“The memories of loving Ileone. That alone is enough for me.”

Upon Elysia’s words, Mariella hesitated momentarily, as if she were about to say something. Observing her mother like that, Elysia smiled confidently.

“I’m really okay, Mom.”

Eventually, Mariella let out a short sigh and gently stroked her daughter’s head.

“Rest.”

“Yes.”

After Mariella left the room, Elysia changed into comfortable clothes.

Though she lay down on the bed, sleep eluded her.

“Sigh.”

Tossing and turning, Elysia eventually got up and sat down.

As her hand fumbled inside the clothes, a faint sound emerged, and a thin chain necklace was revealed.

It was the compass Ileone had given her.

“Now we’ll always be together wherever we go.”

Even though it was a time when the dusk sun was setting, Ileone’s face, putting this around her neck, sparkled like a wet pebble in the sunlight.

“Where you go is the path I should take. So, you carry it.”

Elysia gazed endlessly at the compass.

One needle, painted in red, spun freely inside the compass, pointing in one direction, swaying energetically.

It seemed as if it represented her heart.

She wouldn’t be able to forget Ileone.

It was as if he had been engraved in the direction Elysia should point to.

An irreplaceable and unforgettable existence.

Elysia could understand that Ileone had become someone special to her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t detach her consciousness from him.

One word from Ileone, each step he took.

Despite pretending not to see or hear, every nerve in her body connected with him.

However, what she wanted, what she needed, wasn’t something she must claim as her own.

Just like how if there’s no air, she won’t be able to breathe and will die, but no one desires the air because they want to breathe. It’s just natural and fortunate to have the air surrounding her so she can breathe.

Elysia’s feelings towards Ileone were similar to that.

The time she had lived until now was a life filled with stories aimed at avoiding the predicted miserable death that tormented her mother.

From a very young age, Elysia had grown up reading and listening to only one story.

It was a story written in thick notebooks by Mariella herself.

The book was hidden in Mariella’s library, and Elysia loved the story where her name appeared as the protagonist.

Whenever she read other books, Mariella, who usually scrutinized her anxiously, left her alone when she read that particular story. Thus, she read the story over and over again.

She memorized the entire story.

The Elysia in that book was a beautiful, brave, and happy person.
However, reality was different. Mariella, who always desperately sought to save her from a miserable fate, often felt frustrated. Although Elysia couldn’t understand what made her so agonized, she always tried to comfort Mariella, as her mother’s sorrow was no different from her own.

“It’s okay, Mom. I won’t die. I will definitely live.”

They say there’s no term for parents who have lost their children. That must be why, she thought.

Resisting and insisting that she won’t die, that she will live, Elysia was carrying a significant contradiction.

In her daily life at Hadesha, she gathered believers, not possessed individuals, and preached, “Since fate doesn’t change, follow the will of God.”

Whenever she happened to meet Mariella, she vowed and promised to break free from the predetermined destiny.

In this dualistic routine, Elysia’s position was the ‘rift.’ She lingered in a middle, ambiguous, and uneasy place between here and there.

In reality, Elysia often felt like she didn’t know herself well.

Perhaps it was because she entered the temple at a very young age.

Or maybe it was because she wondered how ordinary people think and behave.

The daily life of the temple was gently unprovoking, causing little emotional fluctuation.

Sadness, joy, pain, and happiness were all submerged beneath the calm surface of emotions.

Seeing Elysia like that, the believers fervently admired her, calling her a ‘holy and sacred lady.’

However, she herself had been pondering about her existence since some time ago.

Whether she should act like this or like that at Hadesha. Mariella often instructed Elysia in detail about the behaviors she should adopt to naturally blend in among the priests.

As a result, Priest Elysia was herself yet also someone she portrayed.

The original Elysia existed, but in reality, it was like an illusion.

Her personality, preferences, and things she liked—she had never thought about them.

Could she start everything anew if she deviated from the original, as Mariella wanted? She had only imagined it.

No one had asked her, and no one needed to.

The first person who showed curiosity about what she liked was Ileone.

Ileone was the first presence Elysia embraced as a choice of her own.

“I like you.”

The time spent by his side was pleasant.

Sharing warmth with her, he provided a place where she could stay comfortably.

“Ileone.”

She knew she had hurt him.