The witch's house was far more spacious and cozier than it had looked from outside.
Even though over a hundred girls had entered, not one of them felt cramped.
And it lacked for nothing.
The witch even brought white towels for the girls to dry themselves with.
"Thank you so much, ma'am. We'll definitely repay you once we return."
At those words, the witch waved her hands with a smile.
"Repay me? That's nonsense—I just did what anyone should. I only hope you girls don't catch cold."
From the large black cauldron in the center of the room, something delicious was bubbling. When one of the girls asked what it was, the witch beamed.
"A warm soup to heat your bodies. Would you like to try a little?"
The girls, who hadn't eaten breakfast and were soaked from the rain, lit up.
The soup gave off such a delicious aroma that even those far from the pot could smell it.
With the help of the woodcutter who had brought the girls, the witch served up soup for all one hundred of them.
Every girl drank it—and before long, they all fell into a deep sleep.
Once they were fast asleep, the witch gave a signal with her eyes to the woodcutter.
He transformed into a massive earth spirit and slung the girls over his shoulders, carrying them into the forest in groups.
When all the girls had been laid down in the forest, the witch began chanting a spell.
Like a lid opening, the very space around her cracked. The sky began to split.
And then—
As if peeling back the skin of an onion, the space unraveled. Blinding sunlight and clear air spilled through.
The rain vanished without a trace. So did the witch's house.
The witch smiled in satisfaction and returned to her original form:
A brown robe.
A diamond on his forehead.
And a thick staff adorned with a black diamond.
—-----------------------------------------
The girls slowly woke from their slumber.
"Huh…? The rain stopped."
"It's perfectly clear now, like magic."
In a daze, they rose to their feet.
They stayed in the forest until evening to complete their ritual, then returned home. None of them remembered the woodcutter, the witch's house, or what had happened inside.
But a few days later…They began to fall ill.
It was an inexplicable sickness. Within the next year or two, every girl who had participated in that Moon Rite… died.
Their parents believed the girls had committed some kind of offense during the ceremony and were cursed by the guardian deity.
On the day the last of those girls died, Shamanaz met with her godfather.
Under the dusky blue moonlight, Jakiel welcomed his goddaughter warmly into his garden.
"So now I suppose all my future rivals are gone, aren't they, Godfather?"
"For now, yes."
In Sibareth, there was a law stating that the age difference between the king and queen could not exceed ten years.
At present, all the unmarried Peridot girls were over ten years younger than Julius, and the rest were either married or dead.
"We've cleared a major hurdle then."
"But there's still one more variable. I heard the Peridot bloodline found a half-fairy girl. They seem to have chosen her as a potential queen."
Shamanaz's violet eyes flashed with rage.
"Seriously? Why do they keep crawling out of nowhere like cockroaches?!
I thought I got rid of them all!"
"Don't worry too much. Fairyfolk are frivolous and lack ability. She won't become queen based on blood alone."
Shamanaz looked up at the night sky.
"She'd better not. No one is going to take the place meant for Julius's queen—not while I'm here."
—---------------------------
Nakil, where the land had turned a sickly red.
Soldiers in full protective suits stood amidst the desolation. Though it was still late summer, they were drenched in sweat.
"Let's hurry up and finish this. Once we check the last village, we're out of here."
They were in the middle of incinerating corpses and collecting soil samples from the area where the laborers had died.
The plague made it risky to even be there, so the soldiers were irritable and short-tempered.
When the corpses went up in flames, the soldiers backed away, coughing and gagging.The stench was overwhelming.
"We're all going to die from this, aren't we?"
One soldier muttered. Another immediately smacked him on the head.
"Don't jinx us, you bastard!"
"But seriously…What's the point of these suits? If the disease is airborne, we're screwed anyway."
No one had a reply.
After a moment, an older soldier finally spoke up.
"That's why we cover our noses and mouths too. But in the end, it's all up to fate. Some survive the battlefield, while others die of illness at home. That's life."
