Chapter 1 - Death to the curse!

A heavy huff echoes the silent air. A pair of tired eyes wander the crowds, whose mouths are wide open but her ears hear nothing.

'It is quiet,'' she thinks, barely awake.

'It hurts.' Her eyes wander to the source of pain far worse than anything else she had endured before. Her hands are pinned to a long wooden stick. And her feet, they are pierced through the bones and into the wooden pole she is elevated upon. Her body is bound so tightly she can barely breathe through her crushed ribs. All she hears are the dripping of her blood, drip, drip, drip.

And her eyes land on a child who stares up at her.

'Look away. This is not something a child should see.'

But there was no need to scream, for the mother of the child immediately carried him up, shooting a hideous glare in her direction, spitting at the stage where the spit barely reached her feet. She glances up at the waking sun, the sun she has been staring up at from the same position for five days.

In all her twenty years alive, there was nothing she had done wrong. She had been a filial daughter, a good friend, a smiling younger sister.

But maybe that was all she had done wrong. The sight of her face earned nothing but a smashing bottle of wine whenever she would call for her father, the friends they call playmates would sneer at her sight and ridicule her beyond wits ends. The siblings she calls 'sister' and 'brothers' wrench their faces at her sight. No one dared to touch her, no one talked to her; because she is the youngest daughter of the Cathrowalds, a curse to the empire, the villainess of all things evil.

Her Nanny had been the only kind being to her ever since her birth, but even she had left the world too soon. In a fit to protect herself, her nanny threw her body before her tiny body. And she could only stare in vain as her father cleans the 'filthy blood' from his suit, and her nanny's body lay coldly in her five year-old hands.

Ever since, she had lived her life quietly, keeping to her bedroom in the secluded attic of the palace, smiling to the servants who sneered and spat at her with curses she'd came to understand, surviving on rotten food meant for pests to feed on.

But when the first news broke that the Empire had fallen to diseases and hunger, the angry commoners stormed the Archduke's palace, demanding a trail of death to the Empire's curse.

Of course, her bedridden father was too weak by then, and it was her eldest brother's delight to take on the trial.

A sudden shout awakes her from a short slumber. Now that the sun was bright, she could clearly see the three members of her family, standing on the stage, a good distance from her. She was dragged off the pole by guards and forced to her knees without much fight. After all, she deserves this. From the side of her eyes, she watches as the guards drench their armour in what stinked like alcohol - a good cleaning liquid for the bacterial plague.

"Kill the plague!" "Down with the witch!" "Death to the curse" - 'the shouting is getting annoying'.

"WE HAVE GATHERED TODAY! -"

The crowd silences from their jeering and spitting, focusing their attention on the man who bears the same hair, and the same eyes as herself, yet his sword was drawn in her direction.

"- To see to the end of this plague! No longer will my people suffer at the hands of the evil!"

The crowd cheers at the man, her eldest brother, a hero in the crowd's eyes, and a devil in her own. Then, his sword lowers from the air, laying on her shoulder. She looks into his eyes, hoping for a tinge of guilt but all she sees is disgust and a glare she once saw in her fathers eyes.

"You sinner. You have disgraced our people. Your existence has been nothing but a curse to our country. What more evil will you have to do to be satisfied?"

On his side, her second brother grits his teeth, his hands itching from his sword, tightening when their eyes meet. But her third sister on the other hand was avoiding her eyes. Perhaps…

Her sister was kind to her. When they were much younger, when no one had cursed at her before, she remembered her elder sister's smile much clearer than her own mothers'. Perhaps her sister could save her, perhaps she could tell Rosette that her whole body was sore and hurting, and that she just wants to go home. But she was clearly wrong, what she thought to be tears turned out to be a revolted glare. She watches the mouth of her sister, '-just end this already.' That was when she had lost the last thread of hope. Her muscles gave up, sinking to the ground. What kind of childish desires had she just allowed herself to have?

That's right - The sword raises to the sky,

There was no one that was ever on my side - Her eldest brother opened his mouth, "Die you filthy trash!"

Ah. It doesn't hurt. But my heart,

She watches as she drifts away from her headless body. Wow. So that is what a head execution looks like.

The air around her turns everything to the purest white - but something within her bursts,

What is this feeling?

From the air surrounding her, she explodes with rays of darkness that stain the white area around her. It hurts even more now. There was simply no word to describe it. She feels bare bones choking her and tips of swords piercing her body until there was nothing but a dark void that surrounds her. She curls her body in the strange land, tired of being fearful, tired of finding a way out.

Whoever is out there, I prayed every day, that you at least wouldn't abandon me. It seems now that my efforts have been futile.

The world surrounding was silent and dark, yet peaceful and bright at the same time. There was nothing at all but a single ball of soul, floating amongst the void.

No. Your efforts have been realised.

I pray that you will live a fulfilling life in your next, no longer in misery, no longer pitiful, a child free as she was meant to be.

I pray for you.

I pray for you.

With that, the gasp of a girl echoes the room. The source of the gasp quickly ravages her surroundings, a flash of events go across her eyes and her hands immediately go to her neck.

It's still intact.

She pats herself on the shoulders, calming her quiet breaths.

Strange. Why does my body feel so small...so light?

Then, she begins to stare at her hands.

Why does everything look so small!

The girl hops down from the elevated cushion, striding towards the mirror yet all she sees is a floof of blonde. She pushes herself up, eyes widened when the image greets her back.

No way...Have I...Become young again? What happened? I was pretty sure I had died!