episode_0001

When I reached a dead end by endlessly retracing the past, the first memory etched into me was the sharp scream of a glass being shattered.

“Why is this brat staring at me like that and causing a scene? Just yesterday, she was crawling around like a scared mouse.”

The man beneath the shadowed eyes was a ruffian whose unkempt hair and sharp teeth contrasted with his appearance. Despite his disheveled appearance, his golden hair would surely shine beautifully with a little cleaning. He was a man with such contradictory looks.

“If you’ve gotten used to being a drunkard, should I keep quiet? Please, stop this nonsense!”

“Are you trying to play the role of a mother now, after being a loudmouth to everyone else? Control yourself a bit.”

The man sneered. In response, the woman, clutching her tattered clothes tightly, screamed.

“Even if others don’t know, you shouldn’t speak to me like that…!!!”

“What’s wrong with that? You wanted it, so we had sex and even made a child, but your greed knows no bounds…”

“Ugh…!”

The woman, struck dumb by his words, was beautiful. She had put on makeup even with cheap products, and her slim figure lacked unnecessary fat. At least she had preserved her youthful beauty better than the man.

The woman looked at me with a complex expression. Her eyes seemed on the verge of tears, and her excited face was a mix of emotions. Clueless, I innocently tilted my head.

“Let’s go.”

The woman’s firm command left no room for refusal, and the possibility of resistance was unclear from the start.

Creak.

As the front door made a noise like it was groaning from all the twists and turns of the world, a stale smell filled the air. It was a wretched slum. Despite not being far from the splendid residences, we were like rats, while the humans lived beyond the borders.

The woman, holding me close, headed towards the boundary of the human territory. Even though I wasn’t too old to walk, she seemed to cherish me. At the same time, she looked at me with a gaze that hinted at obsession.

“Goodness, why are you so beautiful? I hate to admit it, but you have your father’s blood running thick in you. Of course, my blood is there too. Especially those deep blue eyes like a shimmering sea. Aquamarine always came to mind when Aquileum Hofjack looked into my eyes, subtly seducing me. Of course, I confessed everything to your father.”

Lost in memories, the woman spoke while stroking my head.

“And that golden hair. Your father, though now pathetic, was once the most handsome man in the empire. If he walked by a fountain on a clear day, the golden hair would reflect the sunlight dazzlingly. That’s why there were plenty of women who desired him. Thanks to that, my hands were stained with a lot of blood.”

Once the past stories began, they intertwined endlessly. It was a passionate reminiscence that constantly reached out to a brilliant era that could never be returned to. Yet, I got the impression of a pitiful woman, like reaching out desperately to the moon reflected in the lake, knowing she could never touch it.

Finally, she emphasized a truth to me, as if toppling the moon reflected in the water.

“Do not forget. You are the child connecting to the bloodline of the Velonin Empire’s Imperial Consort. This life of rot in this damn slum is not for you. Of course, as your mother, I am the same. So remember. Your lineage symbolizes the most noble sun of the empire, wherever and whenever.”

Her words seemed to prove a point as the sun shone brightly in the clear sky. Just approaching the outskirts of the bustling city seemed to change the saturation of the world. In that moment, a loud bang! of a firecracker shook the surroundings.

“The Emperor and Empress Mother are passing by!”

Several guards shouted at the top of their lungs. Behind them, a grand parade quickly followed suit.

The most eye-catching part of the procession was in the middle of the ranks. The main actors of the parade. A couple and a young girl waved their hands with bright smiles from a large, open jewel carriage.

Then the woman gritted her teeth. With a clear look of disdain, she glared at them as if she could kill them. Of course, amidst the many onlookers, it was unthinkable that a pitiful woman could catch their eye.

“I should have killed them decisively in the last tea time…! It’s all because of that woman. How did she know? No, it’s been like this since before. That lowly daughter of a poor writer has been interfering with my life as if she’s living it all over again.”

The woman’s delusional mutterings seemed endless. Behind the gossip of the elegantly dressed woman, it was time to curse the man with fiery eyes.

“And that man, too. Every time, every time, he miraculously saves the day at crucial moments…! He was unrealistically perfect, unlike him. Who would think that creature rolling in from the north is a human being? No, from the start, your father was nothing better than that man in looks and deeds!”

