Golden light had swallowed the palace courtyard.
At the center of the courtyard, atop a white marble altar, Mikail's Spear rose toward the heavens. Light spilled from its tip, climbed into the sky, then spread outward like a dome, covering the whole Land of Angels.
Today was a sacred day.
Every member of the royal family who reached the age of eighteen knelt here, before this altar, in obedience to a tradition that had endured for thousands of years.
First, they placed their hands upon the altar.
Then they swore the oath.
"My heart, my soul, and my entire being belong to Mikail's light."
From that moment on, an invisible bond was formed.
With the Spear's blessing, the energy channels within their bodies widened, and Aurora began to flow through them stronger, deeper, fiercer than before.
That was why the people did not look upon the royal family as ordinary human beings.
They were the chosen, born beneath Mikail's shadow.
They were the true heirs of Aurora.
Today, it was Koharu's turn.
She stood alone at the top of the steps.
The white ceremonial dress on her body was flawless. Its gold embroidery caught the sunlight and shimmered. The thin fabric fell from her shoulders like a silken waterfall. From the outside, she looked no different from any other princess.
From the outside.
But nothing was ever that simple.
Koharu did not look at the crowd gathered below.
If she looked, she might meet someone's eyes.
And if she met their eyes…
she might see something she did not want to see.
She laced her fingers together gently.
Not because of the cold.
Not because of nerves.
But to keep herself under control.
Behind her came the whisper of silk.
Then a voice she knew all too well.
"Coming all this way for you was a complete waste."
Koharu did not close her eyes, but she knew who it was without turning.
Her elder sister.
"I kept thinking maybe a miracle would happen and you wouldn't embarrass yourself today." Her voice was soft, but there was a needle of contempt hidden beneath that softness. "And yet you still can't even use Aurora properly."
Koharu turned her head slowly.
A thin, perfect, cold smile rested on her sister's lips.
To someone who did not know her, it might have looked elegant.
Koharu knew better.
Sometimes she wished she did not.
"After today, everyone will finally see the truth," her sister said. "That the royal family has a member who is beneath its blood."
Koharu said nothing.
Silence had always been the safest place.
She had learned that as a child.
If she spoke less, she became less of a target.
If she made herself smaller, the pain seemed to land softer.
Her sister took one step closer.
"Then again…" she said. "Perhaps none of this is surprising."
This time, Koharu looked at her.
Straight into her eyes.
And that was when she made the mistake.
Aurora stirred within her.
A thin, invisible current gathered behind her eyes.
And then she saw.
Her sister's heart did not shine.
It should have.
According to the stories told by the people, royal hearts gleamed like pure gold.
But what Koharu saw was not gold.
It was pitch.
A dense, heavy, filthy darkness.
Jealousy. Pride. Cruel pleasure. Hatred.
All of it twisted together, boiling like mud.
Koharu's breath caught in her throat.
She tore her gaze away at once.
Her sister's lips curled with mockery.
"Again?" she said. "You can't even look at me."
Koharu stayed silent.
"My poor little sister." Her voice dropped lower. "After this ceremony, everyone will understand how worthless you truly are."
She paused.
Then she bent closer and whispered into Koharu's ear.
"Maybe you really aren't one of us."
Koharu's jaw tightened.
Her sister's voice was as cold as a blade driven into her chest.
"Your mother…" she said, poison dripping from every syllable. "Who knows who she really had you with?"
Koharu's fingers trembled.
"Maybe," her sister said as she straightened again, "you're just a bastard who was let into the palace by mistake."
This time, Koharu did not lower her head.
Her throat had locked shut.
There was a crushing pressure in her chest, heavy and suffocating.
But she did not open her mouth.
Because if she did, she would either scream…
or say everything.
And if the things she knew were ever spoken aloud, this palace would never be the same again.
Her sister's laughter drifted down the steps and dissolved into the murmur of the crowd.
But the words remained.
A bastard who got into the palace by mistake.
Koharu closed her eyes.
At once, an evening from years ago rushed back into her mind.
A long dining table.
Silver cutlery gleaming beneath warm light.
Crystal glasses.
Voices murmuring quietly.
And at that enormous table, one little girl sitting all alone.
That evening, no one had looked at her either.
A servant had set a plate in front of her. It had been an ordinary gesture. He had bowed, placed the dish down, and meant to step away.
But for one brief moment, he had looked into her eyes.
Only for a moment.
And that was when Koharu saw it for the first time.
The inside of a human heart.
There had been fear in him.
Beneath the fear, disgust.
And beneath the disgust, a dark hatred held down by force.
Little Koharu had not understood what she was facing then.
She had only felt, with the strange certainty children sometimes have, that the world would never become normal again.
Because after that, she looked into other hearts too.
Servants.
Advisors.
Commanders.
Priests.
The hearts of the good glowed.
They carried soft colors.
Blues, silvers, warm golds…
Some were calm as morning light.
Some were clear as a spring sky.
But in those who carried ill intent, the light darkened.
There were things inside them that spread like stains.
Greed.
Fear.
Hatred.
Betrayal.
And the darkest hearts Koharu had ever seen…
belonged to her own family.
The royal family.
Inside the sacred bloodline before which the people knelt, hearts black as night were beating.
That was why Koharu had hidden her power.
While the others used Aurora as a display, she stayed silent.
While the others learned new techniques, she chose to look clumsy.
Because it was safer to be despised as a weak princess than to be killed as the princess who knew the truth.
That was how Koharu became the unloved princess.