“Huh…”
Sephiel looked at her hands.
She could barely see the white and chubby fingers because of the lack of sunlight.
No matter how many times she squeezed her hands or pinched herself, reality didn’t change.
“How did it become like this…?”
Sephiel was sitting in the underground prison.
It was the place where Sephiel was confined from the time she was born until she was fifteen.
‘No matter how much I think about it, there’s only one answer.’
Sephiel lifted her head and looked at the wall.
On the damp prison wall, five tally marks had been scratched in with a child’s fingernails.
It was a mark made by Sephiel so that she would not forget how old she was.
“I’m… back to when I was five?”
‘How could this be happening…’
Sephiel wanted to cry.
Because she knew all too well what was going to happen in her life in the future.
* * *
The Four Monarchs.
The Allegro Royal Family, descended from an ancestor who was the master of the Magic Tower.
The Grand Duke of Fuller, a noble lineage established by a margrave.
The Grand Duke of Sarihan, ruler of the free city-state of Volun, was known as the “Gold Duke.”
Lastly, The Grand Duke of Remdragon, a family whose blood is mixed with dragons.
The Union of Kingdoms was ruled by these four monarchs.
Sephiel was born as the fourth daughter of the royal family of Allegro, the first monarch who ruled over the Magic Kingdom.
The problem is that there is a secret prophecy passed down through the Allegro family.
{A child born into the royal family with white hair and red eyes will bring misfortune. That child will be the ruin of the kingdom.}
If that cursed child smiles, the kingdom will weep tears of blood, and even in death, the child will curse the kingdom
It was a prophecy without a beginning or end.
‘Why did I have to be born with white hair and red eyes?’
Besides, Sephiel was an illegitimate child.
From what little Sephiel had overheard from the guards, his mother—whom she had never seen—died just a few days after giving birth to her.
To be born under such circumstances was like winning the lottery of misfortune.
‘Ah, someone saves my five-year-old life.’
Still, there was one thing to be grateful for.
‘At least the Allegro royal family is ridiculously superstitious.’
The kingdom of Allegro was now known as a nation of magic. However, the royal bloodline originally descended from an ancient, lowly clan of sorcerers.
Because of that, they strongly believed in superstitions.
For example, they believed that a ‘ghost of a child who dies unjustly’ would haunt their family forever and curse them.
So, for fear of being cursed, the Allegro royal family decided to let Sephiel live.
Instead, the moment she was born, it was decided that she would be imprisoned for life.
Fortunately, young Sephiel was a very well-behaved child.
With her large, pomegranate-red eyes, she would blink slowly, and suck on the end of her shabby blanket.
No toys. No one to talk to her kindly. No delicious food. No love.
Those are the things Sephiel remembers from her childhood.
The prophecy said that if Sephiel one day smiled, misfortune would come to the kingdom, so it was only natural that she was treated like that.
‘The only good thing is that they at least let me study.’
She would probably never have the chance to leave that prison for the rest of her life—but just in case.
Fearing that the existence of the hidden princess might one day be exposed to the world, the kingdom provided Sephiel with a minimum level of education.
‘After all, I am technically a princess of this kingdom. They can’t have me growing up like some animal, unable to speak or read.’
No matter the circumstances, the royal family always ensured their members received basic education.
Even death row prisoners in that cursed country are given as many books as they want.
At least because of that, Sephiel was able to read.
<I don’t tolerate whining during my class. Don’t even dream of acting like a child.>
Her private tutor always scolded Sephiel until she cried.
And then, there was her father, King Wittegar III.
Every so often, Wittegar would visit Sephiel in her prison cell, though always begrudgingly.
<Be a good child.>
With a kind-looking face, Witteggar would say such things.
<Well, it’s said that she was the cause of the kingdom’s misfortune as told in prophecy. But she seems more ordinary than I expected.>
He said that too.
Sephiel wished that her father would pat her head. But she could never say it out loud.
Whenever her father brought Sephiel’s brothers, the princes, to the prison, he would pat their heads and speak to them kindly.
‘That was all I wanted.’
And after her father left, Sephiel would grip the iron bars and sigh, biting her lips.
Even so, Sephiel grew up—slowly but surely.
‘But you know…’
Sephiel pursed her lips and sighed.
‘Isn’t it too much to be a genius in this kind of life?’
Sephiel’s prison was a royal prison.
It had iron bars and was buried deep underground in darkness, but—
‘At least there was a decent desk. An old bed, too.’
Although the prison conditions are terrible.
There had been other royal prisoners before Sephiel. And they had left behind countless books and writings.
Once Sephiel learned to read, she began to mumble the words aloud as she read the book.
It was fascinating.
Sometimes, in her dreams, someone would murmur stories to her.
After having those dreams, math formulas and difficult book contents would settle easily into her mind.
She had nothing else to do, so she studied alone every day, reviewed her lessons, and wrote endlessly.
The only things Sephiel was allowed were paper and a pen.
That’s how her days without sunlight passed by.
Then, at fifteen years old, something happened that changed Sephiel’s life forever.
Something truly a huge deal.
* * *
