My naked body was filled with pain from head to toe and covered in brown, muddy water in which I was lying.
My eyelids lifted slightly, and then my eyes saw someone so unearthly that the only thing that went through my mind was: "I don't believe it."
That woman smiled slyly and tucked her raven-black hair behind her long, pointed ears.
Her eyes were beautiful and scarlet with spiral pupils, yet while looking into them, I could not rid myself of the terrible feeling that
Suddenly, she began to speak with a beautiful, sinister, yet captivating voice that instantly seized my heart.
"Ah, I see that a new rejected soul has descended to the Forsaken Lands to claim the Crown of Eternity.'
When that woman brought her beautiful, pale face closer to my dirty and suffering one, I saw two small, triangular, curled horns hiding among her shiny hair.
Her hands followed her face toward my head, and she took hold of my cheeks. Her touch was cold, yet the delicate way she caressed my cheeks made my heart beat even louder.
I couldn't move from the pain, but using all my strength, I clenched my hands around the mud I was lying on.
"Please..." I whispered, my voice dry and filled with suffering. "Help... me..."
"Ah~ My dear," the woman replied, suddenly letting go of my cheeks and moving away from me.
"You're in such a pitiful state, yet you can still speak?" she asked, looking straight into my pink eyes, knowing that I wouldn't answer her anyway.
I couldn't understand her. Her tone, her smile, her beauty, her horns — they were things my mind could not comprehend.
"Your determination deserves a reward," she said in a soothing yet still sinister voice. Then, from within her loose black robe, she pulled out two large hoop earrings.
'Well... What does she want to do...?'
'...A reward...? For me...?'
"With these earrings, you'll be more beautiful than you've ever been~" she said, taking one earring in each hand.
'No... My ears—'
Then suddenly...
Click Click
The earrings pierced through my ears, making me feel even more pain. Blood streamed from the places where they were pierced, running down into the puddle beneath me.
Tears welled up in my eyes and my lips parted.
"Oh~ How beautiful," the woman smiled, lightly touching the earrings, yet even the lightest touch made my pain grow stronger.
"Almost like the Queen, I'd say."
"These earrings are not just a stylish addition to your pretty face and violet hair, but they will help you grow in strength and survive during your journey, at the end of which you will obtain the Crown of Eternity and become the ruler of these lands."
"Of course, if you succeed, honey~"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw how the puddle I was lying in slowly turned scarlet — the same scarlet that this mysterious woman had in her eyes.
'Crown of Eternity...? What... is... that...'
No matter how hard I tried to keep them open, no matter how much willpower or physical strength I put into it, my eyelids began to fall.
"Will... we... ever... meet... again...?"
I asked with the last of my strength, my eyes already completely covered by the spreading darkness, yet my heart was beating louder than ever.
She moved away from me, looking down as her foxlike smile widened, and her spiral pupils spun in her eyes with a sinister gleam.
"I don't think our next meeting would make sense, and I don't think it's likely to happen,"
'Oh... That's... not... nice...'
"However, our world lays out our long yet ending lives with unknown and surprising paths that cannot be foreseen."
'What...?'
"Farewell, Rejected One~" she chuckled, and her breath, voice, and aura began to fade, as if she were sinking into an endless abyss.
'No... Don't leave... me... here... alone—'