Chapter 1

I was the chief healer of the Imperial Royal Knights.

During the final battle against the Legion of the Dark Lord, I was tainted by the demon dragon's breath while trying to save the princess.

My sacred powers twisted into the necromantic energy everyone despised.

When I returned to the Empire, my title was torn from me, and I was cast into the dungeon.

My former comrades, the same knights I had healed countless times, stared at me with open loathing. "Monster! You have no place among the Imperial Royal Knights."

Princess Helena, the woman I once loved, came herself to lock my cell. "For the purity of the Empire, please die."

Three days later, the Legion of the Dark Lord was at the gates. Their forces pressed in relentlessly, and the Empire's mightiest paladin stood utterly powerless against them.

Helena, covered in blood and on her knees before my cell, sobbed as she begged for my aid. "Please, save the Empire!"

I leaned against the wall, lazily polishing a dagger carved from a leg bone. "Tell me, why should I save a country that wished for my death?"

"Without you, the Empire is finished." Her cries pierced through the cold iron bars.

Her once-elegant gown was now stained with mud and blood, her golden hair a snarled mess.

The Imperial Jewel, who once stood so far above everyone, now knelt before my cell in utter ruin.

Three days ago, it was this same cell door. She fastened a lock engraved with sacred runes onto it.

"Your existence is a stain on the Empire," she said. "For the purity of the Empire, please die."

With those words, she turned and walked away, her steps carrying no trace of regret.

My wounds were still bleeding, and the agony of my sacred powers being consumed by necromantic energy nearly drove me into unconsciousness.

I said nothing as I watched her leave.

Now she was back, the full weight of the Empire's despair on her shoulders. "No one else can stop the undead plague from the Legion of the Dark Lord. Only you can save us!

"Weren't you always the healer with the brightest heart? Didn't you love this country more than anyone?"

I did not so much as glance at her. All my attention was fixed on the dagger in my hand.

This blade was made from my own leg bone. After being tainted by necromantic energy, I had spent three days and nights sharpening it into the deadliest weapon I could forge.

"Answer her, you monster!" a familiar voice shouted.

Richard Lionheart, the Empire's strongest knight, stood outside the cell.

His armor was battered and riddled with cracks. His right arm had once been severed by a demon, and I had poured half of my sacred power into restoring it.

Now, he pointed at me with that very hand and shouted, "Have you forgotten your knight's oath? Defending the Empire is your duty!"

I stopped polishing the dagger and looked up. My gaze drifted past Helena and settled on Richard's face.

"My duty was stripped from me three days ago," I said, my voice rough as sandpaper. "Monsters are not allowed to have duties."

Richard's face flushed crimson. "Th-that was meant to purify the darkness from you."

"Purify?" I let out a hollow laugh. The necromantic energy stirred within me, and the shadows in the cell seemed to writhe. "Is that what you call locking me in this dungeon and leaving me to rot?"

"And now you speak of duty, simply because you need me?"

Helena lifted her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Ava, I was wrong. We were all wrong.

"If you will help us, I will restore your title and shower you with riches and honors beyond anything you could dream of."

Her promises slid off her tongue as easily as her death sentence had three days ago.

I raised the bone dagger, letting the dim light catch its edge as I studied every detail.

My own face stared back at me from the blade, pale, gaunt, with eyes so dark they seemed bottomless.

My voice came out barely above a whisper. "Tell me, why should I save a country that wished for my death?"

Helena's sobs halted mid-breath.

"Ava, please don't do this..." Her voice trembled. "I know you despise us, but the people of the Empire are innocent."

She was pulling at my heartstrings now, her favorite trick.

She always put on that saintly, tragic act, coaxing me into offering her everything I had.

I once believed it was genuine kindness. Now, I saw how foolish I had been.

"The people?" I echoed. "When I was dragged back to the Capital, who was it that hurled stones at me? Who spat the words 'tainted monster' in my face? It was them."

The scorn of the people, the disgust of my comrades, the betrayal of the one I loved, I remember all of it.