Written here is the confession of Gin-Kaiba Kyoumi. May these words bring peace to my heart, even if they will never reach the eyes of anyone else.

  I learned, upon my coronation, that the Gin royal line was cursed. I was not one of the lucky few who had their parent tell them—Utaka left a paper behind for me, only to be opened if I became queen before I turned eighteen. He didn’t put much thought into it; he thought he would live long enough to tell me in person.

  The curse has been placed on us since the very beginning, but it was Tsujihara Seiko that truly acknowledged it. She died because of it.

  I knew that my boys would have to face challenges from the second I met them—no, from the second I learned I was pregnant with a child. I’ve never had a good reputation—first I was a loner, then a broken queen. But I did my best; Rei says I did a good job, at least.

  The possibility of the curse was always in the back of my mind; I heard the voices on my worst days, encouraging me to finish off the family. I barely noticed them after the twins were born.

  I thought that if either one of the twins were to be a victim of the curse, it would be Rei. He always took after me in the worst ways possible—I first caught him scratching at himself when he was ten. While the voices may have played a part, they weren’t the main reason; the pressure of being crown prince, successor to an unpopular queen, was likely the culprit.

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  I didn’t expect Taiyo to hear the voices. I knew he hated training—that the thought of using a weapon on someone else made him sick—but I didn’t realize it was because of the voices. I didn’t connect the two, and I regret that.

  I only accepted it as a possibility when he disappeared. Even then, I refused to think of it as a real outcome.

  The last time I heard a voice, I’m sure it was Lady Aimiki’s. It was the day that Taiyo died—maybe even the exact moment he breathed his last. Those words will stay with me for as long as I live. It’s been a few weeks since then.

  Rei is slowly recovering. I already knew that telling him the truth of the voices would only bother him more.

  So, I’ve vowed to keep this burden to myself. No one else—not my family, not the historians in the future—will know that the royal family ever had this curse. They will believe that Taiyo’s death was an accident, and not a sacrifice, and that Tsujihara Seiko was murdered in cold blood.

  Maybe it isn’t fair to those that have suffered, but I can’t bring myself to reveal the truth. While I understand why Queen Tsujihara Seiko chose to confide in Kinjo Asahi, I cannot do the same. I believe that Taiyo would prefer it if Rei didn’t have that on his mind, especially now that the curse is broken.

  Thus concludes the confession of Gin-Kaiba Kyoumi. Lady Aimiki…please spread the ashes from this letter far and wide, in order for me and my family to live a peaceful life.