1. Omen of Misfortune

The epidemic devastated the spring in the south. Even Eb, a village nestled at the foot of the mountain, could not escape the devil’s touch.

The corpses of the sick densely filled deeply dug holes, yet space was still lacking. Workers with cloth covering their noses and mouths sweated profusely as they dug new pits.

Amid the sighs and wails of survivors echoing across the field, the sound of running feet drew closer. Faces filled with despair turned toward the same direction.

As the figure of a running girl appeared, one woman hunched forward as if ready to lunge at her.

“How dare you come here!”

“Stop that. She’s probably lost family too.”

People held the woman back while eyeing the child with suspicious glances.

“Who knows if that ominous orphan killed Ann too? Who knows if the devil spread this curse across the south looking for his daughter!”

Hearing the woman’s collapsing screams, Chloe couldn’t approach any further and made a tearful face.

“What’s wrong with her hands?”

“Why are they covered in dirt? What has she been doing?”

“Did she catch some animal?”

“Surely not. It’s the day the person who cared for her died.”

As the murmurs grew louder, Chloe’s shoulders shrank. She fidgeted helplessly with her hands, filthy from spending the night uprooting plants across mountains and fields.

“Everyone should be quiet at a funeral.”

The voices subsided at an elderly man’s solemn shout. It was Teacher Gerald, the village’s only schoolteacher.

Gerald, who had returned to his hometown after working as a professor at Bercherie’s higher education institution, was the third oldest person in Eb. His excessively strict and cold temperament meant no one dared treat him carelessly.

“Chloe, come here.”

Despite the teacher’s call, Chloe only trembled and couldn’t move. A man and his son who had been standing at a distance approached her.

“Chloe, Chloe. Are you alright?”

“Anyone can see she was looking for herbs and ran here without time to wash… Grown adults taking out their anger on a twelve-year-old child, you should be ashamed.”

Gilbert, a tapestry craftsman, and his son Ronald put their arms around Chloe’s shoulders. The villagers, knowing how close Ann and Chloe had been like real mother and daughter, stopped blaming the child.

Chloe peered through the crowd at the pit but couldn’t find even a strand of Ann’s brown hair among the piled bodies. A rough, wrinkled hand covered the eyes of the child who was craning her neck.

“There’s nothing good to see, so don’t look. Ann wouldn’t want you to remember her like this.”
Leaning against Teacher Gerald, Chloe burst into tears she had been holding back. In her desperate search for ways to save her aunt, she had missed being with her at the end.

The smell of burning penetrated the warm spring air. Even far from the pit, coughing broke out here and there among the gathered crowd.

Watching the blazing flames, Chloe felt guilty even for coughing and sobbed with choked breaths.

It felt like the only star shining in the cloud-covered night sky was going out. The reason to continue her misguided life was vanishing into nothingness.

* * *

Demon’s daughter born from a human womb, harbinger of death, witch.

These were the labels attached to Chloe for as long as she could remember.

Even as she moved from village to village, staying with various relatives, the labels stuck like a brand. They were words passed down by adult relatives who justified their ab＊se.

Perhaps it all began as a prank by a god bored with immortality. On the day her mother first felt her daughter stir in the womb, the sky suddenly darkened, and news arrived of her father’s death in battle. Then, the day after Chloe entered the world, her mother breathed her last as a red moon rose.

When eerie coincidences piled up, people trembled as if they might die at any moment. Yet the baby, who only knew how to cry loudly, had neither the intention nor power to cause tragedy.
Adults would explain how ominous Chloe was and become enraged whenever they pricked themselves with needles or a dish suddenly broke.

By the time the ten-year-old girl had grown accustomed to being beaten and despised, her next destination was a tavern located in a gloomy corner on the outskirts of a neighboring village—a den notorious for its low-quality drunkards.

Being sold into such circumstances, her future treatment was obvious. Having grown up witnessing all sorts of human filth, Chloe had no difficulty imagining the misfortunes awaiting her.

“I’m sorry! I don’t want to go, please!”

The usually obedient child resisted with unprecedented intensity. Even when they pulled her hair and slapped her face on the street, she felt no pain.

But her body, with skin clinging to bone, lacked the strength even to run away. In the end, unable to overcome her distant relatives, she was grabbed by both arms and dragged away.

