Chapter 1: The Trampled Rose
Kyoto, 1500 AD.
Snow fell lightly on the wooden roofs of the entertainment district, but the most piercing cold came from inside Elena Hanako's heart. The 18-year-old girl stood in front of a cracked mirror in a narrow booth at the "Ouroboros" bar.
Her face was a confusing symphony for anyone who looked at her. His cheekbones were high and defined like the marble statues of the gods of his father's homeland, Greece. However, her pair of almond-shaped eyes with curly eyelashes hold the secret of the Geishas from her grandmother's lineage. Her skin was as white as milk, but tonight, she had to apply blood red lipstick that was too thick on her lips.
"Your father lost again, Elena," the old pimp's voice broke his reverie. "The debt is now as high as Mount Fuji. If you don't come out now, the debt collectors will take the lives of your younger siblings."
Elena closed her eyes. He thought of his father—an outcast Greek nobleman who carried his empty pride and gambling addiction across the ocean. Elena took a deep breath, letting the thin silk fabric of her kimono fall slightly, highlighting her beautiful shoulders.
Tonight, she was no longer a noble princess. It is merchandise.
Chapter 2: Guests from Darkness
The bar was packed. The smell of cheap sake mixed with the scent of sweat and rotting lust. In the dimmest corner, sat a figure who always made the hairs on Elena's spine tingle: Malphas.
The man was wearing an ancient wizard robe that was so shabby, it was full of dirt stains and tears. His face was always covered with a rough black cloth. The people in the bar mock her as the "Mystical Beggar", but they don't know what Elena knows.
Elena once saw Malphas heal a bird whose wings had been destroyed with just a small murmur. He once saw Malphas grow a thorny creeper that strangled a thief to death in a dark alley, then in an instant turned the corpse into a pile of beautiful black roses.
As Elena walked past Malphas's table towards the room of a rich merchant who had paid her handsomely, her steps stopped.
"Don't do that, Elena," Malphas' voice sounded. It was not an ordinary human voice. The voice was so melodious, like a harp in a storm, vibrating inside Elena's ribs. "The sins you committed tonight will leave scars that cannot be erased even by holy water."
Elena turned her head, her eyes filled with tears. "You have magic, Malphas. You can turn metal into gold, you can make the dead come back to life. Why don't you help me?"
Behind his mask, Malphas looked at Elena. Elena felt as if her soul was being stripped naked. "My magic has a price, Beauty. And you are not ready to pay the price I ask."
Chapter 3: Night of Surrender
The room smelled of strong agarwood. The merchant, a chubby man with hungry eyes, was waiting. Without words, Elena began to untie the belt of her kimono. Every inch of exposed skin felt like an open wound.
He sold himself. He let the rough hands touch him, ignoring the disgust that was bubbling in his throat. Outside the window, the previously calm sky suddenly turned dark purple. Lightning struck without the sound of thunder, creating a strange horror scene.
In the midst of this sinful act, Elena felt a cold presence in the room. He looked at the corner of the room. There, in the shadows, stood Malphas. The shabby-robed man remained silent, watching with terrifying intensity.
Surprisingly, Malphas' presence didn't make Elena afraid of the witch, but instead made a strange hot sensation spread through her body—a combination of extreme shame and unreasonable dark passion.
Chapter 4: The Terror Behind Magic
Suddenly, the trader stopped moving. His eyes bulged, his mouth gaped, but no sound came out. His body began to shrivel at a terrifying speed. His hair was white and falling out, his skin saggy and dry like ancient parchment.
"What... what are you doing?" Elena screamed, covering her body with a makeshift cloth.
Malphas stepped out of the shadows. "He wanted a taste of youth, so I gave him the opposite. He has given his entire remaining life to me as payment for touching you."
Suddenly, thorny plants grew from the wooden floor of the room, piercing the trader's body, which had now become a living skull. The plant flowers with red petals that beat like a human heart.
"You predicted my future, Malphas," Elena whispered shakily. "What do you see?"
Malphas approached. Even though his clothes were shabby and dirty, the aura of power he exuded was absolute. It is something much older than this world, something born from the rebellion of light against darkness.
"I saw you standing on a pile of corpses of kings," Malphas' voice caressed Elena's ear, sensual and deadly. "I saw you wearing a crown made of thorns and stars. But first, you must be completely destroyed."
Chapter 5: Buried Secrets
The bar below became chaotic. People screamed when a strange disease suddenly broke out there. Ulcers appeared on the faces of philandering men in an instant, while prostitutes suddenly turned so beautiful that their skin broke because they couldn't contain that beauty.
Malphas held Elena's hand. His touch was cold, but sent an electric shock that made Elena weak.
"Who are you really?" Elena asked. "You're not just a wizard."
Malphas didn't answer. He just raised his hand, and the entire bar building started shaking. The shadows on the wall formed huge wings that were dark and majestic, even though his physical body remained wrapped in a flea robe.
"My identity is a secret that will kill you if you find out now," said Malphas. "Just know this: I am the end of all beginnings, and the beginning of all your endings."
That night, Elena not only lost her purity to sin, but she also surrendered her sanity to the mysterious witch. In the dark year 1500, a new legend was being written in ink of blood and lust.
