Chapter – 01
Solitaire swallowed a sigh as she looked at the still unfamiliar scenery.
It had been nearly half a year since she first saw the shattered sunlight reflected on the water, the fish swimming freely, and the beast-kin playing with them in their half-human forms, but it still felt awkward to her.
Solitaire sat on a bench in the garden, staring blankly at the thornflowers. Blooming beautifully every day, these flowers, which only grew underwater, never wilted.
“You’re so pretty… what am I even doing?”
This was a place only permitted by the sea, a place land-dwelling beast-kin were deeply curious about. An ordinary land beast-kin could never come here in their lifetime, yet her face, having entered without any cost, looked gloomy.
’Even though I ran away, abandoning everything…’
Around her were always beast-kin who carried the scent of earth, not water. Moreover, until not long ago, she never even imagined she would be in the sea.
”Ah, should I go back even now?”
Her shimmering silver hair and vivid green eyes, matching the light, shone beautifully, oblivious to her own feelings.
Just as she was about to trim the thornflower, she made a mistake she normally never would have.
She touched the stem of the thornflower with her bare hand.
“Ouch!”
Inevitably, she was pricked by a thorn and got hurt.
How stupid, to get pricked by a flower. Feeling an inexplicable sense of foreboding, Solitaire was about to bring her bleeding finger to her mouth. In that moment, someone snatched her hand.
”Found you.”
A voice she should never hear here, a voice she mustn’t hear, reached her ears. Simultaneously, the companion’s mark hidden on the inside of her wrist appeared.
He pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face and taking a deep breath. Unable to lift her head, she trembled violently.
At the cool yet nostalgic scent, Solitaire could only stiffen.
”Young… Master?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
As if confirming his identity once more in response to her trembling voice, he held Solitaire even tighter.
Solitaire was so flustered she couldn’t even form a proper sentence. Seemingly pleased by her state, he let out a soft laugh. The sound of his laughter echoed in her ears.
“I came to get you. Let’s go home, Sol.”
“…No.”
Trembling with fear, she still tried to state her opinion clearly. Of course, her answer was not allowed to stand.
“But who were you attached to?”
“Wh…at?”
“Hmm? My Sol, my lovely Sol. You have a companion, so you’re not being unfaithful, are you?”
Seeing the corners of his mouth rising higher, Solitaire grew even more uneasy. That expression was clearly the one he made right before causing some sort of incident.
*Boom!* With a tremendous noise, the garden she loved most was destroyed. Whatever he had done, half of the garden was shattered beyond recognition, and thornflowers fluttered up before her eyes like debris.
The protagonist of this situation, as if it were nothing, smiled happily, trapping her in his embrace.
Solitaire felt like crying.
’I did say I would do everything, but how can the position of a companion *not* become a companion?’
But the always self-willed god had no reason to listen to Solitaire’s words.
To understand exactly how things had come to this, one had to go back a long time.
* * *
There were quite a few terms to refer to Solitaire.
The child who should never have been born. The child bearing the disgusting color of the sea. The dead child. The child proving impurity. And so on.
“Hey, you, clean that up.”
A maid who looked at least twice Solitaire’s size roughly threw a broom and gave her an order. Struggling to lift the broom as big as herself, Solitaire moved with grunts and groans.
The sight of her moving in clothes that were clearly ill-fitting was pitiful, and the wounds visible through the gaps of her clothes with every movement were enough to make anyone frown. Yet, her vibrant green eyes, full of life, shone beautifully through her dirty silver hair.
The woman who had given the order in a sharp voice flinched when she saw the eyes peeking through the hair.
“Why on earth does the family head keep that disgusting child alive…!”
Harsh words poured out, but Solitaire, as if accustomed, tapped the floor with her toes and waited for this time to end. Such talk was ‘normal’ for her, so she remained still.
After venting her complaints and abusive language for a while, the maid eventually turned her back and disappeared.
The other maids who had been watching also threw their rags at Solitaire one by one and left their spots.
The eight-year-old girl began picking up the rags they had thrown and cleaning the area.
“When will I ever finish cleaning…?”
She moved her small body diligently, but the vast space didn’t shrink in the slightest. Looking at the remaining trash, Solitaire let out a heavy sigh.
* * *
Solitaire was destined to be the second daughter of the Lepus family. At least, until she was born.
But the moment she was born, everything that should have been placed in her hands disappeared like a mirage.
“How could this happen…?”
“Dear…?”
Because a child was born without the snow-white hair symbolic of the Lepus family, or the warm brown eyes possessed by all rabbit beast-kin.
“Silver…! How could you…!”
Silver fur. That was a characteristic only seen in sea-dwelling beast-kin, not on land.
If it had been any other hair color, they might have passed it off as just a unique child, but that color was the color of the sea beast-kin, whom the land beast-kin despised. The head of the Lepus family felt his vision darken.
Struggling to steady his breathing, the moment he met the newborn’s eyes, he collapsed into his seat. He was shocked to see the brilliantly shining green eyes.
“That’s a monster. An impossible color!”
Seeing the green eyes that existed nowhere, neither on land nor sea, he muttered for a while before getting up.
He wrapped the newborn child in a cloth and threw it to its mother.
Then he declared gravely.
“Today, this child died at birth. Fontana, you have lost your child and gone mad. You will rest and recover at the northern annex for a while.”
At these thunderous words, Fontana, dragging her unwell body, prostrated herself at his feet and begged, but it was useless.
* * *
How long had she been moving? About half of the dirty space was neatly cleaned. Instead, Solitaire, who was already grubby, became even filthier. The flowing sweat and the wind coming through the window caused her body to rapidly grow cold.
Rolling her eyes to find the source of the cold draft, Solitaire moved towards it. Facing the onslaught of winter’s chill from outside the window, Solitaire opened her mouth and exhaled.
“Haa.”
A white puff of breath came from her lips, and finding it fascinating, Solitaire breathed out a few more times. Just then, a commotion from below naturally drew her gaze.
“Hear ye, by command, Fontana Lepus returns to the main residence to fulfill her role as mistress.”
Amidst a large carriage and glittering people, her mother, Fontana, stood alone, upright, and smiled.
The strangers all knelt in unison, paying respects to Fontana. Fontana looked at them and let out a triumphant laugh.
“I told you, I’d be back. I’ve been sick of it for the past eight years. Finally, I’m getting out of this place.”
Watching this, Solitaire was suddenly seized with anxiety. She felt as if her mother was going to abandon her. No matter how harshly she spoke to her or raised her hand, she was Solitaire’s only support.
A scream-like cry burst from Solitaire’s chapped lips.
“Mo… Mom!!!”
Fontana must have heard Solitaire’s cry, yet she didn’t look back even once. After seeing her step into the large carriage, Solitaire hurriedly climbed down from the window and began running downstairs.
She ran with all her might on her small feet, but by the time she arrived, no trace remained. Her already worn-out shoes, which had offered some protection, were torn, and her cheeks and hands were frozen solid, numb to sensation.
All signs of life vanished, and only Solitaire remained alone in the northern annex.
* * *
And so, four years had passed since she was abandoned in the northern annex.
A bolt from the blue struck Solitaire during what seemed like an ordinary day.
“The Family Head summons you.”
A man who barged in without any explanation roughly grabbed Solitaire. Helpless against his rough grip, she could only be dragged along.
He threw Solitaire into a shabby carriage and conspicuously wiped his hands with a handkerchief, showing his displeasure. The rattling noise buzzed in her ears. Solitaire, after checking the man’s expression in front of her, turned her gaze to the window.
There, she saw a cozy landscape, full of brightness, different from the old, dirty northern annex.
