The Holy Tree Illusion filtered the bright morning light, casting it through the window. Reiya opened her eyes the instant the first ray of sunlight pierced the dim room, taking a deep breath of the early morning mist.
A gentle breeze caressed her cheeks, carrying the fragrance of the Holy Tree Palace's myriad flowers. The nostrils of the girl with silver hair and dragon horns twitched slightly, able to distinguish every component of the scent.
Her long, curved eyelashes fluttered as she whispered softly:
"Good morning, world."
Filled with an anticipation she had never known before, Reiya rose to bathe and dress.
Thanks to her prosthetic limbs, tasks that used to take her half a day to complete alone were now effortless.
A moment later, Reiya stood before the full-length mirror in her bedroom, meticulously examining her figure.
The girl in the mirror's reflection had brilliant silver hair that looked as if it were cast from molten silver. It cascaded over her shoulders, with a section on one side gathered into an elegant braid.
Her bionic prosthetic legs were indistinguishable from real flesh and blood—shapely, slender, delicate, and fair. Even the sense of touch was almost perfectly replicated.
She did her best to conceal the cracks and scars on her body with gloves and over-the-knee socks, while a moon-white half-mask hid the missing eye on one side of her face.
This actually lent her a mysterious air, adding a certain allure.
The White-haired Dragon Lady wore a simple yet exquisite long gown that accentuated her slender figure. In truth, were it not for the ravages of the Divine Punishment, Reiya would have been the brightest jewel of the Royal Family.
Reiya twirled again and again before the mirror, even pulling out the few outfits she owned to compare them back and forth.
'Will West... like this dress? Or maybe this one?'
'Does he like things that are too flashy? No... something more modest would be better.'
'West seems to really like my silver hair, and these horns. Heh, what strange tastes.'
'But West appreciates what's on the inside more, right? Of course he does!'
Muttering to herself, Reiya walked to the window. Her gaze drifted beyond her bedchambers, her eyes filled with joyful anticipation.
'Wait... Isn't today the Holy Tree Festival? West is participating in the Secret Realm Trial, so he won't be coming over. How could I have forgotten?'
The Silver-haired Princess suddenly remembered something important. A normal Imperial Citizen would never forget the day of the new year, but she, a Dragon-blooded Hybrid, wasn't allowed to participate in the celebrations. Because of this, Reiya had never held any anticipation for the Holy Tree Festival.
'Since when did I start taking West's visits for granted?'
Letting out a long breath, Reiya sighed softly. She had grown so used to a life of solitude, yet in just a few short weeks, everything had been turned upside down.
Ever since meeting Westheid, he had eagerly come over almost every other day to spend the entire day with her.
It made the silver-haired girl start looking forward to the next day, start caring about her appearance, and also start... developing anxieties and sorrows she felt she had no right to.
'West... can't revolve around me every moment of every day. He has his own life. But me... am I just supposed to be trapped in this prison?'
Reiya sighed, leaning against the window in distress.
CRACK—
Suddenly, the breeze carried in a yellowed leaf, which drifted into the Silver-haired Princess's hand.
!!!!
Reiya's pupils instantly dilated. Her heart stopped, her lungs seized, her blood seemed to run cold, and her entire body went rigid.
Her mind went completely blank, unable to form a single thought.
........
After what felt like an eternity of suffocation and stupor, Reiya finally focused on the object in her hand.
It was, in fact, just a fallen leaf.
An exquisite leaf with a silken texture, likely blown in from the garden in the distance.
Yet Reiya felt no relief, none of the joy of a narrow escape. She clenched her fists tightly, her face pale as a sheet.
Her body's instinctive reaction just now was an undeniable truth.
She was scared. She was terrified.
Just a short while ago, she could have sneered contemptuously at any Divine Punishment, yet now she was trembling with fear.
Reiya nearly collapsed into a chair, silently stroking the mask that hid her ruined face.
A long silence fell. She knew why she was afraid.
She was afraid the Divine Punishment would disfigure her further—that she would no longer be able to see West's face, hear his voice, smell his scent, or hold Westheid in her arms...
The mere thought of it filled Reiya with an unbelievable surge of hatred, panic, and sorrow.
