The White Princess Hinata Aera's life was constantly filled with glory and honor. She was born with good looks, of course, but she also had an excellent sense for heaven-arts. More importantly, her wings were so white and so pure they almost shined.
Her father was the king of the flugels, and her mother was the queen. She was blessed with anything and everything; her life started at its peak. Others called her the Holy Child of Light Born of the King—and she herself never doubted that her position was above others.
She was special, born to the King and with a large amount of talent on top of that. For those reasons, she believed that she was the most fit to lead others. She was certain that she would be the one to save the people if they were suffering.
But that was nothing more than the road that was laid out for her. It was not something she decided for herself. Ever since she was born, she had never once made a decision on her own.
However, she was different. Lunaru Fenris was different.
She was like the mirror opposite of Hinata with her taboo black wings. She had nothing close to glory or honor. A child of ill omen, a demon child, an abominable child—she was referred to as all those things. She had stones thrown at her, and she was constantly showered with looks of disdain. Even her name Fanris was taken from the legendary demon from the story that even slayed the gods in ancient times. Her original name was something different, but she wasn't even allowed to have that.
But she never allowed any of that to bury her. Instead, she used it as fuel. She turned the whole world against her, crushed it under her foot, and ridiculed all the flugels, as if saying what small people they were for crying out like that in their tiny village.
She waged war on every country in the world without discrimination, and her acts of slaying kings and emperors were ironically just like the deeds of the demon she was named after. Everyone shivered, saying that she really was a demon child.
But Hinata thought she was blindingly radiant.
The throne Hinata sat on had been given to her. It wasn't something she'd taken for herself with her own power, like Naru's throne. Hinata's people had been there from the beginning. They weren't like the people who had pledged loyalty to her of their own will. The course of Hinata's life had been decided from the moment she was born, unlike her, who'd decided her course for herself.
Those who have, and those who have not. White and black. Light and shadow.
There was no doubt that Hinata was more blessed with her surroundings. However, if one looked closer, they'd find that Naru had ownership of the world within her grasp, clawing her way up until even the grimmfolk couldn't easily lay their hands on her. Before Hinata noticed, she was looking up at her.
Could I do that? Could I, after being born with black wings and living in the worst of environments, turn all of that around and climb that far? …No way. It'd be impossible for me.
She is the true king—one that grasps power no matter what environment they were born in. That makes for a true king.
That was why Hinata was consumed by a thought even now.
Every day since she'd defeated Naru, Hinata asked herself something. And she always came up with the same answer.
I'm not fit to be queen…
"That is why I'm telling you, your highness. You must show the power of a hero to those uppity filthy-wings and shut them up!"
"No. We should instead exile them from the country."
"The discontent of your citizens is rising. It's because you treat them as equals for some reason that they're so conceited!"
Hinata looked at the chirping ministers surrounding her as if this was somehow happening to someone else. They all place so much importance on the whiteness of wings, but that's outdated. If we keep on like this, the flugels will eventually decline.
Not only is the overall population of flugels low in the first place, but quite a number of them are born with strangely colored wings. Since the trend is more pronounced in areas with more mana, the mana in the air is most likely the cause of their wings being colored.
If that's the case, the color of one's wings shows how much as well as what kinds of mana one absorbed before they were born. Wouldn't that mean the ones with darker wings would be superior? Isn't the only reason why the flugels's wings are white because we'd been living in a mountain with sparse mana?
Recently, Hinata had started to think that way. And if she was right, then that would mean the flugels were running away from their own evolution.
All these people talk big, but the ones with colored wings started living here first. They should've been prioritized in the first place.
Gjallarhorn was originally something Hinata founded for those with colored wings who had nowhere else to live. The reason for it was nothing more than atonement for having betrayed her dear friend, Naru. But in a fit of irony, Kushina of the Virgo constellation—one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians who were Naru's subordinates—occupied the white-winged's hometown.
As a result, Hinata had no choice but to accept them. Once she did, they once again gripped the reins of power and quickly started discriminating against and throwing stones at those with colored wings. It's like nothing's changed at all.
That was why the white-wings were the ones who were multiplying, and the colored-wings were nothing more than victims.
In that case, Hinata should just have told them all off. She should have said they all needed to cut it out.
But Hinata understood the feelings of those in the white-winged faction. There was no way long-standing tradition and what was considered common sense in the past could be reformed so suddenly, so Hinata found herself wanting to take their opinions into account, at least a little. And the current situation was a result of Hinata refusing to take sides.
Both the black and white sides were dissatisfied, losing trust in Hinata. The country's delicate peace could blow up at any second.
I'm so incompetent… Hinata's answer to her self-imposed question bound her firmly. It all started and ended with self-abuse.
But today, things didn't end like that.
It was time to pay the price for allowing the problems of this country to continue for so long.
A part of the white town exploded. At the same time that the reports started rolling in, Hinata realized that civil war was now unavoidable.