The royal capital before dawn smells of stone. Damp air and thin light filtering through a single ventilation shaft. Lilia confirmed the light had returned, then closed her eyes while keeping her back pressed against the stone wall. The words that had accumulated since last night—"demon blood," "brings calamity to humans," "foreign national"—seemed to recede slightly, even though the darkness hadn't disappeared. (Where is Raid right now?) She stopped counting how many times this question had surfaced. It appeared whenever she grew afraid, whenever darkness fell—she no longer understood it herself. She simply drew both knees to her chest while watching the shaft of light gradually brighten. Her silver short bob brushed against the wall. The faint traces of horns on her forehead throbbed weakly in the damp of the stone cell. Then footsteps echoed in the corridor. Not just one person. Multiple heavy footfalls. Mixed with the sound of rustling paper. Lilia remained motionless, still