Walking along with him in the temple, the White Rotunias stood in front of the garden in full bloom.
Against the darkening landscape, the white roses seemed to gradually radiate a mysterious light.
As the deep blue night drew near, the petals shone like fireflies.
I looked over the flowers and said, like I was possessed,
"It's amazing. It glitters like a lamp."
The scenery I saw during the day was pretty, but it was a flower that showed its true value at night.
While I watched them for a long time with a slightly surprised expression, Reyhas smiled lightly.
"Do you know the legend of White Rotunia?"
I shook my head at his words.
"No."
There were about 100 books I had read here with Hesed's blessing, but I had never read that legend.
"It was said that in the Alteon of the Privato Kingdom, a boy and a fairy named Rotunia lived there."
I got unconsciously nervous as he reached for the shining rose.
I was afraid his hand would mercilessly pluck the flower again.
"The boy loved the fairy. But the fairy loved a man other than the boy, so the boy made a wish to the devil to have her."
Fortunately, his hand only brushed lightly against the buds of roses.
His meek voice followed,
"The devil told him to put the dying bird on the vine and put it on a road with thorns. The boy did it and the next day, Rotunia was hanging from the vines."
A cool night breeze blew.
I concentrated on his story.
"She was poisoned by the sap of thorns and her wings were damaged, so she lived with the boy. But she never smiled at the boy. Not even once."
"......"
"The boy went back to the devil and asked him how to make Rotunia smile, and this time, he placed Rotunia's broken wing feathers on the vines and applied poison to it. And the next morning, the man she loved was trapped and poisoned to death."
My eyebrows twitched at the bizarre story.
"Rotunia smiled at the boy for the first and last time with a very lovely expression. She then put her lips to the poisonous mouth of the man she had loved for the last time and died."
I asked because I didn't understand this story when I blankly listened to it,
"The man she loved died because of the boy... but she smiled?"
She should be blinded by grief and hatred.
"And why die? She should've killed that unscrupulous guy first."
Reyhas turned his gaze from the White Rotunia and looked at me.
The darkness in his dark golden eyes loomed as he stared at me.
"For him to remember and recall the smile he longed for all his life."
His low voice flowed into my ears,
"To continuously struggle and suffer from longing."
Reyhas went on,
"It was the biggest punishment for the boy who craved her like crazy. Maybe even bigger than death."
At that moment, I got goosebumps.
"When her beautiful smile came to his mind, the boy couldn't eat nor could he swallow water, and it was even painful to open his eyes, so he stabbed himself and went blind. And he died in pain when he struggled to grab the white rose that had bloomed on the spot where Rotunia died."
It was a terrible obsession and a devastating revenge.
After hearing the story, the white rose that gave off a subtle glow looked like the poor fairy's soul.
I then heard Reyhas' voice,
"So the flower language of Rotunia is love of destruction."
After a while, I opened my mouth,
"That's not love. It's an obsession, it's a crime."
It was a legend so I don't know if it was true or not, but I said it firmly.
That boy is a son of a b*tch.
'He's someone who needs to die.'
Not only was it enough to imprison the fairy, but he also killed the man she loved. No matter how fictional that character is, he had crossed the line.
"Is that so?"
Reyhas stared at the flowers again.
His cool gaze mixed with subtle light stayed on the white flower buds for a long time.
"It must be an obsession to be greedy for something that should be let go."
His clear voice penetrated my ears,
"Why did I think even that was love?"
The wind blew again, and the bed of White Rotunias that gave off a soft glow swayed.
There was a deep emotion in Reyhas' dark eyes towards the pitiful rose.
In this strange atmosphere, my whole body was filled with tension.
"If you had a terrible heart to break the wings of what you wanted to have and keep them with you forever..."
Even though I wasn't the target of this subject, it made my hair stand on its end. He soon looked back at me again and said,
"How unpleasant must the gods find it."
His low voice flowed into my ears. And by the time my shoulders got stiff, the chat window twinkled in front of me.
[Ciel, the God of Destruction, growls with deep vigilance]
[Monde, the God of Art, sets down their fathomless easy moral standards]
I stared blankly at the chat window, unable to keep my eyes on him, when I flinched. His golden eyes stared at me.
He was awfully beautiful under the moonlight that suddenly shone.
[Oman, the God of Benevolence, offers you 'Oman's Whip' and encourages you to use him as one of your humble slaves]
I cleared up the chat window using the blurry vision mode.
Reyhas' dangerous remarks were disturbing, but I thought I might say something strange while reading the oracle in front of me.
At some point, the chat window disappeared and only Reyhas could be seen.
He looked at me with an awkward expression and smiled lightly.
"Forget what I just said."
After a moment's silence, I nodded.
I want to forget it even if you didn't say so.
'I should forget it.'
My heart pounded with confusion.
'What the hell is going on here?'
Reyhas, who was a kind and gentle man in the original story, seemed to be hiding his Black Flame Dragon* inside.
(T/N: '흑염룡' literally means black flame dragon; superpower/darkness that's normally hidden deep inside the person.)
And afterwards, he opened his mouth again,
"I was thinking about how I would react if you were a real saint, but I suddenly felt like bringing up a long story."
My eyebrows twitched at his words.
"Yes?"
A gentle breeze blew again and the White Rotunias fluttered.
"What do you mean a real saint? What nonsense are you talking about?"
I told him with an awkward smile,
"You're the one who made me a fake saint. Why would you say that when you clearly know it..."
In the original story, Ariel was just a villainess with a crooked family background. She was far from being sacred and holy.
He looked at me affectionately and opened his mouth,
"Remember when Ariel told me that you wanted to have this flower?"
Staring at him with an awkward expression, I nodded. It was probably the flower Ariel wanted before I possessed her.
Reyhas parted his lips and said,
"If I plant that auspicious flower and look at it every day, maybe someday it will reside in me too."
Since I came here, I had read a lot of books, so I knew all sorts of information, but I had never read a botanical encyclopedia.
"You said if you wish desperately, it will come true."
Naturally, I couldn't remember saying such a thing, so I just stood silently and heard his voice again,
"You know, the reason why these white roses cost 500 francs per piece..."
500 francs... 500 francs?
My eyes widened at the ridiculous price.
"Is because they are spirit creatures that can read those who have divine powers."
My expression hardened as I looked at the place where a thousand flowers were in full bloom.
I had a sudden thought.
"That's why this flower, with a tragic legend, is also sadly called 'The Flower Blessed by the Gods'."
Reyhas' voice permeated my ears,
"Poor Rotunia."
And he soon reached out to me and put his hand on my shoulder. The heavy weight of his hand was on me.
"......"
I fixed my gaze at his eyes, which were close to me, with his hand on my shoulder as if to prevent me from escaping.
And he twisted his lips and said with a cold expression,
"You said earlier that the flowers glittered like a lamp."
His low voice penetrated my ears,
"The light of Rotunia that appears at night can only be seen by those with divine or sacred powers."
I heard something crash in my heart.
"What happened?"
His eyes, mixed with emotions, were sharply directed at me.
"Ariel."
Oh, I'm screwed.