Chapter 1
“The fiery sunset slowly fades away, and the hidden black moon rises in the sky.’’
When the sun is obscured by the moon, darkness finally falls, and the entire world, unaware if it is darkness, covers its eyes and ears.
When evil descends upon the world.
In the midst of that darkness, one who will illuminate it appears and takes root in the dry land, which is none other than the sky and the light.
Even if one were to cover the sky with their palms, their own light cannot be hidden.
In the moment when the will of the engraved god is embraced, all will be guided by light.
So, accept my destiny. By doing so, evil can be prevented.”
From the Record of the Gods
Asilla Imperial Year 1805.
Lady Tresha.
“Again!”
Thwack, the sound sharply echoed through the night sky. Lady Diana, the wife of Viscount Tresha, repeatedly uttered the word “again,” while slapping her young daughter’s cheek.
“Again. Can’t you do it properly?”
As if stung, Sarah instinctively covered her ears with her hands, and hesitantly sank to her knees.
Her cheek was already swollen and discolored from the repeated blows.
Sarah Tresha.
The second daughter of Viscount Tresha, a beautiful child with delicate features. Yet, she grew up receiving indiscriminate verbal abuse and physical violence simply because her eye color was different from that of her family.
“It’s horrible. Such a worthless child entering our family. This is clearly a curse!”
Upon realizing that Sarah’s irises were different from those of ordinary humans, Lady Tresha, the viscountess, screamed that it was a curse and uttered dreadful words of disdain. Raising such a child was considered “a disgrace to the family.”
Nevertheless, Sarah strove earnestly to be loved, despite enduring severe mistreatment.
After all, she was of the Tresha lineage.
However, all her efforts were crushed when she turned ten. Sarah discovered that she was not born into the Tresha family.
According to what the viscount told her, Sarah’s birth mother passed away shortly after she was born.
Because of this, Sarah knew nothing about her place of birth or who her parents were.
As time passed, she turned eighteen. The present moment was hardly different from her childhood.
Being ignored and scorned had become an everyday occurrence for Sarah.
“…Again, I’ll try.”
It was painful and frightening. But she couldn’t cry out in pain. There was no one here to hear her whimper.
Sarah gritted her teeth against the pain and trembling hands, and picked up the flower.
Her hand holding the flower was so bony that her bones were visible, and her wrist was slender.
Though she was now close to adulthood, she had a smaller and more slender body than her peers due to a lack of proper nutrition. This was also due to the abuse she endured.
“All the flowers touched by you have withered! What are you going to do now?”
The reason for Sarah’s current predicament was that she accidentally knocked over the flowerpot that Lady Tresha cherished. Merely brushing against the flowers and her own hand in the corridor caused the flowers to lose their vitality and die.
Upon learning this fact, Lady Tresha, instead of anyone else, knew that it was Sarah who did it, and she raged furiously, demanding that Sarah revive them as if she were holding a mouse. The flowerpot was more important than her daughter to Lady Diana.
“Hurry, use your cursed power to bring them back to life. How many times do I have to give you a chance? Huh?”
Lady Tresha sneered and pressed Sarah’s forehead forcefully. Sarah was pushed back weakly by the strong force of the lady.
However, Sarah closed her eyes tightly and endured the ordeal. Her eyelashes, moist with tears, trembled, and she bit her lips until they bled.
“Use your cursed power to revive them again. Mother won’t wait for you.”
As Lady Tresha taunted her, she burst into laughter. She seemed almost like a witch.
In fact, Sarah had a special power different from her family. Whether it was magic or some kind of ability, she didn’t know, but Lady Tresha called Sarah’s special ability “a curse” when she saw it.
“Ha…”
Sarah let out a deep sigh. Despite her repeated efforts to revive them, Sarah ultimately lowered her hand slowly, glancing cautiously at Lady Tresha.
“…I, I don’t think I can do it, Mother.”
“What? Can’t do it?”
With a sharp voice, the viscountess’s hand rose again. Sarah thought she would be hit again and tightly closed her eyes.
Thwack!
A sharp sound echoed in the air, and at the same time, there were short screams from the attendants watching.
“Eek!”
Sarah screamed as she weakly fell backward. Tears quickly welled up in her eyes, but Sarah suppressed her emotions, refusing to cry.
“Mother…”
She said in a weak voice.
“Who’s your mother? Don’t say you can’t do it in front of me. Never again!”
The viscountess scolded with determination. The look in her eyes was so venomous that the maids around could only watch silently. Everyone just hushed.
