The place where Angel left without even giving a proper greeting.
Lute, left alone, hung the candlestick on the wall and approached the bookshelf where Angel had been standing. His light green eyes traced the empty spots, then he picked up the things scattered on the floor one by one.
They were books thrown haphazardly. Many didn’t even have proper titles written on them, but Lute nonchalantly fitted each book back into place.
“Mm, this one goes here…”
After a not-so-long time had passed, Lute, who had put the last book into the bookshelf, glanced once at the place where Angel had left with indifferent eyes, then picked up the candlestick again and left the library while humming a tune.
The books on the library shelves, which had become quiet again after the person disappeared, were arranged exactly the same as before Angel had rummaged through them, without even an inch of error.
* * *
Angel returned greetings to the people who greeted her while quickly moving her steps. She didn’t have much time to spare. The work that had piled up while she was at the imperial palace made her already busy schedule even more hectic.
‘What exactly do they do besides laze around?’
It was unseemly how they worked the young priests to the bone while the elders leisurely gave orders and lazed about.
‘This is what happens when you’re from a noble family.’
It wasn’t the first or second time that they pushed Angel into tasks that required someone of high position. Though it was annoying and difficult, for the sake of the temple’s prestige, Angel had stepped forward without refusing. However, she hadn’t expected that they wouldn’t have handled any work even while she was away.
‘Those who only tarnish Father’s name.’
But she couldn’t show this displeasure in front of them. True to being corrupt priests, their holy power was pitiful, but nevertheless they were from noble families, and the temple’s upper echelons had long been firmly held by those from noble backgrounds.
“Tch.”
Of course, since Angel became the Holy Maiden, the treatment of commoner-born priests had improved a lot, but still, they couldn’t match up against the noble-born priests.
‘It’s partly a difference in accumulated power, but there are also those who lack the will.’
Angel looked at the shadow stretching long on the floor and walked a bit faster, then stopped in her tracks when she spotted someone.
‘Just like not all nobles look down on commoners, not all commoner-born priests work diligently to forge their future. So, was it Lute?’
It was the man she had met the day before. A high-ranking priest who didn’t seem particularly interested in advancement but whose holy power was worth noting. Lute, with his languid face, seemed to be heading to the library.
It was also where Angel was planning to go. Angel walked briskly to catch up with Lute and asked.
“Are you going to the library again?”
Unlike the previous day when she had naturally used informal speech, since there were many eyes watching, she didn’t forget to show appropriate courtesy.
Lute’s eyes, seen up close, weren’t languid but rather unfocused and hazy. Lute turned his head to look at Angel and greeted her.
“Ah, Holy Maiden-nim.”
Angel looked up at Lute with an expression that said she didn’t understand and asked.
“Didn’t you say you took on that job because you wanted to laze around?”
“That’s true, but since someone of high position is visiting the library, now I should do my work too. If I don’t want to be reprimanded.”
So what he was saying was that he was going to the library now because he knew Angel frequented the library.
‘How uncomfortable.’
This man didn’t look at Angel with eyes of admiration like other ordinary priests or commoner-born priests, and he didn’t seem to have any particular great interest in Angel either, but it was uncomfortable all the same.
‘If word unnecessarily goes up the chain about what I’m looking for…’
Angel gently expressed her refusal.
“There’s no need to go that far.”
Lute tilted his head as if he didn’t understand her words at all and answered.
“But it’s my job.”
She couldn’t tell if he hadn’t read her refusal, or if he had read her refusal but didn’t care, or if he simply had no thoughts at all.
Looking at that nonchalant face, the latter seemed most likely.
“I’m more uncomfortable with someone being next to…”
At that moment, someone called Angel from behind them.
“Angel.”
At the familiar voice, Angel’s face, which had whipped around, hardened stiffly, but it was only for a moment. Angel quickly composed her expression before anyone could notice and wore a smile.
“Fray.”
It was Fray, a high-ranking priest from a noble family.
They had been close before Angel became the Holy Maiden, but naturally grew distant afterward.
‘No, actually we were never close to begin with.’
Even though they had grown distant, since they were both high-ranking priests, they would greet each other at official occasions, but they weren’t on terms to meet privately and talk like this.
