CH 4.3

His voice went out like a candlelight before the wind. But I didn’t open my eyes. It was natural, of course. I was really hurt by his lies. I couldn’t forgive him easily.

“If you want me to see such false evidence, I’ll always see it! But not today! Your Eminence’s lies hurt my feelings. It was such a painful lie! I’m so weak today, I might lose my mind. So I’m not going to see it today!”

“It must be today. Please, Young Lady. If you love me and wish me happiness, please. I’ll kneel down and beg you.”

I heard Yohan bent his knees. I was so surprised that I almost opened my eyes. I knew it well because I lived there for a year, but the basement wasn’t a space for such a precious person to kneel down.

“If it’s not today, I’m going to suppress my love and live as the hope of mankind again. Young Lady Rivero. I made a big decision today and came to see you. If you love me, if you wish for my happiness, please open your eyes and look inside the locket.”

“I love you and I always wish for your happiness. But Your Eminence. I can’t do you that favor today. Because you hurt me so much today.”

Tears streamed through my closed eyes. I tried not to open my eyes by mistake.

“I know that whatever’s in it is a lie. But even if it’s a lie, people’s hearts get hurt. You love me, but why don’t you think about my happiness? Why are you ignoring my pain? I know. I know everything. You love me, Your Eminence!”

“I love her!”

“It’s no use!”

“Lastly, I beg you. Please look at the locket.”

I heard someone crying. I kept crying, but I just cried silently, so it wasn’t me. So it was him. Yohan was crying in front of me. I almost opened my eyes. Because I had to soothe him if he was crying.

The lies that have been hurting me have been hurting him as well. It’s because he loves me. There’s no one who likes to hurt their loved one but a sadist. Eventually, I couldn’t hold back and opened my eyes, but I could hear Yohan closing the locket before that.

Click.

So I didn’t see inside the locket. Yohan calmly put the locket around his neck and put it inside his clothes. That appearance of his was more holy than when he prays or makes the sign of the cross, so I had no choice but to realize that he was chosen by the Holy God.

Yohan crossed the sign and prayed briefly. His eyes were red as if to prove that the sound I heard was not false.

“You didn’t see the truth and I lost the bet. All of this would be the will of the Holy God. So I’ll live according to that will.”

“Yes! Live! I can wait until it’s all over!”

“You’re cunning… looking for your love only, turning a blind eye to the happiness of your loved one.”

“Why must it be today? I’m so tired and distressed that I can’t stand it—!”

“May the Holy God bless you.”

My love, my light, the most precious person I ever got in my life, crossed the sign on my face and left. He went out curtly, but I know that he was actually ashamed of himself for hurting me, and that he was also hurt as he hurt me. So, I didn’t hate him.

There was nothing I could do about my disappointment. He made a big lie about loving someone other than me. After Yohan left, I cried until I collapsed. When I opened my eyes, I was not in a cold basement, but on my soft bed.

His lies weren’t perfect to the end. He told my parents about my treatment, you see. I guess he couldn’t act perfectly because it hurt him to see me suffer in the basement.

I left the basement after a little over a year. The morning sun was so bright. My siblings didn’t care about me, and the maids and servants treated me like a ghost, but anyway, I left the basement, didn’t I? I was happy, so I smiled sweetly.

People thought I was on a trip. I deceived people by pretending to have traveled because I didn’t want to lay out my parents’ sins. I said I had a good rest in a place with good air and water. And people were asking me like this.

“Are you sane now?”

“I was always sane.”

Goodness. They were so rude. How could they ask such a question to the eldest daughter of the Rivero family. When I got angry, people asked me again.

“What do you think of Cardinal Yohan?”

My answer was obvious.

“I really love him. His Eminence said he loves someone else other than me, right?”

“Oh, my. You are really.”

“In truth, he loves me. I know everything. He can’t fool me even if he can fool the Demon Lord.”

“Not sane.”

My father told the Temple that they could use force as long as I didn’t get seriously injured. From the proud first daughter of the Rivero family, I was deprived of the right to succeed and only became the first daughter. The Holy Father closed the Temple, an open space for all, tightly only to me, and people started pointing fingers at me.

I’m fine, though.

I’m not crazy and Yohan loves me.

***

Had it not been for the gag, Reese’s upper and lower teeth would have bumped mercilessly. Reese was too scared to shake.

Snip. Snip.

The horrifying sound didn’t stop coming to Reese’s ears. Reese repeatedly closed her eyes tightly and opened them. When she opened her eyes, the reality, which felt like all this would end as a nightmare overnight, betrayed her.

The eerie coldness of metal tickled Reese’s neck.

“Mmrf.”

Reese closed her eyes again and prayed to God. May someone come to save her. May Yohan come to save herself.

“Just hang in there. I’m almost done. Don’t move, okay? You might get hurt.”

Snip. Snip.

As the sound grew longer, Reese’s head became lighter and lighter. An unusually large teardrop fell from Reese’s wet eyes. The sound stopped and the creepy scissors that scared Reese also left the back of her neck. But Reese’s tears didn’t stop.

“It’s done!”

Reese’s beautiful hair that she had grown all her life. The long hair of a woman was in the hand of Tite. Reese shook her head in disbelief of this reality. It wasn’t there. The glossy black hair, which she had been preciously took care of, was cut short under the ears.

“Actually, I’m a little curious. What color was the hair in that locket? It’s not blonde, so black hair? If it’s black, he might have cut his hair. Well. It must have been easy for him to get hair because Yohan is popular. Even if he didn’t ask anyone for it, everyone would put their hair in the letter and give it to him.”

It was exactly like what she said. Reese had also sent Yohan a few cuts of hair in a letter with no names written on it. Any girl who lived in the capital did it at least once. They dreamed of that beautiful Holy Father. Would that be such a big mistake?

Enough to get her life threatened like this?