As she stepped in, she saw Sang-je, clad in white garment with golden embroideries, standing on the podium in the middle of the room with his back to her. It was his long blonde hair, which was kissing the floor, that had immediately caught her attention.
‘Blonde?’
At that moment, her mind was instantly filled with Jin’s yet another memory. She saw a man standing before Jin, but his face was covered by the hood over his head. To her surprise, the man’s hair was also strikingly blonde.
[Are you the Great Priest of Mahar?]
[That would be me, Anika.] The man spoke in such a gruff voice that it was almost painful to hear. [I am most pleased to meet you, Anika. And I believe our encounter today would most likely benefit the both of us.]
[We’ll find out about that later. I have no knowledge of the hierarchy system of the Mahar order. How much authority do you possess in the order?]
[Absolute. For I am the one who makes the decisions within the order. Just like Mahar’s Sang-je.]
[What an imprudence! How dare you compare yourself to His Holiness.]
The Great Priest tittered at her remark as he swiftly drew the hood back from his face with both hands. Eugene mentally gasped when the hearsay identity of the Great Priest, which she had only heard from the words of Rodrigo, was finally revealed before her eyes.
‘He’s rather young…’
The Great Priest was unexpectedly young and beautiful. But what took her by surprise more than his divine beauty was indeed the scarlet glow of his eyes.
Just when the Great Priest was about to say a word, Eugene blinked her eyes forcefully to get herself out from the memory. It surely was a wistful memory she must ponder on, but it was untimely for her to be distracted now. Not at the presence of the being before her.
She quickly lowered her gaze from Sang-je’s back and onto the floor. “May Mahar’s blessing to be with you always. I’ve come to pay my respects to you, Your Holiness.”
— It’s been such a long time, Anika Jin. I am most pleased to see you again.
Eugene’s hands flinched as the voice rang in her mind. “I am very much pleased to give my regards to you as well, Your Holiness.”
With that, she mustered courage and slowly, trained her sight on Sang-je while plastering a small smile on her face. Sang-je’s eyes remained closed, yet he could see her.
Beneath her smile, she let out an inner shriek—he looked eerily the same as the Great Priest she just saw in a fraction of Jin’s memory.
‘How are they related? Could they actually be one and the same person? No, they can’t be. Think how far the distance is between Hashi Kingdom and the Holy City.’
–Have you found what you’ve been seeking for?
Eugene had been asked the same question through Pides. It was one of the questions she had expected to be asked during her encounter with Sang-je. She gave him her prepared answer, feeling as if she had anticipated the right question in a test.
“I have yet to find, Your Holiness. To be exact, I would say I have only found half of it. Hence, I gave the same answer to the question you asked me through Sir Pides.”
— Only half of it? Could you be more specific?
“I’d lost as much as I’d gained.”
— So, have you not regained your Ramita?
Suddenly, Eugene heard Jin’s voice in her ears.
[Your Holiness. Please help me. You are the only one who could help me get back the Ramita I lost.]
‘The Ramita she lost?’
Doubtless, it was a remark of decisive evidence. Although she was lucky enough to peep into Jin’s memory just in time, she learned from her experience that a keyword is essential to trigger the buried memories. However, there clearly was a limit for her to induce such keywords during the whole conversation with Sang-je, with her thinking on her feet.
All the way to the Holy City, Eugene had racked her brain to come up with a way to find out what Jin and Sang-je had been plotting about by recalling Jin’s memories. And it was considerably easy when she was speaking to those who served her as they would likely to prattle on and on once they start.
Obviously, she knew well that she couldn’t expect the same from her conversation with Sang-je. Therefore, she decided to mix in everything she could, including the truth, false and also some lies.
“Your Holiness. In the last period, I had gone out to the desert with a few of my servant girls by the time the dry season was about to come to an end. And I had a specific purpose.”
–There’s a lot of ambiguity in your words Anika Jin.
“You’re right indeed, Your Holiness. As that’s what’s been lost from me. I do not remember the reason as to why I had gone out to the desert, under what purpose. I think a fraction of my memory has been impaired.”
Sang-je faintly creased his brows at her remark. As he remained silent, Eugene grew even more restless, while waiting for his response. If Sang-je had a special ability to divine one’s true heart, he would be able to see right through her lies.