CHAPTER 6: SACRED FROM YOUR OWN BLOOD
That night, Kyoto was no longer noisy. The air felt heavy, as if the oxygen had been replaced by invisible bone dust. Elena returned to her shack on the outskirts of the district with a bruised body and a broken soul. There, he found his father, Constantinos, curled up in the corner of the room cradling an empty sake bottle.
"Elena... the money? Where's the money?!" Constantinos lunged, his eyes bloodshot from gambling frenzy. He didn't care to see his daughter's torn kimono or her empty eyes.
"Here," Elena threw a small bag of gold pieces—payment from the life of the merchant who had rotted in the bar. "Take it, and never touch my brothers again."
However, the darkness doesn't stop there. From the shadows in the damp corner of the room, the shabby robe reappeared. Malphas stood there, silent as a gravestone. His presence caused the room temperature to drop drastically until their breath emitted white steam.
"Your father will not stop, Elena," Malphas's voice floated, melodious but containing a tremor of horror that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "The gold will run out overnight. And tomorrow, he will sell your youngest sister to an even crueler brothel."
"Shut up, you rotten witch!" shouted Constantinos while throwing the bottle at Malphas.
The bottle never touched Malphas' robes. In midair, the bottle stopped, then slowly turned into black dust that fell to the floor. Malphas stepped forward. Even though her face was covered, Elena could feel the gaze that was thirsty for destruction.
CHAPTER 7: TERRIFYING RITUALS OF REVENGE
"I can help you, Elena," whispered Malphas right in the girl's ear. "I can make your father give everything to atone for his sins to you. But you have to give me 'permission'."
"Do it," Elena hissed with seething hatred. "Do anything."
Instantly, the atmosphere turned into a real nightmare. The ground beneath Constantinos' feet began to soften, turning into black mud that smelled of carrion. The thorny roots of the ancient tree suddenly penetrated the wooden floor, wrapping around the man's legs with lightning speed.
"Help! Elena, help!" Constantinos screamed hysterically.
However, her screams were blocked. The vines entered his mouth, forcing their way down his throat. Elena watched with wide eyes as her father's skin began to stretch. Something was growing inside his father's body.
The sound of bones breaking—crack, crack, crack—filled the small room. Malphas just stood still, his hands hidden beneath the wide sleeves of his robe seemed to be making graceful symphonic movements.
From the pores of Constantinos' skin, white chrysanthemums began to bloom. Beautiful, but the petals are made from a network of nerves and muscles that were forcibly pulled from inside the body. Blood poured out profusely, soaking the floor, but strangely it didn't flow—it crept onto Malphas's robes, as if the shabby clothes were drinking from it.
CHAPTER 8: THE FACE BEHIND THE DARKNESS
The sight was so terrible that Elena wanted to vomit, but she couldn't look away. The beauty that results from that suffering has an evil magnetic attraction.
"Look, Elena," Malphas' voice deepened, the vibrations making the floor shake. "This is true justice. Wasted life is transformed into eternal beauty."
Constantinos is no longer human. He had become a flesh statue in the shape of a flower tree that was still throbbing. His eyes were still open, blinking in endless agony because Malphas had not let him die—the man would live on as a suffering plant forever.
Malphas approached Elena. The half-breed girl backed away until she was cornered against the wall. Malphas raised his pale hand, his long, cold fingers caressing Elena's neck.
"Are you afraid of me?" Malphas asked.
"You... you're a monster," Elena whispered, even as her body reacted sensually to the witch's cold touch. There was an aura of immense power radiating from beneath the robe, something that made Elena's mortal soul want to surrender and prostrate herself.
"I am what this world deserves," said Malphas.
Suddenly, from beneath the hood of his dark robe, a dazzling yet dark silver light radiated. Elena caught a glimpse—just a glimpse—of a facial structure so perfect that it could destroy the sanity of anyone who saw it. Not a human face, but not a demon either. It was a face that had seen the beginning of the creation and destruction of heaven.
CHAPTER 9: IRREVOCABLE AGREEMENT
"Now," Malphas whispered, his voice now sounding like thousands of angels crying. "Your family is safe. Your debt is paid off. But in exchange, you are my servant."
Without warning, Malphas tore a small part of his shabby robe and attached it to Elena's wrist. The cloth seemed to come to life, crawling and blending into Elena's skin, forming blood-red seal marks shaped like burning wings.
The pain is excruciating. Elena felt as if her blood was boiling. He fell into Malphas' arms. In the midst of the pain, he felt a dark sensation of pleasure creep up his spine.
"Starting tonight, every man who looks at you with lust will feel a curse," said Malphas as he lifted Elena's body. "You are my poison rose, Elena. And only I can pick you."
Outside the hut, the entire city of Kyoto was suddenly enveloped in a red mist. The dogs howled in terror, and the priests in the temples awoke with screams because they dreamed of seeing the sun fall and be replaced by a pair of dark, nameless eyes.
Will Elena be able to bear the burden of being the bearer of Malphas' curse? And what will happen when a powerful Shogun in Kyoto orders Elena to be taken to his palace, not realizing that he has just invited death into his home?