MHKBO 03

Chapter 03

Was it fortunate that it was my tears and not blood?

Before I could even understand what it was, Sarah pushed me violently. The hands of a woman who had spent her life doing heavy manual labor were as strong as any man’s. I slammed into the wall twice, and then she grabbed my collar again, dragged me, and threw me outside.

“Get lost. Don’t ever come back. Go feed the seagulls.”

Bang. The door slammed shut.

I fell onto the dry dirt ground, my body trembling uncontrollably. I was scared.

About five minutes passed. Only then did shame start to sink in.

By the time I came to my senses, the sky was already dark. It was summer, but the salt-heavy sea breeze felt cold and unpleasant.

For the first time, I felt fear filling my entire body.

Maybe I’ll die first.

I glanced back at the wooden shack I had been thrown out of. A faint light leaked through the window.

Should I go back and apologize? No. Even as a child, my pride was firm. Maybe even more so because I was a child.

I huffed and hid behind the shadows of the backyard, burying my face in my knees.

I don’t know how long I stayed like that. I must have dozed off, because I woke up to the loud growling of my stomach.

“I’m… hungry.”

My feet naturally moved toward the door.

The lights inside were already off, and the curtains and locks were all shut.

Maybe they’ve cooled down by now. They wouldn’t leave their daughter outside for long, right?

They probably think I’ll open the door myself.

How naive I was. How foolish. I wasn’t even family to them.

I wasn’t their daughter. Not their sister.

Rattle.

“Why won’t it open?”

I shook the door again and again, but it remained firmly locked. My heart slowly sank into an abyss, like a marble falling into a deep well.

No way… they wouldn’t… they wouldn’t—

Five minutes later, I was in full panic.

I slammed the door and begged.

“M-mom! Dad! Please open it! Please!”

But the door did not open.

Only the light in the window remained on.

I ran to it and pleaded again.

“P-please open it!”

The window latch clicked open. A small gap formed.

I looked up at it with hope.

But what I wanted was not there.

Instead, a bucket of cold water poured down on me.

“Get lost, you brat. You don’t belong here. You’re not family.”

To my young self, it felt like a death sentence.

I stood there like a stone.

I think I even heard from inside, “I can’t sleep because of that pest.”

How long did I stand there?

My body started shaking from the cold. Only then did I realize how miserable I looked.

My clothes were soaked through with filthy water that smelled like a mop bucket. I looked like a drowned rat.

I’m… cold…

I hugged myself, trembling. Goosebumps covered my skin.

Death from cold in summer. Even as someone barely above a street child, I had never imagined that.

But now it felt real.

Where should I go?

The backyard? The breakwater? The village hall?

There was nowhere for a child like me—an unwanted girl—who had been cast out.

Then another thought flashed into my mind.

I’ll go there. To the back alleys of Sentier Street.

Looking back, I must have lost my mind from fear of death.

Otherwise I can’t explain why I made that decision.

Without him, I would have died there. I would have been caught by thugs and erased without a trace.

It was a gamble with my life.

And not even a safe one.

Sentier Street was filled with prostitutes, drifters, and criminals—people who survived through illegal means rather than honest work.

But even there, daytime or festival weeks were relatively safe.

Night was different.

At night, it turned into lawless territory.

If even the main street was dangerous, the back alleys were something else entirely.

Everyone knew that. A nest of crime. A breeding ground of darkness.

At that time, my courage must have inflated like a balloon.

I walked forward without thinking.

Red lights from Sentier Street illuminated my path. The residential area behind me was silent and eerie at night, but here it was as bright as daytime.

Beautiful—but dirty beauty.

I have to find that boy.

I searched the alleys for the unnamed boy I barely knew.

He was older than me, not a child really. I had once shared bread with him a few times. He had been kind.

So I decided to entrust my fate to the kindness of a stranger.

How foolish that was.

The alley was exactly as dangerous as I had heard.

No magic street lamps. No light at all.

My small size helped me move unnoticed, but every corner felt like a trap.

Then I saw it.

A single coin on the ground.

Five silver.

To nobles it meant nothing, but to the poor it was precious.

I immediately picked it up.

Only afterward did I realize—

Someone had dropped it recently.

And that meant—

“What are you doing?”

A voice came from behind me.

Cold. Sharp.

I slowly turned.

A boy stood there.

Not quite an adult, but taller than me.

“Uh… ah…”

I shook my head rapidly. I’m not doing anything. Really. Please don’t hurt me.

He stepped forward. I stepped back.

After a few awkward movements, he sighed.

“Stop. I’m just here to take back what’s mine.”

Then the moonlight revealed his face.

I knew that face.

It was the boy I had been looking for.

I grabbed his shoulder.

Well, “grabbed” was generous—I jumped up and clung to him due to the height difference.

“W-what—… Thea?”

He recognized me too.

“Yes. Big brother. It’s me, Thea.”

I had found him.

Relief washed over me, and I let my guard down completely.

A few months ago, I had found him collapsed and covered in wounds.

Back then, he was thin and ragged, dressed in rags. Now he looked healthier, properly dressed, with color in his cheeks and a strikingly handsome face.

I almost wouldn’t have recognized him.

I remembered that day.

He had been lying like a corpse.

I had taken my lunch bread, torn it into pieces, boiled it with goat’s milk, and brought it to him.

“What are you?”

He had looked at me suspiciously.

“Eat. You’re hungry.”

“….”

He eventually ate.

“Good, right?”

He nodded slightly.

Afterward, I treated his wounds with herbs.

“Why are you doing this for someone like me?”

He complained, but he was grateful.

“I don’t have friends,” I admitted.

“Then you don’t need them. Life is alone.”

“But I want one.”

“Then I’ll be your friend for today.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

“Let’s play house.”

So we did.

I gathered stones and grass and pretended they were food.

He played along.

Later he told me stories of thieves, beggars, and scams in the city.

I laughed.

When the sun set, I asked his name.

“I don’t have one.”

“Then I’ll give you one.”

“Sevitz.”

“What?”

“That’s your name.”

He laughed softly.

“Thea… don’t go giving that name to anyone else.”