Orphaned and shaped by loss, Tsukiko was raised in the cold embrace of the Shie Hassaikai--a world where loyalty costs your soul and mercy is a death sentence. Under the iron rule of Kai Chisaki, she learned that people are merely tools for a "perfectly clean" future. But when she is tasked with guarding Eri--a child whose blood is the key to his darkest schemes, the clinical walls of her world begin to crumble. Caught between the empire that raised her and the girl she has come to love, Tsukiko must make a choice: remain a silent shadow, or risk everything to become the light Eri needs to find her way home. In a city of heroes and villains, the riskiest thing you can hold onto is hope. started: 3.23.26 ended: n/a cover is drawn by me ! :D a/n: this whole book was made out of boredom during the summer and is currently under-going minor revisions🥀