Have you ever heard the rumor that an eyeless serpent can see a thousand li?
It was an absurd sentence.
How could something without eyes see the world?
And yet, all manner of gossips and dilettantes across the continent never hesitated to repeat that flimsy phrase.
Because it was true.
Some speculated that she had perhaps glimpsed the truth the moment she lost her eyes, while others claimed that the dragon factor dormant within her bloodline had finally awakened.
Foolishly.
My liege was not someone bound by mere birth or coincidence.
She was someone who had lost both eyes, trembled like a little child, then stepped alone into the world and endured its bitter storms alone.
What she had finally attained at the end of it all—
was an achievement earned through that struggle.
But humans saw only the truths they wanted to see.
Like noblewomen who had no interest in how a rough stone was cut and polished into a jewel.
What mattered was the result.
Great talent.
Distinguished bloodline.
They probably had no desire to know the girl hidden behind that halo.
A human made of blood and flesh, just like them.
“……Sir Ian.”
“Yes.”
At the voice calling my name once more, I hurriedly bowed my head.
I had been plagued by…