Chapter 11 – The Child of God (Part 8)

Inside the mirror, it was quiet. At least, for now.

“Where are you? You called me.”

Ria asked into the empty space. Although it was all dark, it was not particularly frightening, as it was very similar to the situation when she first encountered Leah.

“Hello?”

A clear voice came from behind her. Turning around, she saw the woman from the mirror standing there. She burst into laughter and began speaking excitedly, as if thrilled to meet Ria.

“So you’re Ria. Nice to meet you. I’m the second child of God, um… I can’t quite remember my name now. Actually, I’m not the original self; I’m the grudge left here. You know what a grudge is, right? It’s when resentment lingers… Oh, did you live in Korea too?”

“Yes. I lived in Korea, so I think I understand what you’re trying to say. But why a grudge? Where is your original self…?”

“Oh, well, the original self… I guess Father has it? My soul was shattered into pieces, scattered everywhere. I’m one of them, the strongest soul. Because this is where I met my end.”

Even as she spoke of her own death, she laughed again. The incongruity of it all was not bizarre or strange but rather evoked pity.

Noticing Ria’s feelings, she clasped Ria’s hands and patted them reassuringly.

“You’ll save me. The other souls have been gathered by Father and our eldest sister, so this is the last one. This grudge can’t be saved by them because it can’t interfere with this world.”

“So that’s why I came here.”

“That’s right. You’re the only one among us who belongs to this place right now. In return, I’ll give you information.”

With a bright smile, she took Ria’s hand and led her somewhere. Strangely, transparent spheres appeared beside them with each step, showing various scenes.

Ria listened to her story, spoken like reading a tale, as she followed along. She paused momentarily at the sight of a man and woman in one of the spheres but refocused on the story.

“There are two main proper ways to cross over to this place. Either Father, claiming to be a god, takes you like my eldest sister, or someone related to the god, like you, brings you over. But I didn’t belong to either. I was dragged here by the power of dark arts before it was my time to cross over.”

Two significant incidents happened simultaneously. Boom! Her exaggerated gestures were like reading a fairy tale to a child. However, the situation shown in the sphere, where she was summoned at the center of the dark arts, was far from the joyful narrative.

Ria’s expression turned grim. Just thinking about the dark arts, which made her feel nauseous and sick, surrounding her like a noose, was unimaginable torture.

“After that, I was trapped by the dark arts, unable to escape, my powers extracted, my life consumed, subjected to all sorts of experiments, and so on.”

Despite her nonchalant story, the scene in the next sphere was so gruesome that Ria couldn’t bear to watch and turned her head, closing her eyes tightly.

“Because of that, everything went awry. The three men who needed me went mad, the Holy One who was supposed to become my strength was born after I died, and the Holy One who was supposed to meet you was born because of your appearance but died without meeting you.”

Her steps halted. Turning to Ria, she tilted her head and smiled.

“This time, the Holy One, who was born earlier than when they should have been, disappeared.”

“…So what I need to find is…”

“Yes. You need to find the Holy One who should be your strength. We need to set right what went wrong, one by one.”

Because they are the only one with the authority to bring down the temple. At her added words, Ria hesitated before asking.

“What if I can’t find him? No, even if I find him, can I trust that he’s fully on my side? According to the Holy Knight who said he served him, something must have happened to the Holy One at the Empire’s temple… What if he’s already being used by them?”

At Ria’s question, the woman’s previously unbroken smile began to crack. She soon lowered her head and muttered something. Judging by the snippets Ria caught, it seemed to be a string of intense curses.

“Those bastards, did they finally lay hands on the God’s messenger? Ha! Well, they did mess with the God’s child, so what’s stopping them? Those bastards should be torn limb from limb and fed alive to the monsters they created!”

“Um, excuse me…”

She cursed for a while before returning to a smiling face at Ria’s voice.

“Phew, sorry. That part should be fine. The Holy One is immune to dark arts, so he might be experiencing the worst in a different way, but you can resolve it. Your power is the strongest among us.”

Finishing her words, she pondered for a moment before approaching Ria and clasping her hands.

“This place is an abandoned temple, and the power of the dark arts is still strong here, so Father probably couldn’t tell you much. He had to use quite a bit of power to break through the dark arts and talk to you, even briefly, without violating the rules, since he can’t interfere with this world.”

“Ah…”

“The power of the god and dark arts are completely opposite, so breaking through it is a troublesome task. But once you find the Holy One and the Holy Kingdom opens, you’ll be able to have a longer conversation. You can ask many things then.”

She smiled apologetically, saying that she couldn’t tell much because she was just a grudge. She gently stroked Ria’s cheek and shared a few things she could pass on from her position, although they weren’t much. They were small stories about the children of the god and the god himself.

As they continued their conversation, time passed by without them realizing it.

“I have to go now. There are people waiting for you outside, aren’t there?”

“Already…”

Ria, feeling regretful, was about to ask if she was leaving already but remembered how much suffering she had endured here and bit her lip. The woman embraced Ria tightly, as if she understood everything.

“You had a hard time in Korea, didn’t you?”

“…!”

“We have a destiny given to us. Being entangled with those connected by the god’s will is one, and being dropped into another world alone is another. Unfortunately.”

Among them, Ria would be experiencing an even greater destiny. With an already complicated fate, she had been burdened with the mission to set things right, so the pain she went through before coming here must have been even greater than theirs.

Feeling sorry for her, even though it wasn’t her fault, the woman gently patted Ria’s back. Beneath the sacred and beautiful name of the god’s child lay such a harsh destiny.

“Someday, the day will come when we can be together. We are like family, after all. Let’s talk for a long time then, so that the wounds we’ve received won’t even come to mind.”

Feeling like she had finally met a true family, an absolute bloodline that was solely for her, Ria was overwhelmed with emotion. She bit her lip and hugged the woman tightly. The touch that patted her head was just as soft and warm as the god’s touch when he praised her for breaking the seal.

“For now, I’ll let them have you. I wonder if they’ll follow later. If so, I’ll have to interfere.”

The woman, deliberately speaking playfully, gently separated Ria from her embrace and met her eyes. She imparted her wish that Ria could find some happiness within her harsh destiny.

“Don’t forget. You started changing the destiny given to us at some point. That’s why you might be able to set everything right.”

Ria blinked, unable to understand the words. Her face clearly showed her confusion, and the woman chuckled.

“From the moment you met Sir Fernon instead of Duke Astina in the rain, the predetermined destiny changed. You started creating it yourself. It means that the path you’ve taken so far has all stemmed from your own will. The same will apply to future events, and it will also affect them.”

As the explanation continued, Ria’s eyes grew wider and wider. A question that suddenly came to mind slipped out of her lips before she could stop it.

“Does that… affect the relationships set by the god?”

“You can’t change the initial framework, but you can certainly cause changes. For example.”

“…”

“Their feelings for you, which surpassed the predetermined affection, came entirely from their own hearts.”

For a moment, Ria was at a loss for words. She didn’t doubt their feelings, but there were times when she thought that the feelings were based on the relationships set by the god.

So she hadn’t properly examined her own changing feelings. She was afraid of being the only one with complete sincerity. She was also afraid of blurting out foolish words in frustration.

But if everything had started to change from the day she first met Kahin, if that was the case…

The emotions that welled up from deep within filled her chest. It felt like being soaked in sweet sugar water, intoxicating her with sweetness, sending a shiver through her body.

‘Their feelings were genuine from the start.’

Just knowing that fact stirred the heart she had kept wrapped up and hadn’t looked into. It watered the flowers of emotion that were curled up, like rain and sunshine.

As if saying it was okay to bloom fully without worry.