Chapter 27

Episode 27

The Lady With Purple Soul

At first, she seemed embarrassed, then her face stiffened. She raised her chin in an expression of defiance and arrogance.

“Isn’t it strange for the High Priest to focus on an unmarried noble woman?”

“…..What I’m focused on isn’t your status.”

“Not my status?”

Hubris became silent. The color of her soul was still purple, but how can he prove it? People see her as a lady of high stature and social standing in current aristocratic circles.

Whether she knew he was hesitating or not, she was trying to push Hubris away.

When he came to his senses, she had already disappeared. He couldn’t sleep all night because he was bothered by the purple spirit that seemed to be torn. In his dream, his mother appeared, crying, saying it was his fault.

When they first met, he didn’t even know her identity It wasn’t until later when he gave her description to an apprentice priest that he discovered who she was,

Eris Misérian. The marquis’s sole daughter and crown prince’s fiancée. The apprentice priest said Lady Misérian has a scary personality and added that he was fortunate that he was not slapped on the face for defamation.

“Ack!”

He thought they might meet one day while going back and forth from the palace, but he didn’t expect it to come so soon. Her soul’s color was still purple even when her feet collapsed beneath and tears were falling down her face.

At the time, he couldn’t even question her about what he saw, so he tried to leave after treating her ankle, yet Lady Misérian grabbed him.

“Who do I look like?”

The shimmering purple spirit was no illusion. Inside Lady Miséran was a stranger who had only been written in ancient books.

She asked Hubris, with a hopeful voice, if there was some way for her to go back. As soon as he heard it, several books he had read thus far went through his head, but unfortunately he recalled that no stranger had left alive.

Hübris hesitated even though he could have answered, her right away. For some reason, he didn’t want to give the stranger a false hope. The truth eventually spewed out at her urging. Lady Misérian laughed and denied it.

“If there was no way out of this life, how would I ever have come into this world alive, right? There must be a way, but you don’t know.”

“My lady…..”

Shaking pupils, rapid breathing, a broken soul. Hubris saw a vision of his mother overlaid with hers. His mother’s soul was always red, bruised and torn.

“Please find it. Since you are the High Priest, if you go back to the temple, you can find the material, right? So -.”

“My lady! Listen to me.”

Scared of her collapsing at any moment, Hubris grabbed her arms. He started to explain the law of life, so that she could understand it bit by bit. He tried to convince her.

“Accept fate and live her life instead.”

Hubris wasn’t sure what kind of expression he was making. He didn’t know how desperate she was. Hubris slowly lifted her up from her collapsed position. Then he held onto her as if she was going to collapse again, and she somehow glanced up at Hubris with a determined look.

“No, I don’t want to.”

“Huh?”

“If that is how the law of life works, then I’ll leave even if I must die.”

Hubris could not understand this. Why are they so willing to give up their God-given life? Is it because they couldn’t stand the brief uncertainty and pain of the moment, so they went on a path that they would regret.

As if all the painful scenes were just an act, she said in a firm and confident manner.

“My life was given to me by my parents, not by God. If you weren’t conceived by the Holy Spirit, so would

you.”

Her words somehow stabbed Hubris in the chest.

The next place they met was at the temple. Her body that could not escape exhaustion was thin when she came with her escort.

Hubris rubbed her wrinkled brow and gave her divinity. As if she had woken up a bit, she looked at him with a slightly sullen expression. His hand gesture was covered with a veil.

According to the procedure, the holy water in the brass bowl should be slowly poured. When he turned over the wet veil, a pale, thin face appeared.

Now it was time to apply the perfume.

But Hubris’s hand stopped. It was only then that he saw her face for the first time, as he had only seen a purple soul until now. Beautiful.

Oh, she opened her eyes. These are the eyes that shortened the time of early summer. The morning sun glimmered in her bluish green eyes. At those fluttering eyes, Hubris stopped breathing.

It was only when she looked at him with a puzzled expression that he realized he was openly staring at Lady Misérian. Frantically, he wiped Lady Misérian’s eyes as she pointed it out to him.

“Sir, High Priest.”

Ah.

Hubris felt his earlobes burning with shame.

He poured the perfume quickly on his hand and touched both eyes again with trembling fingers. Protect.

So that both eyes don’t contain evil. Now it was the lip’s turn to receive a blessing.

Yet when it was the lips turn……

“Why am I hesitating?’ Hubris wanted to cry. Lady Misérian, who was unable to see, stamped her lips on his finger, pressing them.

