Three Divine Wishes: Yes, I'm OP!

"Milan... what did you do to me?"

The tone of the question, and the familiarity with which Amber spoke her name, drew a brief flicker of surprise across Princess Milan’s face even as she continued to float cross-legged in the laboratory air.

The surprise faded quickly, replaced by a sharper, more intentional smile as she focused all her attention on the sealed woman before her.

Amber stood just one rank below her, and that alone was enough for what was to come next.

In that instant, Milan’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and Amber’s entire life began to unfold before her... it was almost like pages of a book spread open on a table.

She saw the Academy of Veils and every single minute Amber had spent there since her adoption.

She watched Amber take assignment after assignment, not for glory or advancement, but as thin covers that let her leave the walls and chase whatever unnamed horizon called to her that week.

It became clear that, aside from Liliana and the Academy, the only thing Amber truly valued in those early days was... adventuring.

Beneath those outward choices, Milan also found the rarer moments: the few times Amber’s attention had turned inward toward bloodline and origin.

"Finally... now we’re getting somewhere," Milan muttered, as Amber’s most significant experiences began to surface.

As she absorbed it all, every detail settling into place....

There was no mistaking it—Amber felt the gaze.

It came quietly but with a weight, like eyes scanning through pages of a book she had never consented to share.

’Oh gosh...’ she thought, a faint frown tugging at her lips.

’I can only hope... she doesn’t uncover much about Dream Land.’

For the first time since her powers and movements had been sealed, a flicker of panic began to creep in.

It wasn’t because of the situation she found herself in—she had known from the moment the seal took hold that there would be nothing she could do.

Her body, her divinity, her star, and every means of movement or escape were locked away behind the completed catalysts.

All she could do now was wait... and hope the princess would, at some point, go too far.

That was why her panic was bubbling up—because there was a real chance Milan might uncover the absurd lengths Akasha had gone to on her behalf.

And she had every reason to be worried, because Milan wasn’t just making idle inquiries; this was no casual survey.

She moved through the memories with specific intentions, sorting for anything that might threaten or strengthen the grand design of their plans.

The original plan had been simple enough in its cruelty: use Amber as a living catalyst to force an opening into Kalpa during the tournament a little more than nine years away.

However, since the Emperor of Loria had pushed things forward so drastically, everything had obviously become far more compressed.

And if Milan wanted to ensure their plan came to fruition and guarantee her own safety, she needed to look at things a bit more closely.

It wasn’t long before Akasha emerged from Amber’s memories.

"Oh... the specimen has a little crush?" She spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm. From the very first sight when Amber saw Akasha randomly appear within the Academy of Veils...

She could immediately feel Amber’s interest building up.

"I must admit... for a man, he’s quite a looker," Milan said as she continued to take in the experiences to come.

Amber said nothing more at this point... as she only watched Milan with an unblinking gaze.

---

Not long after Akasha’s first appearance in Amber’s life... the true anomalous activity began.

It was the day when Amber and one hundred and ninety-nine other chosen students of the Academy stepped through a portal into his Domain.

"Why... can’t I see anything?" Milan muttered; up until now, everything had always unfolded before her with perfect clarity, just as it should.

But the moment they all stepped into the portal of Akasha, everything went dark.

It wasn’t a fleeting darkness either—no, it stretched on for what felt like months, an endless void, as if Amber had died or been torn completely out of reality during that time.

"This..."

Milan muttered as she cast a slight glance at Amber, who had begun to smile faintly.

When the memories finally resumed, showing Amber and the others standing outside the Domain once more, already scheming their conquest of Kalpa.

From then on, every visit to Akasha’s Domain brought the same emptiness. Whenever Amber entered that place, the memories vanished, leaving nothing at all for Milan to witness.

A faint frown brushed the princess’s lips.

’What is that place... and who is that man?’ she wondered, the question circling in her mind without an answer.

After a brief pause, the frown melted away, replaced by a smile—cooler now, tinged with a quiet satisfaction.

In that moment, she realized there was something within this star system far more mysterious than the world of Kalpa itself.

’Heh... maybe it’s all connected,’ she mused, pulling herself away from the flood of Amber’s memories.

Her gaze returned to Amber, still hovering above the stacked tubes and the amassed life-force gathered from across Kalpa.

"Well... it should be obvious what I’ve done to you. You’re sealed... until further notice."

As she finished speaking, she began to descend, her feet meeting the stone without haste.

She wandered among the countless tubes holding Amber’s face, frame, and features suspended in fluid, tilting her head with a look that blended appraisal and unabashed provocation.

"Though I think you should be happier, little specimen," she said.

Now that she understood part of the reason Amber had come here—to uncover her origin—she decided to enlighten her.

"You’ve finally been given the chance to meet your creator."

At her words, Amber just smiled and stayed silent.

Beneath that calm exterior, she kept her mind wiped free of any useful thought, giving Milan nothing new to read, no personal reaction that could spark another chain of events.

However, she wasn’t so oblivious that she couldn’t piece together some of what was going on.

From the moment she saw the clone-like figures of herself, she suspected her origin was anything but ordinary.

Still, her origin was only a small part of what had brought her here—the real driving force was the thrill of adventure.

Before arriving, she had already made amends and was prepared to face whatever awaited her.

She knew Milan was a despicable person, and this place—though far from anything Amber imagined—wasn’t all that surprising given who he was.

Yet she smiled, knowing from Milan’s earlier words that she wouldn’t encounter anything connected to Akasha.

In her mind, that was a victory.

Milan continued her walk, strolling between the suspension chambers.

Her fingers brushed the glass of a tube containing Amber’s perfect likeness before she pulled them back, as though the touch had been purely accidental.

The gentle scrape of her shoes on stone marked the quiet.

Torchlight and the warm glow of the lab’s lamps played over her face as she paced, the air growing heavier not from loud words, but from the calm weight of her patience.

After completing a slow circuit, she tilted her head and glanced back at Amber, who, against all odds, still wore that same unshaken smile.

"Do you really think you’re going to get out of this?" she asked, her voice carrying a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

She lingered there, waiting for some reply, but Amber’s expression remained the same—calm, almost amused—and not a single word passed her lips.

Milan shook her head, the motion almost fond in its contempt, and crossed the remaining distance until she stood directly before her.

She leaned in close enough that her breath graced Amber’s ear, voice dropping to a private register that still carried clearly in the hush.

"You’re probably pleased I couldn’t see much about your little boyfriend..."

A low chuckle followed as she continued.

"But it matters not. I will soon be able to see for myself what is hiding on that little mountain."

In that moment, Amber’s smile faded.

"What... do you mean?" she asked slowly, as a fresh wave of panic began to rise within her.

Milan stepped back with a laugh that rang bright against the stone and glass.

"Little specimen... I won’t tell you." She said as she floated into the air once again.

"I’ll leave it as a surprise—it’ll make your suffering that much richer."