Episode 9
“Don’t get so obsessed with your emotions, Ignis.”
One day, Prisia said those words.
It sounded like a warning, directed at Ignis who was about to spread her wings and descend to the human world as usual.
Ignis stopped mid-flight and looked back at Prisia. In the past, she didn’t understand why he would say such things. But ever since she had started interacting and exchanging feelings with Richard, she began to slowly distinguish what emotions were.
For example, words that sound like commands but are actually born of concern.
Words that seem like worry but hide anxiety.
Words that appear anxious but in truth, stem from jealousy.
Prisia was jealous.
And now, Ignis had a vague understanding of why.
He didn’t want her to spend time with humans—because he wanted her to spend more time with him.
“Don’t you think it’s time you answered my confession, Ignis? You said you were learning emotions from humans.”
To Prisia, the idea of learning emotions from humans was incomprehensible and even revolting. Still, for Ignis, he had stepped back.
But even after a month, then another, Ignis gave him no answer.
“You said then, once you understood what love was, you’d answer me. I think I’ve given you more than enough time. So, Ignis, it’s time you gave me your answer.”
“It’s not enough yet, Prisia.”
“What?”
“There are many types of love. Do you love me the way a human loves another? Or like how one would adore a small creature? Or perhaps as a companion?”
Prisia couldn’t help but shout back.
“As a man loves a woman!”
But Ignis’s gaze remained firm.
“If that’s the case, then I still don’t understand that kind of love. So I can’t give you an answer.”
“What?!”
Prisia stared in disbelief.
“Well then, I’ll be going.”
“Don’t say such nonsense, Ignis! Don’t think I don’t know you’re just using that as an excuse to go see that human again!”
“This isn’t an excuse. I’m being honest. I don’t know what romantic love between a man and woman feels like, Prisia. I like you. But I don’t know if that’s love as a companion or not.”
“So what? Do you really need to be so sure?”
“Of course. I’m a being with emotions too. If I don’t love you, there’s no reason for me to marry you.”
“…”
“I want to feel what you’re feeling for me. But since I don’t know what that is yet, I need more data—more emotional experiences. So please, Prisia. If you love me, respect that.”
“…Ha.”
“Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad, Ignis.”
“Then what?”
“….”
Prisia couldn’t answer. Because if this wasn’t anger, she didn’t know what to call it.
She wanted to snap Ignis’s wings right then and there.
To stop her from descending to the human world.
To shout at her not to meet Richard again.
But she didn’t. Not just for her dignity as a divine being—but because she didn’t want Ignis to see how ugly her feelings had become.
Yet, the longer the silence stretched, Ignis surely noticed.
Sensing the shift in the air, she was the first to look away.
“Well then, I’ll be going.”
And just like that, she left Prisia alone and descended to the human world.
To meet Richard, the prince of the kingdom of Horizon.
Prisia stared down at the distant world below. Ignis had descended so fast she had already disappeared into the clouds.
Prisia gave a bitter laugh.
“You don’t know what emotion that is?”
What a ridiculous thing to say. Of course she knew. She knew it all. She was just unaware of it.
That face you made, Ignis, when you spread your wings to meet Richard—you really don’t know what it meant?
Prisia wanted to scream, to tell her how unfair this was.
But if she did that, Ignis might realize her feelings too soon—and that, she couldn’t allow.
Before Ignis became aware of her true emotions, Prisia had to act.
But perhaps she had been too arrogant.
She had underestimated how dangerous emotional awareness could be.
She was complacent. And that complacency turned into regret.
That day, Ignis didn’t return to the temple.
Even as the moon goddess illuminated the sky and the goddess of dawn pulled back the curtains of night with her nymphs, bringing up the sun—Ignis still didn’t come back.
It was the first time Ignis had ever broken her schedule or habits.
“I’ll give you an answer now, Prisia.”
When Ignis finally returned…
“I don’t love you.”
So I can’t accept your heart.
“I won’t marry you.”
Because I love someone else.
“I’m going to be with Richard.”
That was the beginning of the curse.
When Prisia came back to her senses, her right hand was gripping a pair of massive dragon wings.
Her entire body was drenched in blue blood.
At her feet, Ignis lay collapsed, clutching her back.
She was trembling in agony, writhing from the pain.
Yet the eyes she raised to Prisia brimmed not only with pain—but with disgust.
“Why are you looking at me like that, Ignis?”
“….”
“You brought this on yourself.”
“….”
“Why did you choose that pathetic human instead of me—why did you make me this way?”
“….”
“I told you I loved you. I gave you my heart. And you—why did you choose someone else and hurt me?”
Tears fell from Prisia’s eyes.
Whenever he cried, it rained heavily in the human world—but he seemed to have forgotten that.
He dropped the wings from his hand and slowly walked toward Ignis.
She had lost too much blood—she looked too weak to flee.
“…Prisia… you didn’t love me. This is obsession…”
Even as Ignis spoke, Prisia reached out her hand.
Crack—with a sound of breaking ribs, a glowing blue heart appeared in his hand.
Ignis stopped moving completely.
She collapsed, eyes wide open, not even able to close them.
Prisia collapsed beside her in the pool of blood, gazing at her pale body.
“Dragons live forever, Ignis. You were made to live that eternity with me. But you betrayed me. So now, you’ll die. All because you loved that human.”
Dragons are immortal.
After hatching, they instantly mature to the form of a young adult and maintain that form.
Every 100 years, they burn their bodies and are reborn from the ashes.
Like phoenixes and salamanders, they share this cycle of self-rebirth.
But before they burn, they store their memories somewhere—because carrying them into the next life causes chaos.
To avoid drowning in their centuries of memories, they must leave them behind.
So I know what this orb is.
It holds the memories of those centuries—everything lived in each 100-year span.
Perhaps even the memories of the “abnormality” Prima once mentioned.
Prima says I cursed the dragons.
But why would I?
I’m the one who left them behind, who fell in love with a human.
If anything, they should’ve cursed me.
How could I, who lost all divine power and became little more than a pariah for loving a human, curse anyone?
Dragons were born perfect—youthful, strong, and immortal. But one thing was forbidden: loving humans.
The ancient god decreed that. Anyone who broke it would be punished, no exceptions.
So what power did I have?
“The curse you cast upon us all—that malformed one.”
I was confused.
So my memories didn’t end 200 years ago?
I’d spent two centuries wandering the human world, failing to properly store those memories in the orb.
And now, they haunted me.
Just as I was beginning to stabilize…
“You mean… there are more memories in here? I have more to remember?”
I was afraid.
That orb glimmered so beautifully in the light—what if inside, it held the ugliest of truths?
But if I choose to stay ignorant, then I’m no different from Kian or Paris.
Even I am fractured in mind—do I really think returning to the dragons will change anything?
It felt like a second self whispered these words to me.
But I ignored it.
What could these memories possibly reveal that I hadn’t already suffered through?
Humans are fearful, selfish beings.
A dragon that loves a human will only ever be used and discarded.
You don’t have to eat feces to know it’s disgusting.
From a distance, you can already tell.
All my memories were filth.
All but one—
My beloved son, Leroy.
My Leroy, a hybrid born of dragon and human.
Prima and Arabelle had said he was more dragon than human.
So I believed he’d never betray me like the others.
Clutching him tightly, I closed my eyes as he played with the orb by the window.
“Mother?”
“Leroy… you’re the one I love most in this world.”
“Mm! I love you most in the world too, Mommy!”
Leroy clutched the orb tightly, and with his free hand, gently patted my back.
As if this tiny child could already sense that I was trembling inside.