Even after everything was over and she left, Hubris still stood there stunned. Trying to find the reasons for his hesitation.

If you had to pick the person who is most precious to Hubris, he would definitely say that it was his mother, However, if he had to decide between his mother and Priest Metheus’s lives, well, he might pick Priest Metheus.

Because Metheus is a person who practices the universal good of mankind.

Due to the mercy of Priest Metheus, he was able to be born, and furthermore, Hubris realized that he had a future other than begging.

It was also Metheus who supported Hubris, after he was shocked by his mother’s death. He manually showed him how to do things one by one, all for Hubris, who doesn’t know anything.

It was common thought to return his mother’s body to her original hometown, but with Priest Metheus’s consideration, they held his mother’s funeral there.

In other words, Metheus was the person who filled all the voids in Hubris. He was a father, a teacher, and a close friend. So, when he heard that Metheus was seriously ill, his eyes widened in shock.

Was it not Metheus who has been guiding Hubris and correcting him not too long ago? Yet why was Metheus in a critical condition now. As soon as Hubris heard the story, he immediately prepared to leave for the Boniteo region.

He couldn’t make up his mind. Hubris suddenly lost his mother, so Metheus was his last remaining family member. He was not yet ready to let another person he loved go away.

He packed a suitcase and with his coat in one hand, he went out. The new official, who heard the news, gave him some advice.

“If you have to go quickly, take the magic train. It will arrive faster than the carriage.”

“A magic train?”

“Oh, don’t you know? It became famous because Lady Misérian rode it to the Rundol region… It’s like a long carriage that moves with magic engineering as fuel. It doesn’t use horses, so there’s no need to stop. I heard there are accommodations and restaurants inside.”

“…….I see. Thank you for your advice. Please take care of the temple.”

“Don’t worry about the temple. Bless you, as you go on your way.”

When Hubris entered the noisy station and stood anxiously at the ticket office, the staff made a troubled face.

“Um, High Priest. Originally, we would provide you with first class seats, but this train is strictly by reservation system…. Unfortunately, it’s already fully booked, so there’s only one second class seat left, will you be okay with this?”

“The seat doesn’t matter.”

“I see. Then you can present the second class train ticket to Boniteo to the flight attendant.”

After the staff stamped and issued the tickets, he hurriedly picked up his luggage and boarded the train. After all, since he was the Hubris who usually leads a frugal life, the second class was quite luxurious.

After some time had passed and by the time he was ready to leave, he heard a knock on the door. Before he could even answer the knock, the door unlocked and she shot into his life once again.

With a playful smile on her lips, Lady Misérian closed the door and entered the compartment. He knew that she had a gorgeous appearance, but when she was determined and radiated that splendor, she overwhelmed his eyes.

Even when dressed like a peasant from the streets her attire was nothing short of a masterpiece of loveliness.

“The….. looks like…… what the…?”

“Is this outfit more important than the reason I visited you?”

He closed his mouth in shame. The guilt over having imagined such a thing even for a moment, was an added bonus. He looked silently to find out her intentions as she sat across his seat and lightly crossed her legs.

“I have to get off soon anyway, but my feet hurt, so I’ll sit down. All right?”

“……What do you mean you’re getting off?”

“I want to meet Priest Metheus. Take me with you.”

She always speaks arrogantly. As if she had no choice but to say that Hubris won’t listen to her request.

When Lady Misérian naturally folded her arms, Hubris thought his heart was going to explode. Every time he struggled, her grip on him grew stronger. Sweat was dripping from his hands, and his throat was dry.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Well, yes, if you let go of this…”

“What color is my soul?”

“The color of the lady’s soul?”

Lady Misérian didn’t give him a single glance after leaving the compartment.

Despite all the unpleasant glances at her, she just looked straight in front of her.

“Purple. The color of the lady’s soul is purple.”

“Is it purple?”

Oh, and then he made eye contact with her. The corners of her mouth gently drew a line, but her eyes were infinitely soft.

“That’s great. Of all the colors, I hate purple the most.”

His heart felt tortured. How does it feel to truly curse, life?

Since then, Hubris has been sitting on thorns. He kept looking at her. Lady Misérian’s wounded soul kept overlapping with his mother’s.

When he asked her why she was looking at him because he felt the gaze, her half-hearted insinuation became rather poisonous. You want me to tear it apart again?

He couldn’t understand how she could easily discuss tearing her soul so casually.