Chapter 170: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (34)
Chapter 170: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (34)
"The blood of dragons flows through the veins of the Imperial family."
Regardless of its truth, this was a rumor known to everyone on the continent. It was, after all, a claim the Imperial family themselves openly embraced.
"Dragons" were wise beings who walked the earth in the distant past.
As the first children created by the Heavenly God Arus, they were the guardians of order and balance.
In the Mythical Era, when all manner of different races and monsters overran the world, humanity alone was weak. This was why the dragons—the agents of the Heavenly God who loved the weak—stepped forward to protect them.
To that end, the dragons gave humanity three gifts.
The first gift was fire.
Humanity underwent countless revolutions once they learned to master fire. They began to cook and were able to survive the winter without thick pelts. Naturally, the cycles of moving their dwellings grew longer as they sought to protect their embers.
Fire also gave birth to metallurgy. Humanity’s agriculture, which had been primitive until then, finally blossomed through the use of fire.
The second gift was letters.
For a humanity that had previously transmitted knowledge only through speech or drawings, letters were a revolutionary invention. All kinds of knowledge were recorded and passed down to subsequent generations, and humans, with their fragile bodies, chose to use wisdom as their weapon. With the birth of letters, humanity finally stood on equal footing with other races.
The third gift was magic.
The origin of every magic formula in existence was the dragon.
Inherently curious, they had explored the truths of the world since ancient times, pursuing magic as a means to that end. Humans, having inherited magic from the dragons, developed it in their own directions. From those branches, Aura cultivation methods were devised, and various disciplines, including alchemy, spread far and wide.
It was no exaggeration to say that the roots of the golden age humanity currently enjoyed lay in magic. Thus, humanity, once a mere minor race, rose to become the dominant species of the continent.
The first humans were favored by the Heavenly God and the dragons in this way, yet they did not abuse that power. This was thanks to the fact that the concept of "sin" did not yet exist. Humanity had no qualms about sharing the gifts they received from the dragons with other races, and the continent developed and grew more prosperous by the day.
That is, until Delphirem appeared.
Betraying humanity to follow the Evil God, he committed the seven deadly sins. Using them as a foundation, he received power from the Evil God and offered countless sacrifices in return.
The kings and queens of every race.
The continent's wealthiest merchants and its greatest bards.
By offering even the dragons to the Evil God, the nature of sin sprouted within humanity—who had previously lacked the concept—and death spread throughout the world.
It was said that the dragons went extinct during the God-Demon War, which lasted for hundreds of years.
However, rumors occasionally surfaced that their bloodline lived on through forbidden love between dragons and humans. One piece of evidence for this was the "Dragon's Eye."
Dragons, who loved justice and order, were born with unique innate abilities. The "Dragon's Eye" was one of them—a power to read the emotions and psychology of others.
Dragons used this power to clearly resolve problems entangled in complex interests. Able to see through even the human heart, they were revered as even more divine beings.
Because they were strong and great.
But humans were not.
Thus, it was a misfortune that a young, fragile girl was born with the "Dragon's Eye."
The girl, born with dark blue hair, possessed a lovely appearance. Though people sometimes couldn't tell where her light gray eyes were looking, few paid it much mind.
She was a child born with the noble blood of the Imperial family.
Moreover, she was beautiful, so one could tell without looking how bright her future would be.
Until then, everyone believed she would grow up receiving the blessings of all. However, it did not take long for that misconception to be corrected.
It began with one of the maids.
The maid was cleaning the Princess's bedchamber that day. The Princess, who was exceptionally quick to learn speech, was famous for being fastidious. Having already been scolded by the Head Maid not long ago, the maid was being even more careful with her conduct.
Since the Princess was still very young, her "bedchamber" was more like a playroom. As the maid was tidying up various toys, she suddenly felt a suspicious gaze.
It was the Princess.
Those unfocused, light gray eyes were staring intently at the maid. The moment she noticed, the maid felt a chilling sensation. She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but the pupils seemed to be slightly slit vertically.
The maid hesitated before asking.
"U-Um, Your Highness? Did I perhaps do something wrong...?"
"The Head Maid bullied you, didn't she?"
The sudden, blunt remark caused the maid's body to stiffen instantly.
Her wide eyes turned toward the Princess. However, Cien was merely smiling brightly, her eyes full of goodwill. It was an incredibly lovely sight, but that only made the maid feel even more that the Princess was a being far removed from herself.
