“Your Highness, is this place really appropriate?” Iris said.
“Did I not tell you to stop referring to me with such an honorific?” The Second Princess smiled. “And yes, this is the perfect place. Isn’t it lovely?”
Iris glanced around, her cheeks red. The Second Princess led Iris and her family to the imperial ballroom. It wasn’t the festive one used by the high-ranking noble nor the one in the guest manor. Instead, it was the most esteemed ballroom exclusive to the imperial family.
From the room on the balcony, Iris peeked through the one-way window. Multiple gracious Monster Girls, Demonesses, and even ladies of Pure Race danced below, their feet shuffling according to the musical rhythm. Their clothes, varied in styles and charms, painted colours onto the golden walls and extravagant decorations.
“You can choose all that fancy your eyes, and they will offer themselves for your pleasure.” The Second Princess raised her right palm and curled her fingers. “They would treasure the moment forever, so don’t let your restraint control you. The honour is theirs.”
“Even those of Pure Races?” Varda said. “What if we accidentally corrupt them? Will their number dwindle until they are no more?”
“Worry not, my Dear. They yearn to become one of us, but their bodies have not yet made the decision.” The Second Princess eyed a Pure Race lady below. On her crotch was a glowing tattoo. “They will not fall unless they long wholeheartedly for it. Some will eventually join us, but others may remain Pure their whole lives.”
“What about you, Your Highness?” Iris said.
“I will refrain from answering your question until you stop calling me Your Highness.”
“I am but a mere commoner. How could I address you as my equal?”
“In terms of status, you, Iris, stand at the summit of the world. It is I who should kneel before your foreign grace and devote my life to you.” The Second Princess pressed her hands on her chest. “My feeling is not wrong. You are a Fateless. Moreover, your origin lies elsewhere.”
Iris tensed. Her fingers pinched her arms, but only numbness surfaced in her mind. She hated the term Foreign Existence and her innate connection with it, yet it was also this nature of hers that allowed her to see through the truth of the world, to have a chance to seize her freedom and grant her family escape from the all-encompassing cage.
Other than Lenmia and Pallorn, the rest of the Monster Girls focused on the conversation. Though they knew Iris was an outsider, a Foreign Existence, they didn’t comprehend the vast implication behind such a title. After all, Iris was like them, a lovely Monster Girl, dissimilar to the mythical Lilith and the other Foreign Existences.
“Foreign Existence is a mere title for those who arrive from beyond. Some may be of great providence, others of humble origin.” Iris shook her head. “I am not the idol you seek. I am a pitiful Slime Girl flung away from my hometown. My only fortune is my family.”
Iris glanced at Lenmia, who appeared smug. Pallorn and others also giggled. If not for the Second Princess, they would have moved to Iris and rewarded her.
“You’re too humble.” The Second Princess raised her right hand. “Even without your identity as a Foreign Existence, your worth still exceeds mine.”
In her palm, a soft blue glow manifested. They parted into five orbs and revolved around her, their radiance gradually dimming. Once the shield of Corruption Power enveloping them faded, five Shadow Heart Fragments revealed themselves. Their subtle vibration produced a silent song heard only by Iris, who closed her eyes and exhaled soundlessly.
The music ringing in her soul compelled her to reach forward, to take those which belong to her, to ascend her rightful throne, and to become the harbinger of a new era, the liberator of the Foreign Existences. Still, she refused to listen to her calling. She gritted her teeth and denied her swelling urge.
“The Shadow Heart Core is with your main body, is it?” The Second Princess withdrew her right hand. The Shadow Heart Fragments fell to the table. “We the Broken Empire have secured five Fragments. When all thirteen Fragments gather with the Core, our dark rule will consume the light, and no longer will we Monster Girls have to hide from the world.”
Lenmia furrowed her brows as she and others stared at Iris. They knew nothing of the Shadow Heart Core. Though they understood her reason, they couldn’t help but feel disheartened.
Ashamed, Iris lowered her head, but her determination seized back control, and she lifted her gaze toward the Second Princess. “I can return the Shadow Heart Core to its rightful owner. Your Highness, you are Daughter of Lilith.”
The Second Princess shook her head. “You are its rightful owner. My mission is to return the Fragments to you, and once we located your main body, you will unite the Shadow Heart and inherit Lady Lilith’s legacy.”
“Why me, Your Highness?” Iris said. “Neither my power nor influence is comparable to yours. Is it not logical for you to lead the Corrupted Races to greatness?”
The Second Princess grinned. Her calm, mischievous face reminded Iris of her previous words. She wouldn’t answer any questions until Iris dropped the formality. However, if she did so, she would be accepting her status as a Foreign Existence.
She would no longer be only Iris, the innocent Slime Girl, but Iris, the successor of Lilith.
“Your—Miss Vivalin, may I know why you are of Pure Races despite being Lilith’s Daughter?” Iris said.
Vivalin widened her smile. “Dear Iris, my name sounds so pleasant when uttered by you. Please pardon my excitement. I regrettably must remain Pure until I break over my mortal limit. Once I have become one with the world, I shall cast aside my restraint and join you all.”
“You wish to bypass the restriction of the Corrupted Races?” Lenmia frowned. “What you’re attempting is dangerous. The Corruption Power and Divinity will wreck your body. If anything goes wrong, not a trace of your existence will remain.”
“There is nothing I cannot do for our future.” Vivalin gazed up to the ceiling. “For the Broken Empire to succeed its predecessor, I must become a transcendent. Without a transcendent, we’ll only be swept by the current of history.”
“But the barrier between mortality and Divinity is insurmountable,” Iris said. “Civilisations have risen and fallen, but only a few managed to produce one such being. Even your father, the Divine Emperor, failed to step into that realm.”
