A kingdom reduced to ash. A princess with no memory of the fire. A brother who swears she lit the flame.
Princess Aria of Welna should have inherited the Flame of Oath—the sacred power of her bloodline that shields the realm and sustains its people. Instead, she wakes to a burned-out capital, a hundred and twenty thousand dead, and her brother Valg's cold accusation ringing in her ears: *You burned it. All of it.*
She remembers nothing of that night. Only gray fog, a scream in the palace corri
Princess of Ash and the Flame of Oath - The Kingdom of Ash, the Flame of Choosing Again
The great hall of the Ash Court was dead silent.
Light slanted through the collapsed ceiling, catching the drifting ash and turning it silver. Charred pillars stabbed up from the floor like broken bones. On the walls, the crest of the old capital bled black with soot—and beneath it, two royals faced each other.
Aria pressed her left hand over the flame-sealing bracelet on her right wrist. The cold metal pushed back against the heat of the blood pulsing beneath her skin. Her silver-white dress was fouled with ash and blood, and her long red hair clung to her forehead with sweat. Still, she kept her spine straight and fixed the man before her with her amber eyes.
Valg was smiling.
His long, silver-tinged gray hair stirred in the faint draft. The thin burn scar at the corner of his left eye floated pale in the light. His royal robes of black and gold wrapped around him as if dissolving into the air of the Ash Court itself.
"Welcome home, Aria."
His voice was soft. The same tone as long ago, an older brother speaking to his little sister.
"It's not a homecoming."
Aria's voice trembled deep in her throat. Even so, she did not look away.
"I see. Then what should I say?"
Valg slowly raised his right hand. In his palm he held the Oath Talisman—a stone carved with a flame-colored pattern that marked the power of flame dwelling in the royal blood. It was the same color as the fragment Aria carried at her chest.
"You've simply forgotten, that's all."
The words fell into the hall.
Something grated deep in Aria's chest. The talisman fragment grew hot, as if resonating with the talisman in Valg's hand.
"How many times have you made me hear those words?"
"Because they're true."
"What is it you claim I've forgotten?"
Valg did not answer. Instead, he lifted the talisman in his grip to the level of Aria's eyes.
In that instant—
A hard throb.
The fragment in Aria's chest pulsed violently.
"—nn!"
It was pain. It was heat. It was light. The fragment resonated with Valg's talisman, hammering from within at something that had been sealed away.
"Remember. What you did that night."
Valg's voice echoed from far away.
Her vision burst white.
—Flames.
Before Aria's eyes, the capital was burning.
The towers of Ashford crumbled under licking red tongues. Stone burst, wood exploded, the sky was swallowed in black smoke. Screams. Roars. People fleeing in terror. And the flames devoured all of it.
And the one unleashing those flames was—
Me.
Aria braced a hand against a crumbling pillar. Her legs shook. Her breathing ragged. Her fingertips felt the cold of ash-caked stone.
(No. No. I don't know this.)
But she did know it.
The heat of flames pouring from both her hands. The air searing her skin. The smell of burning flesh. Herself, hearing the screams and still unable to stop the fire.
(I burned the capital.)
"You remember now."
Valg's voice sliced through the memory of flame.
Aria raised her head. Tears were running down her cheeks. She hadn't noticed when she'd started crying.
"...I did it."
Her voice came out cracked.
"That's right."
Valg's smile never wavered.
"Your flame burned the capital. Burned the people. Father, Mother—everyone was swallowed by your fire."
"No... I never meant—"
"Meant or not, it happened. That is the price of the Flame of Oath."
Valg took a single step toward her.
"You couldn't bear that sin. So you sealed your own memories. And you pushed it all onto me—your brother."
Aria's chest constricted.
(The one who sealed my memories wasn't my brother. It was me.)
(To escape the sin, I closed off my own memories with my own hands.)
"Then you..."
"I took on every last remnant you cast aside."
