“Because the disease won’t affect my daughter if she lives until she reaches adulthood.”

“…You mean…”

“I went to another dimension with my child.”

“Do you think I’ll believe what you say?”

But her answer was resolute.

“Yes.”

“What is your basis for saying that?”

“The strength that sustained Leona must have been cut off, and you arrived here after your death.”

Her eyes grew more and more vibrant as if she knew everything, as if she had seen everything that I had endured.

“…I don’t understand what you’re saying. I’m dead? That’s not possible. As you can see I’m alive and well.”

“Of course, you’re alive. Your original soul has returned. It’s just a temporary soul with little will power. The soul in that body had a time limit. When the soul disappears, your soul from the other world would be pulled here naturally.”

“Are you saying that’s me now?”

I just stared at her with a perplexed face. What kind of magical bullshit is going on here?

But she nodded at me calmly.

“Yes.”

“How can I believe what you’re claiming?”

“Even if you don’t believe it, I’m sure you can feel it yourself.”

“….”

She stared at me without a word then lowered her head.

“That’s why you had to grow up alone. All I could do for you…was send you to an orphanage there, and I also left the other you here for others to raise.”

Only then did I understand why I suddenly became Leona and why I could access Leona’s memory easily as if it was mine to begin with. And the reason why Leona didn’t leave the Selen family despite their abuse.

“…I get it. I’m trying to process right now…why on earth did you do that? Even if you could only stay here, you could have raised Leona, right?”

I was resentful.

There were things that I couldn’t accept, but I could finally understand the situation between Leona and me.

“To make a fake soul and move you, I needed holy treasures.”

“Holy treasure…?”

“It was something that God brought when he descended on earth. A holy treasure that should remain here in Ludella. I put it in your body because I wanted to save you. Because my daughter is more precious than a decrepit temple that God abandoned.”

I didn’t even know how to react to each piece of information she dropped. I wondered if her claims were even true.

“That’s why you have a mark on your body.”

“Mark, huh? But is it okay to not have it here?”

Jena had been answering all my questions smoothly and now bit at her lips.

“No, don’t tell me it’s not okay?”

“Yeah.”

At that moment, I glanced at a small window behind her. I noticed the heavy snow all around.

“Is that the reason why this place started to freeze? Because of me…?”

“Even if it’s not for that reason, this place still ends up the same anyway. God abandoned this land. All that’s left is an oracle, and we can’t even tell if it’s from God or some random person.”

Jena’s hand trembled in anger.

“That’s why…You are much more important to me. I’d make the same choice even if I could turn back time.”

“…But I suffered a lot.”

“…I’m sorry. I don’t know much about that foreign country…there’s no other place where I could entrust you. I couldn’t even stay there long with my body.”

I looked at her. Silver hair. Tears running down her cheeks. Her figure looked exactly the same as the woman I had seen in my dream.

That dream wasn’t just a regular dream.

It was a vision of when this woman, Jena, left me in front of an orphanage in Korea.

“I had a dream.”

“Dream…?”

“Someone abandoned me in my dream. I could see tall buildings behind me, and the person who abandoned me had silver hair.”

“Ah…”

“She said she was sorry, and she loved me. That was you.”

It was sad. I thought everything would be clear once I came here. I thought I’d find an answer, and that everything would end up well, but I was left with a heavy heart. I wondered why God was so cruel to me.

“So you’ve been here the whole time? To hide the fact that the holy treasure has gone missing?”

“…That’s a given. I wanted to protect you. Fortunately, the priests don’t even try to sustain this temple. Only a scant few knew about the existence of the holy treasure. They thought the holy treasure was just a symbol with no actual function.”

“Ah…”

“There weren’t many people who found the holy treasure valuable. It was only….only important to those with genetic diseases.”

I couldn’t say anything anymore. I already heard everything I should hear from her.

But my chest was still tight like it was clogged by something.

‘In short, I was Leona, and Leona was me…’

Funnily enough, we were the same person. Leona, who was emotionless compared to others, was me all along.

“Are you sure no one knew about this?”

“That’s right. No one knows even if I show them the fake treasure. Not even the High Priest.”

“The High Priest…”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen between you and him?”

Jena’s face turned white suddenly, after speaking to me so calmly up until now.

“We’ve met several times.”

“..You’re just meeting him, that’s all?”

“He asked me if I had any marks on my body.”

“There are only two instances where marks appear on your body. It’s when you receive an oracle and when you have a holy treasure in you. By the way, I never thought that man would have approached you.”

“He thought I was the receiver of the oracle because I have silver hair and blue eyes.”

“Everyone carrying a genetic disease had silver hair and blue eyes, so…he must’ve figured out something.”

“What’s the correlation between genetic diseases and oracles?”

Jena bit at her lips again.

“….Sometimes there could be only one, sometimes two, or three oracles that come down. The empire is still standing strong thanks to those oracles. And no matter how many of those oracles, one oracle will surely be bestowed upon people with genetic diseases.”

“I see.. so that’s why he was trying to investigate me.”

“Yeah, and when he confirmed that you are the receiver of the oracle and the one suffering from a genetic disease, maybe…he will lock you up like me again.”

“…No way…”

“The High Priest is my father and your grandfather, Leona.”

It was the most shocking news I had heard in my entire life.

“Grandfather…”

“But he doesn’t know you’re his granddaughter. He probably just thinks that you’re a distant relative.”

“Ah…”

It was really unexpected. I just traveled here thinking that Jena was my mother, but I didn’t anticipate getting this startling information.

“As I said …I was imprisoned. But my father had great pride about my genetic disease. No, everyone in that family was proud of it. Because I had a mark belonging to those who might have received the oracle.”

She smiled bitterly.

“It ran in our blood. He was even more proud as he held the title of a High Priest who secured the oracle in his generation, even if it surrendered his children’s happiness.”

Jena’s expression was getting darker and the silence ensued, so I opened my mouth.

“You ran away because you hate him.”

“Yeah, I even prepared a corpse to fake my death. I thought about running away somewhere, but I discovered I had nowhere to run. So I decided to hide in an obvious place.”

“So you came to the temple, and became a goddess?”

She nodded. I didn’t know how to react next.

“…I see.”

“Did I give you a satisfactory answer?”

“…I still have a lot of questions, but…I think it eases my frustration a bit.”

I wanted to ask if she thought it was acceptable for her to abandon her child just like that, but I saw Jena’s eyes were red.

“I have so much to tell you, but…a mother who abandoned her own child has no right to say anything.”

“….”

“But if I’m allowed to say this one thing … .I love you so much. You never left my mind even for one second. I’ve always wanted to look for you…”

Still looking at me, she bit at her lips again.

“You are… my precious child. From the moment you were born…so you must cherish yourself…”

“….”

As I listened to her, I felt my heart sinking. The way she looked at me reminded me of the way I looked at Rere, and my anxiety over Rere’s health.

“…Mo…no…Jena.”

“Yeah, you can call me Jena comfortably.”

“…I told the High Priest about you. I think…he will surely come to find you.”

It was a strange feeling. I didn’t want to see her confined again after being imprisoned for so long.

“I see…”

“…Do you want to come with me?”

“…Huh?”

“Well, it’s not exactly my house. But my daughter lives there.”

“Daughter?”

It was the most stunned expression I had seen on her face all day.

“She’s a child I hold dear even though she isn’t a child I birthed. But she teaches me about family and how to build relationships with people. If you don’t mind..would you like to come with me?”