99 Crimes, Countless Blessings — and None of Them Were Mine Chapter 05
The chapel went still, save for the soft crackle of splintering wood.
Dad recovered first.
“Who are you?”
The Judge sneered and swept one hand through the air.
Every livestream screen went black. The doors and windows slammed shut.
“You’ve spent your lives begging Heaven for favors, yet you don’t recognize the one who judges the dead?”
Black fog rolled beneath his feet. The seal of the Underworld Court appeared in the air.
The occultist’s face drained of color. He dropped to his knees.
“Mercy, Your Honor!”
Mom clutched the altar, white-faced.
Ruby stared at me.
“Nora, what did you do?”
I wanted to laugh, but my throat still burned from the seal’s fire.
They had stolen everything good I had done and chained my soul to theirs.
And somehow, they still found a way to blame me.
The Judge crushed the black soul tablet in one hand.
A yellowed piece of umbilical cord fell from the splintered wood.
My soul trembled.
A new memory unfolded around us.
Twenty-six years earlier, Mom lay in a hospital bed after giving birth to me.
She never reached out to hold me.
He studied me for a long time.
“This child was born with an extraordinary fate.”
“The moment she arrived, three disasters hanging over the Sinclair family disappeared.”
At the time, the company was on the edge of bankruptcy. Adrian had a dangerous fever, My grandfather was dying.
But the moment I was born, the bank renewed the family loan, Adrian’s fever broke, and my grandfather opened his eyes.
Dad leaned forward.
“Can she keep absorbing disasters meant for this family?”
The old man nodded.
“Yes.”
“But you cannot raise her like an ordinary child.”
“The more she suffers, the stronger the Sinclair family’s fortune becomes.”
“If anyone truly loves her, the sacrificial bond will weaken.”
Mom finally looked at me.
For one foolish second, I thought she might pity me.
Instead, she clenched the blanket and asked, “Will she steal the blessings meant for our future children?”
Ruby had not even been born yet.
The old man said the Sinclairs would one day have another daughter-a child marked by good
fortune.
I would exist only to absorb whatever disasters were meant for Ruby.
My newborn face turned red from crying.
Mom frowned and told the nurse to carry me farther away.
“Take her away. Her crying will disturb the family’s luck.”
The Judge’s black mist sharpened into blades and split the walls.
I stood still.
There were no tears left in me.
I had been abandoned the day I was born.
Dad pricked my finger and pressed my blood onto a sheet of ritual parchment.
Mom cut a lock of my newborn hair.
My three brothers added drops of their blood to mine.
The parchment was folded and placed inside the black tablet.
The old man gave his instructions.
“She must never appear in official family records or portraits. She cannot eat at the family table or wear anything purchased especially for her.”
“And she must never learn that she is earning blessings for the Sinclairs.”
“After she dies, use the collective belief of thousands to bind her soul. Then this family will remain protected for a hundred years.”
Dad nodded.
Mom’s voice was quiet.
“If everyone else stays safe, sacrificing one child is worth it.’
I doubled over.
I was already dead, but the sentence pierced my soul as though she had just spoken it.
The Judge steadied me, his hand shaking.
“They knew from the beginning that you were innocent.’
I looked at my newborn self.
She was still crying, as though begging someone to hold her.
Everyone stood around the soul tablet.
Not one person turned back.
The Judge faced them and brought down the Underworld gavel.
“Richard Sinclair, Evelyn Sinclair, Adrian Sinclair, Julian Sinclair, Ethan Sinclair, and Ruby
Sinclair.”
“You used the fate of your own blood to steal good deeds, transfer sins, and imprison a dead soul.”
“From this moment forward, you will stand trial before both the living and the dead,”
The floor split open.
A road of blood appeared beneath their feet, leading straight to the Court of the Dead.
