Sunlight
“Then, I’ll be going.”
At Angel’s greeting, the Empire’s noble bowed deeply.
“Thank you. Saintess-nim.”
“May blessings accompany your future.”
With her final greeting, Angel turned her body and reflected on the Empire’s situation she had just heard from the noble.
‘To think he revealed Seoho’s existence.’
She thought he would keep him hidden tightly in his arms, but it was a different move from Angel’s expectations.
Of course, not all the numerous servants of the Emperor’s Palace would have kept their mouths shut, but even if rumors about Seoho spread, she thought Rosetta would never acknowledge Seoho’s existence, but that prediction was wrong.
‘But still, he hasn’t completely made Seoho’s existence public either.’
According to the common words of various Empire nobles who had recently visited the temple, not just that noble but all of them, there was no noble who had actually seen Seoho.
‘They said he showed displeasure at the words to make Seoho’s identity public.’
Rosetta’s possessiveness was still going strong.
‘I should visit the imperial palace as soon as possible.’
It seemed she needed to figure out how much their relationship had progressed. No matter how much information she gathered from nobles, there was a difference from seeing it directly.
However, there was the problem that to return to the imperial palace again, she needed to bring information valuable enough for Rosetta to acknowledge.
That was right. Angel still hadn’t found information about the dream Seoho had.
Angel clicked her tongue lowly and turned her body toward the library when someone called her from behind.
“Angel-nim.”
When Angel looked back at him, someone who appeared to be an ordinary priest bowed his head.
“What is it?”
“You have a visitor.”
Angel’s eyebrows rose slightly then soon settled.
“A visitor? Was there another scheduled visitor today?”
The investigation about the mirror was taking too long, so she had deliberately kept this afternoon’s schedule empty. But a visitor?
Angel was trying hard to hide her discomfort when the priest said with a face full of difficulty.
“The Second Prince of the Iakos Kingdom has come to visit.”
If it was Iakos, though it couldn’t match the Empire, it was a maritime kingdom famous for trade. Even in the Empire, many nobles liked goods from the Iakos Kingdom.
Despite being an unscheduled visit, he was someone with a status she couldn’t refuse.
No matter how much the temple was a place not bound by nations, they couldn’t act stiffly toward imperial or royal family members.
Moreover, since this position of Saintess was for dealing with such high-ranking people, there was no way Angel could refuse this meeting.
‘But what business does a prince have?’
Angel quickly turned her head and looked at the priest.
“…I understand what you mean. Do you have any information to tell me separately?”
“Since it’s an unscheduled visit, the temple doesn’t know exactly either. There have also been many visits from nobles who came up to the capital for the state council meeting.”
At the long excuse, Angel irritably narrowed her brow then gestured ahead.
“Fine. I can’t make him wait long, so let’s go.”
Angel followed the priest and recalled the information she knew about the Second Prince.
‘So the name is…, Luminos S Iakos.’
Though he was the son of a concubine, not the queen, he wasn’t someone who could be ignored because the king’s love for the concubine was profound.
‘Moreover, the queen died too.’
But even though the queen who had firmly supported the crown prince died, he didn’t engage in political activities at all. The prince was someone who always stayed holed up in the castle, prioritizing nursing his mother who was secluded due to illness.
‘I don’t know if that’s the prince’s own choice, or his father’s order.’
A prince who usually refrained from going out, a sick mother, a sudden temple visit. All of that pointed to one thing.
‘Is he asking for prayers for his mother?’
It was a plausible story. If the concubine’s condition had worsened, this unscheduled visit was understandable too.
‘I should report to the higher-ups that the concubine might die.’
Being well-informed about each country’s situation was also important work that had to be done for the temple.
‘I’ll appropriately express sympathy and say I’ll offer prayers at the temple.’
If he asked her to go to the kingdom together to pray, it would be a bit troublesome, but sending two high-ranking priests would make for quite decent face-saving.
Angel put a faint smile on her lips at the voice coming from inside the reception room she arrived at.
“Come in.”
Angel, who gave an eye greeting to the priest who opened the door and looked back at her, entered the reception room and immediately met honey-melted deep golden eyes.
“Saintess Angel.”
The only person sitting in a chair in the reception room, that man with jet-black hair like ink would be Second Prince Luminos Iakos.
