Tears Beneath The Smile

There, in the shadow of ancient trees, Azuka encounters Ejira, a reclusive elder whose piercing eyes see beyond flesh and bone. The truth shatters Azuka’s world—she was cursed as an infant, marked for a lifetime of loss by women driven by jealousy and malice. Her misfortune was never her own.

Armed with this knowledge, Azuka returns to confront the town that condemned her. In a fiery reckoning, secrets unravel, alliances crumble, and the guilty are cast out. Yet, even vindicated, she feels the weight of eyes that will never see her without suspicion. Freedom comes not in triumph, but in leaving.

Far from the soil that birthed her pain, Azuka rebuilds herself—brick by brick, dream by dream. She finds love in a man who sees her not as a curse, but as his future. Their wedding night brings no shadow, only the dawn of joy. Motherhood follows—four children who inherit her resilience, and grandchildren who carry her name like a banner.

But behind her quiet smile lies a truth only she knows: curses can be broken… yet the memory of them lingers, like a shadow that moves when no one is watching.