Chapter 2
1. The Forest Sacrifice
The Dheim family, stationed at the northern border, had received a chilling prophecy.
[A symbol of the sin committed by Dheim will be born.]
This prophecy came after one of their ancestors swallowed a mysterious stone from the northern forest.
Then, as foretold, a girl was born with ancient runes etched all over her body.
“This must be a curse!”
A noblewoman, born with the tattoos that were typically reserved for slaves. The Dheim family locked the rune-marked girl in the mansion and hid her from the world.
The girl, now eighteen years old, was named ‘Luna Dheim.’ No one had given her a name, so it was her nanny who chose it for her.
Luna never even had her birthday celebrated. Her only companion was her nanny, and she lived in silence in the dark cellar like a forgotten soul.
Then one day, her father, Count Dheim, was discovered conspiring with the Inut people beyond the border.
The Inut were seen as barbarians living on the icy lands beyond the northern forest, in conflict with the kingdom. The furious king stripped the Dheim family of their titles and annihilated them.
Two days later, Luna was found trapped in the cellar. Soldiers grabbed her by the arms and dragged her before the commander. As she was pulled along, she quietly gazed at the gruesome bodies lying on the floor.
‘So, these were my family.’
The faces of her family, whom she had never seen before, looked strange to her. As a result, she felt neither sorrow nor joy at their deaths.
The commander, watching her with intrigue, tilted his head slightly.
“Hmm, how calm she is, even after seeing her family’s corpses. Is she truly a Dheim?”
“We checked with the northern social circles, but no one knew this woman.”
“That’s strange.”
“Haha, Commander. Surely, a noblewoman wouldn’t have been locked in a cellar. She must have been a punished slave.”
The soldiers had reported that she had been locked underground for a long time, but the commander had a different view.
“A slave, you say?”
No way. Even in rags, her appearance was quite striking.
She was a woman of light complexion, with almost unnaturally pale skin. Her delicate features, partially visible through her tangled blonde hair, had an aura that was not typical of a slave.
The commander’s gaze lingered on her face before drifting downward. Beneath her sharp collarbones, the contours of her full chest became visible through the tattered rags. The torn fabric revealed her pale skin, but something unusual caught his eye.
“What’s this? Looks like a tattoo.”
The commander’s greedy eyes traced the torn rags.
As the commander sneered, preparing to reach into Luna’s clothes, one of the soldiers quickly intervened.
“Be careful, Commander! She has tattoos on her body—it seems like a curse.”
“A curse… a tattoo?”
The commander, still staring intently at Luna’s exposed skin, was suddenly startled. It wasn’t just any ordinary marking—it was written in ancient runes. Runes that were said to be used only by mad wizards and witches. It was undoubtedly a curse.
“Damn it, I almost got cursed!”
The commander shouted, causing Luna to flinch in fear, and shrinking her shoulders. He shook off his hand that had been extended to Luna, as if it were dirty, and left in a huff.
From then on, the commander and the soldiers avoided Luna. No, it would be more accurate to say they didn’t even dare touch Luna. The rumor that touching Luna would bring a curse spread quickly.
“What should we do with the woman, Commander?”
“Well, by the royal decree, all Dheim bloodlines have been executed. A cursed slave like her could easily be sold to a slave trader.”
Just like that, the noblewoman was reduced to a slave. But Luna didn’t feel sorrow. As she was sold to the slave trader for a pittance, she only felt relief that her life was spared.
The slave trader Luna was sold to had connections to the Dheim lands. The place wasn’t easy to survive in, but Luna endured with persistence.
If she had been any other noblewoman, she might have ended her life long ago, but Luna was different. She had survived being treated as garbage by the family that had once coldly rejected her. What could be harder than that?
‘In fact, being a slave now is better than being trapped in the cellar.’
Having lived her whole life in bitter loneliness, she found comfort in simply having someone nearby now. It didn’t matter if they were a slave trader or a servant—just seeing someone, even if they didn’t speak to her, made her happy.
So enduring the humiliation was not difficult for her.
As time passed, and Luna became nearly accustomed to life at the trader’s, a sudden incident occurred—the death of the trader. The other traders quickly pointed to Luna as the culprit.
“Wasn’t it that woman who cursed the trader?”
“I told you! The trader was always so fond of her. He’d call her to his room and have his way with her.”
“Something’s off. Before we get blamed for it, we should just get rid of her.”
“Well, rather than letting her go for free, why not sell her as a sacrifice?”
“A sacrifice?”
“I heard they perform rituals in a village near the northern forest.”
“Oh, the one near the forest where the beasts appear? Heh, that’s a great idea.”
So, the slave traders sold Luna as a sacrifice to the remote village. More specifically, she was to be offered as a bride to the ‘owner of the forest.’
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