“…I see. Your Majesty cannot see it either?”
It seemed Yun had thought that since it was a power the Holy Maiden possessed, Rosetta, who had divine power, might also be able to see the red thread. Rosetta affirmed.
“That’s right.”
Yun shut his mouth tightly. Observing his firmly clenched jaw, Seoho asked.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah, it’s just something I never thought of. A red thread. I’d always thought it was chosen randomly.”
Why something called a red thread was so shocking was a part Seoho couldn’t understand. As Seoho tilted his head, Angel added as if in passing.
“Only the Holy Maiden has been able to see the red thread throughout generations.”
It seemed to be a way of emphasizing the ability that only she, the Holy Maiden, possessed.
Seoho alternately observed Angel, who was leisurely cutting her food, and Yun, who had become quite subdued.
‘Why is he acting like that?’
Yun, who had smiled so well that his sharp impression was hard to notice, erased the smile from his face as soon as he heard the story about the red thread.
‘Is that such an important matter?’
Once the question arose, Seoho couldn’t help but be concerned about Yun. And watching such a Seoho, the corners of Rosetta’s mouth drooped downward.
***
As Yun closed his mouth, the atmosphere of the dining room, which hadn’t been very bright to begin with, became even more ruined. It was uncomfortable to the point of being suffocating, not just unpleasant.
Like Rosetta, who hadn’t eaten much from the start, Seoho also couldn’t eat properly after that, so the two of them asked Puti for a late-night snack as planned.
Seoho greeted Puti, who was leaving after setting down the late-night snack, and turned to Rosetta. Then he tapped the table and asked.
“Rosetta, Yun’s reaction was strange after all, wasn’t it?”
“…It was.”
Seoho placed a fork in Rosetta’s hand, who still didn’t seem interested in the food, and asked.
“Why would he react so seriously to the words ‘red thread’?”
Even when separately delivering the letter after the meal ended, Yun couldn’t hide his stiff expression. Seoho pulled Rosetta’s still motionless hand toward the food.
“You can think while moving your mouth. Eat quickly. You barely ate anything.”
Rosetta, who had been quietly looking at Seoho, finally put food in his mouth at Seoho’s urging. Though he didn’t particularly seem to be tasting it, satisfied that he’d at least swallowed the food, Seoho pushed another plate in front of him and suggested.
“If you don’t like that, try eating this.”
“What about Seoho?”
“I ate some earlier.”
Actually, unlike usual, even though they were alone together, Rosetta’s mood remained subdued, which dampened the spirit a bit. Fortunately, it seemed this one suited his taste better than before, as his chewing speed seemed a bit faster.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to drink?”
At Rosetta’s question, Seoho shook his head.
“Um, no. Let’s just drink next time. Today doesn’t seem like the right day.”
If he started drinking, it seemed like Rosetta would again just drink and not eat any food. Seoho pushed the alcohol aside and pushed new food in front of Rosetta.
“I told you to eat too, Seoho-ya.”
For a moment, Seoho doubted his ears and looked at Rosetta.
“…Pardon?”
Then Rosetta opened his mouth once more.
“Seoho-ya.”
Seoho quickly shook his head and said again.
“No, just now. ‘Seoho-ya too’?”
“I want to call you that way too.”
Rosetta spoke with force in his eyes as if being stubborn. But that wasn’t the problem.
“Calling me that is fine, but what you just said isn’t right. You can’t add ‘-ya’ to every form of address.”
At Seoho’s words, Rosetta asked with a puzzled face.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“It’s difficult. I should learn your writing.”
But perhaps because of the shock from hearing “Seoho-ya-do” just now, Seoho wasn’t confident he could teach well.
“I don’t think I’d be a particularly good teacher.”
He felt Aris, who was a writing teacher, was truly impressive, and he could understand why Puti had said he wasn’t at the level to teach writing.
But Rosetta didn’t seem to have any intention of retracting his words.
“Still, I want to learn.”
“…I hope Rosetta is a student who learns ten things when taught one.”
“Of course.”
As they looked at each other and laughed, fortunately the atmosphere softened smoothly. Seoho, who had been observing the smile lingering on Rosetta’s lips, decided to continue light conversation at least until the meal ended.
“Remember what Angel said earlier? About the thread.”
“That it got thicker?”
“Yes. So, it seems to be about here, right?”
Seoho lowered his hand under the table and roughly pointed between their ankles. Then Rosetta looked down at the ankles under the table, following Seoho, and answered.