These were emotions she had long since cast aside. Reiya had believed her only proper states were anger and indifference. 'To feel fear and sorrow... that's to be unbearably weak!'
'Why have I become so weak?'
After a long moment of contemplation, the silver-haired Dragon Girl closed her eyes and let out a soft, melancholic sigh.
"Ah... I no longer have nothing."
Reiya had never felt love.
From the moment of her birth, she possessed clear consciousness and memories. Reiya had witnessed with her own eyes the chaos and disaster her arrival had wrought.
Her parents' union was born of conspiracy and malice; Reiya was certainly no crystallization of their love.
Her older siblings considered her a stain on the sacred bloodline of the Royal Family and hated her to their very core.
The Imperial Citizens, for their part, used every means at their disposal to curse the Princess with Dragon Blood. Her very existence was a blasphemy against their faith.
Even the supreme Divine Ancestor silently inflicted countless, cruel punishments upon her.
And so, Reiya became a sinner, filth, a hybrid, scum, a beast—the root of all evil in the eyes of the world.
She had done nothing, yet her birth and her very existence were her greatest sins.
Reiya had felt sorrow, anger, despair, and numbness... until she finally grew indifferent to her fate.
'After all, she had nothing to begin with.'
Because she had nothing, she had no need for hatred, and certainly no reason for hope.
Because she had nothing, she could afford to scorn fate and mock her suffering.
Because she had nothing, she had nothing to fear.
'I've never had anything, so how could I possibly be afraid of losing it?'
'So be it. I will remain fearless forever, until death comes for the one who has nothing—and that isn't the least bit frightening, for not even my own life truly belongs to me.'
'To be born with nothing, and to depart with nothing, leaving behind only a scornful laugh for the world after enduring all suffering.'
That's how it should have been.
Until Westheid appeared in her life and asked her for a dance.
That ridiculously handsome rogue, infamous throughout the Imperial Capital, had sworn before the Celestial God, affirming Reiya's beauty despite her countless scars.
That Duke Qinghui, who owed his high station to divine grace, had mocked the powerful and cursed the Divine Ancestor over what had happened to her, even if it meant alienating himself from everyone else.
That scion of the fallen Branch of Prosperity was willing to abandon all hope of restoring his family just so they wouldn't be separated, even if it meant violating his ancestral laws and suffering the contempt of all.
West... had said he wanted to share his life with her.
It was then that Reiya suddenly realized she no longer had nothing. She now possessed something incredibly precious: a bond.
'Affection? Attachment? Love?'
Whatever it was, it was a treasure so precious that words could neither shape nor describe it. You could search the entire Mortal World and find nothing to rival this bond!
Her gray world exploded with color. Cannons fired in celebration within her silent heart.
It was so wonderful, so sweet, that for the first time, Reiya felt the world could be a gentle place.
And yet, the thought that she might never see Westheid again sent a pain like flaying knives through the Silver-haired Dragon Lady, a pain so intense it nearly made her faint.
The flames of indignation and despair seared her very soul.
'Unacceptable. Intolerable...'
'I will never accept it!'
'How can I lose the only treasure I have?!'
"So I was never strong or noble after all. Just a weak, unremarkable person who, given an inch, would take a mile."
Reiya laughed self-deprecatingly.
She calmly accepted her own ugliness and acknowledged her fear.
"That's right. I'm a coward, terrified of losing my only treasure. I'm insatiably greedy and pathetically attached to this world."
Reiya had once seen death as a release, holding a contemptuous attitude toward life itself. Now, she knew she had been terribly, terribly wrong.
One only thinks they can endure the darkness because they have never seen the light.
Now that she possessed the world's most precious treasure, Reiya would not let it go. Not for anything.
Reiya stood up, her single remaining eye filled with resolve.
SIZZLE—
She took a deep breath. With a sharp CRACKLE, arcs of azure lightning coiled around her arm.
No longer suppressing the Dragon Blood surging within her, the Silver-haired Princess unleashed her draconic instincts.
The Dragon Thunder spread across her skin, smoothing over and healing every burn and scar. In that same instant, her half-mask shattered.
"...I need an answer."
She had never been one to simply accept her fate when faced with despair, to lie down and wait for the end. If more than a decade of suffering and torment had taught her anything, it was that tears were useless. Only action could be trusted.