Now, while I was a foolish, trusting man, I would have never fallen for it if he had made his victims out to be the perpetrators.

Instead, Marlowe threw the nobles who attended his events under the wagon. He provided an awful mountain of evidence pointing toward their wrongdoings, then explained his own as a stopgap.

That not only would people have suffered a better fate in Marlowe's hands, but their lives could distract the even worse nobles from their own malevolent operations.

Naturally, it was all bullshit.

But it was bullshit I believed.

As the documents he provided were all too convincing.

Because they were real.

These fiendish nobles had indeed done everything Marlowe had accused them of. The only thing that I'd been lied to about was that Marlowe's operation had any positive effect or goals.

In any case…

I stuck the Royal Assassins on these nobles. Overnight, the scum of Catatran was gone; however, I failed to entirely account for the repercussions of the action.

The market nearly collapsed, and the people who were unaware were spooked, to say the least.

Over ten nobles dying in the same night?! What the hell was happening?!

Naturally, the story became righted as those who'd been enslaved by them told their tales. And I became the hero who killed the Scourge outside and inside the kingdom.

The epitome of nobility.

Still, I can't believe I was so dumb at the time that I didn't even catch that Marlowe's name never got mentioned.

In any case, this entire fiasco led to me being forced to stay in the capital even longer to help sort this all out.

Then, when I was finally ready to head back off to war, Despair approached me.

"Ixion, I'd like you to take care of her for me. I know it's a lot to ask, but it's hard to keep up with my research while taking care of an adult woman. Oh, also, I'll be gone for a few months. Visiting the kingdom to our west, Leyran."

Ah, by the way, Pax. The kingdom you find yourself in, its initial name was Leyran.

But, as you might have guessed, Coraline was the adult woman he was talking about.

While she'd reattained her motor function, she'd yet to retain awareness or purpose.

Because of her, I once again delayed my departure.

During the day, I did my duties, and during the night, I tried my best to rehabilitate her. It was during this process that I learned a lot about the soul and what it actually was.

Despair's theory had already laid out that desire and impulse spawn from the soul, not the mind; but I learned that the soul also collects something. A feedback from one's desire.

Like some omnipotent judge is passing a sentence, a soul becomes muddied when a person does bad or has a will to do bad. I also learned that a soul and the vessel it rode around in were entirely separate beings. Finally, I learned that by using one of my Traits, I could help mend a broken soul.

It was then that Zabaniyah was born in full.

It was also then that Cecilia found out about Zabaniyah's existence. And, much to my dismay, she recognized her — my decision not to alter her amber eyes having backfired.

Yet, Zabaniyah did not recognize Cecelia, just as she hadn't recognized everyone else.

In fact, Cecelia was the first person Zabaniyah ever showed contempt for. I don't know her exact reason, but perhaps it was because Cecelia was close to me.

Knowing what I know about her now… that very well may be the case.

While Cecelia was distraught about what became of her sister, she also soon used her brilliant mind to rationalize and learn what happened.

In other words, she was the first to doubt Despair.

Yet…

I revealed what Despair had done, yes. But I pictured him as a hero who saved her from the Scourge mark, not having purposefully infected her.

Upon learning that harrowing truth, Cecelia grew distant from Zabaniyah and me.

I don't exactly understand why, but it seemed to help her cope.

Despite knowing her sister was alive, it was merely a will-less puppet wearing her sister's body.

Especially so since I'd altered her appearance, but Zabaniyah was much more of a figure to hate than to adore and love for her.

But that's enough about Cecelia. The main point here is that my departure was delayed until Zabaniyah became "independently" functional, which, under my care, only took a few months.

So, what was my next roadblock?

What kept me from leaving Catatran?

Oh, why, that was because on the day I'd been preparing to leave, a mysterious woman appeared in my chambers.

A beautiful woman with sleek, long blue hair that fell to her waist. She wore a veil that covered her eyes, only letting me see her mouth, but her beauty was evident and overbearing.

At first, I was confused about who she was and how she'd gotten there, alerting no guards.

Then she knelt before me.

"I greet you, Hollow Crowned King."

I was slow to rise from my bed at first. And I believe, instead of addressing the strange woman, the first thing I did was order Zabaniyah to halt her attack.

But after staggering out of bed, I stood before the blue woman.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here? And how — how do you know that name?"

The woman smiled. A cold, damnable smile.

"Me? I'm the Wanderer of Fate. Instrument of something higher than the gods. I've come before you to set you on your righteous path."

"What are you…?"

"It would be better to show you than explain. Fate favors the witness, after all."

The beautiful woman rose, then took a step toward me.

I flinched.

I'd known fear.

But for the first time in my life, I'd felt it.

This woman before me was anything and everything but human.

She reached out her hand, gracing my cheek. Then, she lifted the veil and looked into my eyes.