FYWAM CH 1

Chapter 1

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A Joyous Day

WARNING: Suicide

A day when all humans except herself is blessed. The sky is blindingly blue, and the sun is higher than ever before. A day when a cruel god bestows light upon her alone, caring for all living beings on the earth. Yes, a day when everyone else is intoxicated with joy, raising voices of exultation, and praising the human heroes.

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Like a sick person, Calliope’s hair which was now completely white, flutters in the wind. She stood atop the tallest bell tower in the capital, gazing down at the human heroes who were smiling brightly as if carved by the sun. Calliope’s reddened eyes curved slowly.

“For the past two years, all the hatred, resentment, and tears inside me have flowed and burned away. I no longer have the strength to hate anyone.”

Calliope raised her head and looked up at the sky. The sunlight hurting her eyes. The tears that were once completely dried up were now flowing again, perhaps because she was being blinded by the brightness of the light. Closing her eyes, the round white light reflected in her dried tears looks like someone’s eyes. As tears spill down her cheeks, the light that once resembled someone’s eyes disappeared.

It has been two years since those who received the divine prophecy returned after defeating the Demon King. It was August, the month when the sun shines the hottest, yet the light was warm, as though caressing them. The parade was said to start from the entrance of the capital and would continue to the bell tower of the temple which built in the center of the capital square. It was the same as last year’s anniversary, so there was no way Calliope’s plan would not be disrupted.

Even from a distance, she can clearly see the people’s expression. The sadness from two years ago was mostly gone and now the people were smiling brightly to the heroes they wholeheartedly wish to give their blessings.

He didn’t come back yet here they are smiling and laughing until their mouths might tear.

An unjust hatred that made her want to tear apart their innocent bodies was coiling in her stomach.

My man, my love, never came back, and here you are smiling from ear to ear.

“Isaac.”

Calliope called his name for the first time in a very long while. Isaac was her fiancé and one of the central figures of the prophecy, had to leave to defeat the Demon King. He had betrayed her and confessed that he had fallen in love with the saintess.

She froze at the unfamiliarity of his piercing gaze, as he turned around and knelt before the saintess. Clutching the hem of her dress, the man didn’t stop her when she ran way. She was suffocated by his coldness that she had never experienced before.

My love who betrayed me, Isaac Esteban.

“You abandoned me and lost everything. They now pretend as if they’ve forgotten you.”

Calliope hated that fact. If he hadn’t been one of the central figures of the prophecy, he wouldn’t have met the saintess of the empire and betrayed her.

I wouldn’t have been acting like this if she didn’t came looking for him and took him away.

During the long days I spent with him, I fell so deeply in love that I couldn’t let him go. Even now and barely breathing, I still can’t forget him even after I was betrayed.

You, who was chosen by him, shouldn’t be smiling as if you have already forgotten. You should have suffered a little more and struggled in the pit of sorrow.

“How foolish.”

She uttered with a thin voice were directed at him who no longer exists, and at the same time, at herself.

"I should’ve just forgotten about the man who told me he didn’t love me and moved on to another woman—I should just forget him whether he lives or dies and live happily."

Stupid Calliope was standing on top of the bell tower, stuck in the past and clinging to him in her memories.

Foolish Calliope.

Even as she repeats self-deprecating words over and over, her firmly planted feet did not leave the spot.

The parade finally reached the base of the bell tower. Saint Clementia with her flaming red hair; Ansgar, the First Prince of the Empire, with blond hair that looks as if it was made from a handful of sunlight; and Wolfgang, a knight with dark brown hair that looks like it was scooped up from the warmest soil after a rain.

She snorted. Their faces were shining brightly. Calliope took a step forward to the edge of the floor where she was standing.

She knew it was not their fault. Still, there was nothing she can do to control her heart that was welling up with bitter resentment.

Calliope Anastas, the only life in the land that hates the heroes whom the world loves. A foolish woman with no power or ability to do anything and was betrayed by her love one, will soon leave a small stain on their lives.

“I don’t have the power to make you leave, so I have no choice but the one to leave.”

When the saintess stood on the podium under the bell tower with the two heroes standing next to her, everyone’s eyes gathered in the square were focused on them.

“Thank goodness the weather is good.”

