Kuroi felt a sharp pain in her head and screamed out in pain as her memories slowly returned to her. Her memories aligned with Pince Zova’s story of her life before becoming a beggar. She realised that the servant who deceived her into taking the master life-gem to the underworld King was Zebub. She also realised how much she had been deceived, as he used the same method to lure her into meeting his master.
Zebub, a palace servant at the time, had promised to take her to a person who could give her the one thing she desired: the prince’s love. She only realised that he defected to the other side when he brought her before Diablo. Although she wished to leave upon realisation, Zebub managed to convince her that she only needed to give Diablo the ‘worthless’ master life-gem, and he would transform her into a beautiful maiden whom the prince could see as a worthy bride. At the time, she thought the master gem was just one of the kingdom’s treasures, which would not be missed since the kingdom had many treasures. In retrospect, she realised that the prince intended to wed her all along and she had made a deal for what she already had.
Kuroi cried and begged for Prince Zova to be returned to her, but was blatantly ignored, as her beloved prince was dragged into the place of no return, along with Zebub and the defeated army of Diablo. As soon as they went in, the portal closed.
“Miss Kuroi,” The soft voice of Petros called out to her as she stood staring into the space where they had disappeared. She was surprised he did not kill her on the spot and was even more surprised to see that he was looking at her with pity. “We must leave at once. I shall take you to the southern castle, where you will be safe.”
She wished to correct him, and let him know that she was truly Aisa, even though she was no longer worthy of the name, but suddenly felt light-headed and began to fall. She felt the strong arms of Petros catch her, just before she lost consciousness.
The next time she opened her eyes, she was in the luxurious bedchamber of the southern castle. She felt numb with guilt, as she recalled all that had happened. She was so downcast that it took a few moments before she realised that she was not alone. She sat up and saw Petros who had been sitting on a chair, come up to her side.
“I feared you would meet the same fate as His Highness, for you have been unconscious since yesterday.” He stated solemnly. She was again surprised by his politeness and could not help asking the question that was plaguing her.
“Why are you being kind to me? I should have expected to have been killed by your own hands as soon as the prince was gone.”
“No! I could never kill the one who was ransomed by the prince. I in fact must protect that which he gave his life for, so his sacrifice would not be in vain.” He proclaimed, and the weight of his words threw her into deeper depths of depression.
Having ensured she was alive and well, Petros left her, and she remained in her bedchambers where she wallowed in guilt and self-condemnation. She discovered that she was unable to eat and struggled to sleep. When she eventually fell asleep, she was troubled with nightmares.
At noon the next day, she was walking in the fields of the castle, pondering how she could surrender herself and pay for her crimes when suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching her. She swiftly turned around, wondering if Zebub and Diablo had come to accost her, but to her absolute astonishment, it was the most unexpected person walking towards her. She blinked several times to be certain she was not hallucinating.
“Aisa.” His soft voice called to her.
THE WRITTEN FAITH 
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