The flames of karmic retribution, burning away all evil on earth.
The only force that had allowed humanity to triumph over the mighty demon race in history—an absurd power that defied all common sense.
Of course, Yuria had never seen it with her own eyes.
Yet, in some ways, she understood the source of that power better than anyone.
After all, that power was the very essence of the cursed soul dwelling within Kaya—the one Yuria had desperately suppressed and sealed away for the past ten years.
And the fact that this power had now resurfaced meant only one thing.
The soul of that monster, which she had believed to have almost completely evaporated without a trace, was still intact—contrary to all expectations.
Faced with this undeniable reality, Yuria found herself momentarily thrown into deep confusion.
She had acknowledged the possibility, of course, but the suddenness of it all was overwhelming.
Just as a sturdy fortress would never crumble from a single impact, there was no way Kaya’s abilities could have been completely unsealed just because she had been pushed to the brink of death in battle.
Moreover, if her powers had indeed been fully unleashed, and that existence within her had awakened… Yuria wouldn’t be lying peacefully in bed right now, sifting through the girl’s memories.
Even if the hypnosis she had placed on Kaya had worn off recently, Kaya had used that power before it had even begun to break.
Cause and effect simply did not align, so that theory had to be discarded.
Yuria continued to navigate through Kaya’s memories, searching for the root cause, but no decisive clue revealed itself.
The only thing she had managed to grasp was a rough idea of why the hypnosis had unraveled.
As it turned out, at the celebration Yuria had carefully prepared, Kaya had not revealed everything she had experienced.
Specifically, she had deliberately left out the part about her encounter with those thuggish delinquents.
It wasn’t difficult to understand why.
Kaya still wasn’t sure how much her beloved master truly knew about her.
That was likely the same reason she had kept quiet about what had happened while acquiring this dress.
In other words, the hypnosis had been applied correctly, but another, overlooked memory had caused an unforeseen error.
A contradiction in memory, leading to overwhelming confusion.
That confusion was, without a doubt, the direct reason why the hypnosis had broken.
Of all things, to run into that same delinquent again in this vast capital…
If Yuria hadn’t possessed these abilities, she might not have even been able to make a guess—it was an absurd coincidence, a truly miserable stroke of fate.
But if asked whether she was sure it was mere coincidence, Yuria would shake her head.
Everything she had seen through Kaya’s memories just moments ago…
Seeking out the guild with the intent of leveraging her combat skills—that was within the expected range of actions.
But everything that had followed defied rational explanation.
She had ‘coincidentally’ met an external agent, who had then taken an interest in her and hired her.
That beastwoman had turned out to be a spirit wielder, and the case she was handling was linked to Familie—a group openly proclaiming the resurrection of a hero.
If all of it had been pure coincidence, it would be a simple enough explanation.
But when Yuria thought of the entity slumbering deep within Kaya… she found it impossible to believe that everything had happened by chance.
It seemed far more plausible that it was fate.
Even if a hero perished, their power would inevitably manifest again somewhere in the world, passed down to another worthy successor.
Not even the demons, with all their advanced wisdom and technology, had been able to fully unravel the mystery behind this phenomenon.
So it was no surprise if its mechanisms and structures remained largely unknown.
The hellish flames that had burned everything in Kaya’s soul when Yuria first met her…
Recalling that memory, which she had nearly forgotten, Yuria swallowed dryly.
Then, driven by a determination to uncover the truth, she pushed herself beyond her limits—delving deeper into Kaya’s inner world than ever before, something she had never even attempted.
And soon, she discovered something.
A crucial flaw she had overlooked all this time—one she would never have noticed without the right circumstances.
The real reason Kaya had been able to tap into such infinite power in that moment of crisis.
‘Ha… So that’s how it was.’
There was no other way to describe it—Kaya had hidden it masterfully.
Whether she had done so consciously or as an unconscious instinct, Yuria couldn’t yet say for certain.
But one thing was clear—she had succeeded in deceiving Yuria’s eyes all this time.
