“I didn’t know there’d be treasure in a temple.”

I looked at her with a smile that showed no hostility.

“You may not know about the treasure, but you do know about my identity…it seems you came here to see me specifically.”

I nodded in reply.

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s interesting. What exactly about me are you so curious about?”

“I feel it’s not appropriate to talk about it here.”

Then Jena nodded and glanced around. Those who stood nearby, including the man who claimed to be the priest in charge earlier, slowly left their spots.

“Are you going to let your knight stay even after I’ve sent everyone else out?”

“Felix, wait outside.”

“It’s dangerous. His Grace said to never leave you alone.”

Felix was more persistent than I thought.

“Felix.”

“…..”

“It’s an order.”

Only then he sighed deeply without losing the troubled look on his face.

“Your order….I will heed it.”

He only bowed his head and retreated after acknowledging it was my order.

“Are you satisfied now?”

“I am. Shall we go inside and talk?”

Jena didn’t stop there. I thought we’d talk in the chapel where everyone just left, but she just walked toward the back of the statue. That alone was quite strange, but I had no choice but to follow Jena Rhee, who showed a lukewarm attitude toward me.

She didn’t have an overly amicable attitude like that of the High Priest, but she didn’t act hostile either. She just treated me like a normal believer, and I didn’t notice any facial changes at all.

So I just followed her. After a while, she opened a small door at the back of the statue and we entered together.

The statue hid a tiny door behind it, but it turned out that on the other side was a space considerably bigger than the chapel we had been in before. A well kept room with several tiny windows.

“This is my room.”

“Ah.”

“Not many people have made it this far, you see.” She said as she led me to the table on one side of the room.

“Please have a seat.”

“This is quite unexpected. I didn’t expect a room in such a place…”

“It’s much safer if most people don’t think that a room like this would exist in this place.”

She quickly crossed the room and took a teapot from the stove before I realized what was going on. Then she put a teacup in front of me and poured the tea.

White steam came out of the cup of hot tea.

I was wondering if the stove was different from the usual, but I guess it had kept the tea warm nonetheless.

“Ludella has a terrible cold that no ordinary people can endure. The temple is still holding up, but it will eventually be covered in the cold and snow.”

Jena’s expression was filled with loneliness.

“But do you have any reason to stay here? You know very well that it’ll all end in vain…”

“I did what I shouldn’t have done, so I must stay here and continue praying.”

She removed a cloth that had covered her head like a hat. Then silver hair flowed down.

“But I don’t think that’s necessary now.”

“…You look exactly as I expected.”

“You know what? I’m surprised that you expected my appearance, too.”

“Someone who looks just like me will be here….that’s what I thought. And you really do look like me, Jena Rhee.”

But her gaze somehow looked sad.

“Right? Or is it just me who thinks so?”

“There could be silver-haired and blue-eyed people in any other part of the world…don’t you think?”

“But His Holiness said otherwise. He said I was the only one.”

At that moment, I certainly saw her stiffen a bit. I was convinced that Jena and the High Priest knew each other.

“But there must be an anomaly somewhere…”

“Still, when I told him about your existence, he was surprised and said that someone who looked like me would have died already.”

“Did he say I died?”

“To be precise, he said a woman in her 40s with an appearance like me would have died.”

I slowly glanced down at the tea that she brewed for me.

“He must be worried that I smelled something fishy and planned to investigate it myself.”

She must have realized something by now, and quickly sat in front of me with an expressionless face.

“Yes. I still don’t know your identity yet. Are you really the woman that the High Priest is talking about, or are you the woman that my maid met at the Imperial Palace? Or rather…are you the mother who abandoned me?”

She clutched the teacup with a trembling hand. I took that as her reply since she didn’t answer any of my questions.

“Why don’t you say anything?”

“…I was thinking about what to say.”

“Anything is fine. Just say no if it’s not true, and yes if it’s true.”

Only then she took a sip of the tea and nodded.

“What do you know?”

I glanced at her hand that held the teacup.

“That ring.”

“What’s with my ring?”

“Don’t you think it’s quite extravagant for a priestess who shouldn’t seek material things?”

On her hand, a ring with a brilliant red gem sparkled brightly. It was even more striking because of her silver hair and white robe.

“Ah, I see.”

“I found out a while ago. I was abandoned in front of the Selen family house when I was a child.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s a boring story, but you listen better than I anticipated.”

“That’s what priests and priestesses normally do. We’re trying to give you peace of mind. So I’m used to listening.”

I thought of just stopping there, but I saw her purse her mouth as if she didn’t want to hear me talk anymore.

“Yeah, right. So I was abandoned. My life has been a living hell. Since I was young, I was confined to an attic and worked non-stop. I worked so hard that I thought I would die.”

I actually died, but I didn’t think I needed to mention it. I had no reason to show all my cards.

“…I see.”

“But, I finally understand that they enslaved me because I’m not a member of their family.”

Even though she appeared not to care, her sea-blue eyes trembled.

“So I wanted to ask. Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave this necklace? Did you leave this necklace in lieu of money for raising me?”

I pulled the necklace out of my pocket and placed it on the table. The necklace buzzed as if reacting to the ring.

“Please just say anything.”

“….What can I say?”

“After telling you this much, I thought you would at least say something, but why are you not speaking?”

“…I doubt you would believe my story. A story of a cowardly woman. Do you really want to hear it?”

Her expression conveyed all the words she couldn’t bring herself to say.

How dare I talk about it.

Her eyes were filled with unbearable sadness. The crease around her eyes made me feel bitter.

“I’m the one who came all the way here to hear your story.”

“I really….I…I wish you hadn’t come.”

After saying that, she didn’t speak for a long time.

“Why?”

“I’m not confident. I’m such a bad mother. I’m a sinner who has no right to sit in front of you like this. That’s why…I wish you hadn’t come.”

“What a sad excuse. You should have come to me. No matter what happened, you should have come to me and said anything.”

Since that would bring justice to the original Leona. The poor Leona died without knowing that she wasn’t the biological daughter of the Selen Family.

Seething anger made my stomach roil.

“That’s right. You’re right…I’ve been hiding like a coward.”

“…Is that all you can say?”

“…Ha…I…I had a baby a long time ago. A pretty girl who looked just like me. She was everything in my pointless life.”

She dropped her head to her chest. Her voice shook violently, which was polar opposite to her confident tone earlier.

“I’ve been sequestered as soon as I was born.”

“…What do you mean…?”

“It was because they said I might develop a genetic disease, although that wasn’t really the case.”

Dumbfounded, I looked at her while not understanding her words at all.

“Anyway, I ended up being confined like that. One day…I was blessed with a daughter…who was very precious to me. But unlike me, who didn’t develop the genetic disease, my daughter showed signs right after birth. I was thinking of how to cure her…”

“How did you cure her?”

“Death is the only cure.”

Her trembling voice broke my heart.

“Because the disease stems from the soul, not the body. So I had to make a choice.”

“…..”

I became anxious. I began to wonder what choice had she made? What did she do to me?

“So I went to a different time and made the soul and body grow separately. That’s exactly what I did to protect my beloved daughter.”

“What do you mean….”

Then suddenly I recalled a dream I had one day.