Chapter 2 – Prologue

Spirits exist as beings made from the magical essence that forms this world.

Each one governs a particular quality, supporting and managing the various things that make up this world.

Among them, the goddesses were part of an organization that managed not just this world, but many others as well. It’s similar to the human concept of “god.”

The goddesses, who were mere souls without physical form, would gain a body once their world was assigned—using the energy that composed that world.

Origin, who was tasked with creating and managing a new world, descended into this one alongside her twin sisters.

Origin was given the duty of shaping all manner of things in a world where no living creatures existed at all—using the magical essence, the very energy that forms this world, as her material.

And so the twin sisters took on their roles—Vorl, who observed everything and reported the state of the world, and Varr, who established the world’s order, managing it together.

Among them, Origin, calling it a pastime, created beings with identical selves—mannequins, as it were.

Those were humans.

***

It had been about four years since I’d been struck by the royal curse at Tembar Castle.

After that, I’d lain in bed for a while, and in my dreams, I saw the entire ordeal of the royal curse unfold.

When I woke up crying, I told Mother everything.

The king of Tembar had decided to cross into the Spirit World, determined to gain power to help his people.

But the exact location of the legendary gate remained unknown.

The spirits wouldn’t tell him—why would they? That’s why the king sought help from a spirit mage, to find the place.

The spirit mage taken hostage first—she’d volunteered herself for the kingdom, deliberately.

The spirits she’d bound had been pure, utterly deceived. Maybe even the spirit mages who’d adored their spirits hadn’t imagined things would go this far.

The tragedy had gone too far to undo. And then came the punishment, from the enraged great spirits.

“Honestly, the great spirits didn’t want to curse the king. They just wanted him to understand what they’d done. They played back the screams of their kin, hoping he’d hear.”

But the power of that spell? It gave the spirits who’d died in sacrifice a chance to lash out—filled with hatred, they turned on the king.

The king of that era heard the spirits’ screams until his dying day. But once the king passed, the curse had nowhere to go. It started seeking an exit—tracing the bloodline of the king.

“That’s the royal curse…”

“Elen, dear. You understand both human words and spirit words. Now that you know the truth, what will you do?”

“Papa… I… I’ve always thought…”

I’ve always been haunted by the cries of souls asking for help. Those cries weren’t fueled by hatred. They were pure—just begging to be freed.

“Papa… I want to fulfill the prayers of my fellow spirits, trapped and bound… more than I want to be human, more than I want to live in this moment…”

The moment I remember that dream, my tears fall like broken pottery—shattered, scattered.

They keep reliving it. The pain they suffered. The shame. The agony. And that helpless rage—unspent, unrelenting.

The spirits, with nowhere else to direct their fury but at the king—the root of it all—gasped again through the endless cycle of suffering.

"Elan... my gentle daughter... I thought you'd say something like that."

Mother smiled softly, not angry at me, just smiling.

It was only natural they'd rage at the humans forgetting what their kin had endured.

Even if they were bloodline heirs, the cursed royal blood grew thinner with each passing generation. But the souls of their kin, never freed. The current royal family—no one in it had ever felt the pain their ancestors suffered.

How long must the souls of the tormented suffer?

"I believe we must carry on the resolve not to forgive the royal family... so that the tragedy of that day won't repeat itself....Can you... set my soul free?"

"...I think that's difficult."

She spoke with a look of apology, but I didn’t cling to her.

Why the curse hadn’t been lifted all this time? Simple. She wouldn’t forgive the royal family.

At that place—behind the stone tablet marking the boundary of the world—I’d been listening to the princes’ voices for ages.

The princes, now knowing the true meaning of the spirit’s curse, truly wished to apologize.

The thoughts of humans. The thoughts of spirits. The pleas of their own kin.

Trapped between them, I couldn’t breathe.

“Elen-chan. I know you go out every year during the Spirit’s Edge.”

My shoulders jolted at her confession.

She knew I was caught between so many things.

“Might be nothing, but I’ll say it anyway. Humans and spirits… can’t bear children together.”

“…Huh?”

Then… what the hell am I, really?

"Elen-chan is a miracle born only because Lovell became half-spirit."

Mother says it with a smile, but I go pale.

"Keep this a secret from Papa, okay? Lovell was supposed to die ten years ago. I couldn’t accept that, so I secretly rebuilt his body without telling him."

"...Kaa-sama?"

I can’t believe what Mother’s saying. What on earth is she talking about?

"Humans were originally puppets I made. Nothing more than dolls given a self. …I never thought someone would go so far, but still, they were dear to us. Watching them grow? That was our little entertainment."

"……"

Originally, I lent my power to Lovell. The time that passed was more than enough for it to settle into Lovell’s body. That’s what made it possible, really. I transferred Lovell’s soul and memories—already attuned to my power—into the spirit’s essence. But even though Lovell had grown so accustomed to my power, because they’d once been human, the moment the bond was sealed, their body rebelled. …My power was just too strong, I suppose.

That was why Papa couldn’t return to the human world.

“…So, it’s not true that Papa and Mama became bound, which is why Papa became half-spirit…? That’s not right…?”

“When Lovell awakened, their body had already been reshaped. That’s why they woke up in just a year. It should’ve ended there, normally… but I loved Lovell.”

"...In other words, because we ended up bound where we shouldn’t have been, Papa’s power went haywire."

"Yeah, that’s right. I was shocked, honestly."

Mother didn’t expect this to happen either. Her body, remade as a spirit, and then absorbing Mother’s power too—way too much.

The truth was, I couldn’t handle the excess of Mother’s power, and it exploded.

And the core of Mother’s power? Creation. The primal force that shapes living things—mingled together and birthed me.

"Elen-chan."

She wrapped her arms around me, whispering in my ear.

"I know I shouldn’t say this, but please… don’t get any more involved with people already cursed."

That was Mother’s advice—spirit, goddess, and all.