My Husband Never Dies - Chapter 69

Evelia had been raised, for the most part, by the women of the streets.

Those women, beautiful as flowers, would press a piece of bread into the hands of a child no better than a beggar, or slip her a sweet without hesitation. Then, before long, they would wither away and die.

The day Anna — the older girl who always rewarded her with an extra sweet whenever she faithfully ran an errand — died, her body covered in dark blotches, the pig of a man who called himself the master of the alley beckoned Evelia over.

“How about it? Want to live in the house Anna used to stay in?”

“No.”

“Why not? It’s full of sweet sugar cookies. You can eat as many as you like.”

At the thought of the sugary treats Anna had always shared with her, Evelia swallowed hard. The pig of a man flared his nostrils and seized the back of her neck.

“You’re filthy. Let’s get you washed up first. You are a girl, aren’t you?”

For some reason, in that instant, Evelia knew. She had to get away from him.

“No! Let me go!”

“No? Aaagh!”

She twisted with all the strength her small body could muster and sank her teeth into his forearm. The moment her jaws clamped down, his grip gave way. Her body was free.

Evelia was one of the fastest runners in the alley. Leaving the cursing man behind, she sprinted through the maze of narrow streets. The warren-like back alleys were filled with tiny hiding places where a child her size could disappear.

“You little brat! Just wait until I catch you!”

As the threatening voice gradually faded into the distance, Evelia lifted the lid of a rubbish bin and cautiously peeked outside.

There was nothing alive in sight. Nothing except the flies and maggots swarming over the trash.

“Hmph.”

Climbing out of the bin, Evelia brushed the maggots clinging to her clothes away without the slightest concern and continued walking.

The stench of rotting garbage clung to her from head to toe, but she didn’t care. She could rinse it off in the river later.

The sugar cookies had been tempting. Even so, Evelia hadn’t wanted to go into Anna’s house.

More than ten of the older girls she knew had already died. Among them was the one who had given Evelia her name.

If you entered that shabby little house, you died.

She didn’t want to die.

By the time dusk darkened into evening, Evelia had wandered all the way to the river. She stepped into the shallow water. Five more steps, and she would drown.

She didn’t want to die today, so she took only two. Bending down, she plunged her head beneath the water.

The climate was warm year-round, yet once the sun had gone down, wandering around in soaked clothes left her shivering.

And though she ought to have grown used to hunger by now, her empty stomach still rumbled, pleading for food.

She knew better than to drink from the river. The water would bring cramps far worse than hunger ever could. So she turned her back on the river and kept walking.

As she searched for fallen branches and dry grass she could use for firewood, someone approached and held out a dry blanket.

“Hey, kid.”

The man was lean, a long scar running across his face. Most children would have shrunk back in fear at the sight of him. Evelia simply reached out and took hold of the edge of the blanket.

“Yes?”

“How’d you like to do a job for me?”

The man released the blanket without hesitation, then crouched down in front of her.

“It’s nothing difficult. If you do it well, you’ll never have to go hungry.”

Afraid the dry blanket might be taken back, Evelia hurriedly wrapped it around herself.

“What kind of job?”

“It won’t be anything difficult. Just running an errand.”

Right then, her stomach let out a loud, unmistakable growl.

Without the slightest trace of embarrassment, Evelia asked the question that came to her first.

“If I run the errand, will I get sweets, too?”

“Of course. You can even get something better than that.”

“Then I’ll—”

The words caught in her throat. She stopped herself and looked up at the rough-faced man with wary eyes.

“No. I don’t want to die like the older sisters.”

“You won’t be the one dying. You’ll be the one doing the killing.”

As he finished speaking, the man pulled a sharp dagger from his pocket. The only knives Evelia had ever seen were the ones the older girls used to peel fruit…

“Take this and stab Vallo in the stomach.”

“…Who’s Vallo?”

“The fat bastard you bit earlier.”

The pig of a man. Remembering him, Evelia didn’t look particularly eager. Seeing her hesitation, the man reached into his pocket and produced five sugar cookies.

“You’re hungry, so eat these first, then go stab Vallo.”

“So I just stab him with this?”

Evelia snatched the cookies without hesitation, stuffing one into her mouth as she spoke. A smile spread across the man’s rough features, and he nodded.

“Watch carefully. Here. Here. Here, and here.”

He tapped four places across his own abdomen.

“Drive it in all the way. Deep. Hit each spot, then run. You’re good at getting away, so you’ll manage just fine. If you pull it off, meet me back by the rubbish bin where we found each other. I’ll give you ten more cookies.”

After showing her exactly where to stab, the man gave her head a few light pats before turning away.

Crunch. Evelia bit into the fifth sugar cookie. Then she went and committed her first murder.