Chapter 27

꒦︶꒷‧₊★₊‧꒷︶꒷‧₊ଓ₊‧꒷︶꒷‧₊★₊‧꒷︶꒦

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No Predestined Fate (3RD PERSON POV)

It was hard to define what the feeling was. Chris held out his hand and delivered Rosériel’s congratulatory remarks based on what he felt.

“Young Lady Rosériel, congratulations…”

Usually, those who hear their congratulatory remarks are divided into two primary reactions. They rejoice as if they own the world, or despair as if the ground has collapsed.

‘But for Rosériel?’

“Thank you!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

“?”

“Then can I go out now?”

(T/N: Hahaha Rosé is really the best.)

‘That’s it? Her reaction is very energetic and straightforward which is very shocking.’

He narrowed his eyes and held on tightly to her hands, clasping and opening them repeatedly.

‘Strange. It feels like she’s heard something very obvious?’

‘It was somewhat insulting for him if she had heard her congratulatory remarks from her parents in advance.’

At that moment, Rosériel, who raised her eyes, met his gaze.

“Supreme Priest.”

The atmosphere, which seemed as cold as ice for a brief moment, became as soft as sugar like it had never happened.

“Supreme Priest, please take good care of my sister’s congratulatory remarks.”

“I’m always doing my best whenever I deliver congratulatory remarks, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Then I’ll call my sister now!”

The door closed, and after a while the door opened again. Chris then raised his head.

‘The treasure that the former Supreme Priest aimed for.’

As soon as he was about to be filled with curiosity and interest, his eyes intertwined with the young lady’s eyes.

He was suddenly struck by an unknown emotion, and for a moment he forgot how to breathe.

It wasn’t about congratulatory remarks nor sensing a supernatural power.

The moment that he saw her.

His heart started pounding.

‘What is this feeling?’

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚ?ɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(3RD PERSON POV)

Lira, who was disapprovingly looking at the trembling legs, sighed deeply.

Duke Sears von Hillington, who had been waiting for news while deeply concentrating, suddenly opened his eyes.

“What?”

“Can you please stop shaking your legs, My Lord? You’ve been doing that for a while now.”

Sears frowned and ignored Lira’s request, venting out his feelings instead.

“Lira, what do you think? Since you’ve been taking care of her since she was a child, you know better than anyone.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know about that thing.”

Sears hesitated, and then asked in a rather gloomy voice,

“About Hill’s remarks, do you think that my daughter is ill-fated? How do you think she will react? What if she’s upset? I don’t know what to say. I can’t help but be a coward…”

<No predestined fate.>

The Duke of Hillington has always been a straightforward person.

So whether or not the other nobles gossiped, pointed fingers, or talked with their noses in the air was of little importance.

“The Miss Hildea that I know is a strong woman. The question is, how will the Supreme Priest deliver her remarks?”

“Do you think that he will do something different?”

“He may be the same as the previous Supreme Priest. Since we can’t investigate the inside story of the Temple, we only have a little information about the current Supreme Priest, Chris.”

‘The most important thing is Hildea, and what she thinks about it.’

“That’s what the previous Supreme Priest said – that she had no ominous remarks, but despite saying that, he still had her kidnapped.”

Sears ground his teeth.

“Yes that’s true.”

So Elizabeth died in pain, without seeing her two daughters properly.

“If this Supreme Priest is such a person, he will say useless words to our lady’s ears, and if he is different, he will give advice genuinely.”

If he is the same as the former, then the Hillington and the Temple will be enemies again.

“If you are so anxious, then why didn’t you say something earlier?”

Lira’s hit caused Sears to suffer, as he pointed his finger at his forehead.

Thinking about it made him feel sad again. He thought that he may have been delaying his words for this moment.

‘I should have said that she’s not a cursed child, given her an idea about her congratulatory remarks, and talked about the things she doesn’t know.’

‘But would she ever believe me?’

‘Would that even make her more suspicious?’

“Lira, can you get rid of that facial expression?”

Lira frowned slightly as her expressionless face remained.

“Is that even possible? It doesn’t come off that easily.”

“But you always laugh when you see Rosé.”

Lira stopped breathing for a moment. Her eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Me? Did you even look at me properly, My Lord?”

“Yes, sometimes. You and Sien are the same.”

She seemed to be contemplating what she heard.

“Maybe. I’m not sure, but maybe. Rosé’s ability is so powerful that she is liked by everyone else, so I think it may have influenced us.”

“Then, what do you think about getting rid of that facial expression altogether?”

“…….”

A chilly silence persisted for a moment.

Lira looked at Duke Sears with complicated eyes, like a person who had a very difficult problem to solve.

“What’s the point of that?”

“Why is it meaningless?”

“I have always taken care of the girls with all my heart. I think Lady Hildea and Lady Rosé will understand that.”

Sears snorted.

“People believe most of what they see. I’m worried that I’ve hurt my two children unknowingly because I’m too cold hearted… What do you think?”

Lira’s face hardened.

“How do you think she would have felt if you only showed that kind of expression in front of Rosé?”

“…”

“What about Hildea then?”

(PR/N: You couldn’t have said this earlier? Like anytime during the last 20 years?)

She twirled her fingers for a while and whispered as if hesitating,

“If I smile naturally, will the girls like it too?”

It was a very unsure voice.

Sears didn’t know the answer because he didn’t have any confidence in front of his daughters either.

