Kallen returned to the booth she had claimed earlier, curled up against the soft cushions, and casually plucked a glass of SoulGlad from a passing waiter's tray—something clearly meant for someone else.
She had chosen her angle well.
From the diagonal corner, she could see both Acheron and Black Swan at the bar without looking obvious about it.
At this spot, the lights of the lounge happened to dim just enough, as if someone had thoughtfully drawn a curtain around her.
The show was about to begin.
Kallen took a sip of SoulGlad, but her eyes never once left the two women by the bar.
Then Black Swan moved first.
She carried her wineglass with the elegance of a true swan gliding across a lake.
The shadow of her wide-brimmed hat covered most of her face, revealing only the pale curve of her chin and the faint upward tilt of her lips.
Then she walked over—
and stopped in front of Kallen.
Kallen: "..."
What was this supposed to mean?
"Miss," Black Swan said in that lazy, velvety voice of hers, "would you mind if I sat here?"
Kallen glanced toward Acheron, then back at the woman who was clearly supposed to be approaching Acheron instead.
She rolled her eyes inwardly.
Seriously, sister, what are you doing?
Why sit with me? I'm not here to pluck your feathers.
"Be my guest," she said anyway, shifting over a little.
Black Swan sat down across from her and gently set her glass on the table.
She didn't speak immediately. Instead, she studied Kallen with the kind of gaze one reserved for an especially interesting collectible.
"A singer from the Iris Family?" she asked.
"A nominal one," Kallen replied, already too tired to explain it again.
"I see." Black Swan circled a fingertip around the rim of her glass. "I've met many singers in this city, but someone like you is a first."
"What's that supposed to mean? What kind am I?" Kallen felt mildly offended.
"Though you're dressed in Iris Family attire, there isn't a trace of the Family about you." Black Swan leaned forward slightly, the shadow of her hat receding to reveal a pair of smiling eyes. "It feels more like... borrowed clothing."
Kallen blinked, but didn't deny it.
"You saw right through me. I'm basically a temp worker. Borrowed the clothes from a coworker. What, are you going to report me?"
Black Swan ignored the joke.
Her gaze fell on Kallen's hands—hands idly turning the glass of SoulGlad, casual in motion yet carrying a strange and effortless composure.
"You're no ordinary person," Black Swan said suddenly.
"And how did you figure that out?"
"Your hands." Black Swan pointed at them. "An ordinary singer wouldn't have hands like those."
Hands like a weapon wielder's.
Kallen looked down at her own hands, then back up at Black Swan.
"Sharp eyes," she said, setting down her drink and propping her chin up on folded hands.
Then Black Swan asked the real question.
"Are you waiting for someone?"
Kallen didn't answer, but Black Swan didn't seem bothered by that.
Instead, she simply continued.
"Would you care to dance with me?"
Now that was wrong.
Kallen narrowed her eyes and glanced over Black Swan's shoulder toward the bar.
Acheron was still sitting there in silence, the unlabeled bottle of liquor in front of her, looking as detached from the world as ever.
"So?" Black Swan seemed to notice her distraction, and the corners of her lips curved in a knowing smile. "Do you already have a dance partner, Miss Kallen?"
"Not really," Kallen said as she stood up cleanly. "But I dance badly. Don't complain if I step on your feet."
Black Swan chuckled and extended a hand.
But Kallen merely looked at it and didn't take it.
She still didn't know why Black Swan had chosen her instead of Acheron this time.
But whether it was her or not, Kallen knew perfectly well what the woman wanted.
Since Black Swan had chosen her as the target, then naturally, Kallen couldn't let her leave disappointed.
She stepped out of the booth and stopped at the edge of the dance floor, then looked back at Black Swan.
"Well? Come on."
Black Swan paused, then smiled.
She rose and followed her.
Never stare at the sea on a starless night.
There is no light there, no shore—only endless water breathing in silence.
Black Swan had heard that line once, a very long time ago. Back then she'd dismissed it as the overblown melodrama of some sentimental poet praising darkness poorly.
She was a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection, one who wandered through countless fragments of memory. She had seen more abysses than almost anyone, and more than most, she understood this:
An abyss was nothing more than a story not yet turned over and read.
As for this mysterious girl—Kallen Kaslana—
Black Swan had been watching her for some time.
On the surface, she was an Iris Family singer. But at the same time... she was also a Preservation pathstrider.
Just like the rumors said, she was interesting.
A little aloof. A little playful.
But in the hunt that took place at night, Preservation was not the only predator.
