Past.
Inside the Imperial Palace of the continent. Execution ground.
It was a vast space capable of accommodating an immense number of spectators, but now there were only two present.
A demon woman bound to the guillotine.
And the Emperor of the continent, Verd.
So there were just the two of them.
“Do you have any last words?”
The Emperor murmured quietly. His body was transparent and invisible. Only his elaborate robe was visible.
“Last words?”
The bound woman murmured softly.
“Last words, you say…”
Her long hair covered her face, so the upper part was not visible. However, the slightly visible corners of her lips clearly formed a relaxed curve.
“Why? Have you become curious to hear something?”
“If not, then that’s fine.”
The Emperor replied firmly.
His voice was apathetic, as if devoid of any emotion. An intangible energy began to rise slowly.
“Just die like this. A minion of the Demon Realm.”
“A minion, yes. That was the case at first.”
The woman agreed.
The woman bound to the guillotine was a demon and a spy raised solely to extract information from the Empire.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was the most competent among countless spies. She even secured a seat among the Demon Gods and received the title of Goddess.
“But later, I changed my mind.”
“Now you casually spout lies.”
“I fell in love with the Emperor of the Empire and betrayed my homeland of the Demon Realm… It’s only natural you wouldn’t believe it. I can’t understand it myself either.”
The woman wore a bitter smile.
“However, there’s just one last wish.”
The Emperor contained his energy and did not execute the sentence. It indicated he wished to hear what the wish was.
“My child.”
“Child?”
The woman mentioned a single child.
Because there was a child born between the Emperor and her.
“It was very painful to gain the title of Goddess in the Demon Realm, and falling in love in the Empire made my demon heritage feel like shackles. It was tragic.”
“And?”
“I wish for my child to grow up in the Empire. Raise them like an ordinary human. If thrown into the Demon Realm, they’ll surely be raised as a weapon. That is too cruel.”
“Your request is laughable.”
The Emperor flatly rejected her words. His attitude toward the demon was akin to treating trash.
“The crime of deceiving me cannot be repaid with just your death. Do not worry. The child will also perish.”
“You won’t grant my last request…”
Boom─!
The intangible energy that shimmered like a mirage pierced through the woman’s chest, leaving a round hole. The heart was completely gone without a trace.
The woman spat out blood from her mouth.
“I won’t curse you. I love you. But the child will surely curse you. For sure.”
Bam─!
This time, her head was entirely obliterated.
The now pitiful corpse of the demon woman, and soon Ilaref appeared beside the Emperor.
“Ensure the corpse leaves no trace behind.”
“Yes. Your Majesty the Emperor, I shall obey.”
However, right after receiving the command, Ilaref showed no sign of immediately carrying out the task, even after some time had passed.
Finally, the Emperor asked.
“Why? What is keeping you from acting?”
“That is…”
Ilaref reluctantly parted her lips.
“…A message from the Demon Lord.”
“Message? Report it.”
Ilaref straightened and complied immediately.
The message from the Demon Lord was simple: if the child of the Goddess was returned to the Demon Realm, an agreement would be made.
The Emperor fell silent for a moment.
He seemed to be lost in thought.
The child born between him and the Goddess undoubtedly possessed immense power. Letting them live and sending them to the Demon Realm would surely lead to future trouble.
Ilaref appeared to be grappling with similar concerns.
“Sending them back to the Demon Realm seems like a future risk, yet killing them could have severe repercussions of war… It is too difficult for me. I ask for your decision, Your Majesty.”
“There’s no reason to deliberate.”
Eventually.
The Emperor calmly uttered.
“Cast them into the Demon Realm.”
Back to the present.
“Uwwaaa─!”
Arcne could no longer hold back and retched.
“Ugh… Ugh….”
It took an extraordinarily long time for the girl to finally calm down. The brutal truth shown by Han-shin was more than sufficient to shatter a single girl.
Han-shin’s voice was mixed with mockery as he spoke.
“Goddess, your very birth is a mix of the Emperor and Demon. You were destined for unhappiness from the start.”
The shock of her own birth struck deep.
“Ugh…”
Arcne couldn’t utter a word and simply held her head, groaning in anguish.
A game of finding the odd one out.
It felt like being born into the wrong picture in that game. A feeling as if the first button had been fastened wrongly, as though her very existence was out of alignment.
Facing the girl who looked about to suffocate, Han-shin continued without a care.
“Your mother forsook her duty as a demon and chose love with the Emperor. And yet, in the end, she was cast aside by the Emperor. Is there a more wretched mother than this?”
“Ugh…”
Arcne kept retching.
The revealed truth, the contempt directed at her, was too painful for her to withstand anything at all.
Han-shin kept driving the nail in further.
“There has never been a Demon God as ugly as your mother in history. Do you think the Demon Lord took you back to the Demon Realm as a favor? No way.”
Han-shin bent slightly to match Arcne’s eye level and continued speaking while looking into her eyes.
“What use would you be? You’re not even a pure demon like the previous Goddess. Aren’t you curious?”
“Huuugh… Hwaaah…”
Eventually, the girl burst into tears.
Though she had been granted the title of Goddess, she was nothing but a mere young human girl. Unable to withstand the heavy truth that suddenly pressed down upon her, she could only cry.
“Huuugh… Ughuh…”
Her cries echoed painfully, but the more she wailed, the more delighted Han-shin seemed to be.
“Someday, when the day comes to negotiate something with the continent, you will be used as a pawn presented from the Demon Realm. Just a commodity stored by the Demon Lord.”
“No… No, that’s not true…”
The girl protested fervently.
Her face streaming with tears, she turned toward Han-shin. Han-shin merely gripped her shoulder tightly.
It was not to comfort her. It was simply to ensure she couldn’t escape until the story concluded.
Han-shin spoke, as though there was no escape.
“Is that so? I know your achievements. Despite having absorbed a maiden’s Yin Energy, there are still no visible results. Your mother had an entire legion at your age.”
He conveyed each word firmly to the girl, who looked as if she might suffocate at any moment, hoping only for her complete ruin.
“You are a life spun from the threads of tragedy, and you are far too weak to be of any use. Wear the mask of a Goddess and wither away.”
Fear and tears filled Arcne’s eyes.
Large teardrops fell furiously as she shook her head, while Han-shin only laughed harder.
“This can’t be… No, it can’t be…”
The heavy truth was far too much for a young girl to bear. Her entire body went limp, and her heart shattered into pieces like glass.
“How, how can this be happening? No… No! Why is this happening to me…! Huuuugh…!”
Thus began the girl’s weeping, which went on for quite some time. She fainted several times, was moved to a castle, and wept until she was near exhaustion again.
“I warned you clearly, and the choice was yours to make. You were stubborn even knowing you would break.”
Han-shin whispered as he watched it all unfold.
“Han (恨) is like that. If one thread is untied, two appear. Untie two, and four result. Do your best to live well for whatever is left of your life.”
With those words, he departed, and after that, Arcne never once stepped outside her bed.
─My Lady Arcne, it is time to gather your energy.
Even when the time came to gather her energy, she only cried, unable to rise, requiring her attendants to come to her chamber.
One day.
She truly stumbled upon it by chance. Han-shin’s purification orb.
“…!”
She found it rolling under her bed by mere coincidence, and the purification orb was still replaying subsequent events.
She intended to immediately throw it away, closing her eyes tightly.
Yes, she resolved that but…
“…”
She couldn’t do it.
Like a thunderbolt, a moment struck her intensely.
─…Remove that filthy hand from the Goddess.
─…They told you to put down the Goddess.
“…”
Unknowingly, the girl began to concentrate.
It was a record entwined with a certain man and herself.
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