There was a moment of silence between them.
Then, with a steady yet gentle voice, Jin finally spoke.
"I wasn't an ideal son," he said, not looking at Rina, his gaze cast into the distance, as if peering into the shadows of a memory. Slowly, his left hand rose to his wrist, fingers tightening around the faded hair ribbon tied there—a pale, delicate strand that once belonged to his sister.
"I was a weak child. Very weak. Thin. Pale. Fragile. My older sister, on the other hand… she was everything I wasn't. Talented, bright, strong. A future star. At only eleven, she could already match me at my current strength—or even surpass it. I'm sure that even now… even at full power, if I were to fight her, I'd lose. No matter how long the battle lasted."
He paused. His voice wavered just slightly, not from tears, but from the weight of the truth.
"I envied her. Deeply. I hated myself for that. I was jealous of her talent, her strength, her place beside our mother. But in time, I accepted my weakness. I came to terms with myself. I let go of that childish resentment."
He exhaled slowly, a breath that carried years of buried sorrow.
"The days passed quickly. I never stepped foot outside the estate—not because I didn't want to, but because my body was too frail. Mother forbade me from leaving. I wasn't ready. But my sister… she was free. She could go anywhere. She often visited my grandmother's home. One day, she came and took me with her outside the castle. Just a small village, nothing special. She played with the children while I wandered near the edge of the forest, chasing butterflies."
His eyes narrowed, the memory turning darker.
"Then I heard it. Screams. Smoke rising from the village. My body hurt just trying to run, but I forced myself forward. I was weak, but I kept running. When I arrived, I saw her… fighting. Alone. A swarm of demons—at least a hundred of them. She stood between them and the villagers, tearing through them like a storm."
Jin's voice cracked ever so faintly.
"I tried to reach her. But she used her magic to shove me back—to pin me to a tree so I wouldn't get hurt. I could only watch… as she fought, bled, and slowly... fell. I saw a demon's claw pierce her chest. I watched her collapse in a pool of her own blood. Her silver hair was stained red. Her eyes… they were empty. But before she died, she looked at me. Just for a moment. I saw her lips move, but I couldn't hear what she said. I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe."
He fell silent again. His hand was still clutching the ribbon tightly.
"Later, Sion—my mother's aide—found me beside her corpse. She took us back to the manor. My mother... didn't show any emotion. Not a flicker of grief. Her eyes were empty. Blank."
He let out a bitter chuckle.
"At the funeral, I broke down. I screamed, I wept—I couldn't bear it. That's when my mother grabbed me and tied me to a chair. She slapped me. Again. And again. Until my cheeks were torn and bleeding. Then she used magic to make the pain worse. She said I had to wake up. That I had to stop being weak."
Jin turned his head slightly, as if glancing at something invisible beside him.
"You probably think my mother is cruel. Heartless. Evil. And… you're right. To the world, she is. But to me..." His voice softened. "She saved me."
He looked at Rina now, eyes hollow but clear.
"She didn't abandon me when I was nothing. She could have—she had every reason to. But she didn't. She rebuilt me. Step by step. Day after day. She and Sion trained me mercilessly. Not out of kindness—but to make me stronger. To make me survive."
He smiled faintly, a twisted, painful kind of smile.
"My mother has no emotions. But she's not evil. Not in the way people think. The world made her this way. Just like it did to me. No one is born evil. They become evil when the world turns its back on them."
His hands trembled now, but he pressed on.
"After my sister's death, do you know what the villagers said? The villagers my sister saved, bled for, and died for said that demons attacked the village because of her, because she was Naoko Rochey' sdaughter. They didn't care about her death or her sacrificing her life for them, but they called her the cursed child, the daughter of the demon, and they cursed her and insulted her, and they broke her grave as well"
His voice grew cold.
"That's when I stopped caring about this world."
He turned away.
"I asked Sion to wipe out that village. Everyone. Women, children, the elderly. No mercy. And she did. "
" and My mother… she went further. She destroyed half the Demon Realm. As a warning. She stormed the Demon King's palace. Killed the king. Slaughtered their god. Burned their temples."
He paused again.
"Everyone sees her as a monster. But to me… she's the greatest mother who ever lived. She stayed by my side when no one else would. She made me what I am. If she wants to use me as a weapon—fine. I'll be her sword. If she wants my life—I'll give it gladly. Without regret."
A silence settled over
Naoko is silently and stood in the shadowed hallway, her silver hair catching the soft light, her eyes like still mercury. Her face was as unreadable as ever—cold, beautiful, and silent.
But for the briefest moment, something stirred in her expression.
A glimmer.
A flicker.
A tiny smile, almost invisible, tugged at her
lips.
She said nothing.
She didn't need to.