In a flashback-like interlude, a young girl wakes after a restless, nightmare-filled sleep to find Atroxus waiting at the foot of her bed. The sun god has come because the girl removed a vampire corpse, an act he reads not merely as disobedience but as open disrespect and rebellion.

The girl immediately realizes that the gesture exposed emotions and doubts she had previously hidden beneath devotion and charm. Terrified less of death than of losing Atroxus’s favor, her place in the Citadel, and the safety of her sister and friends, she falls to her knees and pours out frantic apologies.

Atroxus allows the girl to plead, then tells her that although she has served well and loves the light, he now doubts her. Desperate to regain his trust, the girl offers to undertake a mission greater than any she has done before, asking Atroxus to test her faith.

Atroxus accepts the offer by twisting the girl’s own belief against her. If the girl truly believes vampires can be saved, Atroxus commands her to go to Obitraes and bring him one vampire heart that can be shown the light.

The mission is effectively a death sentence, but the girl’s faith and naivety prevent her from seeing it that way. Believing sincerely that even vampires can contain goodness, she joyfully accepts Atroxus’s command.