Valg's voice was endlessly gentle.
"I played the villain. I inherited the throne. I sat upon the Ash Court—all to hide your sin. Until you could stand on your own two feet."
Aria bit her lip. She tasted blood.
(This man, for my sake—)
(He carried alone the sin I fled from—)
(He took on the role of the one to be hated—)
"Why would you do that..."
"Because you're my little sister."
For just a moment, Valg's eyes wavered.
"I watched your talent from closer than anyone. Your flame was many times stronger than mine, and more beautiful. That's exactly why I envied it. That's exactly why I resented it."
Valg's left hand pressed against his own chest.
"But more than that, I thought I had to protect what you cast aside. The kingdom. The people. Your future."
Aria looked at Valg's face. That composed smile. And hidden behind it, a deep inferiority and a twisted love.
(This man hated me, and yet he protected me.)
(He bore my sin alone.)
(To protect the kingdom, he volunteered to be the villain.)
Something hot welled up deep in Aria's chest.
But it was not gratitude.
"...Don't make me laugh."
Aria's voice rang through the hall.
Valg's smile froze, just slightly.
"You played the villain for my sake? You inherited the throne for my sake? You took on my sin without asking?"
Aria took a step forward.
"That's your own self-satisfaction."
"Aria."
"Yes, I committed a sin. I burned the capital. I killed people. I ran from the memory. But—"
Aria clenched the talisman fragment at her chest.
"Even so, your way of doing things is wrong."
"Wrong, is it."
Valg slowly tilted his head.
"Then what would you do? Sit on the throne with your sin on your back? Tell the people the truth? If they knew you burned it, do you think they'd forgive you?"
"I don't expect forgiveness."
Aria's voice did not tremble.
"But I won't keep running, and I won't push it onto anyone else. I will carry my sin on my own two feet."
"...So that's your answer."
Valg gazed at Aria for a while.
Then he spoke quietly.
"Then show me with force. Defeat me—prove you have the resolve to carry that sin."
From Valg's body, the dregs of flame rose up. His black-and-gold robes billowed in the hot wind. The Oath Talisman in his right hand began to glow a dark red-black.
"Burn away the dregs of my flame with your fire. If you can't, you die here."
Aria drew a breath.
(I will defeat this man.)
(Defeat my brother.)
(Not for forgiveness—to choose anew.)
Aria cupped the talisman fragment at her chest in both hands.
"By my will—awaken."
The fragment pulsed.
This time, she did not hesitate.
By her own will, with her own power, she roused the sealed flame. Not fire—the light of will. That white light that had burned through the prison in the Tower of Memory.
"I will end my sin with my own power."
Light overflowed.
The light released from the fragment wrapped around Aria's whole body and turned to flame. White light became red fire. Will became power.
"—So this is it."
The smile vanished from Valg's face.
Flames dwelt in both of Aria's hands. The Flame of Oath that had once burned the capital. But it was no longer a flame running wild. It obeyed Aria's will, took shape, and danced around her.
"Here I come."
Aria stepped in.
—Whoosh.
The flame surged toward Valg.
Valg spread the dregs of his own flame like a shield. The dark red-black fire clashed with Aria's flame.
BOOOOM!!
The hall shook.
The shockwave gouged the ashen floor and shattered the broken pillars. Ash billowed up, painting her vision white.
"Not yet!"
Aria shouted.
The flame grew stronger still. Her will was being converted into power. The same sensation as when she'd opened the prison by her own will in the Tower of Memory. Not being consumed by the power—wielding it by will.
"...Magnificent, Aria."
Valg's voice came from beyond the flames.
"But that alone won't reach me."
The dregs of Valg's flame changed shape. Countless spears hurtled toward Aria.
"—nn!"
Aria wrapped herself in flame and deflected the spears.
CLANG!!
The spears of fire shattered against Aria's wall of flame. Sparks scattered, ash swirled.