Angel looked at Fray with suspicious eyes, and she opened her mouth.
“I have something to talk about for a moment.”
“Is it an important matter?”
“If it wasn’t, would I have a reason to call you?”
Her indifferent face and tone that made people feel embarrassed were truly unchanged.
“…Alright.”
Before moving her steps, Angel glanced back at Lute, whom she had been holding up, and gave a casual greeting.
“Then.”
“Yes, Holy Maiden-nim.”
Leaving Lute and the library behind, Angel headed to Fray’s private room.
Angel scanned the room, which was luxuriously and elegantly decorated to a degree that wouldn’t pale in comparison even to Angel’s room as the Holy Maiden, then sat in the seat Fray offered and immediately got to the point.
“So what’s this about?”
Since they were already distant, she wouldn’t have called her to ask about each other’s well-being, so she was full of the desire to hear the story quickly and leave.
Unlike the impatient Angel, Fray began speaking while leisurely pouring tea into a teacup with her own hands.
“Is it true that you were kicked out of the imperial palace?”
But contrary to that leisurely attitude and natural flowing actions, her tone was overbearing. And what she had said as well.
Angel answered while managing her expression.
“What do you mean?”
Then Fray looked at Angel elegantly as if to say she must know, and said.
“You must know. It’s always the case that news reaches me through various channels.”
Yes, she knew it all too well.
Fray.
A person who was once the daughter of a ducal family. Thanks to that status, as soon as her apprenticeship period ended, she became a high-ranking priest early without even going through being an ordinary priest, but there was no one among the priests who spoke ill of her.
Because her holy power was as impressive as her status.
Of course, the reason Fray had reached a position where no one dared to touch her even though she didn’t cater to the elders like now wasn’t thanks to her impressive holy power but because of her family background.
‘They say everyone is equal in the temple, but this place has a class system just the same.’
No matter how much they said she had abandoned her noble status when entering the temple, the temple people were wary of her, who was once a daughter of a ducal family and still had deep connections with the nobility.
Especially those above.
‘They called it an untouchable domain? How ridiculous.’
This time too, Fray had heard the story from the nobles as usual. Angel answered a bit sharply.
“You belong to the temple, but I’m worried you’re too connected to the secular world.”
Then Fray answered dryly.
“Could anyone match you?”
The attitude of being sarcastic while showing almost no emotion was annoying. Angel was about to say something when Fray first put down her teacup and looked straight at Angel, warning her.
“Don’t touch the Emperor.”
Angel frowned and asked back.
“Touch him?”
Then Fray clicked her tongue as if everyone knew.
“Is there a need to pick a fight you’re obviously going to lose?”
Angel clenched her fist tightly. That tone that always tried to teach, that attitude that seemed to look down on Angel, the Holy Maiden, was annoying.
“Will you lose everything because of a childish choice?”
So as soon as Fray finished speaking, Angel retorted fiercely.
“I don’t know why I should be hearing this. Are you in a position to tell me such things?”
Angel wasn’t an ordinary priest receiving instruction from Fray, but the Holy Maiden. Even at Angel’s sharp reaction, Fray’s attitude remained unchanged.
“Then should I talk to those above?”
At the answer that came back like a threat, Angel said confidently.
“Yes, I don’t see anything that would be a particular problem.”
She’d rather get scolded by those above than lose face in front of this woman. As long as she wasn’t caught deliberately trying to harm the Emperor, there was no way she’d receive a big punishment.
“Then I’ll do so. However, Angel.”
Angel focused her eyes and looked at Fray. The days when she admired and cared about Fray, the daughter of a noble family, were over.
The girl who neatly tied her brilliant blonde hair in one bundle and always looked luxurious and elegant even though she wore the same priest’s robe.
The woman who was the foundation for all the appearances Angel showed to the outside world now.
Even though she had become an adult, and even though she had stayed in the temple for a long time, the woman was no different from her childhood.
Only Angel had changed.
Her childhood when she was drawn to and admired that sparkling beautiful girl. That time when she proudly said she was her closest friend came to mind. Angel quickly erased that image of those days.
The insignificant orphan-born ordinary priest had now become the Holy Maiden who wore clothes more luxurious than Fray’s and was no longer someone who needed to yield to Fray.
