Chapter 1

They cast the clan elder sacred ritual cups seven times, and every time the answer was the same: the child in my belly was cursed, born to bring ruin on the Gilberts.

The clan elder told Boris Gilbert,

"This child cannot be kept."

Boris held my hand too, coaxing me.

"We're still young."

"If this one's no good, we'll just have another. Maybe the next one will bring nothing but luck."

And as it happened, that same day Candice Fox, the fiancée of his late brother, had her own fortune read.

The very best of omens. A blessing on her husband, a blessing on the whole family.

Boris had her brought to the old estate at once to rest and carry the child in comfort.

Faced with my tears, he only sighed.

"I'm carrying two burdens on one shoulder. I have to keep my brother's line going."

I looked down at the appointment slip for the procedure in my hand and said nothing. Because the Gilbert family precept was clear: only the eldest son had the right to inherit the family estate.

So he would rather kill my child than let it stand in the way of the one in Candice's belly.

If this child was in his way, then fine. I would clear the path for him.

The child, I didn't want anymore.

And Boris Gilbert, I didn't want anymore either.

1.

After the abortion was over, I sat in the hospital for a long time.

A nurse asked whether I wanted them to dispose of the baby.

I shook my head, wiped my eyes dry, and had her put it into a box for me.

When I got home, the place was loud with celebration.

The long table was covered with food and wine. Nearly every one of the Gilbert relatives was there.

I stood there a few seconds, and then I understood.

Today was Candice's birthday, and now there was the added joy of her carrying an auspicious child, so they had thrown a celebration in my home.

Candice sat beside the head of the table in a red dress, one hand resting on her belly.

Boris stood right next to her.

When someone came over with a drink, he put out his hand at once and waved it off for her.

"She's pregnant. She can't drink."

Candice looked up at him, smiling, wheedling. "Not even one sip!"

Boris steadied her by the waist and tapped her nose with fond indulgence. "You. You're going to be a mother, and still so careless."

The way they looked, anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was their own wedding banquet.

Not until I walked in holding the box did the room finally fall silent.

The moment Boris saw me, he instinctively let go of Candice's waist.

But Candice swayed as if she couldn't keep her balance, and he caught her again at once.

The clan elder's face darkened.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you told to stay away from home for a while, so you wouldn't bring bad luck onto Bo and Candy?"

The people around him frowned too.

"That's right. The child in your belly is cursed, but Candice is carrying the blessed one who'll bring fortune to the Gilberts."

"What if you disturb her baby?"

I gave a soundless, thin laugh.

This was the very home Boris and I had set up piece by piece when we married, our wedding home.

And now, because Candice was carrying my husband's son, I wasn't even allowed to come back to my own house.

I walked up to the table and set the box down.

"I'll leave as soon as I've given my gift."

Candice's eyes reddened, and she smiled at me carefully.

"You moved out because of the whole baby situation, and you still remembered to bring me a gift... now I feel even worse about it."

She was beaming as she took the box and opened it.

"But still, thank you—"

And in the next second,

she screamed in terror, staggered violently backward, and crumpled to the floor in a heap.

The laughter around the table cut off all at once, and every face changed.

Boris looked as though he'd been struck across the face with a club, staring at the box, the color draining out of him entirely.

His mother shrieked.

"Have you lost your mind! How dare you bring something this cursed back here!"

The clan elder barked out too.

"Get it out of here! Now!"

"Candice is still carrying a child. You did this on purpose to frighten her. Are you trying to kill the Gilberts' firstborn grandson?"

Candice's face was ghost-white, and she instinctively burrowed toward Boris.

But Boris shoved her away and strode toward me.

He was staring at the box on the table, his voice coming out wrong.

"What is that?"

I looked at him, numb and cold.

"Can't you tell? That's our child. The one you used to read a bedtime story to every night before you'd go to sleep."

Boris's eyes went red in an instant.

"You aborted the baby?"

His breathing broke apart, and he suddenly seized my wrist.

"Why! Who told you to actually go through with it!"

The whole room stood frozen.

But Boris looked utterly out of control, tears simply crashing down.

"Something this huge, and you didn't talk to me about it?"

"Why didn't you tell me a single word?"

I looked at him for a few seconds, and then I laughed.

"And what would that have changed?"

Boris froze.

I pointed at the box on the table.

"If I had talked to you, would you have let me give birth to it?"

"What exactly are you performing here, Boris?"