The maid immediately began to stammer out excuses.
"T-That is a misunderstanding! Princess, I do not know where you heard such a rumor... but nothing happened between me and the Head Maid..."
"I didn't hear it."
The girl tilted her head as she spoke. As if she truly found it strange.
"I can see it. You were just cursing the Head Maid in your head, weren't you?"
The maid's face turned deathly pale.
With a thud, the broom she was holding fell to the floor.
Regardless, the Princess continued.
"And a few days ago, you cursed my mother too. When you gave me candy, you were thinking about how you needed to get on my good side. And right now... hmm?"
The Princess's head tilted back and forth. Every time the girl's head repeated that pendulum-like motion, the trembling in the maid's body grew more intense.
"It's murky, and dark... mm, it feels gross. What on earth is this emotion...?"
"...P-Princess."
Stammering, the maid barely managed to squeeze out a single sentence.
"I-I shall take my leave now."
The maid fled in a hurry and soon retired to the countryside.
Afterward, a strange rumor began to spread among the maids. It was a wild story that the young Princess could read people's minds.
The Princess didn't seem to think she needed to hide her ability, and as things that were initially thought to be coincidences repeated, suspicion soon turned into wariness.
No one wants to reveal their inner thoughts.
Everyone has at least one secret they want to hide, and no human can be perfectly flawless in their private psyche. They simply filter the emotions they show on the outside for the sake of social life.
But in front of Princess Cien, even such actions were meaningless.
She saw through everything.
The truths they wanted to hide, their ugly desires, and even trivial private lives and relationships.
It didn't take long for the gazes once filled with affection and respect to turn cold.
And that hostility and fear pierced the young Princess's heart even more effectively.
Because her eyes could read emotions.
The visualized emotions began to carve away at the young Princess's heart one by one. It was even worse because she had been a beloved Princess until then.
Because she was so young, the Princess did not realize that looking into the emotions of others would invite such hostility.
She had looked into people's hearts ever since she was born.
Since it was such a natural thing for Cien, she never dreamed that it could be wrong.
At first, she tried in her own way to regain their love. She would approach them first and try to solve their problems.
But every time she looked into someone's heart to do so, the person would eventually lose their composure and scream as if having a fit.
"...Please, just stop it!"
The eyes of the maid looking down at the Princess were stained with terror.
One by one, the servants began to quit, and before long, the palace where Cien resided was submerged in silence.
By then, Cien had no choice but to realize. She realized just how much terror looking into someone's heart could provoke.
But it was already too late.
The rumor that Cien could see into people's minds had long since spread throughout the Imperial Palace, and every time Cien passed by, people cast gazes full of loathing.
Cien felt as if she were suffocating in that murky torrent of emotions.
Everyone hates me.
Even a healthy adult would find it hard to endure. It went without saying for a child who hadn't even grown up properly.
Cien grew haggard day by day and gradually became less talkative. As hatred stabbed and gouged out the cheerful child's emotions, her heart instead became numb.
She simply always wore a melancholy expression.
The one who suffered along with her was the mother who gave birth to her.
The Fourth Empress did not spend a single day without wiping away tears after Cien became that way. One day, while holding her daughter tightly in her arms, she sobbed.
"Oh, my poor daughter... The people of the world hate you because they cannot be honest."
The girl's face, buried in her mother's embrace, was still sunken in gloom. she murmured in a weak voice. It was a tone that sounded as if she had let go of everything.
"It can't be helped. Everyone is greedy, after all. There's no one who truly likes me or worries about me."
"What are you saying, my daughter...?"
Sobbing, the Empress comforted her daughter with all her heart.
"I, at least... I at least truly love you. This much I can guarantee... I am your only ally."
Despite the desperate voice soaked in tears, the Princess's face showed no sign of brightening.
Only after a long while did Cien ask back.
"...Really?"
"Of course. I am your mother, aren't I?"
Then, silence fell again. It was then that the Empress, who had been sobbing and stroking her daughter's back for a long time, felt something strange.
Her eyes, filled with wonder, looked down at her daughter.
Those light gray pupils were unfocused.
As if looking at somewhere far away, Cien opened her mouth.
"...Then why did you think that?"
The Empress's hand, which had been stroking the Princess's back, came to a dead stop.
The Empress's expression went blank.