Angel smiled meaningfully. It was a sharp question.
Just because something was fate didn’t mean the relationship had to be positive. It could become a lifelong friend or life partner, but conversely, the relationship between people could also end up being the worst enemies.
Angel answered ambiguously.
“Fate doesn’t necessarily mean becoming lovers. It’s a word that encompasses various relationships beyond lovers or close friends. However, as long as the red thread is connected, they are bound to be tightly intertwined in some way.”
As Angel examined the red thread that was persistently expanding its territory from Rosetta to Seoho’s ankle even now, Seoho, who had been following that gaze, asked.
“I heard you can see the red thread—can you see it now too?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
At Angel’s answer, interest sparkled in Seoho’s eyes.
“Can only you see it, Angel-nim?”
“As far as I know, yes.”
Seoho looked at Angel with admiration.
“That’s amazing!”
Her gaze naturally went to that face admiring her purely. Angel’s mouth was about to open when Rosetta abruptly interrupted the conversation.
“I’m here too.”
Seoho turned to look at Rosetta and asked.
“What?”
Rosetta said shamelessly without any embarrassment.
“I also have an ability only I possess.”
At that childish behavior, Angel gasped and turned to look at Rosetta. Even though Seoho’s attention had been focused on her for just a moment, he couldn’t stand it and was trying to draw his attention.
Angel wanted to snort. However, Seoho turned his attention to Rosetta as he wished.
“Really?”
When Seoho showed interest, Rosetta quickly released the power of dawn. As black mist began to spread around them, Angel clenched her hands and bit her lips.
The moment she saw the pitch-black divine power, the humiliation of that day came to mind, and she was truly angry but at the same time frightened. Even though the power wasn’t directed at her, she broke out in a cold sweat. While Angel struggled to regain her composure, the two continued their conversation.
“What is this?”
Angel drove away her fear and joined the conversation.
“That is the divine power His Majesty possesses. It’s a bit different in nature from the holy power I have.”
It was an action meant to spite Rosetta somehow, and at the same time an action to provoke him.
Since this person called Seoho seemed to be genuinely good-natured, have a good personality, and even be highly adaptable, to create the worst situation, it seemed best for Rosetta to show all of that dirty personality of his.
And to provoke Rosetta like that, it would be good to act intimately with Seoho.
“Divine power?”
At Seoho’s question, Angel crafted a kind smile and began explaining.
“His Majesty received his middle name from his father.”
“Middle name… ‘Aurora’?”
“Yes, that’s right. When he received that name meaning dawn, His Majesty came to possess divine power. That divine power contains the power of dawn.”
At Angel’s answer, Seoho’s eyes widened. Seoho looked at Rosetta as if amazed.
“Rosetta’s name also has the meaning of dawn?”
Rosetta, who had been looking at Angel with cold eyes, softened his expression gently again when Seoho turned to look at him, and facing him, realized the meaning of what Seoho had said and asked back.
“Does your name also contain the meaning of dawn?”
“Yes. Seoho, so it’s written with ‘dawn seo’ and ‘lake ho’. My name means ‘dawn lake’.”
Angel’s face contorted sharply.
‘He has a name meaning dawn?’
Wasn’t that really like fate? Just as Angel had that thought, Rosetta must have had the same thought too.
As soon as Seoho finished speaking, Rosetta’s face began to shine brilliantly. Conversely, the more Rosetta’s face bloomed like that, the more Angel’s expression hardened stiffly.
Whether he knew it or not, Seoho seemed to find that coincidence simply amazing.
“It’s strange that both names have the meaning of dawn.”
Rosetta, who had been enjoying his happiness for a while, said as if exclaiming.
“You and I really are fate!”
Seoho answered with an awkward smile.
“That’s right. We really must be fate.”
Angel closed her lips in a straight line as she watched the two people immersed in their own world.
This wasn’t what Angel had wanted. Angel hadn’t gifted Rosetta the mirror hoping for something like this.
As Angel looked at the two with darkly sunken eyes, Seoho turned to look at her.
“Angel-nim?”
At Seoho’s call, Angel raised the corners of her mouth again and answered.
“Your name is really pretty.”
“Thank you. So you’re saying Rosetta possesses something called divine power?”
