All the events of the past flashed through my mind. Everything felt ordinary, as though none of it had left any impression at all. The five hundred years I had lived felt like no more than the blink of an eye. For an immortal, that was only natural.
I had not been born destined to become immortal. Once, I had been nothing more than an ordinary human, just like everyone else. But when famine struck and dragged on, my family grew desperate enough to make a pact with the Devil. In exchange for freeing themselves from their suffering, they had to surrender me to that dark creature. In the end, I was granted immortal life—but at a terrible price: all my human emotions vanished from me. I could no longer feel happiness, sadness, disappointment, let alone love.
I met him by accident. It all began with a change in the behavior of my daughter, Maya. After her father died, Maya became an extremely quiet child. What kept me from simply standing by was the strange scar on her body that refused to heal.
There was one rule I had followed throughout these centuries: I had to leave them once I appeared to be turning thirty-five. That way, no one would suspect that I was never aging. But this time, I could not bring myself to leave my daughter trapped in such a situation. I had to stay and help her.
As my mind busily turned over every possible solution, someone running in a hurry suddenly slammed into me.
“Sorry, sis! I didn’t mean to,” the person who had run into me said as he quickly stopped, lowered his head, then raised his face to check on me.
When our eyes met, time seemed to slow for an instant. Standing before me was a man in his twenties, with a calm expression that concealed an unusual sharpness. His eyes were dark, as though they could pierce through the layers of defenses I had built over hundreds of years.
“It’s fine,” I replied flatly, without emotion, exactly as I had grown accustomed to doing. I was about to leave, eager to return to thinking about Maya’s problem, but his voice stopped me.
“You seem… different from everyone else here,” he said quietly. His tone was not mocking; he sounded as though he was merely stating what he felt.
I stopped and glanced back. “That’s just your impression.”
He gave me a faint smile, one that felt sincere yet still held secrets. “Maybe. But I rarely meet someone whose eyes look as though they’ve seen the world for centuries, even though their face still looks perfectly young.”
My heart, which had not pounded in a long time, suddenly seemed to tremble faintly. Since when had anyone been able to see what was hidden beneath my appearance? The encounter I had thought was nothing more than an ordinary accident turned out to be the beginning of something I had never expected to happen in my empty, immortal life.
“You’re imagining too much,” I replied just as flatly, trying to conceal the wariness beginning to surface. I was about to walk away again, but instead, he took a small step closer, his gaze never leaving me, as though he did not want to let me go so easily.
“Sorry if I’m being too forward,” he said softly, his tone growing gentler and more attentive. “But honestly… my eyes haven’t been able to look anywhere else since I saw you. You feel like someone who disappeared long ago—or perhaps something that was never meant to exist in this world. Every movement you make is calm, and your gaze is deep, as though you’re carrying thousands of stories no one has ever told.”
He scratched lightly at his temple, looking embarrassed yet even more curious. “I don’t know what’s making me feel this way. It’s like there’s a pull that common sense can’t explain. What’s your name? May I get to know you better?”
I stared at him in silence. For hundreds of years, no one had ever spoken to me with such an utterly captivated, curious gaze, completely free of suspicion. The encounter I had thought was nothing more than an ordinary accident turned out to be the beginning of something I had never expected to happen in my empty, immortal life.
I continued staring at him in silence for a few moments, then slowly shook my head without changing my flat expression.
“It would be better if we parted here. I have something important to take care of.”
Without waiting for his answer, I turned around and walked away with steady steps. I could feel his eyes following my back until I turned the corner and disappeared from his sight. The curiosity and admiration shining in his eyes had briefly disturbed my calm, but I quickly pushed them aside. No feelings could be allowed to stand in the way of my purpose now.
Once I reached a quieter road, my thoughts returned entirely to Maya. The image of the strange scar I had seen on my daughter’s back echoed clearly in my mind. It did not look like an ordinary wound from a fall or a sharp object. Its shape was regular, its color purplish, and it had felt cold when I secretly touched it the night before—as though something foreign had seeped into her body.
I quickened my pace toward home. Over my hundreds of years of life, I had seen many strange and dangerous things. A premonition lingered in my heart, though I felt no fear, and my instincts told me this was not merely an ordinary health problem. When I reached the front door, I paused for a moment and looked at Maya’s tightly closed bedroom window.
“What’s really happening to you, sweetheart?” I murmured softly.
I had to investigate the origin of that wound, find out who or what had caused it, and ensure Maya’s safety—even if I had to break the rule I had faithfully upheld for more than five centuries.