Side Story: Yuwei – born to be cannon fodder

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I thought that I lived to love the princess.

I was disobedient, but my father would whip me if I didn’t come with him to the palace. He was an official and his dream was to groom me into a potential husband of the princess.

I threw a tantrum but he dragged me to the gate and scolded me along the way. It was then I first saw Princess Karen.

Was my heart thumping? Don’t be absurd! I, the smartest kid in the world, wouldn’t be affected by an organ!

Still, I couldn’t deny how pretty she was despite being young. I wanted to gain her affection for the sake of my immature ego. But her attention wasn’t on me.

It was Simon Dai, my best friend. A blockhead who only knew how to brandish a hammer. Just because he had a sunny smile and clear eyes?

I scoffed because I was too rational and understood that my feelings were only affection for beauty. Anyone wanted beautiful things. But I was too smart for that and thus, I wasn’t regretful if I didn’t get it.

Before I knew it, I’d been friends with this couple for many years. I said I was too smart but whenever I saw them happy, I felt envious.

Still, I wished them happiness from the bottom of my heart. They were the best people to be around. Anyways, I was better than them. The princess was a tomboy while Simon remained a carpenter.

Their simple lives couldn’t match my life. Unlike them, my father nurtured me to become the grand tutor when his dreams to marry me to the princess got dashed. I was also a master and became the youngest knight of the kingdom.

My halo was too bright for me to care. In fact, I thought having friends was like having pets. I loved and cared for them because I was the bigger guy.

But one fateful day changed everything.

Simon Dai became the hero. The entire world declared him as such.

And the worst, Karen actually had unprecedented talent no one had ever seen! She could easily replicate what I did and she would complete anything that I’ve never accomplished!

My superiority complex suffered a blow.

I tried to hide it but my friends saw through me. And with each passing day, they became more estranged from me.

No! This won’t do! I had to do something!

But they already had a misunderstanding against me. Hence, mistakes created bigger mistakes. I wanted to fix things but they continued to misinterpret my actions.

I got angry in the end.

And this anger led to the ‘death’ of my best friend and the downfall of my princess.

At first, I felt joy. Even though they were called the strongest saviors, I was still able to defeat them!

But because I was too smart, I soon came to the realization of what my goal was.

I just wanted to be with them.

In life, we wanted the best. It was a good goal. On the bad side, however, a goal narrowed our vision. We were too preoccupied with what was or what was going to happen. And thus, we forgot to appreciate the so-called small things.

But in fact, these small things were the most important ones.

I, Yuwei, was born to be a side character. I couldn’t appreciate the true beauty of the world. Physical, material, intellectual, and so on and so forth… they were just golden smoke. It looked dazzling, but it blinded us and made us do something we don’t want to do.

True beauty was the memories we once shared and we could share in the future. True beauty was the laughter of our youth and the strong shoulder during sadness. And true beauty was everyone living together regardless of circumstance.

Somehow, I hoped to die with my friends’ hands. Because regret was the most painful torture. And only by being killed by both of them, I could find release.

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