“Yes.”
Seoho looked back and forth between Angel and Rosetta and said.
“You’re both amazing.”
Then Rosetta smiled faintly and answered.
“It’s not a particularly great power.”
“It seems incredibly amazing though…”
“You’re more amazing.”
“What are you saying?”
Seoho turned to look at the Emperor as if absurd. Angel, no longer confident she could manage her expression, bowed her head deeply and said.
“…I’m sorry. I’m not feeling very well. If it’s not rude, could we talk again tomorrow?”
Seoho nodded readily.
“Ah, then I’ll think more about what to ask too.”
Even while angry, she thought he was a really sincere person. But more than her favorable feelings toward him, her malice toward Rosetta was greater. The emotion that burst out the moment the Emperor mentioned divine power couldn’t be controlled. Angel bit her lips and greeted Rosetta.
“Your Majesty, I apologize.”
“Very well.”
Angel left the reception room, leaving the two harmonious people behind.
She tried her best not to show her emotions and was about to return straight to her room when Puti called out to Angel from behind.
“Saintess-nim.”
“Puti.”
Puti examined Angel’s face and said.
“Are you feeling very unwell? I’ll escort you.”
At that probing gaze, her already twisted mood rose up sharply.
“No!”
Angel raised her voice, then lowered it again at the servants’ gazes gathering on her.
“…No. I’ll go by myself.”
Puti checked on Angel’s condition and then stepped back.
“Yes, understood. If you feel very unwell, please call for me.”
“Fine.”
Angel immediately headed to the guest room that had been given to her. The sight of the happy Emperor was really so unsightly and infuriating.
‘Why always…’
***
Seoho recalled Angel, whom he’d met today. She was a woman who drew attention in many ways. The silver-haired woman who smiled calculatingly.
Being calculating, or in other words being artificial, wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
‘I do that too after all.’
Seoho also basically tried to appear favorable when dealing with people.
To Angel, he was someone she was meeting for the first time, and Rosetta was the Emperor. While Rosetta said it was a comfortable situation, that situation probably wasn’t comfortable even for the Saintess.
So her attitude wasn’t strange. However, the reason Seoho’s attention went to Angel despite that was different.
‘As expected, that color is a bit…’
Angel was someone who made Seoho feel that this place was truly a different world. Silver hair and silver eyes, and the strange atmosphere subtly felt from her.
‘Is it because she’s a Saintess?’
A subtle something could be felt around Angel.
The talk of magic, holy power, and divine power itself was of course amazing and made him feel that this wasn’t Korea, but Seoho, who hadn’t properly experienced those abilities yet, only felt impressions like ‘so such things exist’.
Of course, one of those three things must have worked to bring Seoho to this world through the mirror, but still, when it came to amazing abilities, there were things that came to mind.
Things like levitating objects, conjuring fire, and healing wounds.
Anyway, Seoho had never seen such things with his own eyes.
But Angel, to begin with, didn’t look like an Earth person from her outward appearance. So his attention went to her more.
‘Rosetta’s face is also unrealistic, but blonde hair and blue eyes are fairly common colors, right?’
Actually, if it had stopped there, Angel probably wouldn’t have left such a big impression on Seoho. The impression would have been just ‘a person who made me realize this is really not where I lived’, and that would have been all.
‘Since I also saw Rosetta’s divine power, I would have just let it pass.’
The last expression Angel showed made Seoho uneasy.
‘Why did she make such an expression?’
A face that had stiffened rigidly and then contorted.
He’d thought she was someone good at managing her expressions, but her last appearance was emitting far too naked hostility.
‘Does she not like me?’
He’d heard that it was the temple that tried to find Rosetta’s fated partner through the mirror. And he’d also heard that Angel was like the representative of that, and that she knew the most about the mirror.
If such an Angel didn’t like him, perhaps the entire temple might not welcome him either.
It might be too much of a leap, but still, such naked hostility was a dark and deep emotion Seoho was feeling for the first time.
‘She might not like that I’m next to Rosetta.’
The possibility wasn’t zero. Perhaps because he’d received Rosetta’s enthusiastic welcome and Puti’s welcoming gaze, though it was a bit burdensome, the fact that someone disliked him bothered him a lot.