–I’m sorry for all the pain you’ve been through. Is the loss of your memory the only changes you experienced after your return from the desert?
“Your Holiness. This is quite a significant change to me. As I do not wish to lose anything of mine.”
–A human memory is inherently unstable by nature. You should concentrate on what you’ve gained more than what you’ve lost.
“With all due respect, Your Holiness.”
–Anika Jin. I summoned you all the way to the Holy City for a verification. Have you got your Ramita back?
Eugene inwardly concluded that Sang-je did not have the ability to read people’s minds.
‘However, Sang-je is not an ordinary human either. No human could convey words directly into people’s heads. But he is not the same Sang-je I described in the novel as well. An angel should at least keep it’s neutral stance, considering that we can’t expect it to have the same standard of goodness from a human’s perspective.’
But on the contrary, from what Eugene had seen and heard by far, she realized that there was something sly and shady about Sang-je, let alone his ambition to keep a tight rein over Anikas. He didn’t seem qualified in the least to be an angel who’s supposed to fulfill God’s divine will.
While the delay in her response prolonged as Eugene was looking for an appropriate answer, Sang-je had mistaken her silence for a different meaning. It irritated him—Jin’s silence was her usual way of showing that she was irked. In his mind, Jin must have found his marks indifferent, and she expects more consolation from him.
‘Her fastidious demeanor had gotten no better.’
Commonly, people masked their real characters behind an assumed manner in Sang-je’s presence. So, for such Sang-je to regard someone as fastidious, implies that the person is quite notorious for such demeanor.
He wondered if it was because he had overindulged her from a young age, for she was a noble Anika, born for the first time in ten years. But as Anika Flora, who he also pampered since her birth, was a far cry from Jin’s rotten disposition, the problem must be with Jin’s persona alone.
–Anika Jin. I ask you again. Have you got your Ramita back?
Sang-je’s voice was brisk, suggesting that this was his last warning to her.
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
Eugene answered, knowing that she couldn’t hide about the Lark tree in any case. Sang-je’s facial muscles twitched almost instantly upon her answer.
–Anika Jin. Why haven’t you informed me at once?
“As I…did not want to return to the Holy City, just yet.”
–So what you are saying is that you didn’t tell me as you feared that I might summon you?
“Forgive me, Your Holiness. I just wanted to put a clean end to everything before I return.”
Eugene answered as ambiguous as she could sound. As the more she spoke, the more she would be at a disadvantage with the little knowledge she had.
“I was very much distressed when I left the Holy City three years ago. You probably have no notion of how much I had wanted to give up all these years. But such hardships had only made me resolute that I would never leave again once I make my way back to the Holy City.”
–If you suffered as much, why didn’t you inform me all the more? I would have most definitely helped you if only you had asked.
“I couldn’t bring myself to after all the help and support you’d given me so far. And I wanted to finish what I had started with my own hands.”
Eugene grew anxious as Sang-je remained silent for a while.
–It seems like the past three years must have really been long for you. You have become much more determined than you were before.
Sang-je’s feelings towards humans were rather complex. Sometimes he would get disillusioned like they were no more than lowly, dim-witted creatures, while sometimes he would simply be astonished by their marvellousness. What he was feeling now was however of great interest.
Anika Jin was almost like a headstrong child with a nasty temper. She was keen at making every situation favorable to her, even if it involves her orchestrating sly and devious lies all with a straight face, even in Sang-je’s presence. She had not changed a shade since her childhood, even after she came of age.
However, there clearly was something different about her compared to the last time he had seen her in three years back. It was almost as if she had finally grown into a sensible adult.
After watching humans close by for such a long period of time, he realized that there was a difference in inherent dispositions among humans.
While some were born kind, others were just bad by nature. And while there were people who strive to surpass their limits, some would just resign and live within their limits.
Sang-je had always known Anika Jin as a narrow-minded person, and he often found it quite odd considering that she was from such a refined family. Jin was a person who’s likely driven by jealousy. She harbored a lot of self-pity while never bothering to hide her enmity towards others.
And unlike most people, who mask themselves to appear good on the outside, she was a rather peculiar one as she didn’t think twice about throwing a fit in front of others. Such behaviour resembled those on the lower rungs of society, and not at all noble-like.