbered and was defeated.

Knock down, knock out.

When you wake up again... it will be now.

——Where is this place?! Where are Mamiya and the others?!

Lin then noticed a window on the wall not far from her.

She stretched her neck hard and tried to look through the window to see the scene outside.

However, because her body height was not high enough and her angle was limited, Lin stretched her neck so much that it hurt, and she could not see the scene outside the window.

However - although she couldn't see the scene outside the window, she could smell the smell coming out of the window and the sounds coming from the window.

She smelled the unique salty smell of the sea.

She heard the waves crashing on the shore.

——I am... at the beach?

When Lin was shocked that she was now at the beach——

"Oh, Xiaolin, you're awake."

"Because I thought you were about to wake up, so I've been waiting here, waiting for you to wake up."

"It seems that I really waited for the right thing."

These words... no, it should be this voice, as if it has some kind of magical power over Lin.

Lin felt her nerves... were numb at this moment.

At this moment the pupil shrinks to the size of a pinhole.

As if she couldn't wait to know the truth, she suddenly turned her head and looked in the direction where the male voice came from just now.

Because she had just woken up, her brain was still in a state of chaos, and her consciousness was not clear yet. In addition, the room was dark, so Lin didn't realize until now that there was a young man sitting in an inconspicuous corner of the room.

The young man slowly stood up and walked towards Lin with a gentle smile on his face.

Seeing this young man getting closer and closer to her, Lin was horrified at first, and then the horror on her face slowly turned into anger, as if she was seeing an enemy.

"Nobuhide...!" Lin gritted her teeth and squeezed out the young man's name.

"Xiao Lin, it's been a long time." Toyotomi Nobuhide said softly, "How many years have we not seen each other?"

As if she wanted to stay away from Toyotomi Nobuhide, Lin struggled hard a few times while her body was tightly tied to the chair.

"I knew you would not be honest after you woke up." Toyotomi Nobuhide continued to smile, "so I tied you up first."

"Stop struggling. You can't break free."

"I see..." Lin raised her head, her eyes as if she wanted to immediately pick up a knife and kill Toyotomi Nobuhide, "Are those iron gunners who suddenly appeared and knocked me unconscious all your people?

!”

"That's right." The smile on Toyotomi Nobuhide's face became even stronger, "The whole process of catching you... was much easier than I thought."

"...where is this?"

Lin's originally rapid breathing gradually became calmer, and her body no longer continued to struggle.

The fierce look that was originally glaring at Toyotomi Nobuhide became much calmer.

However - when she looked at Toyotomi Nobuhide, the disgust and hatred in her eyes did not change much.

"Oh..." Looking at Lin who regained her composure so quickly, Toyotomi Nobuhide exclaimed in a low voice, "She is indeed my sister, Toyotomi Nobuhide, she regained her composure so quickly."

Toyotomi Nobuhide glanced at the window next to him.

"We are on my battleship now. And this is the room I live in."
To be continued...