EPISODE 4 — SACRIFICE

EPISODE 4 – SACRIFICE

I repeated the words spoken by the servant in my mind, trying to make sense of them. But before I could even speak, she slammed the door shut. The loud, echoing thud reverberated across the vast living room, making me flinch.

I stood there in stunned silence, eyes wide with disbelief.

Sell me? Madame Gisele wants to sell me? For what reason?

I clutched at my hair in a panic as cold sweat started forming on my temples.

Am I being sold off to be a prostitute?

No… that can’t be right.

With a face and body like mine, no one would be desperate enough to pay for me.

Maybe… I’m being sold to some rich family to be their slave?

That seemed a little more possible. But no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to buy me.

My thoughts spun out of control, each possibility more terrifying than the last.

I didn’t want to panic, but my heart was pounding so loudly I could barely think straight. This was the first time in a long time that I felt this kind of fear. A deep, unsettling dread. My knees began to feel weak as I stood there in the center of the living room, frozen. I couldn’t move, but my mind was racing in every direction.

Then I heard footsteps approaching the closed door. My ears perked up instinctively. I focused all my attention on the doorknob. It slowly began to turn.

My body moved before I even realized it.

As soon as the door creaked open, I ran toward it, desperate to escape. But just as I reached the entrance, a guard’s boot came flying toward me, landing hard against my stomach. The force knocked the air out of my lungs and sent me crashing to the floor, flat on my back.

I winced hard, my lips curling in pain as I clutched my stomach, the exact spot where I had been kicked. “You were told to wait here,” the guard growled through gritted teeth. "But you still had the nerve to try escaping...” I lay curled on the cold floor, writhing in pain.

I still forced myself to sit up, my breathing shallow and uneven. That’s when I saw her. Madame Gisele entered the room with another guard flanking her.

“I’m just waiting for the buyer,” she said coldly, her eyes fixed on me with that familiar arrogant stare. “They should arrive any minute now.”

She paused, eyeing me from head to toe with a mocking smile. “So you can look human when dressed properly,” she said with a chuckle that made my skin crawl.

“W-Where... are you t-taking me?” I managed to whisper. “W-Why are you selling me?”

Madame Gisele’s smile widened into something sinister. “I suppose... it wouldn’t hurt to finally tell you the truth,” she purred, her tone heavy with sarcasm. “Let's start from the reason we bought you from your parents...”

She walked slowly toward me, the sharp clack of her high heels echoing through the room until she stopped just inches in front of me.

“So... the truth is,” she began. “At first, we had no intention of buying a baby to make into a slave. If we wanted one, we had plenty of strong options to do the hard labor around the estate. But your father begged us. They are desperate and starving. It was the middle of winter and your family had nothing to eat. You were all living in one of the worst slum areas in the region...”

She tilted her head, lips curling into a sarcastic smile.

“And we bought you.”

Her voice twisted as she laughed, a demonic sound that echoed against the cold stone walls.

“We brought you here, raised you, gave you chores around the mansion once you were old enough to walk and speak... You should be thankful.” She grinned. “You’re lucky you’re a girl. Girls have more value than boys. We didn’t buy you to serve... we bought you so one day, we could sell you.”

Her voice grew darker. I could hear the pounding of my own heart, louder with every word she said, but I couldn’t tear my gaze from her twisted, evil eyes.

“And this day,” she said softly. “We will sell you... to a werewolf pack that needs a sacrifice.”

My breath caught.

“A female sacrifice... sells for a much higher price.”

My eyes widened in horror. I forgot how to breathe. My thoughts froze.

Werewolves...

Those immortals...

I had heard countless stories about them growing up. Beasts living in a forbidden place known only as the Immortal’s Land, several kilometers away from our region. They were known to be savage, powerful, and ruthless. But from what I understood, they never harmed humans. They lived in their own territory, and we lived in ours.

I never knew they ate people.

They only attacked their own kind... other packs... Not humans.

“W-Why me?” I asked, trembling. “W-Why would they eat me? W-What do they need me for?”

“There’s a connection between the leaders of the werewolf packs and the rulers of each province, town, and territory. That’s because criminals from our region are banished to the Immortal Lands... the territory of the werewolves.”

She paced slowly, letting her words sink in.

“But not all packs are willing to eat criminals, especially men. Some of them are... particular. They prefer feeding their high-ranking werewolves with something more refined.”

She stopped and looked straight into my eyes, her grin widening.

“For centuries, it's been their sacred tradition to consume humans to gain strength. And you... You are going to be one of their meals.”

Then, she let out a loud, echoing laugh.

I felt a shiver crawl up my spine. Every hair on my body stood up. My lips parted slightly as I struggled to breathe, my throat trembling because of what I had just heard.

“I’ve wanted to kill you for years,” she spat suddenly. “After all the times you hurt my beloved son... my only child! But I held back. I wasn’t going to waste the years we spent raising you. We’ll finally be rewarded... with gems, gold bars... all in exchange for you.”

I listened quietly, my body still, but inside, I was crumbling. My head bowed slowly. My eyes remained wide open, but they stared blankly at the floor.

“And just so you know... poor families? They sell their children all the time. Hoping to escape poverty. Sure, it’s illegal under the law passed by our town’s ruler but people still do it.”