Chapter 01
“Aria, my angel.”
The Emperor spoke desperately.
“Come, save me.”
Save him?
A man who called himself the son of God was asking a monster for salvation.
It was laughable.
Even laughter had dried up within her.
Aria stared motionless at the arm reaching toward her from beyond the cage.
“Hurry and sing!”
“…….”
“Aria! If you don’t sing right now, I’ll make sure you never walk again.”
The Emperor growled like a beast.
He raged, cried, laughed, then pleaded on his knees after threats and persuasion.
He had completely lost his mind.
“Please sing. Oh, Siren. Grant us your mercy.”
“Please, Siren….”
Even the dancers prostrated before Aria, rubbing their palms together desperately.
These were the same people who, only a few months ago, had laughed at her, sprinkling coquettish smiles everywhere.
The musicians who played along with the Siren’s songs, the conductor, even the knights protecting the Emperor—all waited for her lips to part.
“……cough!”
At that moment, Aria vomited blood.
Her dress became soaked red as her coughing refused to stop.
She clutched her heart.
Ah.
‘I can finally die.’
She laughed with joy.
‘At last.’
She would finally meet eternal rest.
Her tightly shut lips finally parted.
“Come, sweet death.”
Her overworked, roughened voice cut through the air.
As Aria began to sing in a whisper, silence fell over the room.
Everyone forgot even to breathe, unable to avert their gaze from her.
“Come, guide me into peace.”
The song began softly, gently enveloping them like warm sunlight.
It comforted them sweetly, tenderly, as if in the embrace of an angel.
“Oh, God….”
Someone smiled peacefully, tears streaming down their face.
The melody, piercing deep into their hearts, touched every fiber of their being.
“I am weary of this world.”
This song was a hymn meant to gaze upon heaven through death.
Full of deep faith.
Yet through Aria’s dark, viscous tone, it became an entirely different song.
It was a sensual whisper calling forth a demon.
“Come, blessed rest!”
The gentle solace instantly clutched their hearts with cruel strength.
Everyone listening gasped and held their chests.
Aria’s song became a sweet poison, ravenously devouring their hearts.
“Come!”
Her hoarse voice gripped their ankles, dragging them into the swamp.
Into the pit of despair,
Into the swamp of death,
Into the swamp of hell.
The sound spread violently with her roughened breathing.
“I have been waiting for you!”
It was not a song but a scream.
She pleaded to the god she had abandoned herself to, cursed, resigned, clung again…
Finally, letting go of all that was collapsing,
“Come, and close my eyes.”
If there was no God, she begged desperately for a demon to take her.
“Huff, gag!”
The Emperor fell to his knees, gasping.
It felt as if his heart were being squeezed.
As if someone were strangling him, veins standing out across his body, his eyes burning red.
“Blessed rest, come!”
The song finally ended.
The ritual to summon a demon was complete.
“Huff, gasp…”
The Emperor breathed heavily as if he had been submerged in a swamp up to his head and pulled out.
His hands and feet shook uncontrollably.
His entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
‘W-what in the world….’
Looking around, most people had fainted.
A few knights, dazed, had drawn their swords, threatening to harm themselves.
The Emperor shivered in fear.
If he had held a sword, he too might have ended his own life, unable to bear the pain.
“Th-this….”
The terror born from an overwhelming difference in power.
“This girl dares….”
As he realized reality, fear instantly turned to rage.
“How dare she try to kill me!”
Even recognizing her as the only Siren remaining in the land had limits.
“After almost dying in a fire, I saved you, and you repay me with hostility?”
The Emperor muttered ominously.
A Siren’s purpose was only to sing.
“Today, I will surely break your will. You will obey me.”
He seized a knight’s sword and strode forward without hesitation.
A shadow blackened the room.
The bird that had lived its entire life trapped in a cage finally tasted freedom only in death.
Aria slowly closed her eyes.
‘Sweet death, blessed rest.’
Then it happened.
The door to the Emperor’s chamber slid open without obstruction.
“How plaintive your song is.”
Aria slowly lifted her head.
Their gray eyes met.
Emptiness staring back.
‘Duke Valentine….’
The man who had sold his soul to a demon.
The man who shouldn’t have been here was walking in.
Bringing death with him.
With each step, his red footprints stained the white marble floor.
‘He really came.’
Duke Valentine lightly shook the blood from his sword.
Wherever he swung, the blood danced gracefully, painting arcs on the floor.
“If you are seeking the devil’s salvation now…”
Beyond the wide-open door, the blood-stained palace was eerily quiet.
As if it had been so from the beginning.
“I will gladly grant it.”
The demon killed the Emperor.
“Blessed rest has arrived.”
He said indifferently.
He took the key from the Emperor’s body and stepped toward Aria.
Sliding it into the firmly locked cage,
Click—
The cage slowly opened.
The demon, standing against the chandelier, shone brilliantly in countless colors.
Light spilled across his face, and his eyes—once like mere ashes—shone in the moonlight.
‘A light that guides even through darkness.’
Aria realized for the first time that human eyes could be so beautiful.
“The cage is open. Fly anywhere you want.”
It was a memory of salvation she would never forget, even in death.
Aria stared blankly at her unshackled ankles.
Then she lifted her head.
‘Duke Valentine….’
The traitor who had killed the Emperor.
But my savior.
The cage-shaped iron bars were wide open.
As the Duke had said, she would have flown freely if only she had wings.
But.
“You cannot fly anywhere.”
Aria gave a bitter smile and cried.
Because soon, she would die.
‘Just kill me.’
As she opened her mouth to speak her final words, she suddenly felt as if her vocal cords were being sliced with a knife.
Her entire body felt as if blood were erupting, and her vision whitened.
“Was I already a bird with broken wings?”
The Duke’s languid gaze briefly fell on her twisted legs, then dropped away.
“They say listening to a Siren’s song will drive you insane.”
Aria gradually collapsed.
Her mind blurred, her trembling body stiffened little by little.
The Duke lifted the dying girl into his arms and said,
“Then I don’t mind. You’ve always been insane anyway.”
“…….”
“If there’s a limit to madness, show it to me.”
He smiled faintly and walked away.
If she had anything to say, she could whisper it in his ear.
Aria closed her eyes in the demon’s embrace.
