Janna’s eyes widened for a moment at Iris’s faint smile, and she twitched her fingers.
“...Do as you please.”
“Thanks.”
What was that woman so thankful for all this time?
Janna felt uneasy—not just because the woman casually sat next to her, but also because of those translucent eyes.
Still, she found it hard to look away from her, which made her even more uncomfortable.
Even now, she was staring so intently.
“What? Why are you staring?”
Janna didn’t want to ask so bluntly, but the words slipped out.
The woman showed no displeasure—she simply asked casually,
“Where are you from?”
“...Probably the South.”
Janna’s vague answer felt strange. People from the South usually just said South without hesitation.
At that moment, a memory surfaced in Iris’s mind.
‘Are you going to execute those children?’
Vincent and Cedric had that conversation once.
‘No. We won’t kill them.’
‘But they killed the new head of the Tran clan. They demanded troops from us. And those children—’
‘That bastard deserved to die. That’s all there is to it.’
Iris hadn’t been involved in that conversation; it was something she barely understood.
Likely, they didn’t even know she was eavesdropping behind the door.
‘Then bring those two to Leontheim.’
Cedric had commanded in a voice thick with anger.
But—
‘They never came.’
Those two, presumably Tania and Janna, never set foot on Leontheim soil.
‘Just a dog killed for not even being recognized by its master. Be thankful for my mercy.’
Under the accusation of insulting nobility, they were executed by Ludwig.
When this memory came back, Iris understood why Janna couldn’t proudly reveal her origins.
The South—a region where minority clans lived.
Before it was fully absorbed into the Empire and placed under the Macadia Confederation’s control, a tribe had once ruled the land.
‘They have golden eyes with shards of sunlight embedded...’
Loved by gods, envied by demons—children born of devils.
A people known as Al Baizan.
Murderers disguised as humans, called living weapons in battle.
And—
‘They should have been wiped out long ago.’
They vanished from maps a hundred years ago.
Knowing this, Iris could understand the inhuman intimidation Janna and Tania had radiated.
They were a war tribe from the South, famous for needing no weapons.
Their two hands and feet alone were enough.
Fearing them, the Macadia people hunted the Al Baizan relentlessly.
Despite being called living weapons, they were still human—and fell helplessly to the Empire’s firearms.
Brutally suppressed, killed like beasts. That’s why the Al Baizan were thought to have vanished from history.
Noticing Iris had guessed their origins, Janna shrank her shoulders further.
“Don’t have any more questions, right?”
Turning her head as if refusing to listen.
Watching Janna avoid her gaze, Iris quietly asked,
“How did you end up here?”
Janna’s eyes widened again.
‘You didn’t ask.’
Those who realized that she and her sister were descendants of Al Baizan feared them.
Even when they could speak and communicate, they were treated like wild beasts.
“Just because you look human doesn’t mean you are. You’re beasts.”
Their father had abused them with these words.
“You’re stupid. Being born like this is a crime. Otherwise, why would someone pay so much to buy your mother?”
They lived mechanically, emotions strictly suppressed.
When Sylvia came to retrieve the stolen family heirloom, Janna attacked her expressionlessly.
But Sylvia was strong.
“What is this child?”
Despite holding a crossbow, Sylvia didn’t shoot.
“She’s barely three.”
At that time, Janna was five.
Unlike Tania, Janna’s growth was extremely slow, but her brute strength far surpassed any other Al Baizan.
That was why their father kept young Janna as his personal guard.
Though their father was already dead, Janna wondered why Sylvia hadn’t killed her.
While pondering this, Sylvia smiled at her.
“Your eyes are pretty. If you don’t like it here, come with me.”
“The master saved me from hell.”
Janna said to Iris, her eyes shining.
“I was told I no longer have to live as a demon, but as a person.”
What does it mean to live as a person?
So, Jana observed Sylvia, a human she had never seen before.
She noticed a profound difference between herself and Sylvia.
“To live as a person, I think there are things you have to protect.”
Sylvia endlessly longed for someone Jana did not know.
Though she could not approach that person, she guarded them from behind as far as her hands could reach, calling it her atonement.
That was the fundamental difference between Jana and Sylvia.
Jana had never truly wished to protect anyone.
But seeing Sylvia, she suddenly realized that Sylvia too had someone worth protecting.
“Jana decided to protect my master and my sister. Because I love them most.”
The emotion humans must hold is love, and Jana loved those two more than anything in the world.
The child who embraced the pulsating emotions in the darkness now stood a little closer to Iris.