“Right, it seems about there.”
But no matter how much he looked, Seoho couldn’t see the red thread positioned between them. Seoho looked at the empty space between the two of them and asked.
“But why can’t we see it?”
It was a bit disappointing.
“I’m curious what it looks like.”
“I know, I’m curious too.”
At Rosetta’s answer, Seoho looked at him with a playful smile.
“Try asking once. They say you’re loved, Rosetta.”
A child loved by God—who knows, maybe. Didn’t Angel also say she could see it after becoming the Holy Maiden?
When he poked Rosetta telling him to try it quickly, he glanced back at Seoho and muttered in an insincere tone.
“Please let me see it directly.”
“What’s that.”
Even though it was a joke, for someone making a request, there was truly no enthusiasm. Seoho, who burst out laughing with a “puhaha,” called out to Rosetta, who was checking under his feet as if confirming.
“Rosetta?”
Then Rosetta raised the corners of his mouth following Seoho and answered.
“Right, there’s no change.”
“Of course not.”
Even if you earnestly prayed for a wish, it would be questionable whether it would be granted, so with that attitude, naturally there was no way he’d get what he wanted.
Shouldn’t he at least put his hands together?
Still, it was a bit disappointing. Seoho glanced down at their ankles once more.
***
Having finished the meal in a good mood and returned, Angel hummed as she waited for the person she wanted to appear. And just as Angel expected, the Iakos prince appeared in Angel’s room.
“Explain properly.”
As if he had truly been flustered, the prince entered the room without even receiving Angel’s permission. No, the prince must have used magic—at some point he had appeared before Angel.
Angel neither criticized the prince for trespassing in her room nor chased him out.
“What are you referring to?”
At Angel’s answer, the prince’s face contorted. The urgency that contrasted with his always leisurely appearance was welcome.
Angel enjoyed the situation of having the upper hand for the first time in a while and smiled brightly.
“Even though it looks like this, it’s called God’s legacy. Naturally, the temple side has hidden information too.”
“…Is what you said about the red thread true?”
“It’s true. Since it remains in records, requesting the records from the temple would also be a good method.”
In fact, records of past Holy Maidens seeing the red thread did remain in the temple. Of course, even so, if they insisted it was false, there was nothing Angel could say.
Since only Angel, who was the Holy Maiden, could see the red thread, it was difficult to present any other evidence. But it didn’t seem necessary to present more evidence than this.
‘He’s more shaken than I thought.’
She had just hoped to plant the suspicion that she might have more hidden information, but the prince’s reaction was bigger than expected.
In the prince’s eyes, which opened after squeezing them tightly shut, there was no doubt toward Angel. No, rather, hope was swirling in his eyes.
“Is what you said about the thread being able to break also true?”
And the question thrown immediately.
Unlike his ambiguous attitude until now, the prince wasn’t hiding at all what he wanted.
‘Does he want to cut the thread?’
She recalled what the prince had said to Seoho and the Emperor when he first came to the imperial palace.
‘He said his father cherished his mother.’
But that was obviously a very sanitized expression. Angel knew the hatred that briefly showed when the prince mentioned the mirror.
‘At least it seems true that he cherishes his mother.’
Angel, who had been narrowing her eyes and looking at the prince, lightly shrugged her shoulders at the prince’s gaze staring at her as if urging.
“They’re born as fate, but it’s not eternal. Naturally, they can break or become more strongly intertwined.”
“Can the thread be cut physically?”
Desperation he couldn’t hide. The moment she read that emotion, Angel quickly finished her calculations and answered calmly.
“Well.”
As she slightly trailed off and showed a subtle attitude as if hiding something more, the prince narrowed his brow. The prince, who hesitated for a moment as if pondering something, spoke after brief contemplation.
“…Don’t you want to know how the mirror is used when strangers return to their original world?”
It was words that directly pierced what Angel wanted.
What Angel had was just simple records that strangers had returned to their original world and the story that their red thread became thinner over time and eventually broke.
Aside from what he’d said in front of Seoho and the Emperor, there was only one thing the prince had taught Angel further until now. The words he’d said after revealing that he was the child of a stranger during their first meeting.
‘Strangers need the mirror to return to their original world.’
Extremely vague words. The prince had never told her exactly how the mirror was needed or how strangers could return to their original world.
And now the prince was trying to tell Angel that method.
‘It seems the red thread is more important than I thought. Or there might be an even more important secret than that.’
Angel swallowed her impatience from ignorance and took a step forward.
