Koharu stood in the vast palace courtyard.
Her gaze was fixed on the altar at its center.
Michael's Spear...
Golden light rose from the spear's shaft, stretching upward like an endless line into the sky.But it was not merely light.
It was... more like a decree.
It climbed into the heavens, then curved back down like a great golden dome, enveloping the entire Land of Angels.No demon could enter that dome.Hunger was unknown within it.
A single seed could bear fruit in only a few days.Livestock grew quickly and multiplied with ease.
And the people...
They breathed in Aurora.
Aurora.
A power unseen, yet always felt.
People drew it into their bodies and transformed it into unique abilities of their own.Everyone displayed their power.Everyone boasted of it.
That was why these lands had been given a single name:
Heaven.
Koharu's lips tightened faintly.
"Heaven... huh."
Her eyes slowly drifted across the crowd.
"Maybe for them."
Then her gaze darkened.
"But I was born beneath this light... with a curse."
Aurora had not given her power.
It had given her the truth.
She could see the hearts of people.
The good ones glowed with a soft light.Calm. Pure. Peaceful.
But some...
Were stains.
A dense, black darkness that felt suffocating just to behold.
And she remembered the first day she saw that darkness.
She had been little then.
Sitting alone at a long table.Everyone else was eating together... but no one looked at her.
A servant had set her plate down.
But the moment their eyes met...
Koharu saw her heart.
Fear.
Disgust.
And a hatred held down by force.
That day, she understood:
The problem was not only her family.
The world... did not want her.
And yet the darkest hearts of all...
Belonged to the royal family.
Her own family.
While her siblings flaunted their power, Koharu hid hers.
She acted weak.She acted inadequate.
Because if the truth ever came out...
The darkness inside them would come out too.
And that...
Would be unforgivable.
That was why...
She became the unloved princess.
Today was the day everything would change.
Her eighteenth birthday.
And the day of the ceremony.
In the Land of Angels, this tradition had remained unchanged for a thousand years.
Whenever a member of the royal family came of age—at eighteen—they would kneel before Michael's Spear.
And they would swear an oath.
"My heart, my soul, and my entire being belong to Michael's light."
Then...
The spear would accept them.
Aurora would flow through their bodies more strongly.Their meridians would widen, and their power would multiply many times over.
And they would become...
"Chosen."
But as Koharu thought of it, only one thought crossed her mind:
What if the spear is not what they think it is?
Someone passed by her.
Her older sister.
That familiar, condescending smile rested on her lips.
"You still can't even use Aurora."
She took a step closer.
"I came all this way for you... what a waste."
Koharu turned her head.
And looked into her sister's heart.
Pitch-black darkness.
Dense... filthy... oppressive.
A weight settled inside her chest.
She lowered her gaze.
Her sister laughed.
"You can't even look us in the eye."
"After the ceremony, everyone will see what a disgrace you are."
She paused for a moment.
Then added in a poisonous whisper:
"You probably don't even carry royal blood."
Koharu's jaw tightened.
"Your mother..." her sister said with a sneer."Who knows who she really had you with?"
Her laughter faded into the distance.
But the words remained.