"Then maybe… there might still be survivors in Nakil?"
The old soldier nodded.
"That's what we're here to find out."
They headed toward the nearest village. But all they saw along the way was death.
Wild animals.
Domesticated animals.
Insects.
Even the corpses of monsters.
Some soldiers vomited.
Still, cursing and gagging, they buried or burned every body they found.
By evening, they reached the village.
But there was nothing but silence. No smoke from chimneys. No sounds of daily life.
Only stillness.
A silence that smelled like death.
"There aren't many houses. Let's check them one by one."
At the old soldier's words, a younger one with sharp eyes spat on the ground and snapped,
"You crazy old man? Do it yourself! We're torching this cursed place and leaving!"
Another soldier scolded him.
"There might still be survivors. We can't just burn everything down without checking."
"Hmph. As if. Every beast and person in this place is already dead."
"There's always a chance. If you want to leave, you can go by yourself."
The soldiers hesitated.
Just like the sharp-eyed soldier, they all wanted to leave as soon as possible.
But the old man's words had weight.
If even one survivor remained, they might risk bringing a curse upon themselves.
In the end, the soldiers agreed to check the houses one by one. The sharp-eyed soldier grumbled but followed the others.
From the very first house, they gagged. Half-rotten corpses were sprawled inside. The second house, the third—same story.
There were twenty-five households in total. By the fifth, complaints started surfacing.
"Is it really necessary to check every single one? They're all dead."
"Even if someone's alive, there's nothing left to live on. Right, old man?"
"When I was younger…"
The old soldier began to speak slowly.
"I once saw a place just like this. There was a plague there, too. But when we set fire to the village, someone ran out. They'd been alive."
"Heh? What'd they eat to survive?"
"And they didn't get sick?"
Questions poured in.
"Sometimes people have immunity or survive by chance. Food? You'd be surprised what someone can survive on—rats, roots, bark…"
Another soldier scoffed and spat on the ground.
"That doesn't apply here. This place isn't just infected—it's contaminated.
Even the bugs are dead. There's no way—"
"Aaagh!"
One soldier screamed. The interrupted soldier turned around in irritation—
And froze.
There stood a little girl.
She held a ragged cloth doll in her arms. She looked to be around ten years old.
The soldiers instinctively backed away—not just from fear of infection,
but from something deeper.
A child surviving alone in a place like this… felt unnatural.
"Hello, sweetie."
The old soldier spoke gently. The girl stared at him blankly.
"Are you all alone here?"
"No. I'm with my brother."
"Two of you? Why didn't you leave?"
"Mom was alive until yesterday. She passed away this morning."
"…I see. Where's your brother now?"
"He went to buy food and supplies for our journey."
"Journey?"
"Since Mom's gone now… we're leaving this place too."
She spoke clearly and calmly. The soldiers finally took a closer look at her.
And something felt… off.
For someone living in a village of death, the girl was far too clean.
She wasn't scrawny. Her cheeks were plump and rosy. Even her clothes looked new.
The soldiers exchanged glances.
Nakil was one of the poorest villages in all of Sibareth. Most residents barely managed to eat.
But this girl looked like the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Finally, one of the younger soldiers asked,
"So… where did your brother get the money to go shopping?"
The girl clutched her doll tighter. She fell silent. The old soldier spoke again, kindly.
"Don't worry. We're only trying to take you somewhere safe."
"But… my brother said not to tell anyone…"
"If we don't understand your situation, we can't help you. You don't want to stay here forever, do you?"
The girl hesitated. Then finally, she spoke.
"A man and a woman came to our village. The woman gave my brother a really expensive emerald hairpin. With that…"
"A man and a woman? What did they look like?"
"The man had shoulder-length scarlet hair…He was really handsome.
The woman had strange hair—green with rainbow streaks. My brother said he'd never seen people like them before."