(Fast. Strong. But—)
Aria narrowed her eyes.
The dregs of Valg's flame were indeed powerful. But there was a slight disorder in their movement. The memory-clouding caused by the flame dregs. Valg himself was on the verge of being consumed by his own power.
(There.)
Aria closed the distance in one rush.
"With this—"
She concentrated all her flame into her right hand.
"I end it!"
—WHOOOOSH!!
Her full-power flame pierced Valg's chest.
The flame dregs dwelling in Valg's body were burned away by Aria's fire. The dark red-black flame faded as if purified into white light. His black-and-gold robes crumbled to ash from the edges.
"...With this."
Valg's knees buckled.
He collapsed.
Valg crumpled onto the ashen floor. His robes were half turned to ash, and his long silver hair spread out, fouled with gray.
"With this... you can stand on your own feet, can't you."
Valg laughed.
A faint smile that could be taken as relief. Not hatred, not mockery. Just a smile that seemed to rejoice that his little sister had stood.
"...Brother."
The old way of addressing him slipped from Aria's lips.
But in her eyes, there was no forgiveness.
"I will not forgive you."
Aria said it.
"I won't forgive you for bearing my sin, or for twisting the kingdom to protect me. Your way was wrong. That's why I defeated you."
"...Yeah."
"But—"
Aria walked up to Valg.
"I will take your hand."
Aria grasped Valg's ash-covered hand.
It was a cold hand.
"Not as forgiveness, but as choosing anew. To carry my sin on my own two feet. And to rebuild with my own hands the kingdom you broke."
Valg's eyes widened slightly.
"...You're a strong child."
Valg murmured that.
Deep in his eyes, a clouded light flickered for an instant.
The flame dregs that should have been severed had not vanished completely, and they shook Valg's memories.
"...Who am I."
Valg's voice became like another person's.
"Brother?"
Aria gripped Valg's hand tightly.
"...Ah, Aria. I am Valg. Your brother."
Valg shook his head.
"Forgive me. It... blurs, a little."
Aria's chest ached.
(This man's memories are still broken.)
(The flame dregs keep tormenting him.)
"It's all right. I'll do something about it."
Aria did not let go of Valg's hand.
—That was when it happened.
"Princess."
A low voice rang through the hall.
She turned. A guardian knight, covered in blood and ash, stood in the collapsed entrance. Bandages were wrapped from his left shoulder across his chest, his silver armor was shattered, and his short black hair had gone white with ash. Even so, his ash-gray blue eyes looked straight at Aria.
"Kai... why are you here?"
"I shook off the pursuit. Then I followed your presence."
Kai slowly entered the hall.
"I saw all of it."
Aria looked at Kai's face.
"You faced your own memories by your own will. You admitted your sin. And with your own power, you defeated your brother."
Kai's voice was low and quiet.
"That night, I stopped you. But I couldn't stop you completely."
Kai's words settled into Aria's chest.
"So this time, stop yourself."
Kai stood before Aria.
"I'll protect you. But that alone isn't enough. You have to be able to control your own flame with your own power. That's why I'm by your side."
Tears spilled from Aria's eyes.
"...Kai."
Still holding Valg's hand, Aria looked up at Kai.
"I'll become strong. I'll carry my sin and rebuild this kingdom with my own power. So—"
"Yeah."
Kai gave a short nod.
"I'll carry it with you."
Warmth spread gently through Aria's chest.
(This man is always like this.)
(When I'm lost, he stands beside me.)
(When I'm about to fall, he supports me.)
Aria grasped Kai's hand with her other hand.
"...Thank you."
Kai's hand trembled slightly.
"...Yeah."
A quiet air flowed between them.
—Then.
"Princess! Kai!"
A bright voice came flying into the hall.
A girl with bouncing golden curls and shining emerald eyes came running in through the collapsed entrance. The old magic-crest tattoo on her neck surfaced i
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.