Chapter 2: 2

It was raining this morning.

 

Layla was swearing emotionally as she watched the pouring down on her dimly lit cabin, sipping subtle scented tea.

 

“D*mn it! If only I had a candle! No, I would’ve been able to do something more productive even with an oil for the lamp. I would probably be able to piece together the shoes that fell apart, or fill in the holes on the pot.”

 

With indignation, Layla stomped on the floor with her feet.

 

“All I can do in this dark basement-like cabin is to look into this stupid wounds!”

 

Layla once again stomped her feet in anger, with her skirt lightly rolled up to her thigh, and as she said, she had purple bruises and bleeding wounds on her knees.

 

It wasn’t just her knees. There were scratches on her palm holding onto the table, as well on one of her cheeks.

 

After being humiliated in Baron Valencia’s mansion, Layla’s steps on her way back were slower than when she bravely went there. Because of that, the sun went down when she was in the middle of the forest and had yet to arrive at her cabin.

 

She had already lived there for ten years and the road to the forest was very clear to Layla, but she didn’t know where the stones were, or where the branches were hanging like traps.

 

Layla, who had nothing to illuminate the road, had no choice but to return to her cabin as she groped around the darkness.

 

In the end, Layla could not see the stone on her feet in the dark forest and almost flew and tumbled down.

 

“D*mn it!”

 

As she recalled her memories of yesterday, Layla’s expression crumpled again. She felt her sore wounds stinging even more.

 

This wouldn’t have happened if there was at least a little light.

 

This wouldn’t have happened if the Baron had only given her a candle or a small amount of lamp oil.

 

No, If only she wasn’t living alone in a forest cabin in the first place! If only she didn’t come there as if she was kicked out of the Baron’s mansion!

If only there was not a stench coming from Layla’s body…

 

“Haa…”

 

As she goes up that far, Layla’s shoulder, which has risen up, drooped down, and a sigh escaped her mouth.

 

There was no need for supposition. There was no ‘if’.

 

She was born with a foul-smelling body, and no one was pleased with Layla’s existence.

 

Layla’s mother, who gave birth to her, refused to breastfeed her, and her father refused to look at the face of his own child.

 

Layla’s younger sister, Ariadne, who was born after her, also hated her sister.

 

“It would’ve been better if I wasn’t born.”

 

There was no expression on the self-deprecating Layla. No grief nor remorse can be seen.

 

Whether she’s washing her face, or eating, she was so pessimistic about her birth on a daily basis that she could no longer change her expression.

 

“Won’t the tetanus kill me?”

 

Layla’s words, which she uttered to herself as she looked at her palm, contained a sincere desire for death.

 

If God had not made suicide a sin, Layla would’ve taken her own life if she could held a knife in her hand.

 

If she didn’t believe that she would be reincarnated, she would have stabbed an iron skewer on her neck or something.

 

Thinking that God might reicarnate Layla’s soul, that comitted suicide, into another stinky body, Layla could not die even if she wanted to.

 

No matter how painful it is, Layla still liked it. If she could die other than with suicide, Layla was willing to take that path.

 

“A filthy and sturdy body…”

 

No matter how you look at it, the wounds from yesterday were healing well. The wounds had stopped bleeding yesterday, the swelling had subsided a lot, and the area that bled had already scabbed.

 

Over time, the scab would fall off, new flesh would grow, and there would be no traces of the wound, as if it was never injured.

 

Death was still far away. Unfortunately.

 

“Tsk…”

 

Seeing her wound heal well, she clicked her tongue.

 

It was then.

 

Bang bang bang!

 

Someone knocked as if trying to smash that door that was already about to break due to the wind and the rain. Startled, Layla looked towards it.

 

Blink, blink.

 

Wondering if she was just hearing things, Layla stiffened as she looked at the door.

 

Bang Bang Bang!

 

As if to prove that she wasn’t just hearing things, there was another loud knock on the door.

 

The sound has a steady interval, it was certainly a sound of a person knocking at the door. It was not a wild boar banging its body on the door, nor a deer kicking it with its front paw.

 

However, it was strange. No one would come near the cabin where the witches lived. Even more so, no one would knock on her door.

 

Layla slowly, very slowly, got up from her seat. And slowly approached the door like a possessed person.

 

It was still windy and raining, and the door was creaking.

 

Layla’s heart raced rapidly due to tension, as if something was about to happen. Layla stood in front of the door, gently pressing her heart with her hand.