“Then why can’t you sleep?”
“...If I sleep, someone comes to me.”
Like Tania and Sylvia, Jana had tried closing her eyes while lying down.
But every time, terrifying golden eyes chased her. She had to keep running from an unknown figure.
“Humans call this a nightmare.”
At Jana’s words, Iris found herself at a loss for what to say.
Instead, she shared a story she had once heard from Zelda.
“People called Al Baizan demons, but actually, they weren’t.”
“Hm?”
“Their golden eyes are said to be fragments of the sun. In truth, they are lights bestowed by the gods.”
It was the first time Jana heard such a thing.
Everyone had called her a demon, after all.
Before she knew it, Jana pressed close beside Iris.
Iris smiled warmly.
“A light that means ‘do not change.’”
History is rewritten by the victors who survive.
The fall of Al Baizan was no different.
To cover up the massacre, Makadia branded Al Baizan as demons.
Those who feared their might accepted the new infamy as mere rumor.
Only Zelda, who loved the South, and the southern minorities knew the truth no one else believed.
“I’m not from the South, so I don’t know the whole legend,” Jana blinked.
Now she grabbed Iris’s sleeve.
“Are you interested?”
“...Want to know more?”
“Of course. A friend also taught me a lullaby passed down from Al Baizan.”
This time, Iris did not say, ‘Want to hear it?’
She waited patiently for Jana to reveal her feelings.
“If you sing it... I might listen.”
Jana fidgeted, shaking the sleeve she held.
Iris closed her eyes and hummed the lullaby Zelda once sang to her.
Luluya.
The sun has set, cease your cries.
Child of the desert,
When you find a small box in the wide world, open it.
Inside lies a little love and a little mischief.
It was a familiar song.
‘Who sang this to me?’
She could not remember.
“Don’t be sad at the little mischief,”
The song continued.
“If you walk a bit more, you’ll find a small lake.”
‘Ah. Right.’
She remembered.
A woman with golden eyes like hers—Tania, now grown.
She brushed Jana’s hair aside.
“Look at your face.
The little light inside your eyes will forever open the path of light—
Right beside you, right next to you.”
“The first little love you meet will always be there.”
When the lullaby softly echoed down the corridor’s length, Jana closed her eyes and leaned fully against Iris.
Iris relaxed her shoulders and let Jana lie down completely.
Jana dreamed.
Those golden eyes appeared again.
She ran and ran for a long time, then stopped. Those eyes were light, after all.
Suppressing her fear, she looked back.
“Hello, little one.”
The golden eyes had become a person—the woman who sang the lullaby.
Adult Tania.
No, the one who protected both her and her sister.
“Finally, you have reached me.”
With hands trembling as if about to shatter, the woman gently brushed Janna’s hair aside one last time.
Then she departed to a place they would never meet again.
The next day, when Iris woke in the corridor, Janna was nowhere by her side.
“Good heavens. Did you really sleep here?”
“Ha ha... Good morning.”
Only Sylvia looked down at Iris with a startled expression.
Hurrying back to her assigned chamber, Iris was soon questioned by a surprised Cedric about where she had been.
Yurian also admitted he noticed her disappearance and had searched outside.
‘Could it have been a dream?’
Had she wished so hard to grow close to Janna that her mind conjured it? But it didn’t seem so.
If it had been a dream, Janna wouldn’t have tugged on her robes like that.
“Hm?”
Janna tugged once more at Iris’s hem, then offered a tiny fist.
In her palm lay a small candy.
“A lullaby. A token of gratitude.”
Though her gaze remained wary, the message was clear.
As if the matter was settled, Janna dashed off without waiting for thanks.
Seeing the small candy in her hand, Iris couldn’t help but chuckle softly—secretly, so as not to anger Janna.
From afar, Janna watched Iris’s reaction.
“…Tch.”
What was so amusing about such a trivial candy?
Iris felt a tickle deep in her chest.
“What are you doing here, Janna?”
Suddenly, Tania popped up behind her.
Startled, Janna sharply turned and fled.
“It’s nothing!”
‘Her cheeks are burning bright red—nothing, huh?’
Tania pulled her head back in disbelief.
The noble and elegant Duchess Leontheim, pure as a white bird, smiled softly at the candy resting in her hand.
“Hmm—”
Her keen perception was notable.
Her slightly brighter golden eyes flickered briefly before curling like a crescent moon.
She thought of something she wanted to do for her adorable little sister.
Chapter 86