Her eyes, bloodshot and angry, turned back to me. Her green eyes, mixed with arrogance and obsession, were beautiful. But she didn’t know how to offer comfort. She had never seen a scene where one person comforts another since she was born. The former Emperor’s son and the daughter of a government official knew nothing but their glittering past.

“Well, since I’m already here, I might as well make a living. Even if I don’t have money to take care of that brat, I have enough to feed you.”

The coin purse jingled. The empty space inside the very thin purse seemed vast. So the jingling sound seemed to echo more clearly, as if displaying the emptiness.

The woman, flaunting her charm, walked out onto the street, receiving everyone’s disdainful looks. People cursed at her as if they had overlapped some kind of past with her beauty. Naturally, there was not a single kind person. Every curse in the world seemed to exist to cover us.

The moment when the woman’s eventful past was completely trampled was fleeting.

The man who had not given way pushed us with his large shoulders as if to show his contempt. Momentarily losing her balance, the woman stumbled back onto the bustling roadside. Then, a merciless ripping sound brushed past her ears.

In the end, she was able to escape unharmed by throwing herself with all her might. After realizing the situation to that extent, she hesitated for a long time. It was a very dynamic experience in my world, but it didn’t seem that way to most people.

A guard dragged the woman, stained with blood, somewhere. That was how the parting with the woman who gave birth to me happened. Despite the countless eyes under the sky, it was just a trivial event that quickly lost interest.

“That wicked woman finally met her end.”

“For a villainess who once held the empire in the palm of her hand, she seems quite foolish.”

“Her face is half and half, so I was planning to visit her soon… Oh well! What a shame, what a shame.”

“Exactly, when else will we have the chance to see the Emperor’s woman up close?”

“Like a parasite, I had to watch as they received money from the sky and were crushed underneath…”

Vulgar whispers were exchanged. However, the provocative remarks insulting women quickly flared up and then died down just as fast, like items hanging under their ribs. The death of a woman who once ruled the world was just that.

I retraced my steps back the same way I had come, carrying the coin purse the woman had left behind. Walking against the flow towards the slums, I felt nothing. Was I too young to accept my mother’s death, or did I truly feel nothing at all? If it was the latter, it was clear that I was born broken, just like their child.

Receiving subtle glances from both old and young women with each step, I sought refuge. They seemed to want to say something but restrained themselves with their own sense of restraint. I passed it off as inheriting the appearance of both parents, just as my mother had said.

The numb truth came to me with a grim face. Upon returning home, the first thing I witnessed was the menacing presence of intruders. And beyond them, a blond man bleeding from his head trembled as he lay dying.

The black makeup running down to his cheeks looked particularly dark. The man gasped for breath and barely managed to utter one word: “Bastard.” This was his father’s final farewell.

“They say there’s no money they can’t handle.”

They laughed mockingly. The invaders who had reduced the once mighty emperor to such a pitiful state were debt collectors.

“If we raise them well, we’ll make a profit even after dealing with the women.”

“It’s a relief that we inherited something good from our father or mother, isn’t it?”

“But what if this backfires? He was an emperor after all.”

“Idiot! Can’t you see the state of the household? Living is shameful enough, so just die like you’re supposed to.”

“Anyway, the higher they are, the more ruthless they become. Maybe they’re making the most of what they’ve learned.”

“Enough, let’s take the child first.”

Their greed approached me slowly. It exuded desire like the hands of the dead reaching for salvation. As the thug’s hand reached my shoulder and hand, the madness of my mother’s final plea echoed in my mind.

“Never forget. You are the child who inherits the blood of the fallen Emperor of the Velonin Empire.”

The blood of the fallen Emperor. In that moment of reflection on its meaning, the world turned monochrome. The thorns protruding from the creaking desk and the spider webs asserting their territory from the ceiling stood out vividly.

Following that, a black fog shimmered like an illusion. The certainty that I could control it as I pleased captivated my consciousness. Men recoiled at the clear supernatural phenomenon, but unfortunately, the house was too narrow for them to escape.

A terrible scream echoed.

I was five years old.

It was the first time I took a life.