Two night before the banquet carried a strange stillness, as if the entire capital held its breath. Inside the Valen estate, the moonlight poured gently through the paper windows, silvering the tatami floor and casting soft shadows over the two young women sitting across from one another.
Crystal Aserra sat straight-backed, hands folded neatly on her lap, her expression unreadable. Across from her sat Lyra Valen pale, elegant, composed a girl whose beauty had always been described as serene, like water refusing to ripple even when the world around her shuddered.
Between them rested a Go board, the stones glimmering faintly in the moon's pale glow.
Lyra's maid stepped forward, offering a cup of tea to Crystal.
But Crystal simply lifted a hand.
"No need. It's late," she said softly.
There was no hostility in her tone, yet the maid stiffened as if she'd been struck. Lyra gently gestured for the maid to step back.
A beat of silence.
Then Lyra, in that calm, soft voice of hers, asked,
"Care for a game of Go?"
Crystal smiled a faint curve of the lips that did not quite reach her eyes.
"Why not?"
They began placing stones one after another, the soft click echoing through the quiet garden hall.
At first, neither spoke.
It was a peaceful scene.
A lie wrapped in tranquility.
Then Crystal's voice, gentle and almost bored, cut through the silence.
"Lyra," she said, placing a white stone. "Do you know you will die at the banquet?"
The air thickened.
Lyra's fingers paused over the black stone.
Then, slowly, she smiled.
"I know."
Crystal watched her place the stone as if Lyra had just commented about the weather.
"Wow," Crystal said lightly, eyes narrowing with something between mockery and admiration. "The second daughter of Lord Valen, Lyra Valen herself… wanting to die."
Another stone clicked onto the board.
Lyra's dark eyes rose to meet Crystal's.
"You're assuming I have a choice."
Crystal only lifted an eyebrow.
For a while, neither spoke again, their attention drifting between the board and each other.
And that was when Lyra cornered her.
Crystal stared down at the Go board. Lyra had trapped her beautifully elegant, simple, inevitable.
Lyra leaned back slightly.
"What do you want, Crystal?"
Crystal tapped her finger on the board, once.
"What if," she said quietly, "I told you I can cure you?"
The black stone in Lyra's hand trembled barely, but enough.
She placed it anyway, as if forcing herself to stay composed.
"And why would I ever want," Lyra said slowly, "to be at your mercy?"
Crystal didn't answer at first.
She looked away, gazing out the window as if the moon held the words she needed.
"I don't want you at my mercy," Crystal said finally. "I just want you to live."
Her tone was soft too soft which only made the words colder.
Lyra lowered her gaze to the board again.
Crystal continued, "In return, you will help me protect someone."
Lyra blinked, taken aback by the simplicity of the request.
She placed another stone and murmured, "I won this game, Crystal. And besides… who would you want me to protect? Someone precious to you?"
Crystal said nothing.
Instead, she picked up a single white stone, flicked it between her fingers, and placed it on the board.
Click.
The entire layout shifted.
Lyra froze.
Crystal had sacrificed nearly every territory she'd controlled all to create a collapse that swallowed Lyra's strongest position and flipped the board.
"You're cruel," Lyra whispered.
Crystal tilted her head with a small smile. "I do what I need to win."
The game ended.
Crystal had won brutally, decisively, through a strategy that mirrored her very soul.
Lyra inhaled slowly, then exhaled.
"Fine," she said at last. "I'll help you. What do you want?"
Crystal reached into her sleeve and slid a folded note across the table.
Lyra picked it up, unfolded it—
—and her eyes widened.
"Make a deal with the owner of the Enchanted Palace. Since you are her disciple"
Instantly, Lyra's maid reacted a blur of movement, a blade pressed to Crystal's neck.
Crystal didn't even blink.
Lyra stared, stunned.
"You are bold, Crystal…"
Crystal's smile widened, almost playful.
"Like I said — you get well, and my family gains access to the power hidden under the Enchanted Palace."
Those words shook the room.
Because the Enchanted Palace the capital's shadow organization, the place where anything could be bought or sold: secrets, lives, forbidden items, whispers from the underworld was rumored to be controlled by a figure more mysterious than any noble.
A place no sane person tried to influence.
A place no one should dare touch.
For Crystal to reveal she wanted an alliance with its master…
Lyra's heartbeat quickened despite her calm expression.
Crystal slowly reached up and gently tapped the maid's wrist.
The blade hovered.
Crystal stood.
"If your answer is yes," she said softly, turning toward the door, "let me know."
Her steps echoed faintly as she left the room, the moonlight chasing her shadow down the hall.
Lyra remained seated for a long moment, staring at the Go board where Crystal's final stone glowed white under the moon.
"She won… by sacrificing everything," Lyra whispered, almost to herself.
Her maid looked at the board with confusion.
But Lyra understood.
It wasn't just a game.
It was a declaration.
Crystal would burn every piece on the board, including herself, if that was what it took to win.
And for some reason…
Lyra felt a shiver of excitement.
***
Back To The Day of The Banquet
The morning was clear, but the capital thrummed with tension. Even the birds seemed quieter.
Inside the Aserra mansion, Crystal stood before her mirror, dressed in a deep green gown embroidered with faint gold threads that glimmered like captured sunlight. Her hair was pinned with delicate golden hairpieces, each one sharp enough to be a weapon if she wished.
She looked beautiful.
She looked lethal.
As she fastened the final pin, her maid Mari approached with a sealed scroll.
"My lady," Mari said softly, bowing. "A message from the Enchanted Palace."
Crystal's breath stilled for a beat.
She took the scroll.
Her fingers tightened around it before she opened it.
The moment she saw the mark a single inked lotus, the Enchanted Palace's silent signature her lips curled into a slow, devilish smile.
"So…" Crystal whispered. "She agreed."
A faint crack echoed through the room.
Crystal's gaze snapped to the mirror.
A thin fracture ran across the glass like a spiderweb reaching toward her reflection.
She inhaled.
She could see it now.
Even if only barely.
Her other side.
A shadowy outline behind her reflection, something ancient and inhuman lurking beyond the veil of perception watching, waiting, pacing like a predator inside her soul.
She reached toward the mirror, fingertips brushing the cracked surface.
"Good," she whispered.
Because a monster feared only one thing:
Another monster.
The banquet awaited.
Death awaited.
But Crystal
Crystal smiled.
Let fate try her.
She had already flipped the board.