“Seoho?”
Seoho turned to look at Rosetta, who was sitting next to him.
“Yes?”
Rosetta looked at Seoho worriedly and asked.
“Is the food not to your taste?”
Seoho shook his head. Though the food was completely different from what Seoho usually ate, he wasn’t particularly picky, so he ate it deliciously.
“No. It’s delicious.”
At Seoho’s answer, Rosetta narrowed his eyes.
“Do you have a small appetite?”
A small appetite. So was he asking if he was fussy about food, or did he mean he didn’t eat much?
Whichever it was, it didn’t seem like he’d eaten little enough to be told he had a small appetite.
“So you’re asking if I’m a picky eater? Or that I ate too little… I think I ate too much to be told I have a small appetite though?”
In fact, Seoho had eaten much more food than his usual amount. He already felt full to the point where he felt he’d eaten a bit excessively.
At Seoho’s words, Rosetta frowned.
“I don’t think you ate much.”
Seoho let out an empty laugh. Rosetta was in no position to say such things. Rosetta had eaten an incomparably smaller amount of food than Seoho.
Of course, Seoho wasn’t unaware that Rosetta’s attitude stemmed from his favorable feelings toward him. To be in a relationship where someone takes care of your food because you don’t eat well—it was a relationship that hadn’t existed for Seoho these past few months.
“This much is enough. If I eat more, I’ll feel bloated. Rosetta, you ate much less than what I ate, didn’t you?”
At Seoho’s point, Rosetta pouted with a displeased face. He showed mature aspects, but the childlike side that occasionally showed made him laugh.
‘Especially how he cries at every opportunity.’
Rosetta really tended to shed tears over trivial matters. Worried that those protruding lips might produce crying sounds again, Seoho quickly changed the subject. In fact, he’d been wondering whether to talk about this for a while.
“Rosetta.”
“What is it?”
Seoho hesitated for a moment. Since the only person who could be completely on Seoho’s side here was Rosetta, it would be a bit troublesome if Rosetta and Angel were close.
However, that level of hostility wasn’t light enough to just overlook, so Seoho first cautiously threw out a question.
“What kind of person is Angel-nim?”
At Seoho’s question, the corners of Rosetta’s eyes twitched slightly.
“The Holy Maiden? Why?”
“Just because she’s the person I met after Rosetta and Puti here. I’m curious.”
Rosetta was silent for a moment as if choosing his words, then opened his mouth.
“You asked me, didn’t you? Whether the temple gave me the mirror for my sake.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Originally, it’s difficult for everyone in the world to like me, but especially in the temple that serves god closely, there are people who dislike me because I received my name from god.”
Rosetta spoke too calmly about someone disliking him. Was it because of his position as emperor?
Whatever the case, being accustomed to hostility wasn’t a good thing. While Seoho was pondering how to respond, Rosetta continued.
“And Angel is on the side that dislikes me.”
That gaze seemed to have been directed not at Seoho but at Rosetta.
‘Or maybe both…’
Since she didn’t like Rosetta, it wasn’t impossible that she might also dislike him, Rosetta’s destiny. While Seoho was organizing his thoughts, Rosetta frowned.
“I used to think it was because of petty jealousy, but looking at it now, it seems to be because she loves god too much.”
Earlier he acted like a child, and now he was showing a mature side again. To be able to act so composed even toward someone who dislikes him.
‘Is this also because he’s an emperor? Or is it just Rosetta’s personality?’
Rosetta suddenly grabbed Seoho’s hand.
“So, I have a request for you.”
Rosetta dropped his shoulders down, then spoke as if gauging Seoho’s reaction.
“I don’t like that you use honorifics with the Holy Maiden.”
“Pardon?”
“If you become close with the Holy Maiden, I…”
Rosetta couldn’t continue his words and made a gloomy face.
Seoho could guess what would come next. If Seoho didn’t answer quickly here, this man who was both mature and childlike would well up with tears again.
‘I feel like I’m being used by tears…’
The problem was that even while thinking that, he was worried that tears would come from those eyes again.
‘Is it because I listened to crying sounds for months on end?’
Seoho’s reaction to Rosetta’s crying might be a conditioned reflex.
Seoho burst into laughter watching Rosetta, who was gauging his reaction and starting to tear up. In fact, Rosetta didn’t need to worry like that and gauge Seoho’s reaction. For now, Seoho was Rosetta’s destiny connected by the red string.
