… I also once had a younger sibling, though now, even the echo of their voice has long since slipped from my memory.0

There were moments when they became temperamental without warning, their frustration spilling over for reasons I couldn’t understand. Even when I called their name, they would glance at me with an annoyed look on their face, as if my presence itself was a bother.0

Of course, they weren’t Yeriel, just as Yeriel wasn’t them. Any resemblance I thought I saw in their personalities, or any sense of familiarity, was likely nothing more than a figment of my imagination. 0

Perhaps it was nothing more than my selfish desire to see Yeriel take their place. From the moment I first met her, that thought might have taken root in my heart without me even realizing it.0

However, searching for the roots of unspoken emotions was nothing more than a foolish chase. I had no patience for the empty philosophies of self-reflection or the endless spiral of doubt. I refused to waste my time unraveling the reasons behind fleeting feelings.0

I was an unchanging self, carrying a proud sense of dignity in my identity. Because I did not tell lies, I was able to declare this with absolute certainty.0

When I became Deculein from Kim Woo-Jin, Yeriel was the first to seek me out. Whether she was Scarletborn or not, it changed nothing—I had already accepted her as my sister. These were the words of a man who had once lived as Kim Woo-Jin but now walked as Deculein.1

"Yeriel," I said, meeting her eyes.0

Yeriel pressed her lips together tightly, her wide eyes trembling like water in a fragile glass, on the verge of overflowing.0

"Return now and take care of your territory. Yukline needs you."0

“… What did that Scarletborn ask for?” Yeriel asked, swallowing hard as she wiped her tears with her sleeve.0

Yeriel seemed curious, but Elesol’s terms were simple. There were requests that the gas chambers in Roharlak remain inactive, that political prisoners be spared from arbitrary executions, and that, at the very least, once every six months, permission be granted to arrange discreet communication with those...0