Slurp. Lick.

As if to be heard, the sound of him licking her w*tness grew louder.

He pulled away slightly, a smirk on his face as he looked at Livia holding onto his hair, seemingly pleased. He nuzzled his nose against her, then gently kissed her most private area, his nose rubbing against her.

“Ah…!”

A jolt of electricity shot through her as her bud, slightly swollen, was stimulated. Livia squeezed her eyes shut, biting her lip as she convulsed.

“The moment you held that dagger to my chest, your fate was already twisted. And when you came back from the underworld, many gods began to take notice of you. The boredom of those observers in the sky is like a thirst; if there’s anything remotely interesting, they’ll try to pry without a second thought.”

“So, Livia, you might as well have jumped headfirst into ‘this world’ back then.”

“From the moment you became mine, that was already your destiny.”

Dizzy. His words kept shaking her.

Triton, he was both a wave and a trap, pulling her deeper into the raging storm. It was too late to turn back, but she didn’t hate being sucked in.

What should I do now, what do I want to do with you?

Livia, breathing heavily, couldn’t help but pull his shoulders close.

An immense pleasure, so overwhelming that it prevented any other thought, washed over her like a tidal wave.

***

It was pure coincidence that the village headman found the collapsed old man.

“Just a sip of water, please. If you help me with just that much, I will secretly tell you the future of this village.”

The old man introduced himself as a shaman of the gods who could see the future. The old man, emaciated and sprawled under the shade of a tree, didn’t look like he’d last long enough to even swallow a sip of water.

Even a servant of the gods can’t escape hunger, it seems.

Clicking his tongue, the headman walked past the old man, pretending not to hear him. He was sorry, but even the headman had no time to care for a dying old man.

Famine had struck the village months ago. The village well had run dry, and days passed without a single catch from the nearby sea.

Many were starving, unable to catch even a single clam, let alone a fish. It had gotten to the point where some families were resorting to eating the sheep they had desperately stolen…

As a result, some had left the village in search of a way to survive. The headman couldn’t stop them. In fact, even he had been considering leaving.

However, someone had found gold in a cave near the coast. And they said there would be more gold if they dug out the cave.

Gold… Wasn’t it more precious than water, more valuable than grain?

Those who were about to leave came back. The sound of pickaxes echoed from the cave day and night. The occasional gold nugget found when they were about to give up drove them crazy.

The headman and his son were also clinging to that place. But it had already been several days… No one had found any gold. The famine was too severe to live on hope alone. The village grew more desolate by the day, and the starving people became violent.

“…I smell something burning.”

The old man muttered suddenly in a fading voice just as the headman was about to get out of earshot.

It was strange how that weak voice seemed to pierce his eardrums.

The headman stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around. The old man was leaning against the trunk of a tree, staring into the air, and muttering chillingly.

“They chased after the last one and dropped it in the water… They had no idea it would bring disaster upon this village.”

An unpleasant, raspy laugh followed. Ignoring the goosebumps on the back of his hand, the headman strode back towards the old man.

His eyes were wide with fear, as if he had heard something unbelievable. He shouted, trying to mask his own guilt and blame.

“What nonsense are you spouting to threaten me… Ptui! Get lost! I have no water to spare for a beggar like you.”

“…Blinded by greed, still consumed by it.”

“What?”

The headman’s face contorted, but the old man closed his eyes, his head resting against the tree trunk. The headman, feeling an eerie chill as if he couldn’t tell whether the old man was dead or alive, backed away instead of getting angry.

Ugh, what bad luck…

Ptui, he spat at the thing he couldn’t tell was alive or dead and hurried into the village.

***

“Maya, is that son of yours, Phedum, back?”

The headman flung open the door to Maya’s house, panting. Maya, already at her wit’s end because of her suddenly vanished son, frowned and snapped.

“Can’t you see if he’s back or not? Why are you looking for my son, you’re driving me crazy!”

“No, damn it. Are you serious? You really don’t know where he is?”

The headman’s contorted face was a sight to behold. Maya, already worried sick about her son who had disappeared one day, asked nervously,

“What’s wrong, all of a sudden? Did you hear something strange?”