Vivalin froze. Her eyes contracted into slits, but not a hint of her overwhelming power leaked out of her control. Only her shaking arms indicated her foul mood.
“Your words hurt me, Iris.” Vivalin took a deep breath. Her elegant air returned. “The late Divine Emperor failed because the world was against him. Fate wasn’t on his side, and his Destiny flattered before the sea of danger. I shall accomplish what he couldn’t, but I require your help.”
“Why do you place so much trust in the dead?” Iris looked down at her abdomen, where a fake core floated. “Is it not strange? Lilith is so mighty that only a few in the myths can face her, yet we, her beloved descendants, are pitifully fragile. The corruption deprives us of our restraints and doomed us with insatiable lust, forever yearning for their touches, Corrupted or Pure.”
“We might have changed, but we didn’t come to despise our new life,” Lenmia said. “You, too, did not hate your new self.”
Pallorn looked at her pale-white hands, frowning, and then turned to Tardi, who smiled at her. Their expressions eased as their affection blossomed. Others, too, watched each other, reaffirming their beliefs.
They gradually lay their gazes on Iris, who kept to herself, silent, unwavering.
“I used to be myself, and now, I’m also myself.” Varda smiled. “Sister Iris, do you hate us?”
“I would hate myself before I hate you all.” Iris wryly smiled. “Still, my doubts endure. We, the Corrupted Races, are only of ladies. Why is it that men cannot fall, that we cannot pull them to this paradise? Why must our continuation depend on our dragging other innocent victims to this path?”
Silence greeted the table, swept away only by the muffled melodies echoing from the ballroom beneath.
Men couldn’t handle the pleasure of the Corrupted Races. Without magical means, the abyssal delight would take away their mind, all without exception.
Moreover, the Monster Girls could never get pregnant. Their bodies converted everything to energy, forever replenishing their vitality, forever searching for more. Never to rest.
“Though transcendent, Lady Lilith isn’t omnipotent. Her foreign mean has a far-reaching impact, but she is far from perfection,” Vivalin said. “We should be grateful for her legacy. One day, her effort will bear fruit, and we will see a world painted with blackness, a world for us.”
The other Monster Girls nodded. Except for Iris, all trusted in Lady Lilith, their second mother, their fallen goddess. Even Pallorn hesitated, unable to choose between her goddess or the goddess of all Monster Girls. She wanted to believe, to understand her goddess, but she couldn’t change her mind yet.
She couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge it.
“Iris, please open your heart a little more.” Pallorn pressed her hands on her chest. “Trust is precious, but there are times when you need to risk your heart. No matter what, know that you can fall back onto us. We’ll always be there for you.”
“Your worry is not unfound, Pallorn. My heart has always been open, just not for everyone. To lay myself bare for a stranger, for me, is difficult. I have to know them intimately first.”
“Wherever Corruption Power flows, Lady Lilith is there,” Vivalin said. “She’s always been beside you.”
“She is everywhere and nowhere. I’ve known her, seen her, and talked to her, but we’ve never shared any intimacy.” Iris sighed. “Forgive my imprudence, everyone. It’s within my power to doubt the higher power. It is this quality that brings me here, and it is this quality that will stay.”
Lenmia shook her head but was unwilling to argue. She didn’t want to be forceful when Iris and herself weren’t ready. They didn’t join the meeting to discuss their beliefs. Their disrespect to Vivalin was unbecoming of their status.
“This topic isn’t something we can settle in one meeting,” Vivalin said. “Time will be the arbitrator of all. I cannot change your heart when I haven’t prepared mine, and I doubt I can open up myself easier than you.”
“Please forgive me for wasting your precious time, Vivalin.”
“It’s my duty to satisfy my guests.” Vivalin clapped her hands. “Our tangent might have exhausted you all. Please enjoy this round of dessert and fruits first before we get back to our meeting.”
She picked up a handbell and rang it softly. Moments later, a few maids entered the room, their hands holding a tray full of dessert and drinks.
WELL! Didn't expect THOSE to re-enter the plot so aggressively!
But "overthinking things," huh? (And now I will proceed to overthink things.)
The question is whether or not the Shadow Heart is bound to any will but that of the holder. Iris' character journey remains about control, autonomy, and self-direction. It is her greatest strength and her most dire weakness rolled into the same persistent trait guiding basically everything she does.
It's something of a literary certainty that all power comes at a price, and Lilith's is one of the greatest imaginable, so from Iris' perspective, there is good reason for wariness. I think it's a quirk of the corrupted that they tend to lack this capacity for caution as creatures of caprice and hedonism.
From that angle, that could be WHY she is Lilith's chosen. On the surface, that would imply there isn't a catch after all. Or maybe an Outsider is required to be the vessel. Or any number of other things that arise from toying with the conceptual underpinnings of the local universe. She lived the life of a scholar before and she has enough genre savvy to be aware of the myriad ways things can go wrong in this sort of bargain. This, to me, is why Iris Prime has reached for Speculative Divinity instead of the easier, known paths and is why Iris Alpha continues to resist the lure of both her family and the status heaped on her by the Broken Empire and the Second Princess' overtures.
Prime seems like she's finally starting to come to terms with trust and how to give up some of her deeply coveted control (her courtship with Ludmint is actually super cute), but Alpha hasn't gotten the message and is in, in some ways, a more tenuous situation.
Also, I appreciate that she actually raised some of the broader-perspective questions I've raised in comments before.
... say, I forget, was Giulia aware of the Shadow Heart that Iris carries? Was Lilith aware that Iris is Foreign? It's been so long that I can't remember.
I wasn't expecting such a nice write-up!
To answer the question, Gulia knew that Iris has the Shadow Heart Core, and Lilith knew that Iris came from another world.