Prologue
Escape
Deep in the night, when the dim moonlight shone.
“Joy, I’m leaving this place today.”
I placed Joy on the window frame. The white bird with elegant tail feathers waddled around.
“So you don’t have to come here anymore.”
Normally, it would have jumped into my arms again, but it just stared at me blankly. Instinctively, it seemed to know that this moment signified farewell.
“Goodbye, Joy. Fly away with my name.”
The reason why I gave it a part of my name, Inea Joy, was because I, who had spent my whole life rotting in this narrow hell, wanted to fly freely like a bird.
“Let’s meet again later if we have a chance.”
But now, longing and hope were no longer enough. I wanted to see the sky you roamed in person.
So today, I’m going to escape from here.
I smiled and waved my hand. Joy blinked a couple of times, then spread its wings, and flew away. Flapping, its long feathers fluttered gracefully.
I stretched my hand out, tracing after the child who disappeared like a dot that was smaller than a snowflake.
Joy wouldn’t be coming here anymore. The child was as smart as a human, so it must have understood everything I said.
I accepted the parting with my one and only friend, and headed for the cuckoo clock. I opened the hidden house on the broken clock and took out the ice key.
A key that was made from the snow piled up on the window frame for six years. After thousands of failures, my freedom was finally achieved after the shackles around my ankles were removed.
“Joy is a free bird.”
With a clunk, the shackles fell helplessly with its jaw loosened.
“Inea is also a free human.”
I grabbed the key and laughed.
“I will be leaving.”
It was time to say goodbye to this dreadful prison.
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In Cassis Village, which was cold all year round, snow was scattered more sparsely than usual.
Whenever days like this came, people would light up the fireplace and drink warm milk and wine. When the night was ripe, they huddled together near the fireplace and slept under cotton blankets.
But today was different. Even though their noses turned red from the harsh cold, the people did not go home. Instead, they drove away the darkness with bright torches and strode while trampling on the piled snow.
“Find the witch!”
“She couldn’t have left the village! Be sure to find her!”
“How on earth did she escape?”
“That ungrateful thing, I fed her, gave her a bed and raised her, but she stabbed me in the back?!”
“I’ll burn her to death this time!”
People searched the village with bloodshot eyes. I huddled in the corner of the alley and shivered. A cold wind blew through the holes in the dress.
‘Damn it, I have no luck! I never thought I’d run into the patrols as soon as I got out!’
Damn you Unus, what kind of resentment do you have with me! I bit my frozen tongue and stared at the red mark on the back of my right hand.
A strange mark was engraved on the back of my hand since the moment I was born. People began to question and accuse me as a witch, a devil, child of a monster, and an omen of relentless misfortune.
‘You idiots, if I was the devil, I would have long burned down this village! Why would I let those who did this to me live?!’
Although it was unfair that the fabric was in a state of near-ruin, I didn’t refuse the old clothes. It was clear that if I spoke back, I would be beaten ten or twenty more times, and something would break. But although I was not a devil, monster or a witch, it was true that I had strange abilities.
“There she is!”
Huff, smokes from the torches rushed into the alley. I panicked and ran away.
“Where’s the archer, the archer!”
Was this how a rabbit felt being chased by a hunter?
My heart felt like it was about to burst. The shouts that rang from every corner caused a frightening shudder.
“Shoot her legs! Paralyse her feet!”
As soon as I came out of the alley, the people waiting pulled their bowstrings.
Whoosh! Sharp arrowheads pierced through the air. When I quickly turned my foot to avoid them, an arrow flew and pierced my leg that was stuck in the snow. I clenched my teeth and threw myself into the bushes.
“Damn it, chase her!”
I let go of the deep breath which had risen to the tip of my chin. I hid myself within a pit beneath the roots of a tree that came into sight just in time, and pulled a bush to conceal myself.
“Where did she go?”
“What a wild rabbit! Once I catch you, I won’t kill you gracefully!”
The people scattered around in anger. By the time the crowd got farther away, I let out a deep breath and looked at my legs.
A long gaping tear revealed a crimson wound. Blood trickled down, caressing my legs.
‘I can’t leave a trace.’
I tore the hem of my skirt and pressed on the wound. The open flesh was slowly healing. After rubbing the wound that disappeared in an instant, I meticulously cleaned the bloodstains.
I pricked my ears to check if I could hear footsteps. All I could hear were the sounds of leaves rustling from the strong gust of wind. I crawled out of the pit and started running with my body hunched down.
‘Where should I go now?’
I ran out riskily, but I had no destination. In fact, it was only natural that I had nowhere to go.
Having lived in a narrow room in a semi-basement since birth, I didn’t even know the structure of the village. There was no way I would know anything about the outside world.
‘I simply believed that everything would be solved if I escaped.’
I was at a loss. Just like walking on a tightrope over a cliff in a fog without being able to see an inch ahead of me, my life didn’t have anything to go by.
I swallowed down my sorrows. I dispelled the untimely emotions with a strong sledgehammer.
‘Let’s get out of this place first.’
Tears and screams can come later.
It was important to survive more than anything.
