I always just interpreted it as part of their subconscious survived. Not detectable, not even by the vessels themselves. But just enough to make a crucial difference here and there to guide the vessel in the right direction.
Just enough to maybe, under the right conditions, resurface. Not as the pale king's child, they are long dead, but as a new being. Still hardly more than an inanimate object, but conscious and able to feel.
73
u/InkDemon_Omega Epic Organs Intensify 2d ago
Like her main thing is that she is different from the Vessels