At the boy’s words, the fifth girl hesitated.

“But, this is a gift the goddess gave to me.”

 

The boy smiled brightly and said,

“We can share it together! I will protect this imperial palace, and whenever hurt or sick people come, you can freely heal them to your heart’s content.”

 

The whisper of the third boy was sweet. In the end, the fifth girl readily nodded her head.

 

The brave and clever third boy governed the Kingdom of Baran well, and the deep-hearted and affectionate fifth girl willingly offered her healing blood to those who sought her. 

 

The first boy and the second girl also helped them, building up the Kingdom of Baran together.

 

However, having tasted the sweetness of power, the third boy gradually grew greedier. The boy wanted to possess more than he already had, and eventually, the black star of greed began to shine in the boy’s heart.

 

As time passed, the star of greed grew larger and larger, beginning to prick sharply at the boy’s chest.

“What if the girl who bears Baran’s name and the imperial palace leaves far away to heal more people?”

 

The pondering third boy laughed frighteningly.

“Before that happens, I must take everything for myself.”

 

On a certain deep night, taking advantage of the moment when the Goddess Nuit was asleep, the boy went to find the girl.

“From now on, you cannot go anywhere.”

“It hurts! Let go of me.”

“You must stay here forever, for Baran, for the imperial palace, and for me.”

 

The third boy ultimately swallowed even the fifth girl whole in one gulp and monopolized her name and the imperial palace.

 

Afterwards, even as the Goddess Nuit anxiously searched for the girl, the girl never ever returned.

 

This was their founding myth, lost long ago in the Kingdom of Baran. 

 

It was very different from the current, widely spread founding myth, pieced together from fragments by ancient royals who were ashamed of its irreverent content.

“Now, it is embedded in the deepest imperial archive within the palace, a story even the royals do not know.”

 

At Mindhu’s words, Hissin furrowed his brow.

“Are you telling me to believe what sounds like a fairy tale for children?”

“My family has been a lineage of historians for generations. My ancestors preserved the history that the kingdom tried to erase to the very end. It is precisely because I knew this secret that I was able to rise to this position.”

“You’re saying such childish nonsense is entirely true?”

“To believe or not is the listener’s choice. But one must not, in foolish doubt, turn a blind eye to the truth hidden within this.”

 

Mindhu stepped closer to the iron bars, stretching his blood-stained lips into a thin line.

“The third boy and the fifth girl. Does nothing come to mind?”

 

Hissin’s brows knitted together.

The third boy, who was not chosen by the goddess, and the girl who moved the goddess and received the name Baran, and the imperial palace. 

 

The fragment of night, the healing blood.

Surely not.

“Correct. The divine power was never originally the emperor’s.”

 

Mindhu’s eyes darkened as if tearing through the hidden truth.

“Hinna.”

“Hinna?”

“That is the true name of the fifth girl. The girl who received from the goddess the name Baran, the imperial palace, and the fragment of night.”

 

‘Ha.’ Hissin let out a short, derisive laugh. 

 

He had suspected something like this to some extent, but having the truth confirmed made Baran’s ugly conspiracy feel all the more immense. 

 

He mulled over the story he had heard from Mindhu and asked again.

“For thousands of years, the Kingdom of Baran has been known to grant divine power only to royals who ascend the throne. If what you say is true, how could such an enormous secret have been kept hidden all these long years?”

“People are usually born with their own virtue.”

 

Mindhu stretched his split lips a little longer and spoke.

“A line once drawn is like a shackle; no one easily thinks to step over it.”

“…”

“One step. Just one step, and you could step outside it.”

 

A line. That one light yet heavy word suddenly brought Dahlia to mind. 

 

She, who had brightened up the world with her radiant smile the day she first stepped beyond the world permitted to her, simply by crossing a single temple wall.

“The difference between the Hinna clan and the Baran Emperors was exactly that one line. Whether they crossed it or not… That completely reversed their fates.”

 

The Hinna clan, possessing sacred blood, had their freedom and lives stolen by Baran, who became the emperor, ending up imprisoned in the deepest dungeons of Baran. 

 

In the deepest prison where even guards were forbidden to enter.

 

The Hinna clan had to offer their blood to the Emperor of Baran whenever needed, and the emperor, disguising that blood as his own, received the adoration of the people.

 

This blood-linked evil custom was passed down through generations. 

 

The emperor revealed the secret of the blood only to the crown prince, who would succeed him, and the crown prince, having personally chosen a Hinna to act in his stead, ascended the throne.