The invitation had been given casually enough, and thankfully, the beautiful young lady had not refused.
The lights on the dance floor spread out in warm, suggestive amber, like melted resin.
And the two beautiful women merged into the atmosphere the instant they stepped into the center of it.
The music began precisely then.
Black Swan led.
One arm slipped around Kallen's waist; her fingertips came to rest at Kallen's shoulder blade, neither too light nor too firm, like someone opening a book not yet read.
Their feet traced intersecting arcs across the polished floor—turn, pause, turn again.
Black Swan's eyes never once left Kallen's face.
She was observing.
It was her instinct, and it was also her craft.
Every memory hid itself in the depths of the eyes; every shift of breath was a doorway into the past.
She had seen too many people, read too many stories, and had long since learned how to read a soul through a dance.
"At this distance," Black Swan suddenly murmured, "you're even more captivating than you seemed before."
"I already told you—I'm not good at dancing." Kallen seemed distracted.
"That isn't what I meant." Black Swan slowed their steps and guided Kallen into a turn. "I simply feel there's something very special about you. Don't you agree, Miss Kallen?"
Black Swan saw it clearly.
Kallen's presence stood in stark contrast to this dreamscape. She was, unmistakably, another outsider drawn here for the Watchmaker's legacy.
And of all the things at play in this grand game, one truth remained:
Everyone lied.
But Memory did not.
"You know, Miss Kallen," Black Swan said softly.
"In this dream, everyone leaves traces. Even you are no exception."
Kallen looked up at her. "Oh? And what kind of trace have I left behind?"
"You left memory."
As she spoke, Black Swan led Kallen cleanly through another turn.
Then she continued:
"Everyone has a past. The past gives shape to the present."
"Some people can grasp their memories. Others are bound by them, unable to escape."
A flourish.
Their bodies swept past one another in a practiced arc, but their hands remained tightly linked.
And then Black Swan offered her conclusion.
"So I made my move."
At this moment, she wanted to know exactly what kind of person this singer called Kallen Kaslana truly was.
"Miss Kallen, do you know?"
"This banquet has drawn many people—The IPC, the Garden of Recollection, the Masked Fools, the Nameless, and also..."
"The Annihilation Gang of Destruction."
"They were meant to attend."
"But they never arrived. Duke Ifrit is dead. He and his children will never make it to the banquet."
Then Black Swan tilted her head, lips nearly brushing the rim of Kallen's ear.
"Beautiful singer... what exactly did you do?"
The moment those words fell, the lights on the dance floor changed.
Just as Black Swan tried to peer into Kallen's memories, countless streams of deep violet light poured in from all directions, swallowing them whole like a tide.
The music became distant and strange, every note stretched long and eerie, as if something immense were slowly moving beneath black water.
And in the depths of Kallen's memories, Black Swan did not find what she had expected.
There was no Duke Ifrit.
No Penacony.
There was only Preservation—
and Nihility.
Then Nihility surged toward her.
"You—"
Black Swan tried to pull away, but her feet no longer obeyed her.
Soon a serpent coiled around the swan's throat, tightening inch by inch.
The swan's wings snapped in the struggle.
Black Swan tried to resist, but Kallen's grip only tightened.
Then her consciousness began to sink—dragged, pulled, and seized by those memories, descending toward a black sea.
And then—
Kallen let go.
The dance ended.
The music on the floor cut off abruptly, as if someone had seized it by the throat.
Black Swan gasped for breath, chest rising and falling violently, sweat sliding down from her temples.
Her legs trembled. Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.
Even that mask of eternal poise, eternal elegance, had shattered completely in this instant.
And Kallen remained standing in front of her.
One hand still rested at Black Swan's waist, the other still held hers—the posture of the one who had led the dance from beginning to end.
"You... who are you, really?" Black Swan asked at last, though her voice came out far rougher than she had intended.
Kallen merely reached out and patted her on the head.
The Iris Family dress looked slightly out of place on her now, as though it had never truly fit.
Black Swan's first instinct had been correct.
The mismatch was not one of size.
It was that the one wearing it was simply too large.
A dress could not contain a star.
A mask could not conceal an ocean.
"Didn't I already tell you?" Kallen said.
"My name is Kallen. Kallen Kaslana. Temporary singer of the Iris Family."
"My dancing's so-so."
"And my singing isn't much better."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 150)
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TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter190)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter225)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 195
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 225
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 210
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 100
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 75
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 71
Checking In in Demon Slayer 75
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 35
The Uma Musume Who Became 30
I'm Definitely Not the King of 35
After Maxing Out Every Class 35
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