Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 330: I Wished Upon A Devil(Psychological Horror Warning)

Maria…I don't know what happened to her–at least to the real one. The last time I saw her, she was sitting on the side of the road, scratching her blistered skin while begging for money. That sight still haunts me to this day, I never wanna be that weak again. No influence, no power, it's a plague I tell you! A damned plague!

Had I still been that little girl at the side of the road, the vampire curse would've consumed me long before the hero and his party killed Vlad in his lair. I hope she died, the past me, it would be a mercy if she did or else she must be suffering through the worst of life.

How did any of this happen you ask? Well, one day in my plagued body, I wished upon a devil and the next morning when as I awakened, I found myself in the promised princess' bed. Maria, she was called and so I downed that name. From a diseased child of a harlot to the cradle of luxury away from that accursed body.

And it held not just bad memories, but scars of those men who'd raped me as…well, with a harlot mother willing to do anything for a nickel, its obvious as to what profession she would push her young daughter into. But her ambition only led her to demise, as one day those very men that used every night came in drunk and slashed her throat with a broken beer bottle.

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And then...they did to me what they always did, one of them even spread a disease into my body from which I could never escape.

Nobody desired a broken toy so I never made money from my body again. Resorting to begging at the side of the road, I knew I wouldn't last long on the streets especially when generosity in Athenian city was running low.

'What did I do wrong to deserve this?' I wondered, my hand caressing my pregnant belly.

I wanted to murder that child but he died in my belly before being born. It was better that way for neither he nor me deserved that wretched life. And as if fate had it in its quill to ink something better, I found myself looking at the passing daughter of a duke turned fiance to the old king.

Her parade was raining with seeds of sunflower and roses, we gathered them through the stress to put something into our empty bellies. But then for the first time, I felt great jealousy.

For while we were gathering seeds and flowers covered in people's footprints, the princess held a golden chalice of clean water and her servants offered her fresh meals even on a damned grand chariot and her servants held trays full of lavish meals.

That night, with a heart filled with malice I wished upon a loathsome devil. I wanted that life and to bask in the glamour of luxury! Who wouldn't? I wanted it and there was nothing I won't do to stop myself from getting it! Even if it meant selling my soul to a devil, and I did...but never would I have guessed that it would turn me into irredeemable evil.

The morning that came after, I woke up in the princess' bed, surrounded by the luxuries of the world brought to me in the comfort of my own bed. I was at first unsure if I was dreaming, yet I hoped that it wouldn't ever end. Sweets, nice dresses, clean warm water and most importantly a family that loved me.

However, that illusion that I was truly Maria only lasted for a few days. When the true princess arrived at the mansion's gate to my doorstep, I was haunted for days, months and even years. She turned away, of course, even beaten by the guards or claiming to be the true princess. Only in her agonizing screams did I realize the consequence of my actions.

On my carriage strolls through the streets, I often looked for her through the curtains. Shivering in a corner, rotting away with broken limbs, I wanted to stake my own heart out to her misery.

One night I even wished that the devil would revert the wish, but with no soul to entice him, he never answered and I was left agonizing over a choice for as long as I could remember. Eventually, however, when I no longer could find her, I tried to accept my new fate and acted out as the princess. Even then I couldn't help but ponder how my life would've turned out if I was left on the streets.

I lacked wealth, power, and so much more and I struggled because of it. The plague of poverty, of an unhealthy upbringing, fueled my desire to secure myself a brighter future. No longer will I lack wealth or power, I want it for me, for my children and for every child I bring into this world!

I wanna secure the best genes for them so they wouldn't be diseased like me, I want them to grow healthy so I–I lost sight, didn't I? It all became about me.

That need for security quickly turned into greed. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, after all, I am a soulless irredeemable evil.

"W-what do we do?" The voice of the fae-devil broke the flashing of memories before my eyes.

Standing in front of me was the clay statue of the same woman as before, but somehow, I no longer felt afraid. I knew plague, I knew poverty, I knew so much and struggled through it, and if that makes me a monster to desire better and better, then so be it!

"I'm not fucking dying here!" Yelling into the face of the monster, I moved my head as close to it as possible. Staring right into its eyes, I couldn't help but cackle at its misery while possessing the freedom to move on my own. "You think you're in the worst possible situation you could be? That this is the end of your torment?

Then go ahead, touch me and stay locked in here forever as we never get to set you dimwits free!"

"Ma-Maria, shut up…" Masking my surprise behind a facade of courage, I watched as both the mummies retreated into the walls and the devil fae beside me ate her own words. "How in the hell did you do that?"

'False promise like any other monarch.' Were the words I wanted to say, but even the walls around us had ears, quite literally.