Chapter 1: 1

“I’ll go with this one.”

A noble pointed at a girl with his finger.

Then High Priest Willam responded to him while he rubbed his hands together like a fly and flattered the man.

“That’s a great choice. It’s not bad in terms of quality and appearance.”

The girl smiled broadly while she stood between William and the nobleman, who were treating her like an object.

The rest of the children, who weren’t chosen, looked at the girl with envy.

Now the girl would go to a noble’s house.

Maybe she’d even wear nice clothes and eat good food.

‘But in return, she’ll have to be treated as an air purifier for the rest of her life…’

Everyone was crazy. This place was crazy.

It was time to click my tongue under my breath at the sight that I couldn’t adapt to even after days of watching it.

The eyes of the nobleman, who’d just purchased the child, looked this way.

I fell away from the door that I’d opened as much as I could.

‘Wow, I almost made eye contact.’

With a strong heart, I made sure that the nobleman wasn’t looking my way anymore, and crept back to peek out the door.

At the door to my room, the nobleman asked William.

“Why didn’t the child in that room come out?”

“Oh, I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but she’s a child whose actual character and appearance are substandard.”

Who was substandard in both character and appearance, you bald fly king.

I was annoyed, but I kept it deep in my heart.

Because I knew that William’s answer was simply a lie he made up.

Although it wasn’t something to be proud of, this body was William’s most cherished ‘product’ in name and reality.

“Oh, that’s not true. Aisha is the most important person in the temple…”

“Tom.”

That fickle thing.

The boy named Tom, who had been talking to himself in a small voice, fell silent at William’s brutal yell.

Fortunately, I didn’t think I’d get slapped on the cheek because he had a customer.

“Now Viscount, this way please.”

William, who changed his expression in an instant, took the nobleman and the girl, then they disappeared down a hallway.

Since the nobleman had chosen his item, they would write out a contract and he’d pay for it.

The children left the deserted hallway, and returned to their rooms on their own like well-trained dogs.

It was because it was bedtime soon, and they would be scolded if they didn’t go to sleep.

Why did I have to possess an orphan who lived in a temple that was like a nursery school.

Sighing, I also closed the door to my room tightly, and laid down on my old bed.

Then I muttered in a sing-song voice.

I’m completely done for.

From the moment when I realized where I was, and who I was, it was over. That was the only thing I could say no matter how much I thought about it.

‘I can’t believe I possessed a character in the book I threw away because I was frustrated with the world.’

Was this punishment? A divine punishment handed down by the writer?

Okay, let’s say I was wrong to throw the book.

But, you know what?

‘”Isn’t it awful that the main female and male characters were wasting time by page five? Writer…”

They were going to hold hands, but the male lead stopped when he remembered his dead wife.

The blushing female lead was also startled by the thought of all that she had longed for.

Come on, if you’re both going to hesitate like that, then you shouldn’t have met at all.

He’d hesitate, then be clingy, making the reader sick and tired of it all.

It was amazing that I managed to get through half the book because I couldn’t stand the frustration.

In other words, I didn’t read the other half, and I don’t even know the ending…

That’s not all. There was a second reason why I threw the book.

That my role is the boring ‘All-in-one Female Lead’.

Oh my God, writer. What was this all about? I couldn’t believe I’m a strange existence.

No, before that.

“I have a time-limit…!”

I scratched my head with my calloused hands.

Meanwhile, my bushy hair looked strange.

It’s so transparent that it’s confusing whether it’s silver or white.

‘Even if you melted your hair away with bleach, this color wouldn’t come out.’

It was also frizzy, and I looked like a pedigree white poodle…

I snapped out of my reverie, then I sighed and bowed my head.

A book that’s already been thrown, a transfered soul, and a beggar-like reality.

You can’t eat only porridge if you’re digging ditches.

‘Let’s think about it, think.’

I persevered, and finally remembered the title of that book I had thrown away.

<Lotus Blooming In The Mud>

In the book, like a bitter tragedy, there was overwhelmingly more after my death than during my life, my so-called ‘portion’.

