“Actually, Your Majesty, I still have a question. While Wolf and Fairy were in the study, they read a story about a girl named Kitari, and they said they thought . . . Well, this is probably a stupid leap to conclusions, but Wolf thought you’d dog-eared those pages because they were an analogy to our situation.”

Emperor Gin raised a brow, but he didn’t comment. Hana stumbled on awkwardly. “Um, they thought you were like the warrior in the legend of Dassu, and by gifting us with ryuu magic, it was like the father gifting his daughter with devilfire, and that meant we were all damned.” Hana laughed nervously. “But that’s nonsense, right? Gods, I’m sorry I even brought it up.”

The emperor’s face softened. “Come here, Virtuoso.” He beckoned with a wave of his hand. “You’re so competent as a soldier, sometimes I forget that you are still a child.”

Hana hurried to the throne and knelt at Emperor Gin’s feet.

“All I want,” he said gently, “is the best for Kichona. That means uniting all seven of the mainland kingdoms under our gods, with Zomuri as our patron, rather than continuing to let those pagan kingdoms worship their own heathen deities.

“When we have done this, we will achieve the Evermore and bring paradise to earth. You and I and all Kichonans, including our new subjects on the mainland, will live forever.

“But in order to do so, I needed a drastic change. Just being taigas wasn’t enough; you saw how we were defeated by my sister ten years ago. And so, when I had the opportunity to take the knowledge of more powerful magic from the afterlife, I did it. And I shared the new powers with all my warriors, even if it costs us, because it was the means to the Evermore. Do you understand?”

Hana’s mouth hung open. The emperor had done the opposite of what she’d expected—he’d confirmed Wolf’s reading of Kitari’s story. “B-but . . . you damned us to the hells. Why would you do that to someone? To me, when I was just a child?”

“I didn’t know,” he faltered. “I found out about the consequences later. But don’t you see that it’s still worth it?” Emperor Gin stroked her cheek like she really was still a child. “I love you and all my ryuu. I want the Evermore for you, and when we achieve that goal, it won’t matter that we were marked for the hells, because we’ll never die. We will be immortal in paradise.”

She wanted to pull away, but she was in too much shock. “What about the ryuu who died in the last battle, though? They don’t get to live in the Evermore, and they don’t get to rest in the afterlife either.”