‘According to Angel, we don’t know how we’ll be tied together, but no matter what, we’re bound to become close.’
It was difficult not to feel favorable toward someone who wanted him so much they cried for months, toward someone whose feelings for him overflowed like this.
Especially for Seoho, who had been feeling lonely recently, Rosetta’s feelings came across even more strongly.
‘That someone could want me that much…’
Of course, that beautiful face was also a big reason why Seoho felt favorable toward Rosetta, but anyway, it was natural for Seoho to care more about Rosetta than Angel.
Seoho opened his mouth before Rosetta could burst into tears.
“If Rosetta wants, I’ll do that when Angel isn’t around.”
At Seoho’s words, Rosetta smiled, curling up the corners of his lips. Because of that, the tears that had been pooling as if they would overflow from Rosetta’s eyes rolled down.
‘In the end, I made him cry.’
Perhaps because he thought too long, the pooled tears ended up falling. As Seoho wiped away the tears, now familiar with it, Rosetta spoke as if acting spoiled.
“You can do that even when that woman is around.”
“If we’re trying not to get close to each other, wouldn’t it be better to maintain courtesy? I want to maintain manners toward the other person.”
“That’s…”
Rosetta hesitated for a moment, pondered briefly, then nodded as if he had no choice.
Seoho was relieved seeing the brightened face. Though crying was beautiful too, a bright face was still better. Seoho finished wiping away the remaining tear traces on Rosetta’s face and withdrew his hand.
He wouldn’t view Angel negatively just because she had a bad relationship with Rosetta, but he didn’t know how she would think of him.
‘It would be better to keep distance.’
If what Rosetta said about Angel disliking him because Rosetta received his name from god was true, if it was a clash at such a fundamental level, then as long as Seoho was Rosetta’s destiny, it would be difficult for the relationship between Angel and Seoho to change positively either.
‘I should just act with appropriate courtesy like now.’
To become close with Puti, Rosetta’s direct attendant, he had been acting a bit more friendly toward him, but it seemed there was no need to make such an effort with Angel.
“I want you to be closest to me.”
Seoho decided to erase thoughts about Angel and focus on Rosetta, who was smiling shyly before his eyes.
“For now, I’m closest to Rosetta.”
Rosetta’s eyes sparkled as he added.
“From now on too.”
Seoho shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, it’ll probably be that way, right? Because Rosetta is the kindest and most affectionate to me.”
Rosetta’s face reddened. Following that redness with his eyes, Seoho unconsciously thought.
‘It would be hard to dislike such an outstanding face.’
No matter how angry he got, it seemed like everything would become irrelevant if he saw that face. Moreover, Rosetta had a good personality too.
‘Seeing how much he cries, he seems to have a soft heart instead.’
A pretty person who cries a lot. That was Seoho’s evaluation of Rosetta over the past two days. And according to Rosetta, Angel who disliked him.
Seoho felt Angel was impressive in a new way.
***
After asking Seoho a few more times not to become close with Angel and being happy to hear that he would do so, Rosetta soon returned to his mature face again.
“The Holy Maiden won’t act excessively, so don’t worry. Even if she dislikes me, fundamentally the Holy Maiden is one who serves god.”
Trying to act mature now didn’t look cool since the image of him acting spoiled earlier remained.
Seoho, who had been nodding, asked Rosetta for something he’d been thinking about since hearing the answer from Angel.
“Oh, Rosetta. Can you bring me something like books so I can study writing?”
“Writing?”
Seoho reminded him of the conversation with Angel.
“Angel said so, didn’t she? That we can’t know how long communication will work.”
“Come to think of it, she did.”
It was convenient since language was naturally interpreted and coming out of his mouth, but it seemed it would be very inconvenient if communication suddenly didn’t work. Of course, this ability might not disappear, but it was still better to prepare.
‘There’s not much for me to do here anyway.’
Since Rosetta was also an emperor, he would be busy, so it seemed difficult to ask him to help with studying. So he thought he’d try studying on his own for now.
‘Since she said I can’t go back.’
For a moment, the thought flashed through his mind that perhaps he’d accepted too quickly that he couldn’t go back, but Seoho didn’t catch that thought.
‘There’s no one there anymore anyway.’
Seoho, who had glanced at Rosetta, shook his head and finished his thoughts. In any case, to live here from now on, he essentially needed to know the writing.