As I said, why?

‘I’m timed to die prematurely at the age of 17.’

It was around the age of 20 that the male lead and female lead, who are the same age as me, began to get involved.

So, I appeared in the prolog, a description about how we grew up together in passing, and by the time the real story began, I was already deceased.

Whenever the female lead and male lead were wasting time, I appeared as a recollection.

All the time, over and over again.

It was like a bitter boomerang that kept coming back…

‘Well, it’s fortunate that Aisha’s description was mentioned during those reminiscences.’

From her name and appearance, to her background growing up as an orphan in a remote temple.

Thanks to the perfection of the fit, I realized that I was the prisoner of a bitter tragedy as soon as I possessed her.

What if you realized it belatedly when it was already irreversible? It was terrible just thinking about it.

‘I’m still young. I have ample opportunity to make a choice.’

Having been given such a bad role, I had two choices.

One was to ride out the original route, and die young.

The other one, was to become another cliché and put down the original mess.

I blew my messed up curly hair with my breath.

Isn’t it obvious which one I should choose?

“Follow the trends, and go with the flow!”

Live or die, of course I have to live!

I clenched both my fists firmly.

I was the one who persistently survived the chaos in my previous life.

So, this time, I would definitely survive. By any means.

“Then, first of all…”

I nodded as I looked around the room, which was as white as my hair.

“Let’s run.”

Away from this crazy temple.

***

“Ha, ha, ha…”

I’d been taking deep breaths for a long time with an overheated body.

Beyond the door, the priests wouldn’t come close to me, then a shiny bald fly king finally appeared.

“High Priest William!”

“What is going on?”

“Aisha is sick! However, look over there.”

The priests calmed the rampaging William down and pointed at me, who couldn’t even open my eyes properly.

“She’s out of breath.”

“The fever is too high.”

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“And that fever is definitely…”

They saw the red, burning fever that spread all over my body.

It was a common sign of the plague.

William shouted loudly, as if he couldn’t believe it even after direct confirmation.

“No way! Bring the ‘Mirror of the Holy Spirit’ right now!”

Oh, that bald fly king. He’s so skeptical.

With a frustrated look on my face, I coughed at just the right time.

“Cough…! Cough, cough!”

As I coughed, dark red blood poured out of my mouth.

As I lay there, blood dripped down from my cheeks, chin, and neck, and even stained my white pillowcase and futon with the color of death that made their hair stand on end.

I don’t know what it looked like, but it mustn’t look very good.

As expected, William and the priests screamed and stepped back.

“What the…!”

“Stay away, High Priest!”

“The filthy plague will spread!”

Were you advertising that you don’t have the skills or what?

While I acted with all of my heart, I clenched my teeth and held in my laughter.

It was said that the stronger your holy power, the less likely you were to get sick. That was because the holy power in this world was a ‘purification’ ability.

I couldn’t believe that the members of the temple, from priests to high priests, were shaking because they were afraid they’d catch the plague.

‘Anyways, is this not a pseudo temple?’

I guess there was no one with the proper amount of holy power.

The future of this temple was gloomy, but it was good for me.

It meant that there was no one brave enough to try and purify me, or to use the ‘Mirror of the Holy Spirit’ on my body to check my holy power.

Okay, it was time to launch the final attack.

“Cough, Cough! Gurgle! Hack!”

I coughed, then turned my head this way and that.

Watch me! Watch me! I’ve become a dangerous atomizer now!

“Oh my…!”

“High Priest!”

“Hey, don’t push me!”

When they saw my dark saliva flying, William and the priests freaked out, then they ran away like c*ckroaches.

It was definitely unsightly, and nice to see.

William, who took the lead in running away faster than anyone else, finally said what I’d wanted to hear.

“Hurry up, and throw it away! Before the rest of them need to be discarded!”

It’s working!

As I swallowed my cheers, two holy knights wearing bird beak masks approached.