“Wait a moment.”

The flower shop owner stepped forward from among the whispering onlookers. It was Aunt Ann, who had hidden Chloe on the day she escaped after nearly dying.

“Come live with me, dear. If you’re not going to a wealthy home, that is. I can easily feed one more family member.”

The aunt asked Chloe to live with her before even seeking permission from the adults. The child, who had been thinking desperately of death with unfocused eyes, nodded with all her might, afraid the opportunity might disappear.

The relatives, receiving money from Aunt Ann instead of sending Chloe to the tavern, departed for the capital.

Despite practically buying the child, the aunt never made her sweep once. She didn’t reach for a belt when responses were slow, nor did she grab Chloe’s hair for oversleeping.

She gave more food even when Chloe’s stomach was full and urged her to sleep more when she woke at dawn. She bathed in warm water, wore crisp clothes even if they weren’t expensive, and attended school.

Ronald, the tapestry craftsman’s son, was her only friend, likely due to what other parents had said. Still, these two years with Aunt Ann were the most peaceful and warm time in her short life.

“Chloe, even if I leave, you must continue living. Understand? As long as you don’t lose hope, joy will surely find you.”

Every time they visited the infirmary that had become a gathering place for epidemic patients, Aunt Ann would firmly grasp Chloe’s thin arm and repeatedly urge her to live on. As if without such encouragement, the child might take her own life.

The aunt’s worry was not unfounded. Having heard since before she could remember that she should never have been born, Chloe found it impossible to develop any enthusiasm for living.
It was no exaggeration that Gilbert and Ronald visited the flower shop daily to check whether the child, curled up in a corner of the deceased aunt’s room, was still alive.

Time continued to flow, and the southern region, swept by numerous deaths, was gradually recovering its daily routine.

“Chloe, why have you gotten so thin? It’s truly upsetting.”

Mrs. Donna, Ann’s younger sister, examined the child with teary eyes and embraced her tightly. Living in another village, they weren’t as close as family, but they shared their loss.

Mrs. Donna agreed to take care of the flower shop and Chloe on weekdays while keeping her family in the neighboring village. It was a decision to preserve the flower shop that had been passed down through generations.

Like her sister, who had been greatly influenced by their uncle, a cleric of the Sealed Temple, Donna was also devout and kind. However, unlike her sister, who had lived alone since being widowed early, Donna couldn’t care for Chloe as attentively.

Still, Chloe felt that even just a warm smile and gentle words were more than she deserved.

After the cruel spring passed, a brilliant summer arrived in the south. Yielding to Gilbert and Ronald’s persuasion, Chloe agreed to return to school.

The summer sun was fierce from morning. Chloe squinted and set out.

“What’s that?”

“Who’s coming?”

Hearing the commotion, she lowered her head and hunched her shoulders as she walked. Soon realizing from the clattering noise that people’s attention wasn’t directed at her, she stepped aside to the edge of the road.

Two black horses with tongues lolling to the side nodded their heads wearily as they pulled a carriage as large as a house. Their tired legs quickened with the crack of a whip.

Astonished, Chloe looked up at the luggage that filled the carriage to capacity and even occupied the roof, only to breathe in sandy dust.

The white horses that followed pulled their carriages with more ease. Though smaller than the one that had just passed, it was a luxury carriage she had only seen in fairy tale illustrations.
Unlike the common hired carriages, its wheels didn’t shake much even on the bumpy road.
What kind of rich person would come to such a rural area?

The first thing visible through the window was a man with a neat appearance. He wore a gloomy expression as if bearing all the world’s sorrows.

Opposite him sat a lady who had not yet shed her girlish appearance. Her fair complexion, untouched by physical labor, was beautiful even from a distance.

The lady, turning her head inward, was moving her lips saying something. Following her gesture pointing outside, a child who had been hidden leaned forward.

Just then, the carriage was passing in front of Chloe. As the boy’s bright blue eyes met her gaze in midair, her violet eyes trembled greatly.

Ah, a reason to live had appeared.

Her head, covered with gloomy clouds, cleared. She had no idea that this nameless boy would drag her into inevitable misfortune.

Chloe had no choice anyway. Even if time were turned back thousands or millions of times, she would inevitably fall in love with this sea that held the summer sun.