 

“Is nobody there?”

 

When a young man’s voice came through the door, Layla’s shoulder rose like a frightened kitten.

 

True to its original purpose of being a passage for people to enter and exit, this door had no common partitions nor a hole to peek at through.

 

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Layla swallowed dryly and shouted at the person outside.

 

“Get lost!”

 

It was quite outside. Only the sound of the wind and rain, and the branches being swayed by them, could be heard. As well as the creaking door.

 

‘Did they leave?’

 

Layla rolled her eyes, as she gently moved her ear closer to the door. No sound was heard.

 

However, her ever-sensitive sense was still saying that there was still a person in front of the door.

 

What if he was a subjugator who came to kill the witch? If they came to cut off her neck, she would welcome it, but if she made a mistake, she could be dragged away and subjected to severe turtore.

 

Or maybe it was a very bad villain who came to hide in this deep valley. Someone who committed crimes such as murder, arson, or r*pe.

 

The arsonist probably can’t do anything in this rain. If it was a murderer, she could open the door right away and hand them a knife. But she hates it if they were a r*pist.

 

Layla wanted to go to God just as pure as she was, because she wanted to be assured that she would be rewarded with being born as someone who smelled nothing in her next life.

 

Bang Bang Bang!

 

Not knowing what Layla was thinking, there was another knock on the door.

 

“I was out hunting when it rained heavily that I got lost. Please allow me to come and take a rest for a while.”

 

Layla’s eyes narrowed at the voice that followed.

 

It wasn’t too low nor too high, it was a slightly thick voice. He spoke very politely, and his intonations were refined, just like a well-educated man.

 

Quite frankly, it was a sexy and wonderful voice.

 

‘A r*pist’

 

The unknown man outside was accused by Layla, who was inside, as r*pist due to him having a sexy voice.

 

Her eyes hurried to find a weapon. A scissor, or a knife, or something like a poker.

 

(T/N: Poker: A stick usually used to poke firewood on a fire.)

 

While Layla’s eyes were busy looking for a weapon, a sexy voice, mixed with the sound of the rain and wind, was heard again.

 

“Please. I’ll give you plenty of compensation.”

 

It was a much more emotional voice than earlier. Not to mention, the voice got sexier when the emotion got added.

 

When she found the scissor on the shelf and was about to pick it up, Layla’s feet stopped.

 

“Compensation?”

 

Ignoring the voice that would melt other women if they heard it, Layla only heard that word.

 

Layla glanced at the scissor once and the empty candlestick once. And the lamp that had already gone out.

 

And the last one was the door. Or the person on the other side of the door.

 

In the dark, Layla’s withered eyes stared at the door as if she could see beyond it.

 

“Hello?”

 

When he didn’t hear anything from the inside, worried, he called out to Layla, who was inside, in a more mournful voice from the outside.

 

“Wait.”

 

Layla said, quickly picking up the scissor on the shelf.

 

She needs the compensation. A candle or a lamp oil would be great, but money is also good.

 

Unless it’s that sh*tty Ariadne’s money.

 

“Whew…”

 

Layla took a deep breath, and hid the scissor in her hand behind her waist. Then she grabbed the lock of the door. For a moment, she hesitated to open the door.

 

Somehow, she had a feeling that she would never be able to go back once she opened the door.

 

“Please.”

 

While Layla hesitated, another was heard again from the other side of the door.

 

“I understand.”

 

Layla’s hand finally released the lock. Then she slowly opened the door.

 

A man’s figure began to be seen through the gap in the slightly opened door.

 

As expected, he was wearing a very luxurious looking attire, but it was drenched in water.

 

His body was clearly exposed under the clothes clinging into it. He had long legs, a solid, and a wide shoulder. It was a robust body.

 

Layla had to raise her head to see the man’s face, which was way above her head. The man’s face was dimly visible in the shadow of the forest where the rain and wind blew.

 

At that moment, a white flash of light tore through the sky, like a revelation from God that Layla should see the man clearly.

 

As the surrounding briefly brightened up, Layla saw the man clearly.

 

A back hair like the color of the night sky, and gold eyes that gleamed coldly. His pointed and high nose was enough to leave a sharp impression.

 

And if Layla saw it right, the man was smiling.

 

The man, who had clearly spoken in a pitiful manner to let him in earlier, had a satisfied smile, like a carnivore that had succeeded in hunting.

 

***

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