Wailing, raw and tearing, born of sorrow and fury.

Two hours had passed since I saw Gadiel and the others off at dawn. It was still a bit early for noon when, suddenly, a person dropped into Lavisel’s office like a soggy lump.

"Uwaaaaa!"

"Ugh!"

"Go!"

Lavisel flinched, her eyes wide with shock.

Staring blankly as people kept dropping from the ceiling one after another, the guards, alerted by the noise, burst through the door with a violent slam. "What in the name of the heavens is going on?!" they shouted.

"Gaah!"

Lavissel finally snapped back to herself, shouting in response to Sauvel’s wretched, broken scream.

"Back already?!"

The guards seemed to realize they were dealing with Sauvel’s group, and looked thoroughly confused.

But Lavisel couldn’t shake the bad feeling. Right now, all she saw were a few of Sauvel’s subordinates—and three guards from Gadiel.

Lovell and Gadiel—neither was in sight. Nor was Amiel, the one they’d come for.

“W-where…? H-hey, Your Majesty!?”

Sauvel and the others finally realized where they were, panicking and bowing hastily.

“Lovell… where’s Gadiel?”

Lavisel narrowed her eyes, deliberately avoiding mention of Amiel. The others just stared, baffled. “W-well… we don’t know…”

Sauvel remembered Elen’s sudden appearance just before he’d been pulled here. He’d been fleeing from Lovell when Elen had materialized out of nowhere—too stunned to react, he’d just watched in silence.

When Lovell learned Elen had come to rescue them, he’d somehow been taken away by the Great Spirits—on Elen’s command, apparently.

The Great Spirits had apparently used Elen’s life-force to teleport Sauvel and the others to safety from that place.

I remember screaming at the last moment, “Stop! Let go!” as Lovell was taken.

Why was Elen there in the first place?

Why were Sauvel and the others sent back to Tembar?

And why aren’t Lovell, Gadiel, and Elen here with us now?

Sauvel realized what was happening—his throat trembled, and he couldn’t speak a word.

Just then, a Great Spirit appeared in midair. The same one who’d once loomed over this room, who’d been sent back by Lovell.

All eyes turned to it. The Great Spirit, expressionless, spoke.

“Humans… are you all accounted for?”

“Accounted…?”

“By the princess’s command, I transported you all from that place.”

“We’re not! Brother and Prince are missing! And why is Elen even here?!”

Sauvel asked the Great Spirit, panic in his voice. His posture screamed desperation.

"Prince Lovell was sent to another place for safety. The Princess still has things to do in that location."

"Prince...!?"

"We must go save the Prince! Please, we beg you—send us back there!"

The guards frantically pleaded with the Great Spirit, but the Great Spirit rejected them flatly.

"I cannot send you back. You would die. And it's already too late. That place is protecting the Princess. It has fallen."

"...too late...?"

The guards stammered, dazed.

The Great Spirit didn’t flinch. Calmly, without emotion, he replied.

"It has been consumed by the curse. There is no saving it now."

And with that, he vanished as if he’d never been there.

The room was swallowed by heavy silence.

Sauvel and the others turned pale.

"...What happened?"

In the silence, Raffilia’s voice echoed.

A ringing in my ears, and suddenly my mind’s flooded with memories—flashing by like a carousel of the past.

It was like a nightmare whispering, “Don’t forget,” over and over.

Everything I’d taken for granted since I could remember was suddenly denied.

It wasn’t just the family structure that was rejected—every part of me, my personality, my actions, all of it was erased.

What is right?

Everything I’d been taught by Mother—everything she’d declared “right”—was being overturned.

And yet, from my own point of view, it’s all completely *wrong*.

Even my uncle, supposed to be of the same royal blood, and my cousins, denied it.

What even counts as right...?

I was taught that. I was taught that it was right.

I’m not some noble-born royal or noble from a ducal family.

My father was a hero. Not some worn-out man like this.

The one I should’ve been focusing on was my mother… but that man was out there, making a child with a woman his own age.

Mother dismisses the man as foul.

That’s what I thought. And yet, it was Mother who was condemned by the goddess.

I’d been taught the goddess was fair—she exposed lies and delivered judgment—but still, she condemned Mother.

‘Even the goddess denies Mother?’

The former king, my grandfather, spat at Amiel, calling her defiled.

‘Just what blood are you from, anyway?’

It was an insult.

I can’t believe this is what royalty is.

‘That’s right, just as Mother said—Father, the hero, was meant to be king.’

The neighboring king said the same thing. Blood purifies blood, they said.

Clutching a small knife, I drove it into the man’s belly, the one mocking me.

I slashed again and again, silencing that hateful breath with each blow.

‘Mother’s right… she’s right… because she’s my mother, after all…’

Amiel’s eyes, muttering to herself, slowly clouded over, merging with the cursed hue until they were entirely black.

The people around them flinched, terrified of traveling with a cursed one, as Amiel and Agiel stormed through the crowd.

Everyone fled, retreating in panic. Soon, Agiel was left standing alone, with only Amiel before him.

It didn’t take long at all for the target of Agiel’s rage to shift—from the others to Amiel herself.

‘…Mother?’

Stunned by the violence unfolding before her, Amiel whispered, dazed.

‘I should’ve never given birth to you!!’

‘M-mother, please…’

‘Disgusting! Because I gave birth to you before that woman, I was condemned for adultery! If you hadn’t existed, that man would’ve been the one judged!’

I didn’t understand what she was saying at all.

I try to piece together the words screaming in front of me, but I can’t swallow them down.

Amiel wants me to deny it, to spit out everything I’ve been avoiding all along.

‘Even you… Mother… you’re rejecting me now?’

A high-pitched whine rings in my ears. Mother’s voice grows distant.

Something dark swirls inside my chest.

It rises up with Amiel’s emotions.

From her eyes, something black seeps out like tears.

‘Hiiii!!’

Her blue eyes turn blood-red, the whites clouded black.

Agier screams at the sight of her form.

‘B-b-b-beast!!’

From Amiel’s throat comes a wail of grief and rage.

***

Pushing against the shell in front of me, as if to expel the storm of sorrow swirling in my head.

"Yeah... they deserved to die... really they did..."

Each thud, each blow against the shell in front of me, makes the air itself tremble.

"Anyone who dares deny me... I'm royalty... I'm royalty..."

"Sad... hurts... sad... forgot... forgot us... abandoned us... betrayed us..."

"Even though it was them who did it... they betrayed me... betrayed us..."

"Like it's all our fault... like we're the ones dragging them down... like we're the ones who failed..."

Damn it... damn it all.

If only I could just swallow it all down... just erase it all...

Apologies for the terrible delay. I'm restarting the update now.

The next three volumes are being released by Kadokawa BOOKS, and the first volume of the manga adaptation by BG·SQUARE ENIX will be out on May 10th—simultaneously.

Please do keep an eye out for them.