“May blessings be with you, Your Highness.”
When Angel, who had quickly scanned the man, greeted him, the man pointed to the chair opposite him. When Angel sat down, someone who appeared to be an attendant served tea.
Since there were not few among the high-ranking people who visited the temple who brought refreshments themselves, Angel received the tea without concern.
When Angel took a sip of tea, the man opened his mouth.
“First, I apologize for the sudden visit.”
“Not at all. Your Highness. The temple is a place always open to everyone.”
Angel hid the irritation she felt when she first received the news and gave a formulaic answer. However, the prince didn’t seem to want to talk at such length.
“To not take up more of your time, shall I get straight to the point?”
Still, unlike Rosetta, he at least had manners. In fact, no matter how busy, there were few who acted as unreasonably toward Angel as Rosetta, so it was a natural attitude.
“Yes, Your Highness. Please do.”
“I’m thinking of sending the attendants outside. Would that be alright?”
It was a question asking if it would be alright to be left alone together in the reception room. It was also common for high-ranking people to want to talk alone.
So there would be no scandal from the fact of being alone in a room with the man, and also because she had holy power as a means to protect herself, Angel nodded with an indifferent face.
With Angel’s permission, the prince immediately sent the attendants outside.
When the door closed and only the two remained, the prince immediately opened his mouth.
“The reason I came to see you is because there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Yes, I’ll answer anything I know.”
Angel reached her hand toward the teacup. The questions asked by those with sick family members were obvious.
Questions about the world after death, prayers for the sick, blessings.
She was roughly thinking of appropriate answers while grasping the cup when the prince bluntly said.
“You, how much do you know about the mirror?”
Angel’s hand, which had been leisurely lifting the teacup, stopped in mid-air, and a huge crack appeared in her solid mask.
***
Seoho couldn’t understand Rosetta, who was reluctantly giving him the dagger while looking at it ominously.
“You want me to carry it around?”
“I don’t feel anything special from the sword itself. Do you feel anything, Seoho?”
“No, not particularly.”
Neither Rosetta nor Seoho felt any power from the sword. However, since it was given by a shaman and the fact that the sword had followed him was a strange phenomenon, he wasn’t sure if it was right to carry this around.
“Listening to your story, Seoho, it seems that shaman doesn’t have ill feelings toward you.”
Certainly, as Rosetta said, the shaman was someone who had shown quite a bit of goodwill toward Seoho. However, considering the situation at that time and the intention of giving the sword, it was hard to think only positively.
When Seoho didn’t give any answer and just quietly looked down at the sword, Rosetta grabbed Seoho’s wrist and called him.
“Seoho.”
“Yes?”
Rosetta gently rubbed the inside of Seoho’s wrist with his index finger and said soothingly.
“The Power of Light has various abilities. So if your intuition says it’s fine, then it’s fine.”
Since it was originally Rosetta’s power, these words wouldn’t be false. However, unlike Rosetta, Seoho still couldn’t use this power freely.
When Seoho still hesitated, Rosetta tilted his head.
“And you want to keep that, don’t you?”
He tried not to show it, but it seemed he did.
In fact, Seoho found this sword that had followed him on its own ominous, but at the same time, it also bothered him because it was a trace of his original world.
‘They said the clothes I wore that day are there too, but still, this…’
He didn’t know why he felt this way himself, but the meaning was a bit different.
“…Rather than having a special meaning, it’s just that since it’s something from over there, it strangely bothers me.”
At Seoho’s honest words, Rosetta nodded and said.
“Right, so carry it around.”
“What about you, Rosetta? You don’t like this.”
If he only thought of himself, he would have accepted Rosetta’s proposal at this point, but this wasn’t just Seoho’s problem.
At Seoho’s words, Rosetta made a small groan then answered.
“…That’s true.”
As expected, it seemed right to have Puti keep this as before.
“Then that’s it. It’s obvious you’ll be uncomfortable every time you see this.”
Seoho and Rosetta spent most of the day together except when he went to work. He wasn’t shameless enough to insist on keeping something that made someone he was always with uncomfortable.
‘I don’t want to keep it if it makes Rosetta uncomfortable.’
When Seoho tried to put down the sword, Rosetta put strength into the hand holding his wrist and stopped him.