As the large bell behind her began to ring so loudly that it seemed as if her ears would explode, Calliope’s feet left the edge of the floor and stepped into the air. A strong wind blew as if to stop her.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

The bell began to ring along with the magic of the bell set to commemorate the second year of the heroes. Saint Clementia, the center of the heroes and a human beloved by the gods, stood at the highest point under the bell tower. Escorted by the imperial crown prince, the warm sunlight shines down as if blessing them. The crowd of people radiated a strong energy that it rippled like waves. Creating a spectacle.

It was them, the heroes who had protected humanity and their loved ones from the continent’s calamity that comes once every 500 years. It has been two years since they defeated the Demon King that now the pent-up excitement has finally surfaced.

The first year was spent treating injuries and mourning the loss of comrades. . Even as those around them tried to comfort them, they couldn't pull out those who had sunk deeply. Isaac, the comrade who shared life and death and sacrificed his life to create the current world. The saintess' knight who offered his sword to Clementia.

Clementia looked up at the sky. Her eyes were so dazzling that tears of longing and mourning flowed under her beautiful green eyes. The weather was good. So good, as if it was meant to embrace everyone, bless them and brighten their paths.

“Thank goodness for the weather.”

It was a good day to let go of lingering attachments to the deceased. At her words, the two men standing on either side of her smiled slowly.

And in that moment.

Bang!

A dull noise interfered the commotion of a joyous day and an unknown liquid splashed into Clementia’s face. As if on cue, silence falls for a few seconds. Then, like a scene from a play, screams erupt all at once.

Clementia's fingertips and whole body begin to tremble. Her gaze, looking up at the sky did not look down due to fear.

I think I saw something just now. Something in front of me.

She felt a hand gripping her shoulders lightly and pulled her down from the podium.

“Don’t look down!”

Wolfgang’s anxious voice was heard, but Clementia thoughtlessly lowered her gaze. And then she finally saw the scene she had try to deny and refuse.

“She. . .”

The pure white podium prepared for Clementia was dyed red. When she wiped her cheek with her hand, a lukewarm red liquid came off. The white hair that had turned completely white was being dyed along with the podium.

More blood gurgles and pours out through the crushed head on the floor. White clothes, white hair, white skin. It all seemed unreal. Clementia knew her. The woman she had always felt guilty about. Calliope, the betrayed fiancée of Isaac, her knight, had fallen in front of her.

Did she just fell in front of me?

Her face half contorted. A miserable body clearly showing the shock of hitting the floor. A mangled wreckage that one can barely make out what it was.

Ah. ah.

“Ahhh!”

Clementia screams belatedly. Screaming as if she was struggling to breath, she then begins to hear the noises around her. Wolfgang was shouting at her to calm down while hugging her and Ansgar’s sharp shout, urgently calling for the knights of the kingdom. The square turned into a mess after seeing the horribly deformed corpse.

Screams, cries, and retching can be heard. The once blissful square began to distort chaotically. Clementia couldn’t take her eyes off Calliope’s corpse even as she gagged.

It was a good day, as if God had permitted her to be happy after a year of suffering. On this perfect day with the wind, earth, sky, and sunlight all aligned seemed to mock her assurance, that Calliope fell from the sky.

"Did you try to forget?"

Calliope’s voice that she hadn’t heard in years, rang clearly in her head.

"Did you dare to put me, and Isaac who betrayed me for you, behind you."

She says, accusingly, as the blood on the floor crawls towards Clementia.

“No, no, no. . .”

She struggled and backed away in Wolfgang’s arms. Her plump lips that had been smiling brightly began to scream, and her voice that had been whispering that it was a good day began to cry. Her tears that had sparkled with longing were stained with fear and guilt.

A day that had begun as a wish for their happiness had quickly turned to malice. On the day of the year’s highest sun and warmest day, Calliope Anastas fell like a demon among angels.

If she had survived the fall, her body shattered, she would have laughed at this chaos. But unfortunately, her last breath has long since left her. In that world, Calliope ended her own life.

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When she opened her eyes. Her mind which was not fully awake from slumber, couldn’t think properly.

“What was I doing?”

Calliope, who was blinking slowly, pulled the old blanket close to her as the cold wind blew.

The wooden wall, which seemed ready to collapse at any moment, rattled uneasily whenever the wind blew through. Through the half-broken shutter barely attached to the window, the sky could be seen in the distance. It was dawn, the sun was just about to rise, and the faint sunlight appeared beyond the mountain peaks.

Chapter List

Chapter 2