“I have no intention of pressing you for answers. If I were really curious, I would have asked you the moment you handed me that dress.”
A firm yet warm voice echoed through my mind, shattering my fear—the fear that, at any moment, I would be ordered to reveal every truth I was hiding.
I had been certain that a command to confess everything would follow.
But in the face of this unexpected declaration, my eyes widened in shock.
Unable to comprehend the situation with common sense, my expression betrayed the complex emotions swirling inside me.
And as if amused by my reaction, the person before me, who had worn such a serious expression just moments ago, let a small smile grace their lips before continuing.
“Everyone has at least one or two things they’d rather keep hidden. And the Kaya I know—our lovely Kaya—would never do anything to harm me.”
“That’s why I won’t ask. I trust you more than anyone else, so I will respect your thoughts over my own curiosity. Of course, if you ever change your mind and want to tell me, I’ll always be willing to listen.”
With those words, Yuria gazed at me with unwavering trust in her eyes.
Faced with the sincerity in her voice and expression, I completely broke down.
The cold rigidity in my body melted away, only to be replaced by a soothing warmth that filled the empty space left behind.
The fear, confusion, and anxiety that had gripped me disappeared, leaving behind an overwhelming sense of relief and an indescribable, profound gratitude.
“…Hhic. Uuu… Hwaaaah!!! Hhic… Yuriaaa! I… I…!”
Unable to hold back the flood of emotions welling up inside me, I threw myself into her arms.
As I sobbed uncontrollably, tears pouring down like a waterfall, she simply held me close, stroking my back gently without saying a word.
Wrapped in the comfort of her embrace, I let my tears fall freely, silently berating my own foolishness.
‘She trusts me this much… and yet, I—a mere doll—dared to doubt her actions?’
‘A kind person like her would never do anything to harm me.’
‘It must have been something beyond my comprehension—her profound grace, her divine blessing♡…’
‘A merciful touch to correct my abnormal condition♡…’
‘Compared to that, what value does a single day’s worth of memories even have?’
‘In fact, if it meant receiving her grace, I would gladly offer up my memories again and again.’
As the lingering doubts in my heart faded, a deep sense of peace settled over me.
And in their place, a blind devotion and pure obedience surged forward like an unstoppable tide.
The overwhelming happiness that accompanied those emotions was so intense that logic and reason became nothing more than a distant luxury.
Surrendering to the warmth and comfort that enveloped me, I continued to cry for a long time—until my entire body weakened, and my consciousness slowly slipped away.
Even in my final moments before darkness consumed me, one thought remained crystal clear in my mind.
‘I wish this moment could last forever.’
***
The dimly lit bedroom, shrouded in darkness.
Yuria sat in silence, holding Kaya tightly in her arms as the girl continued to weep.
She waited.
And after a while, when the sobbing finally subsided and the sound of steady breathing reached her ears, she slowly opened her eyes.
A pair of strange, crimson irises emerged from the shadows, glowing with an eerie light.
Yes.
The sweet little doll in her arms had no idea.
From the very moment she stepped into this room, Yuria’s power had already taken effect, shimmering with an unnatural glow.
Completely oblivious to this fact, the girl had let down her guard, believing only what her eyes could see—leading to the inevitable outcome before them.
And yet, despite successfully achieving her goal, Yuria’s expression remained cold.
A rare sight.
Frustration and anger flickered across her face, betraying her true emotions.
A massive variable had disrupted her plans—one she despised more than anything else.
She would have preferred outright failure, even a worst-case scenario, over this—this deviation from her carefully laid-out scheme.
Nothing irritated her more than chaos beyond her control.
Especially since this wasn’t just any matter—it was something related to Kaya, the only card that would determine her future.
The eyes that had been carefully hiding her unease until now revealed her shaken state.
Letting out a small sigh, she calmed herself, regained her composure, and recalled the events of a few hours ago.
When Kaya returned to Cheonggung from outside the imperial palace, carrying a luggage bag stuffed with various items like a stray cat, Yuria, who had been watching from a hidden spot beyond sight, couldn’t help but doubt her own eyes.
There was only one reason for that.
For some unknown reason, the hypnosis she had most recently placed on Kaya had been completely undone.
Realizing this fact at a glance, she naturally fell into considerable confusion.
If the girl had gone berserk, losing control and breaking free from all the hypnosis placed on her so far, that would have been one thing—but only the most recent hypnosis had been released.
It was a bizarre situation beyond logic.
This was a variable she had never accounted for in the scenario she had envisioned—a final test, a bit of entertainment before the real battle.
From that moment on, Yuria’s mind was consumed by a single thought.
A near-obsessive fixation on figuring out what exactly had happened outside to cause such an unexpected variable, and what she had missed.
That was the sole reason she had granted Kaya a reward—something she would never have done under normal circumstances.
She had been secretly worried that Kaya might reject the offer as a side effect of breaking free from the hypnosis, but fortunately, the girl’s distrust hadn’t grown to that extent.
And so, she had barely managed to stabilize the situation.
Now, all that remained was to uncover the cause of this critical variable that had so violently shaken her rationality for the first time in a long while.
She wasn’t about to wake up the girl, who was already in deep sleep, and interrogate her.
If anyone asked how she planned to figure it out, the answer was quite simple for Yuria.
With her mind completely calm and her body in a state of deep concentration, she slowly lowered her forehead onto Kaya’s head, which was nestled in her embrace.
As she closed her eyes and focused her mind, her vision—previously shrouded in darkness—turned pure white. Soon, countless bubbles of memory filled her sight.
An endless expanse of white.
The mysterious droplets floating within this space were none other than fragments of Kaya’s memories.
In other words, this was Kaya’s mental world.
It would be more accurate to describe it as a deep, unconscious space within her inner self.
For those within her domain of control, she had the power to peer into their memories at will.
This was the true nature of another ability granted by her Mystic Eyes.
Of course, there were strict conditions—her target had to be within her range of influence and completely defenseless—but as long as those requirements were met, its potential was virtually limitless.
After all, almost no one could hide the truth deep within their subconscious.
And with no means of resistance, the game was practically over the moment she reached this point.
From there, Yuria calmly began reading through the girl’s memories.
Starting from the moment they discussed the dress for the banquet.
Then, as Kaya carried out her late-night outings, leading up to the moment she finally acquired the dress.
She meticulously examined the entire process, as if experiencing it firsthand in real time.
The deeper she delved, the more astonished she became at the incredibly complex and profound circumstances.
She had expected that acquiring such a high-quality dress would have involved something interesting, but this far exceeded her imagination.
Secret enforcers.
Humans. And even Familie.
Any one of those would be something an ordinary person might never encounter in their entire lifetime, yet Kaya had crossed paths with all of them in such a short period.
Especially Familie, the secret organization of humans that had been gaining momentum lately—Yuria still had many unanswered questions about them, making this all the more shocking.
And if what that human man in Kaya’s memory had said was true, and their plan had indeed been carried out, it could have jeopardized Yuria’s own carefully constructed strategy.
However, what truly caught Yuria’s attention lay elsewhere.
Somewhere beneath the capital, in a vast and shadowy cavern, Kaya was standing against a mysterious monster.
She recognized the brilliant, shimmering flames emanating from the girl’s body better than anyone else.