Chapter 1

It was a strangely warm day. The streets were full of people busy preparing for the festival. The holy festival where the star of glory will rise was a festival held once a year. Naturally, people were all looking forward to this sacred festival.

‘I’m late. I’m sure they’ll be angry.’

Pink hair. A mess of unmanaged hair was covering her eyes. The woman was running quickly through the crowd to somewhere.

“Ah. Then that kid is….”

“Who is that girl?”

“Why! In the square 10 years ago…”

“Oh…. Was the kid back then that big already?”

“Hey, you mean that kid is still alive?”

The people who were preparing for the festival soon saw a woman with an armband on her arm passing by and started talking.

She was an impressive woman with a severely small, skinny body for her age, and a still hollow face.

“Hey, here it is!”

Like an abandoned house with no maintenance, blue ivy covered the door.

Knock. Knock.

She knocked on the door for a while. The knocking sound was small at first, soon became louder.

“Hey, Grandpa! I’m here!”

From inside the door, there was no sound.

‘Should I go back? No, if I go back now, I won’t be able to eat dinner.’

This was ordered by the priest himself. The woman shook her head vigorously. She knocked on the door again.

It wasn’t long before she realized that the door wasn’t locked.

‘The door is open. Can I come in?’

“Grandpa, I, I, can I just go in?”

She reached out and opened the door. Her skin peeking through the hem of the cloak was a mess with terrible scars and skin diseases that looked like flesh had been ripped off.

“Yes. That the witch’s daughter is still alive…”

“There is a story that that child was also cursed.”

“They say she lives in the temple to wash away her sins.”

People looked at her standing in front of the door and chatted for a long time. To avoid those words, she opened the door and went inside.

“Hey, I’m here! grandfather…?”

A harsh voice came out. Her voice was hoarse, and it sounded like an instrument abandoned in an unmaintained hut.

“Hey, Grandpa! Sleeping in a place like this is dangerous…!”

“Ah… okay. Yuri.”

“You don’t even turn on the stove…You don’t even cover yourself with a blanket.”

“Hmph.”

“Ah, it’s still cold…you know it’s easy to get sick at times like this….”

Yuri. A woman with an ugly appearance and severe stuttering. Even with her right leg crippled.

“Well, how have you been….?”

She was a celebrity that everyone in the territory knew.

She was really famous. Some used to look at her with compassionate eyes, but most did not.

The witch’s daughter, a cursed child.

It was another term for Yuri. The village elders sometimes say, ‘If you cry like that, you will marry a witch.’

In the rumor, no one really paid attention to what kind of child Yuri was.

“You’re crazy, sit down. This old man isn’t dead yet.”

“I, I have to clean…..”

“Leave it. I will take care of it myself.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I, I am good at this.”

Saying so, Yuri smiled softly and brushed off the dust. There were piles of dust here and there, but there was not a single dust on the medical books lying on the floor.

Seeing that, Yuri smiled brightly. Even though he said he would quit his job as a doctor because it bothered him every day, he still seemed to love this job. The old man got up from his seat.

“Is it Menanda grass again today?”

“Yes, yes….please.”

“Silly things, do you have faith in eating such things?”

Menanda grass, although it was said that eating it when you are sick makes the pain less, if you eat it in a healthy state, it will give you a stomachache. They seemed to think that this was the first grass the goddess stepped on, and eating it was a kind of training.

“Hey, Grandpa. Well, those words are… ”

“Why? Are you trying to tell me it’s heresy?”

“Oh, no… ! Well, it can’t be.”

Yuri wiggled her fingers and made excuses. The old man’s eyes stayed on Yuri’s thin clothes. He put some more firewood in the fireplace and offered Yuri a seat.

“Sit there. There will be some dust, but it’s better than standing.”

“Ah, thank you.”

‘It’s a relief. ‘

Yuri bowed her head in gratitude and sat down carefully. On days when she stood for even a little longer, her right leg got numb.

“Wait here.”

The old man’s eyes turned to Yuri’s arm. An armband with the sign that she was a sinner living in servitude was barely hanging from her arm.

“It’s winter, and your clothes are too thin.”

Although it covered the scars on her arms and back to some extent, the thin clothes that were too thin to wear in the winter drew attention.

“Ah, it’s okay. It’s, it’s warm inside the temple.”

“Come on. Drink this and wait.”

“Ha, thank you.”

If he didn’t know what Yuri was going through, the old man would scoff at her for being ungrateful, but his sympathetic gaze on Yuri was burdensome.

‘I never thought it was painful.’

There was a rumor that if you go near Yuri, the curse will be transferred. She didn’t know why the rumor spread, but most people blindly trusted this rumor.

Because of that, she couldn’t make a friend outside the temple, and there was no one to take her side.

Literally, it was an unfortunate life as if painted. However, Yuri was quite satisfied with her life.

“Aren’t you even thinking of cutting that hair?”

“That’s……”

The old man looked displeased at the hair that covered her eyes. Through the long hair, purple eyes were shining.

‘A pity.’

He frowned.

A country blessed by Goddess. As if to prove it, the Espelt Empire had priests who used divine powers and some blessed nobles of bloodlines.

However, the number of priests who could use divine power had decreased, whether it had been outside the eyes of the goddess gradually. Even the members of the goddess’s family, whom the goddess sent to the world, did not appear.

‘They worship the goddess but torture that little child in order to attract the eyes of a nobleman.’

The old man bit his lip. Priests who preached about God’s mercy or love with their mouths, and devoted all their energy to abuse the small child, were ridiculous. Perhaps she had noticed the old man’s gaze, Yuri quickly bowed her head.

“Why?”

