I'm so hungry…

I'm so cold…

I'm so tired….

On a freezing night, a tiny figure wandered the streets. Snowflakes dusted her silver hair, and a longing light shone in her ruby-red eyes as she gazed at the bright lights and bustling prosperity all around her.

The girl cupped her little hands in front of her mouth and breathed out a cloud of icy mist. She couldn't help pulling her scant clothing tighter around herself. Her slender legs, left bare to the cold, were already red with frost and trembled nonstop in the snow.

The splendid clothes and all kinds of dolls displayed in the shop window caught the girl's attention. The smell of roasting meat drifting from far away made her stomach rumble.

“I'm so hungry….. So cold…..”

But she had no money.

Or rather, she should have had some. But when the owner of a flower shop realized she was a half-elf, he chased her out with a broom.

The savings her mother had left her before she died had run out months ago. Local bullies had claimed her house and land for themselves, and one of those villains had even tried to abduct her and sell her. She'd managed to escape.

“Ow…… That hurts!”

The girl gently touched the whip marks on her slender arm. They were red and burned like fire, and the wounds that had only just healed had gotten wet with snowmelt. The pain was almost too much to bear.

The convent's nuns had whipped her. Even though she was only twelve and worked from dawn till dusk, they still looked at her as if she were a monster. The slightest slackening of effort earned her a whipping, and all she got in return was barely enough to fill her stomach—food not even pigs would eat.

So she'd run away again.

She knew that she had to work to get paid, and that she needed to get paid to eat, so she kept trying all kinds of jobs.

But because of her ears and her silver hair, almost everyone avoided her, as if some terrible misfortune might fall on them at any moment.

A half-elf.

A race cursed by the gods.

Sometimes, a restaurant owner thought she was cute and let her stay nearby, just to look at. But soon the customers would flee, one after another. She understood why, and slipped out of the restaurant before the owner could get angry.

She'd once considered doing the kind of work other half-elf girls did: lying on a wide bed, wrapping her arms around a strange man's neck, and earning a good sum of money after one night. Besides, with her small body and cute face, it wouldn't be hard to become a regular favorite with the men.

But she hadn't done it. Her mother had told her that a girl had to cherish her body and never, no matter what, take up such degrading work.

So the girl wandered like this. If she was lucky, she could find a bakery that needed someone for odd jobs and get some unwanted scraps. If she wasn't, she'd have to fight stray cats over food in the garbage.

She had no relatives, no brothers or sisters. All her mother had left her was a little money, a smile from her sickbed, and a cryptic sentence.

“Eileen, you're sure to meet the person fate has chosen for you. He'll take care of you and guide you, and you'll grow into someone your mother can be proud of.”

But she didn't understand.

What did “the person fate has chosen for me” mean?

Would he give me fresh-baked bread and a warm bed?

Would he buy me pretty clothes?

Would he give me…the happiness I hadn't known for so long?

……

…

No one could answer her.

Even on this last night of the year, her stomach was empty, and she couldn't even find a place to sleep.

Knock, knock.

“Hello…….”

But people had to eat. So she gathered her courage and knocked on the door of a bakery that was still open.

“Oh my? Whose child is this? Why are you wearing so little?”

The person who opened the door was a kindly-looking old woman.

I'm so lucky!!

“Um…do you have any…any bread you don't need? Could you…give me a piece?”

“I can sing you a song. I…I sing really well…”

She spoke timidly, her legs trembling nonstop in the winter cold.

“Are you…a half-elf?” The elderly shopkeeper pushed up the frame of her reading glasses, and her gaze grew strange.

“Ugh……!”

It's over.

Letting a half-elf into their shop was every shopkeeper's nightmare. They brought bad luck—that was something people had known for a long time.

She'd get yelled at again, then thrown out!

She straightened up and spoke loudly, as if she'd made up her mind.

“Um!! You can hit me if you want! But…but could you please give me some bread crusts……? I-I haven't eaten in two days…”

The old woman looked at her, then shut the door in irritation, leaving a few words behind.

“Wait here.”

“Huh…?”

Barely ten seconds later, the tightly shut door opened again. The elderly shopkeeper tossed her a big bundle packed full of bread. The girl stared at it in astonishment.

“B-But I don't have any money…!”

“Enough! Take it and go! Don't stand there getting in the way! If anyone sees you, I won't be able to do business!!”

“Thank you!! Happy New Year!!”

The girl bowed deeply, then dashed into a dim alley under the old woman's watchful gaze, as if afraid she'd change her mind.

……

…

“Wow! So much bread!”

The tiny figure huddled in a dark corner, eyes wide as she made sure no one was passing by.

If other vagrants saw her carrying food, they'd surely steal it from her. And if she was unlucky, they'd beat her up to vent their anger. It had happened more times than she could count.

“Ah! It smells so good!”

The girl eagerly picked up a cheap, round loaf and took huge bites.

This bread could last a whole week! She wouldn't have to go hungry for a while!

I'll hide it in a little while! Then I'll look for some work selling little things and save up money. Maybe I can buy myself a new outfit!

Wowww~~ It's been ages since I got any new clothes! I can't wait!

Just as the girl was dreaming of this tiny, modest happiness, a growl shattered her dream.

“Grrrr……”

“Waaaah!!!”

In the darkness at the other end of the alley, a pair of eyes glimmered into view. Then another pair, and a third. Three vicious dogs, no healthier-looking than the girl herself, emerged from the darkness, growling low in their throats as they slowly advanced toward her.

The girl wasn't the only one going hungry on this New Year's Eve.

“No……!! Go away!!”

“Awooooo!!”

But her cries were useless. The dogs knocked her to the ground and began fighting over the bread in her arms. Their razor-sharp claws tore through her already tattered clothes, leaving one bloody scratch after another on her fragile body.

“No!! Don't eat it!! It's mine!! Ah!!”

“Woof!!”

But she was so weak she couldn't even beat a single dog. She screamed and cried, and one of them even kicked her in the stomach. All she could do was kneel on the ground, groaning in pain.

Before long, the dogs had finished eating. They trotted out of the alley, leaving the girl behind, covered in blood and dressed in rags, crying all alone.

An unjust fate.

“Waaaah…… Why……? Sob……”

It hurts……

I'm so hungry……

I'm so cold……

I'm so tired….

The girl's dream had been shattered once again.

After a while, when her wounds didn't hurt quite so much, the girl lay facedown on the ground and picked up the pieces of bread the dogs had torn apart. She ate them one by one, mixed with muddy water, saliva, and her own blood.

“Sob…sob……”

“Mom……”

“I miss you so much……”

A little while later, she'd cried herself out. The snow all around her was stained a dull red. Blood loss and cold left her exhausted, but she still hadn't found anywhere she could sleep without freezing to death.

“I can't sleep……”

She couldn't sleep here. In this weather, there was a very good chance she'd never wake up again.

But she still collapsed. Expecting a girl of only twelve to fight against her body's needs was simply too much.

In the last moment before her consciousness slipped away, the girl seemed to hear a gentle voice calling out.

“Oh my~~ What an adorable girl!”

Such a gentle voice……

It sounds so excited……

But…I’m so sleepy…I can't open my eyes……

“Mom……”

“I'm sorry, but I'm not your mom.”

“But I think I can turn you into the most~~~ perfect product!!”

The most perfect…product…

What does that mean…?

But before she could hear the answer, her consciousness slipped into eternal darkness.

……

…