Chapter 13
Ominous Child.
From birth, I was labeled as such.
On the day of my birth, a malevolent star shone the brightest. Fortune-tellers across the nation foresaw an inauspicious future for the world… And my mother, she paid the ultimate price for giving birth to me.
In the palace, where countless desires, conspiracies, and women’s passionate emotions intertwine, I lost my mother, my strongest ally. Born under such an ill-fated star, there was no way I, Millia Francklow, would lead a smooth life.
No matter how hard I tried, no one ever praised me. I could rely on no one, and no one relied on me.
I was treated as if I was something fragile, living my life in solitude.
Who am I living for? What am I living for?
Deeper and deeper, sinking further and further into the endless abyss of darkness, I feel myself falling.
「Ah… That child, that child…」
In this bleak world, the image that comes to Millia’s mind is of the boy who once saved her.
It had been so long since I spoke to someone, acted alongside someone. For the first time in what felt like forever… Ah.
It’s my fault; I got that boy involved. His future was supposed to lie ahead. Everything was supposed to start from here.
Yet, why?
Why am I sinking this far? Why does my heart keep drowning in the darkness?
Even not knowing the answer, I continually confront the darkness within me, which I normally hide, suppress, and try to ignore.
『That boy is dead.』
『Swallowed up by an ill-fated presence, a boy with a future.』
『He met a brutal end, lamenting his inability to bring happiness to his beloved stepsister, the only family he had left.』
Whispers echo from nowhere.
「I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry…」
Endlessly, Millia descends further and further into the depths of darkness.
「I should have just died… If only I hadn’t been born…」
She falls, and plummets, down to the bottomless pit of shadow.
『I AM STILL ALIVE!!!』
Suddenly, amid the overwhelming darkness, a powerful voice echoes within Millia, seeping into every fiber of her being.