Haruki refused. So Akito took Haruki’s young daughter, Aya, hostage.
“Father,” she says, her voice trembling. “You painted a lie to save me. And then you painted the truth to remember me. Which was the real Shinki?” shinjitsu shinki eng
He hands her his brush. It is cold and heavy. “Now you finish the story.” Haruki refused
Desperate, Haruki agrees. They travel to the Black Pond—the source of all reality-ink. But Lord Akito, now an ancient, withered tyrant, knows that if the old man paints the truth, his kingdom will crumble. He sends his Silent Blades—assassins who have had their tongues cut out and their minds wiped of lies, making them invisible to magical detection because they have no falsehood to detect. Haruki and Ren are cornered at the edge of the Black Pond. Ren is mortally wounded. As Ren bleeds into the soil, he looks at Haruki. “You painted a lie to save me