The headman, his face flushed, told her about the old man he had encountered at the entrance of the village. He said someone seemed to be going around talking about what had happened in the village, and the headman was convinced it was Phedum.

Maya thought it was ridiculous. There wasn’t a soul in the village who didn’t know what had happened ‘that night’. Even a passing dog would know that a big fire had broken out in the hut beyond the hill and that Livia, chased by the villagers, had drowned in the sea. She had returned, yes, but there were also those who had left the village. So why on earth was he going after poor Phedum?

“Stop talking nonsense and go get Gary. I went to the next village looking for Phedum, and that Gary bastard is already blabbing about it. What? He’s the one who spread the rumor about finding the gold mine too?”

“W-what? That little… After I saved his family from ruin…!”

Maya shooed the headman away and paced anxiously around the room. It had been ten days since Phedum had disappeared.

The boy couldn’t even last three days tending sheep, yet he hadn’t returned home for ten days without a word. The villagers didn’t think much of it, saying it was normal for a young man to wander off, but Maya’s gut feeling told her otherwise. She had a bad feeling… a feeling of dread.

In fact, she had felt uneasy ever since she saw ‘Livia’ in the dark that day.

What was that all about? Livia was clearly dead… Did I see wrong? Was it a hallucination? A dream?

Thankfully, she hadn’t appeared again since then… Or was it really something to be thankful for? Really?

Maya paced back and forth, biting her nails.

Click. Click, click…

Blood welled up under her thumbnail. The metallic scent of blood filled her mouth, but she couldn’t stop biting her flesh.

She desperately tried to feign ignorance, but deep down, she knew. The beginning of the misfortune that had befallen this village… was actually because of her son, Phedum.

The strange plague that had been spreading among the sheep…

One day, Maya had witnessed her son’s filthy desires with her own eyes, and she knew that it would lead not only Phedum but also herself to ruin.

So she had chosen to escape the crisis by offering up the most righteous family in the village as a sacrifice. The beautiful and kind family that everyone coveted but no one could have…

The villagers, easily swayed, had taken the lead in burning that family to death. It had been exhilarating to see them dancing in the palm of her hand.

“…They should have just accepted us.”

He had caught her eye from the moment she first arrived in this village.

Lughis Horn…

A kind and gentle man. His wife had died early from illness, he was skilled with his hands, the sheep he tended were all healthy, and he was even financially well-off. He was perfect.

She had wanted to steal him away even when he had a wife, but now that he was widowed and living alone, he seemed like her perfect match.

One night, she had secretly followed him and poured out her heart to him, but he had coldly rejected her.

He had sternly told her he would pretend that nothing had happened today, but to never do such a thing again. He even scolded her.

To be rejected by a man at her age, and even scolded… It was so humiliating that she felt like a loose woman.

Of course, she hadn’t given up immediately after that incident, and she had made a few more advances, but he never once gave in.

From then on, the Horn family had been a thorn in Maya’s side.

Livia, the girl who had rejected her son, was no different.

So, at some point, she had become obsessed with the idea that she would see their downfall. Blaming Livia for the sheep’s deaths had also stemmed from that grudge.

Therefore, their misfortune was their own doing.

At least, that’s what Maya believed.

“Livia…”

The name escaped her lips like a curse.

Why did she have to come back? Why did she have to survive?

Maya’s nails dug deeper into her palms. The sharp sting of pain barely registered. She had a terrible premonition, a creeping fear that Livia’s return would unravel everything she had meticulously built.

The village, teetering on the edge of collapse, was on the verge of being swallowed whole by the darkness that clung to Livia. And Maya, despite her best efforts, felt powerless to stop it.

She had to do something, anything, to protect what was hers. To protect her son, even if he was the root of all this.

A new resolve hardened her gaze.

She would find Phedum. She would silence anyone who dared to whisper about that night. And if Livia Horn stood in her way…

Maya’s lips curled into a cruel smile.

Then Livia Horn would have to be reminded of the price of defiance.