I Shield the World from Calamity, Yet They Call Me Bad Luck

Everyone says I was born unlucky.

The night my best friend married into a powerful family, my old illness flared up and I lay bedridden for three days, unnoticed. My enemy prospered in the official world only because I took the deadly blow meant for him.

Everyone thinks I'm bad luck and avoids me like the plague.

But they don't know this: there is no such thing as good fortune falling from the heavens. Every peaceful, happy year is bought with the flesh and blood carved from those who lend out their lifespans.

I'm done lending mine.

Those who stole my luck will pay me back with their lives, with interest.

Later, the god who governed the Heavenly Way asked me, "Have you thought through the price of defying heaven?"

I smiled. "So what?"