Chapter 3

I turned to the sound of laughter. I saw some children who were about the same age as me.

“Did your mother really drop dead?”

I said nothing.

“Everyone’s saying it’s such good news! Was your mom really that evil?” A ginger-haired girl spoke these cruel words with a very sweet look on her face.

They’re so annoying. These children were really getting to me, but what could I do? It’s fine. I’ll just go inside. Maybe they were disappointed when I ignored them because they called out to me again. I continued to ignore them stubbornly and began to hurry away. But I had to stop when I heard the girl say something.

“Did your dad really kill your mom?”

“What did you say?”

“They said that your dad locked her up in the tower until she died! He abandoned both of you!”

I stared at her as the rest of the children began to chime in.

“He must have really hated her to have locked her up!”

“She must have been really bad!”

“Doesn’t that make you bad, too? Like mother, like daughter!”

Their words became weapons that sliced at my already-torn heart. I didn’t think there was anything left that could hurt me, nor that anything could make my life even worse than it already was. I wanted to scream in anger. I wanted to cry and shout. But I couldn’t let them see me like that. If I did...

Why can’t I? They started it first by insulting my mother and speaking ill of me. They’re still young, though. They couldn’t possibly mean what they were saying. I should be able to reason with them sensibly. They probably didn’t know right from wrong.

“It serves you right!” several of the children cried out at the same time as if they had practiced doing so.

At that moment, I felt something inside me snap. It serves me right? I tried to be understanding, but I suddenly had so many questions. Did they really not know right from wrong? They couldn’t possibly be that ignorant. They had to know. This had to be pure malice. They hated me because of who my mother was. I glared at them, eyes deader than ever. I could not find any guilt or remorse in their stares. They looked like they were enjoying this, just as the knights did.

The children began to resemble shadows, their mouths stretched into nasty grins. They were sneering at me, mocking me. And as they did so, it was obvious they felt that they were doing the right thing. They didn’t just need someone to teach them better.

I slowly lifted my gaze to the sky. When did my world turn so gray? It was clear and sunny, but all I saw was a darkening sky, storm clouds rolling in and erasing any trace of sunlight. I began to laugh hysterically at the sight, feeling as though it was a sign that the end was coming for me. “Ha, haha!”

The children flinched when they heard my laughter, but many of them opened their mouths as if they were about to say something. I tore my gaze from the sky and faced them. They hesitated in the face of my deadly glare but put on triumphant expressions again.

So I spoke up. “But don’t you think I’m still doing better than any of you?”

“What did you say?”

My voice was soft, but it carried to them in the silence. They blinked as I adopted a mocking tone. “I became an orphan because my mother died, but you guys can’t say the same.”

Their faces reddened in anger, and they appeared visibly offended. “Hey!”

“You’re all orphans, just like I am. Why are you taking it out on me?” I tilted my head sideways in curiosity, and their faces became redder still. They looked ready to explode. They also looked humiliated, some of them hanging their heads. I sighed at the sight of dispirited faces and stared back at them. “If you don’t enjoy hearing that, you shouldn’t speak so cruelly.”

Unlike moments ago, they seemed dispirited at the sight of my cold glare. They also seemed a little dumbfounded by my unexpected retort. They floundered, confused.

I didn’t want to continue arguing with children who seemed so intent on tormenting me. And well... What’s the point of making enemies? I didn’t know how I was going to die, so I needed to be wary of creating bad blood with others.

I turned away from the speechless children, trying to get back to my room. The world, however, seemed to desire something different for me. I had forgotten about Yuriane, who stormed over and grabbed me. I winced in surprise and she started to scold me viciously.

“Goodness me! How could you be so mean to your friends?”

I stared, unable to find words. And to think that she was just standing there and watching quietly until moments ago. So she’s going to give it up and join them in tormenting me. There was no mistaking Yuriane’s stance—she would not hide her true feelings anymore, and she would no longer treat me kindly like she did before.

“How dare you say something so malicious! How horrible! You sound just like your wicked mother.” She spoke softly, but still loudly enough that her voice carried to the children.

I flinched and tried to say something, but she silenced me and continued her tirade. “And you show no signs of regret! You leave me no choice. Daphne, you will not eat until you learn what you did was wrong!”

I kept silent.

“Now, what do you say?”

“Yes.”

She would not let me go until I answered her, so I nodded and gave a curt reply. As soon as I did, I heard quiet giggling from behind me. Yuriane was suddenly siding with the other children, and that seemed to excite them because they started to snicker. She did not trouble herself with correcting their behavior.

“Well, then. Go to your room and think on what you did! I will come and check on you later!”

“Yes,” I answered, resigned, and she let me go.

Hearing the children snickering, I turned away from their derisive stares and headed to my room.

* * *

A terrible screech resounded through the air as I slammed my door shut. Since the door and its frame were crooked, I had to push it with all my might just to close it. My room was tiny and tattered. In reality, this was a storage room. I stared at the cramped space as I sat on the floor and leaned my head against the rock-hard bed.

My mother died a villainess, and the duke didn’t consider me his daughter. So I’m an orphan now. The story was already written, so I thought I wouldn’t feel anything. But I felt a strange ache—it pounded and surged within me, and I was sure I would explode if someone were to come and poke me. I buried my face into the bed to try and take control of my tumultuous emotions.

In the end, my world is gray, and it will only continue to grow darker until my inevitable death.

Among everyone—the people who criticized me for being my mother’s daughter, the children who showed me what real evil was, the orphanage staff who no longer seemed to care about keeping their abuse quiet, and the director who remained silent through it all—who will be the ones to kill me? I can’t remember the details. That damned, lousy novel was not much help. According to the story, I will die.

As I contemplated my death, my mother’s cold body came to mind. I don’t want to. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live. I didn’t want to curl up in fear believing that tomorrow would be my final day. I didn’t want to meet the terrible end that the story had in store for me.

My mother wouldn’t have wanted me to die that way. We had never talked, but something told me that she would have felt this way. If she wanted me dead, she would not have fed me, held me, or cared for me at all. Thinking about how there had been at least one person who didn’t want me dead, I felt a glimmer of hope coming alive within me. Although my mother’s last moments were not her best, I pictured her and lifted my head.

I must have sat thinking for a long time because when I came back to my senses the sun was setting. Since the sun set early in winter, I guessed it must be around six. As I wondered exactly what time it was, I heard footsteps outside. It sounded like there were at least two or three people, and my muscles tightened as I grew nervous. The door opened with a loud bang.

“So, did you think about what you did?”

I nodded, wearing a neutral expression. Yuriane stared at me for a long moment and then looked at the two others who stood behind her. She made eye contact with the women who often abused me, and eventually she sighed deeply. “You were both right. I was too soft on the girl all this time. What a disobedient child.”

I stared up at Yuriane with a straight face.

“We should really beat the evil out of her.”

The other two burst out laughing at Yuriane’s cruel words.

“The purple is just like her mother’s, an ill omen. How ugly.”

“You don’t look like you have any idea what you did wrong. This won’t do. You’ll come with me tomorrow.”

I shook hearing those words.

“If there are more people teaching you, perhaps you will come to your senses!”

Yuriane led the other women out of the room, all of them laughing. Ordering me not to even think about leaving the room, they barricaded the door and disappeared.

They’re going to take me somewhere. The threatening looks on their faces told me it could only be somewhere frightening. “They are taking me somewhere to get beaten to death.”

The absurd situation I found myself in meant I was able to perfectly predict how I would die. I had to escape from this place today. It was the only way to avoid dying. I had to leave in order to survive.