They lifted me up by my sagging duvet cover and loaded me onto a ragged gurney.

While being carried out of the room as waste, William’s angry voice burst out.

“D*mn it, D*mn it! I should’ve sold it earlier! I saved it because I thought it would be useful if I raised it…!”

You’re supposed to savor it, then poop it out.

I could feel the corners of my mouth curling up in excitement, but then I saw Tom.

The way he walked around here and there, scurrying around, it seemed like he was looking for something persistently.

‘Oh, by the way, I should return this.’

Because I unintentionally stole it.

I apologized to Tom in my heart, and touched the small ink bottle in my hand.

‘Sorry, I was in a hurry, and there was only black ink in my room.’

Luckily, you’re next door to me.

The moment I passed Tom, I tried to hand him the red ink while avoiding the eyes of the holy knights.

“Well written.”

“Huh…?”

Tom stared at me with a dazed look on his face as he whispered inaudibly.

I was inadvertently left holding two ink bottles.

Stay healthy, and Tom, get some sense. I watched over him for a few days, and without fail, he’d throw a few words at the priests and take another beating.

‘If you keep your mouth shut, you’ll be fine in the interim.’

I wanted to give him one last piece of advice, but we didn’t have any time left.

I left behind the confused Tom, and I was abandoned outside the temple.

To be more precise, in the dense forest behind the temple.

For reference, it’s a place where a fierce group of wolves lived.

Thump.

Deep in the woods, the holy knights threw me on the ground and chatted to each other.

“I thought she was going to be great, but in the end he lost a lot of money instead.”

“I know. High Priest William raised her well, and planned to sell her to a larger noble house.”

“Can a child’s holy power disappear suddenly?”

“I heard holy power can increase and decrease.”

“No, she’s had a lot of holy power since birth. To the point that High Priest William’s eyes were spinning.”

“I don’t know. How can we guess what Lumiere wants?”

“Surely… It can be given without reason, and taken away again without reason.”

Among the male and female knights, the man looked down at me and clicked his tongue.

Then I felt an unpleasant, languid gaze.

“But it’s a waste. Even if she doesn’t have holy power, her face is…”

“Arthur. Don’t touch the plague victim.”

“Are you crazy? Who would touch a kid like this?”

At the same time, the man smacked his lips as if he was disappointed.

Then he drew the holy sign towards me without sincerity.

“Anyways, die well. Don’t blame me too much.”

“I think she’s going to Lumiere’s side early.”

After the memorial service, they left the forest before sunset.

When they disappeared and I heard the wolves crying from afar, I jumped up from where I was laying.

“Wow…!”

The ink was messy and tasted bad. It was weird, even if it was helpful.

Having created the perfect blood color with the right mix of red and black ink, I spat and looked around.

My body, which I had warmed by clenching my teeth in the too-hot bath, was now moderately cool and lukewarm.

Oh, absolutely. I even took short breaths that caused me to feel so dizzy that I thought I was going to die.

‘By the way, now that I know where I want to go, how do I get there?’

There were no buses or subways I could catch. I don’t know what to do.

I scratched at the red ink that dotted my face.

Fortunately, the real Aisha’s memories remained, so I knew the rough geography of this place.

The problem was once I figured out the destination and direction, was it going to be too far for me to get their on my own two feet.

‘…Let’s go and find a carriage to the capital city.’

Since I was only nine years old, and much smaller than my peers, I could hide quite well.

I recalled the way out of the forest, and roughly wiped the ink off of my face with the blanket I’d wrapped around my shoulders.

The weather between winter and spring was still cold enough that I could see my breath.

Thanks to the strength of my holy power, I wasn’t worried about getting sick, but it couldn’t prevent the pain from the cold.

‘Ugh, I should’ve been laying down with my shoes on.’

This was said with belated regret, as I walked barefoot through the woods.

Whew! 

The distant cry of the wolves came closer.

Subsequently, I heard the sound of rustling grass and branches.

“Oh.”

Wolves appeared, and there were over a dozen of them too.

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