Aria’s mother, Sophia, had been feeding her potions ever since she was born.
After drinking the potion, Aria was not able to say anything. She became mute.
She couldn’t even cough.
“You’re a pathetic failure who should’ve never been born!”
Aria’s expression sank.
Why did she have to be beaten and cursed by her own father?
His facial expression was one of absolute disdain. He abhorred her. To him, she was nothing but a burden on his shoulders.
‘I can speak. I have a name, too…’
She blamed her mother.
The mother who would never visit unless it was to deliver potions.
The mother who would scold her when she didn’t drink the potions.
The mother who had never read her fairy tales or sung her a lullaby. 1
The mother who had never even embraced her…
‘Does she even love me?’
Aria knew nothing.
She could only watch her as the days went by.
When she turned 10 that spring, she learned everything.
Sophia had passed away.
Her vocal cords were completely torn.
“She took her own life. It was said that she committed a violent crime.”
She knew of the truth only after she overheard the maids’ conversations.
Sophia tried to protect her from Count Cortez. 1
‘I was a Siren….’
Siren.
Named after an ancient creature, it was an ability that ran through Sophia’s veins.
The ability to charm, lure, control, and heal others by singing.
Sirens were mythological creatures that only existed in legends.
However, 12 years ago, Count Cortez found out that they truly existed. So he kidnapped a Siren and introduced her to the world.
That Siren was Aria’s mother.
‘Is that how I was born?’
Her whole body trembled.
The news pained her, but it was incomparable to Count Cortez’s domestic violence towards Aria.
“How dare you run away from me, you b*tch! I won’t be your nanny!”
It hurt. A lot.
That day was the worst day of her life.
Aria sat there, tears pricking her eyes, pale hands trembling with fear and sadness.
She tried to block out the screams, but it was impossible, the noise kept ripping her heart.
She felt more pain than the human body could bear and she genuinely believed she would die.
‘I have to run away.’
She had thought of escaping before.
But she was only ten years old.
Furthermore, It had only been a while since she discovered her mother’s true intentions, which were to protect her.
Suddenly, Aria let out a scream.
“Agh!”
She wailed because she couldn’t endure the pain any longer.
“Haha, yes! There’s no way that a Siren’s daughter can’t speak. How dare you try to deceive me?”
“No! Stop it!!!”
“How beautiful… like the voice of an angel, as clear and as soft as a feather….” 3
In the end, Aria ended up following her mother’s footsteps, living the life of a Siren.
The powerful nobles begged her to sing, offering her all of their wealth and shamelessly kissing her feet.
The secret social parties of the imperial family and aristocrats turned into a gathering to listen to the songs of the Siren.
They did terrible things.
She saw many things she shouldn’t have seen.
She heard things she shouldn’t have heard.
‘I didn’t want to know any of this…”
She prayed to God every day.
‘Please save me.’
But God never responded.
Due to her overwhelming talent, the Siren’s songs became even more popular.
The people worshipped her as if she were a deity.
They begged her to save them.
Until… the worst comes to the worst.
Rumors began to spread throughout the empire.
The Siren was rumored to be a monster, not an angel of salvation who borrowed the voice of a God.
“The legendary monster deceived all of you…,” Saintess Veronica said with teary eyes in front of the believers. 1
“I also got addicted to her songs and most of the palace officials went crazy. The Emperor too….”
Her tears seemed so real that the congregation in the square became agitated.
The nobles went crazy.
The emperor became a tyrant.
The empire fell to ruin.
‘And it’s all the Siren’s fault.’
The Siren was a fake.
Not a sacred being, but a horrible monster.
The real one was Veronica, the saintess from the Holy Empire. 4
They shouted in anger, “The imperial family is over because of the monster!”
“We must clean up the imperial palace that has become a den of heathens!”
“Be in power, oh Holy Being!”
“This is not just treason. It’s blasphemy! The Siren’s declaring a holy war!” 1
The benevolent saint shook her slender shoulders slightly. 1
War was inevitable.
She raised her head as if she had made a decision.
Their eyes rest upon golden arcing rays that fell behind Veronica’s fluttering blonde hair.
“I will save all of you.” Veronica pledged.
“Wow!”
“I will purify the palace and grant God’s grace so that no more innocent sacrifices will be made.”
Saintess Veronica.
The protagonist of a perfectly woven heroic narrative. 2
And Aria, the villain who ruined the empire, the root of all evil.
‘I drove them to madness? Really?’
Even Aria herself was confused.
The imperial family, the aristocrats, the commoners… They all said that it was her fault.
The war had begun.
Men and women of all ages were mobilized for war.
They were dragged unconditionally, unable to refuse the conscription.
From the street outside came a peculiar, blood-chilling sound. It was like the low snarling of many voices, and it grew louder and louder until it became a sullen, muttering roar.
The knights called the scene a place since morning.’
Aria wanted to visit her father.
So she opened the door of the attic without hesitation and immediately headed underground.
“Gasp!”
“Goodness! You scared me.”
“What, how…?”
The maids were dumbfounded at the sight of her leaving the attic.
Aria brushed past them carelessly.
She will soon meet her so-called father in the wine cellar.
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“What are you…?”
Count Cortez was too drunk to fully grasp the situation.
He was confused about Aria’s sudden appearance, and he held a wry expression.
But when Aria began to sing, his face brightened and he was soon bathed in astonishment.