CH 34

As I walked through the temple with him, I stood in front of a garden where White Rotunia was in full bloom.

Against the darkening landscape, the white rose seemed to gradually radiate a mysterious light.

As the deep blue night approached, the petals twinkled like fireflies.

I looked at the bunch of flowers and said as if I was possessed.

“It’s amazing. It shines like a lantern.”

The scenery I saw during the day was beautiful, but it was a flower that showed its true value at night.

Reihausd looked back at me, staring at them for a while with a slightly startled expression, and smiled faintly.

“Do you know the legend about White Rotunia?”

At that, I shook my head.

“No.”

After coming here and receiving the blessing of Hessed, I have read more than 100 books, but I have never heard of that legend.

“It is said that there was a boy living in Alteion in the Kingdom of Privato, and a fairy named Rotunia.”

As he reached out to the shining rose, I was unintentionally nervous.

I fear that his hand will mercilessly pick the flower again.

“The boy surely loved the fairy. But the fairy loved a man other than the boy, and the boy made his wish to the Demon King to have her.”

Fortunately, his hand only lightly brushed the bud of the rose.

His soft voice followed.

“The Demon King told him to put a dying bird on a vine and put it on the roadside with thorn sap. The boy did, and the next day there was Rotunia, hanging on the vine.”

A cool night wind blew.

I focused on his story.

“She was poisoned by the thorn sap that ruined her wings, and lived with the boy. But she never smiled at the boy. Not even once.”

“….”

“The boy went back to the Demon King and asked how he would make Rotunia laugh, and this time, the Demon King told him to put Rotunia’s broken wing feathers on a vine and poison on it. And the next morning, the man she had loved was trapped and poisoned to death.”

My eyebrows twitched at the strange story.

“Rotunia smiled at the boy for the first and last time with a very lovely expression. She then died when she kissed the venomous lips of the man she loved for the last time.”

I, who was listening to the story blankly, asked as I didn’t understand this story.

“The man she loved died because of the boy… Yet she smiled?”

Even if she ran wild blinded by sadness and hatred.

“And why did she die? She should’ve killed that shameless bastard first.”

Reihausd turned to me from the White Rotunia.

The darkness in his deep gold eyes swayed as he looked at me radiantly.

“To make him remember and miss that smile he so longed for for the rest of his life.”

A low voice flowed into my ears.

“To make him struggle with longing, suffering, and barely breathing.”

He continued.

“Because it’s the greatest punishment ever given to the boy who was madly eager to do so. Maybe greater than death itself.”

At that moment, I got goosebumps.

“The thought of her beautiful smile made the boy unable to eat or swallow water, and it was painful to keep his eyes open, so he stabbed himself in his eyes and blinded them. And the moment he died in his agony, he struggled to grab the white rose that had bloomed from Rotunia’s dead spot.”

It was a bitter obsession and a pitiful revenge.

After hearing the story, the white rose that gave off a soft glow looked like the soul of a poor fairy.

Reihausd’s voice was heard.

“That’s why the flower language of Rotunia is love of ruin.”

After a while I opened my mouth.

“That’s not love. It’s an obsession, it’s just a crime.”

It’s a legend, so I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I said firmly.

The boy is a bastard.

‘The superb bastard to be beaten to death.’

It’s not enough to imprison the fairy, but to kill the man she loved. No matter how the characters were legends, he crossed the line firmly.

“Is that so.”

Reihausd stared at the flower 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 needs to be let go.”

His clear voice pierced my ears.

“Why do I even think it’s love?”

The wind blew again, and the clusters of White Rotunia, which gave off a soft glow, rustled.

There was a deep emotion in his dark eyes towards that pitiful rose.

In a strange atmosphere, my whole body swept over me.

“If you have a bitter heart that you want someone to stay by your side forever, even if you break the wings of whoever you want.”

Although there was no subject, it was a remark that made me goosebump. Then he looked back at me and said.

“How displeased the Gods must be.”

His low voice rang in my ears. And the moment my shoulder stiffened, a chat window flickered in front of me.

[The God of Destruction, Ciel, roars with deep vigilance.]

[The God of Art, Mond, lays down his infinitely light moral standards.]

Without keeping my eyes on him, I stared blankly at the chat window, then flinched my shoulders. His golden eyes were staring at me.

It was terribly beautiful in the moonlight which I didn’t know when it appeared.

[The God of Benevolence, Oman, encourages you to make him one of your humble slaves with ‘Oman’s Lash’.]

I put on cloudy eyes mode and cleared the chat window.

Reihausd’s dangerous remarks were also bewildering, but he seemed to say something strange while I was reading the oracle in front of him.

After a while, the chat window disappeared and only Reihausd was visible.

He looked at me with an awkward expression and smiled faintly.

“Forget what I just said.”

After a moment’s silence, I nodded.

I want to forget it even if he doesn’t say this.

‘I have to forget it.’

My heart was pounding in confusion.

Reihausd, who was a kind and gentle man in the original story, seemed to be hiding a black dragon inside.

‘Why the hell did this happen?’

After a while he spoke again.

“I was thinking about how I would react if you were a real saintess, but suddenly I came back with a long story.”

And at those words, I wiggled my eyebrows.

“Yes?”

A gentle breeze blew again, and the White Rotunia swayed.

“The real saintess, you said. What nonsense are you talking about?” I said to him with an awkward smile.

“It’s Sir Reihausd who made me the fake saintess. Why do you say that when you know it so clearly…”

Ariel in the original story was just a villain with a crooked family history. She was very far from sacred things, either a saintess or the Gods.

He looked at me and opened his mouth.

“Remember when Ariel said to me you wanted this flower?”

I looked at him with an awkward expression and nodded. It is probably the flower Ariel wanted before I possessed her.

Then Reihausd opened his lips and said.

“If I plant that auspicious flower and see it every day, maybe someday it will dwell in me as well.”

Since I came here, I have read a lot of books, so I know all sorts of information, but I have never read a botanical encyclopedia.

“You said that if you earnestly wish for something, it will come true.”

Naturally, I can’t remember saying such a thing, so I just stood there silently and heard his voice again.

“You know, the reason this white rose costs 500 franc each.”

500 franc… 500 franc?

I opened my eyes wide at the ridiculous price.

“Because they’re mythical creatures that can read those who have divine power.”

My expression hardened as I looked at the place where a thousand flowers were in bloom.

I had a sudden thought.

“That’s why the flower with this tragic legend is unfortunately also called ‘the Flower Blessed by the Gods’.”

Reihausd’s voice penetrated into my ears.

“Poor Rotunia.”

And then he reached out to me and put my hand on my shoulder. The weight of his hand is carried with a throbbing weight.

As if he was preventing me from running away, he placed his hand on my shoulders and his eyes were fixed on my gaze, standing close to me.

Then he twisted his lips and said with a cool expression.

“You said earlier that this flower shines like a lantern.”

A low voice pierced my ears.

“The light of Rotunia that appears at night can only be seen with either divine or holy power.”

I heard the sound of something crashing in my chest.

“What happened?”

His gaze, filled with complex emotions, was pointed sharply at me.

“Ariel.”

Ah, I messed up.