 

Occasionally, outsiders who learned the secret vanished without a trace. 

 

Even crown princes, who initially shuddered at this ugly truth, once they ascended the throne, were more eager than anyone to hide this dangerous truth.

 

This was likely because the black star embedded in the third boy’s chest long ago remained deeply ingrained in their souls.

 

At first, they would personally offer their blood for the people, but gradually, fearing the secret might be exposed, they drew a line even before the people, decreeing it could not be used privately except at the times dedicated to the goddess.

 

Yet, they themselves used Hinna’s blood time and again for their own selfish desires.

 

The royals who constantly crossed the line, and the Hinna who, born into captivity, considered the underground prison their entire world. 

 

Their cruel and wretched bondage seemed as though it would last forever.

 

“Khankundra… Up until he, who was merely the third prince, learned the truth of the blood.”

 

Mindhu still remembers that day. 

 

The look in Khankundra’s eyes when he first encountered the Hinna, after beheading the king of a country at the mere age of fifteen.

 

Khankundra, who insisted on personally interrogating prisoners of war from the enemy nation, got lost in the underground prison and, by chance, discovered the Hinna imprisoned there.

 

Mindhu, a historian who knew the secret of the blood at the time and was managing the Hinna clan, tried desperately to block Khankundra. 

 

But there was no way Khankundra would simply pass by this newly opened door.

 

Khankundra was instantly captivated by the Hinna, with their pale skin and hair as dark blue as the night sky. 

 

And upon learning the truth of the blood, that very night, he stood boldly before the emperor.

 

[Bestow the divine power upon me, Father. I wish to succeed you and become the emperor of this country.]

 

Holding the severed heads of his elder brothers in both hands.

 

💫

 

“Of course, the late Emperor was initially furious and unwilling to forgive Khankundra.”

 

However, the crown prince and the second prince were already dead, and the remaining children were either princesses or not legitimate heirs. 

 

The only legitimate son left to inherit the throne was Khankundra.

 

Above all, unlike the crown princes who were forced to cross the line by the late Emperor’s hand, Khankundra crossed the line himself to become a monster. 

 

In the eyes of the late Emperor, who, like previous crown princes, had taken his father’s hand to choose the Hinna, Khankundra perhaps appeared distinctly different.

 

“In the end, the late Emperor buried that day’s incident as an attack by unknown assassins, and installed Khankundra as the crown prince.”

 

According to custom, Khankundra personally chose a Hinna to act as his blood substitute. 

 

Afterwards, when the late Emperor killed his own Hinna, the Kingdom of Baran began to believe that the divine power manifested in the third prince Khankundra was the will of the Goddess Nuit.

 

As time passed, Khankundra obtained a crown princess, and with the late Emperor’s passing, he was able to ascend the throne.

 

But the tragic cycle that had been skewed from the beginning placed him before the goddess’s judgment seat once more.

 

[The blood is here! Quickly, to the princess, give this blood to the princess…!]

 

The fourth child born to the Empress began to turn blue even before the umbilical cord was cut. 

 

Though Khankundra urgently brought Hinna’s blood, the infant ultimately could not wait for its father and breathed its last.

 

Though the Emperor was by the birthing chamber, he could not save the dying infant. 

 

It was clear the Kingdom of Baran would doubt the Emperor’s divine power, and the secret of the blood might one day be exposed.

 

In an instant, seized by fear, Khankundra picked up the infant growing cold in his arms and shielded it with his body so no one could see.

 

[The child lives. But its form is unsightly, so I shall wash the child with my own hands for a while.]

 

Khankundra emerged with the dead infant. 

 

Even shaking off the guards who followed, the place Khankundra headed for was none other than the underground prison.

 

Cruel fate beckoned to the Hinna once again. 

 

By chance, the Hinna woman responsible for Khankundra’s divine power had also given birth to a daughter just days before.

 

Khankundra signaled to Mindhu, who managed the Hinna, to bring the infant. He threw the corpse of the dead princess to the screaming Hinna mother, and snatched away their newborn daughter.

 

[Have you not spent your entire life offering blood for the Emperor? What is the sacrifice of one more daughter? This child will escape this filthy underground prison and live in abundance in the imperial palace, so be grateful instead.]

 

He returned to the imperial palace with Hinna’s daughter. Then, placing Hinna’s daughter into the Empress’s arms instead of the dead princess, he declared this child was of his seed.

 

Just as Baran had stolen Hinna’s blood for ages past.