“…”
Sarah felt ashamed of everything happening now. She wanted to hide from the gaze of everyone looking at her.
“Stop it, Mother.”
At that moment, Derek’s voice came from behind. Sarah burst into tears as soon as Derek appeared, as if she had been waiting for him to come and held back her tears.
“You, you?”
Derek grabbed the viscountess’s wrist. Derek Tresha was the eldest son of the viscount’s family. He was the only one in the family who took care of Sarah.
“Mother, please stop.”
Derek alternated his gaze between Sarah and his mother, his voice tinged with a sigh.
Noticing Sarah sitting there, Derek rushed over and helped her up.
“Are you okay?”
Derek gently brushed off the dust from Sarah’s dress. He frowned as he looked at Sarah’s swollen cheek as if he himself had been hit.
“Mother.”
Derek hid Sarah behind him and said to his mother.
“Sarah is crying, and if the servants see her like this, rumors will spread. And I’ll buy flowers again, so please calm down.”
Saying this, Derek approached the viscountess, put his arm around her shoulders, and comforted her to ease her anger.
“Why are you taking her side?”
But the viscountess got even angrier and sharply pushed away her son’s hand.
“Why are you favoring this wench? You don’t even pity your mother!”
“Please, Mother!”
Unable to have things go her way, she screamed in frustration.
Sarah looked at the two with a terrified expression. Her small face was already covered in tears.
“Sarah.”
Derek sighed with a sympathetic expression and called out to her. His eyes were full of compassion. Indeed, Sarah’s current appearance was pitiful beyond words.
“Let’s go. You probably haven’t had dinner yet. There might be bread in the dining hall. Let’s have that.”
Sarah stared blankly at Derek, then bowed to him in gratitude as he gestured for her to leave.
Although the viscountess was glaring at her, Sarah slowly began to move away from her seat, just as Derek had instructed.
Like this, Lady Diana, the Countess, despised and resented Sarah.
In fact, the Tresher couple had a youngest daughter, one year younger than Sarah. Beria Tresher.
The Countess abhorred her daughter, Beria, born from her own womb, but the social circle preferred Sarah, who was prettier and more clever.
Of course, Beria was also beautiful, but she was always overshadowed by Sarah. When Beria learned one thing, Sarah learned four.
Moreover, Sara was intelligent and wise. Such Sarah was another pride of the Tresher family, and Lady Diana could not easily reject her.
She could only be amazed.
Feeling as if her own child was overshadowed by an adopted child without any merits, Lady Diana felt her blood boil in reverse.
That’s why she couldn’t help but hate Sarah even more. In the social nobility, everyone loved all their children tenderly.
However, inside the house, she abused Sarah. The abuse seemed justified to her.
Sarah trembled. But she couldn’t abandon the Tresher family either.
She acted outside as “a daughter who receives plenty of love from her mother” just as the image of the Tresher demanded.
That was her way of surviving without being abandoned and of sticking around here.
“……”
Sarah, who had moved to the garden to avoid the two, finally let out a sigh of relief.
Glancing back slightly, it seemed that Derek was talking to the Lady.
[Who’s your mother? Don’t say that you can’t do it in front of me. Never again!]
“Huh.”
Recalling the Lady’s words, Sarah twisted her lips and smirked.
Wiping away the tears that had gathered in her eyes, Sarah hardened her expression. Then, taking advantage of the commotion, she secretly took out the flowers she had brought.
As she looked at the wilted flowers, her eyes, which had been golden until a moment ago, turned into odd eyes. Sara slowly raised her hand and carefully touched the withered flowers.
“……”
It was the Lady’s most cherished flower. A flower that resembled herself perfectly, she had watered and loved it all day long.
However, the flower wilted completely. Sarah burst into a soft laughter.
Around the wilted flower, a blue light shimmered, and soon the flower began to bloom again.
The flower returned to its original state. It was all thanks to Sarha’s special ability. Resurrection.
It was what Lady Diana had longed for. However, Sarah didn’t listen to her.
She couldn’t do it, even cried.
Even if she was slapped on the cheek several times, she never intended to listen to the Lady’s words in the first place.
“Why should I? Why should I do as that human says? Absolutely not.”
Sarah laughed again as she watched the revived flower fall to the ground.
“……It’s not the time.”
The flower was innocent, but this family had sins. But it wasn’t the time yet.
Not revealing herself was to ensure that everything went smoothly.
If she wanted, she could marry someone suitable and leave this house, or save money and run away.
But Sarah didn’t do that.
Because there was something she had to do in this family.
That was to end this family with her own hands.
The flowers of revenge bloomed.
