Prologue

Seven.

The blood fever had swept across the land then. Most of the commoner's children around Hwayoung had gotten it, though over half of them died at the first stage of it. Hwayoung could remember the days and nights spent writhing in the bed, wishing the pain from the fever would go away.

Seven and a half.

Both her and her brother came out of the fever unscathed, but not unmarked. There was no hiding the unnatural blue hue of their eyes.

Eight.

Whispers of the children who'd survived the blood fever spread across the town — cursed, blessed, burdened, messengers of the gods. Hwayoung was too young to understand which one she was. She hoped she was blessed.

Ten.

People began avoiding them. Rumors spread that the royal family was looking into the matter, but it had been something faraway at the time and Hwayoung still