“For now… Let’s hope that Hill, who has heard her congratulatory remarks, will come out smiling.”

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚ?ɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Hildea’s POV)

The man called the Supreme Priest was a character who did not appear in the original novel.

He was mentioned only as a person who recites congratulatory remarks, so I knew nothing about him.

And as soon as I look at his face closely, I’m stunned. ‘Wow?’

‘I’ve never seen a person who looks so pretty before.’

Even though I knew that he was an adult man, he is the first person for whom I would use the words “pretty” and “beautiful”.

His hair, which seems to stretch down to the floor, is the same color as mine, but it appears softer and much more beautiful.

‘I think he looks prettier than the actors from my previous life.’

He has white, fair skin and gorgeous features surpassing a woman’s, and he is staring at me, which is far from the sweet expression before.

‘Wait, I hope that the priest doesn’t hate me as well.’

In that case, no matter how accustomed I am to this kind of treatment, I would still feel a little bit depressed.

“Welcome.”

As I stared at him, he suddenly opened his mouth.

“Hildea. right?”

“Of course that’s right. Is there anyone else besides me and Rosériel?”

He looked at me with a bewildered look, but he opened his mouth again without answering my question. His lips were very red as if he had bitten them.

“Do you want to hear your congratulatory remarks right away? If you don’t want to hear it now, we can delay it, Hildea.”

‘I wonder if he is supposed to ask this?’ Just as I was about to nod my head, I then stopped moving for a second.

‘Even if I don’t listen to it, it will definitely leak everywhere, and it’s possible that it will be announced at the debutante ball.’

‘So, it would be better to listen to it first.’

‘Even though I know it already, but…’

“You are so kind.”

“Do you mean me?”

“Yes, you’re so kind. Didn’t you just give me a chance to run away? You must have heard the rumors.”

“…”

I can tell that he’s concerned about me, but he raised his eyebrows as if it was very surprising.

“But I don’t want to run away.”

I approached him and sat down in the chair facing him. Then he took a deep breath and held out his hand.

“Please tell me. I will listen carefully.”

“It’s very unexpected.”

‘What’s unexpected?’

For some reason, Chris’s eyelashes, which were slightly lowered, trembled, but he continued speaking gracefully.

“There are no bad remarks in the world. Because God loves humans.”

“…”

There are no bad congratulatory remarks. It was something that no one had ever told me.

Of course, it was written in the book, but it was the first time that I’d ever met anyone who actually said it to me.

Out of nowhere, my heart warmed up and my lips relaxed. I now had a bit of courage.

I extend my hand forward.

“I will listen to it. Please tell me, Supreme Priest.”

“…Just call me Chris.”

Somehow, his eyes are more gentle than before.

‘Is it because he wasn’t in the original story?’

I nodded my head and was more relaxed than before.

“…Okay, Chris.”

“Come on then, let’s start.”

I clasped his long, fine-lined fingers. They were tangled in between my hands like a tree vine.

A very brief moment had passed.

My hands felt itchy, but I didn’t know if it would seem weird if I moved.

I bit my lips and looked up.

“Our lady’s congratulatory remarks is <No Predestined Fate>.”

The way he spoke at a slow pace, made me spaced out for a little bit.

I have already thought about the worst possible blessings that I could have imagined, and since my ability was healing, I also hoped that my remarks might have something to do with it.

But this is something that I’ve never even thought about.

‘No fate or destiny?’

‘Maybe it’s referring to the fact that I’m a character who didn’t originally exist in the novel.’

‘Then, does that mean that I have no destiny to live in this world…’

“No. It’s not that.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but I don’t think that’s the case.”

I thought as I looked at his serious, beautiful face, ‘Chris is definitely a very kind person.’

My complicated thoughts stopped and felt like lies that I told myself at the sound of that soft voice.

I thought about the congratulatory remarks of the original characters that I knew. There’s definitely something odd about mine.

<To bloom splendidly.>

<Nothing will break through.>

<I will stand in the highest place.>

‘Just by hearing those sayings, I can already tell that they are born with good abilities. Then what about mine?’

“Hildea.”

As if to appease a child, Chris touched the back of my hand, which was still being held by him.

I tilted my head. ‘What is it? I can feel that his hands are shaking…?’

“Yes, Chris.”

When I called out his name, his eyes softened and he smiled as if he did a good job.

‘I might be wrong, but why would his hands be shaking?’

Looking back, he spoke to me like a patient teacher teaching a late developed child.

“Think about the meaning of the remarks. It will always be up to you to decide.”

He’s a very comfortable person. I felt an unfounded liking in my heart.

“Are you trying to comfort me?”

“Comfort? What do you mean?”

“Well, because you’re only saying nice things right now.”

When I was dealing with people, my facial muscles were always stiff, as if my muscles had been damaged. Yet, somehow my eyes seemed to loosen up and my mouth didn’t feel as rigid.

‘I feel somewhat grateful to him.’

“According to the meaning of the remarks, I will think about it that way.”

“…All right, Hildea. Oh, may I call you by your first name?”

‘I wonder what I would have done if it ended up a cold and scary moment as if I was trapped in a well, but then it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Rather it was warm.’

I politely said thank you to the Supreme Priest in front of me.

“If you ever see me again, then please feel free to call me by my first name.”

‘I wonder if we’ll ever see each other again. I hope so, with my heart.’

(T/N : RIP Gabriel Hahaha.)

TO BE CONTINUED..