“Just…. Because everyone hates me when they see my eyes…”

Purple eyes just like her father’s.

Yuri was a slave in the temple to wash away her sins. She has lived her whole life as a slave to the temple, and it was clear that she will continue to be so.

Nevertheless, Yuri tried to live a happy life.

“Don’t you hate them?”

“Oh, no. How do I…… ”

“Did they say that?”

Yuri shook her head.

“Yeah. Sure.”

“I’m just glad to be able to work.”

Her father sent Yuri to the temple where the priests lived.

After she grew a little older, her body stopped growing. She used the same things as those of the ascetic priests for meals and bedding.

“I’m glad that you listen to me…… ”

“I’m grateful.”

In the morning, she studied the rules of the temple with the priests, and spent time reading books. In the afternoon, she worked hard, helping with miscellaneous chores.

Some priests in the temple still treated her as a sinner, and so did the Paladins. They hated her, as if she would transmit a disease if they touched her.

‘But only a few of them.’

Yuri thought so. Some people taught her how to write, or thought of Yuri as a fellow priest who suffered asceticism together.

“Tsk.”

The sound of the old man’s clicking his tongue filled the room.

Yuri kept her mouth shut. When she said that the bullies were only some, the old man got very angry, so Yuri couldn’t speak any more.

“Ah, the thing is……”

“Don’t worry. Because I am here.”

“Ha, thank you.”

“If your mother was still alive……”

Yuri’s mother. Anentes, she was a terrible woman that everyone pointed at.

She was a great woman who seduced the Duke of Slevard, a great noble called the King of the East, and slept with him.

After having a child overnight, she threatened him to become his concubine, but was not satisfied.

She committed all kinds of evil to become a Duchess.

“She wouldn’t have left you like that.”

Then Anentes murdered the Duke’s youngest daughter, whom he loved most. The Duke was very angry, and he tried to execute her and her daughter together.

“…… I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’m sorry.”

However, the temple was against the decision. It was said the reason was that it was impossible to kill a child according to the goddess’s precepts, but in reality, it was intended to suppress the nobility.

Anentes died, and the child became a slave in the temple, trying to wash away her sins. With that, the Duke’s anger seemed to cool down.

‘If my mother was alive, would she really love me?’

But everything went wrong. Anentes took her own life before her sentence of execution was carried out. Perhaps if she hadn’t committed suicide the day before her execution, the child would not have been punished severely.

‘I don’t remember, but…..’

The Duke’s wrath was directed at the child. The child was tied up in the square for 15 days with a sign ‘guilty’ written on her neck. Next to her was the body of her dead mother.

At first, even those who felt sorry for the child, no one paid any attention to the sight after a fortnight had passed. It was no coincidence that the carriage accident occurred shortly after the child got on the carriage heading to the temple.

‘Since then, I’ve been limping.’

After the carriage accident, they managed to save her life, but her body was not the same as before.

“When you return, apply this medicine first. If you put it on your hands, it will hurt less.”

The scars left on her body were the traces of asceticism with the priests.

The old man offered her a little ointment. A small wooden barrel was filled with white medicine. Yuri accepted it gratefully.

The old man said he was acquainted with her mother. He said that at one time they had been quite close.

‘It’s unlikely, but……’

Yuri was curious about her mother. Although it was a terrible past, Yuri did not remember most of it. To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that it was erased from her memory.

‘I’m sure she loved me.’

Others pointed at her. Some even said she was pitiful. However, Yuri thought her daily life wasn’t bad.

‘It makes me a little happier to think that way.’

She always hoped. She wanted a room with a window that wouldn’t let in the wind. She wanted a new white dress. She hoped that she would meet a good person and be happy for the rest of her life. However, she did not think that life was unhappy because there was no such thing.

“Ha, thank you…”

Anyway, she was alive. It would have been nice to have something like that, but she didn’t feel that life was unhappy just because she didn’t have it.

“Hey, Grandpa. I, I……I’m really fine.”

“…”

“Ha, because Grandpa is on my side. That’s, that’s all I need.”

That time changed Yuri. She had a habit of always thinking positively about everything.

‘Somehow the mother and daughter resemble each other in personality…’

A strange longing appeared on the old man’s face. He put in her basket white bread and a little butter along with the herbs. Yuri waved her hand, but the old man was furious.

“I don’t even want to see you. Get out.”

“Ahh, I can’t take it.”

“Heh, it’s a festival, so I’m giving it away.”

“I’m really fine.”

“Take it if I give it!”

“……Thank you.”

A strange smile appeared on her face. The old man hurriedly kicked Yuri out, but saw Yuri to the front door. He was a very friendly person.

“…… It’s cold, so be careful. Because it is a festival, there will be a lot of people. Be careful not to get hurt.”

“Yes!”

The old man stood there for a long time after Yuri disappeared after being swept away by the crowd.

“Tess. Leaving a child like that…… ”

His voice filled with sorrow rang in the air. The child, who was limping, had long since disappeared among the crowd.

pop! Puff!

Yuri looked up at the sky at the loud noise. Fireworks exploded and covered the entire sky.

Holy festival. It was one of the most important festivals in the Empire. A day to celebrate the day the goddess drove out darkness and opened up light. On this day, ‘Theas’, the brightest star, appeared in the sky. People would pray at the divine star.

Everyone stared at the firecrackers in awe. Yuri was no exception. Looking at the fireworks embroidering the sky, Yuri closed her eyes and made an earnest wish.

“My, tomorrow… Make it like today.”

She smiled as she watched the fireworks embroidering the sky.

‘Yes. I’m happy.’

She smiled softly and began to limp. There was still a long way to go.