Nothing else could explain what was now unfolding before her.
Countless droplets of memory floated in the depths of Kaya’s inner world.
Among them, one stood out—a memory from ten years ago.
***
One of the oldest fragments, tucked away at the very edges, barely noticeable.
It was the memory of when Kaya had first been brought to the Celestial Palace.
Back when Yuria’s abilities had not yet taken full effect—when the girl had neither a firm sense of identity nor a clear sense of self.
A dangerous, shadowy period of her past…
A time Kaya would rather never remember.
She was desperately searching for something—something that had hidden itself in the deepest recesses of her distant memories.
As if it were desperately avoiding someone’s gaze, like a terrified, defeated soldier cowering in the corner of a battlefield.
Taking a deep breath to steady her complicated thoughts, Yuria cautiously stepped into the droplet of memory.
In an instant, the pristine white mental space was swallowed by pitch-black darkness, and soon, the surroundings rapidly took shape.
The mysterious and eerie sight of creation from nothingness was striking enough to draw attention, yet from the very beginning, Yuria’s gaze was fixed on only one spot.
Before long, the space fully constructed itself—a place both familiar and foreign at the same time.
A small, monochrome room devoid of warmth.
Other than a bed and some basic furniture, it was a desolate space filled with dust.
And she knew exactly where this place was.
‘Though it was quite different from its current state, this room was none other than Kaya’s chamber within the Azure Palace.’
‘The small, modest quarters where the attendants stayed were not so bad compared to an average inn in the capital.’
‘Even so, there were several reasons why this place felt so cold and lifeless.’
‘First, the memory’s owner, Kaya, had not been in a normal state at the time. Additionally, the once-abandoned palace, covered in dust and neglect, had only been restored to its current condition thanks to Kaya’s efforts over the past ten years.’
‘Naturally, at this point in time, the Azure Palace was nothing but a bleak ruin, with not a single intact area to be found.’
While Yuria was lost in thought, a small figure gradually took form at the edge of her vision.
More precisely, a silver-haired girl sitting on the bed, her back leaning against it, arms wrapped around her knees.
Her faded eyes, shrouded in darkness, stared blankly ahead without focus.
Not even a single fragment of life remained in her expression, and the frigid atmosphere of the room only heightened the chilling air surrounding her.
Dressed in nothing close to a maid’s uniform—just some simple clothing—she barely seemed conscious.
As Yuria gazed at the girl, she fell into deep thought.
‘Indeed, this was exactly how Kaya had been when she was first entrusted to her by Selene and brought to the Azure Palace.’
An empty existence that could barely even form words, moving sluggishly only in response to Yuria’s commands, like a soulless mechanical doll.
Because of this, back then, a rather absurd situation had unfolded—one that was hard to imagine now, when it was Yuria who took care of Kaya.
At the time, she had been barely surviving on her own in the ruins of the palace, completely overwhelmed by the sheer hopelessness of her reality.
‘If not for Mark, whom Selene had sent alongside Kaya, she likely wouldn’t have made it through that period in one piece.’
Recalling those dark, dismal days, Yuria let out a bitter smile.
Then, she slowly reached out and stroked the hair of the Kaya in her memory.
Of course, the hollow girl, merely a fragment of memory, did not react in the slightest.
Yet Yuria remained immersed in her thoughts for a while, repeating the motion.
***
After some time had passed, she finally emerged from her reverie.
Her sharp eyes flickered as she subtly turned her head.
Now that she had finished reminiscing, it was time to accomplish her true purpose.
She had already pinpointed its location the moment she stepped into this space.
The place where Kaya’s empty gaze was fixed—an old, dust-covered full-length mirror, long out of use.
Amid the cluttered and chaotic room, the mirror stood out in stark contrast, eerily isolated.
It was all too easy to find her target within its reflection.
No matter how well it had hidden itself, there was no way to completely erase such an overwhelming presence in a world as desolate as this.