Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Prologue
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When I was little, my parents died in a car accident. After that, I bounced around from one relative's house to another, eventually ending up freeloading at my aunt and uncle's place, who were quite well-off back then.
But as if fate were playing a cruel trick, just a month after I moved in, my aunt and uncle's business went under, and their fortunes plummeted overnight. Of course, it was probably just coincidence, but people tend to get superstitious when times get tough.
Before long, my aunt's family started seeing me as some kind of cursed doll that brought misfortune. They whispered that I'd devoured my own parents and now had my sights set on them.
I was dumbfounded, but I couldn't even protest with a "That's not fair!" One look at their eyes—glinting like they were just waiting for me to say something they could tear into—and anyone would have clammed up.
So I swallowed the pain from their accusations of "devouring my parents" and meekly took their verbal abuse without a word.
It was filthy and despicable (that's putting it mildly), but at that point, no other relatives would take me in, so whether I became meat or fish, I had to stick it out at my aunt's house.
A person eating cold stares is in trouble whether they smile or not—but not smiling was the bigger problem.
Instead of being the "gloomy niece," I became the "grinning idiot niece" and somehow scraped by in that house.
Fortunately, the library near the house saved me from wandering aimlessly after school.
Every day after classes ended, I'd pull out whatever book caught my eye and kill time reading.
At first, I tried studying, but the day my grades beat my aunt's son's, the floor of the cramped storage room where I slept turned to ice. It was a cold spring.
After that, I gave up on studying. Come to think of it, studying was for people with a future.
Even if I aced the college entrance exams, my aunt and uncle weren't going to pay my tuition.
To be brutally honest, future or no future, all that mattered to me then was staying warm in the moment.
In the next exam, my scores humbly plummeted.
But my storage room floor didn't warm up again.
I nearly grabbed a pencil in a fit of rage but stopped myself, fearing they'd take away my meals next.
And just like that, I muddled through until I became a high school senior with a pitch-black future ahead.
Since the new semester hadn't started yet, I guess I was technically a prospective senior at nineteen.
And on some forgettable date like January 9th.
My uncle suddenly said he was craving cake and shoved some money into my hand. Go buy it, that meant.
So I was on my way back with a cake for the family when.
Screech—thud.
I lay on the cold asphalt, watching my blood spread across the dark road.
Amid the chaotic murmurs and screams filling the street, I felt my body temperature steadily dropping.
Ah, I've been hit by a car. And now... I'm dying?
My life flashed before my eyes like a montage, but there weren't many happy memories.
Still, a faint pang of regret rose for such a meaningless death. If I was going to die like this anyway...
...Die like this anyway? What then?
I'd spent my whole life pretending not to know what I wanted, so I didn't even know what to regret. What good was it now?
Tears welled up, trickling from the bridge of my nose across to the other cheek.
The changing traffic lights blurred in my fading vision.
My consciousness swiftly swallowed by darkness, I met my end in the blink of an eye.
But then.
"What a pretty baby girl!"
Something felt off.
"Thank you, God...!"
"Madam, you've been through so much."
"Our daughter... is our daughter healthy? Did she come out well?"
I blinked my eyes open and stared at the face of the strange woman holding me.
"Yes, she's perfectly healthy...!"
The woman, who had been speaking joyfully, met my gaze and her expression turned a little awkward.