99 Crimes, Countless Blessings — and None of Them Were Mine Chapter 10
The golden fate seal drifted into my palm.
Only one sentence appeared on its surface.
(Suffering is not goodness. Choosing kindness is.]
I stared at the words as tears slipped down my face.
I had never needed to be beaten, framed, or sacrificed to prove I was good.
That pain had never been my destiny.
The Judge took the Arbiter’s pen and began to deliver judgment.
Dad had traded his own daughter’s fate for wealth and led the ritual that bound my soul.
He was sentenced to the Prison of Greed.
He would guard a mountain of gold while remaining eternally hungry and thirsty.
Every time he reached for a coin, judgment fire would burn his fingers to ash.
Mom had sacrificed the very meaning of motherhood.
She was sentenced to the Prison of Cold.
There, she would face a door that could never be opened.
Behind it, a feverish child would cry for her forever.
Again and again, she would place her hand on the doorknob.
Again and again, she would let go.
Adrian forged evidence and manipulated public opinion. Julian killed a woman and framed me. Ethan falsified medical records.
They were sentenced to the Prisons of False Accusation, Strangling, and Blades.
Every lie they spoke would become part of their own punishment.
Ruby was sentenced to the Prison of Emptiness.
All the applause, honors, and love she had stolen would appear within reach.
But whenever she reached for them, they would pass through her and return to their true owners.
The Judge looked down at them.
“Do you accept this judgment?”
Dad crawled toward me and reached out one hand.
“Nora, I truly understand now.”
“You have immeasurable blessings. One word of forgiveness from you could lessen our
punishment.”
I looked at him and remembered the acceptance letter I received at twelve.
I had begged him not to tear it.
He had told me there was no point in fighting.
I stepped back.
“You can’t win against them.”
As the underworld guards dragged him away, he finally understood what those words meant.
Mom sobbed and called me by the childhood nickname she had almost never used.
“In your next life, will you let me be your mother again?”
My steps paused.
Hope entered her eyes.
I shook my head.
“In my next life, please don’t find me.”
“I don’t want to spend another lifetime teaching you how to be a mother.”
The court doors closed, cutting off their screams.
Maya took my hand.
The Arbiter said the golden fate seal could appoint me to judge virtuous souls-or send me into y
new life I chose.
The Judge deliberately hardened his expression.
“Stay. I could use an assistant who isn’t afraid of death.”
He made me laugh even though tears still clung to my chin.
“No.”
“I want to live again.”
Not to take anyone else’s disasters. Not to confess to anyone else’s crimes. Not to earn blessings.
I only wanted to go to school, wear shoes that fit, and eat one hot meal.
Maya wrapped her arms around me.
“I’ll go first.”
“In our next lives, I’ll believe you all over again.”
She stepped through the Gate of Rebirth and became a point of warm light.
When it was my turn, the Judge called me back.
He placed a new soul record in my hands.
There were no crimes written inside.
The Sinclair name was gone.
Only one sentence remained.
[In this life, your fate is your own.]
Before I stepped into the golden light, I looked back.
The Judge turned away and wiped at one eye.
“What are you looking at?”
“Go. Some of us still have souls to judge.”
Golden light wrapped around me.
When I became aware again, I heard a woman’s frightened voice.
“Why isn’t the baby crying?”
Someone gently patted my back.
At last, I began to wail.
Warm arms gathered me close.
The woman kissed my forehead with tears in her eyes.
“Are you hurting, baby?”
A man supported my head with both hands.
“Don’t be afraid. Mom and Dad are right here.”
I cried even harder.
This time, no one said my crying would disturb the family’s luck.
They passed me gently between them, repeating the same words again and again.
“We hear you.”
