Living As the Villainess Queen

“Yes?”

-Hope we could discuss our promise the next time we meet. Particularly about the things we both agreed on giving each other.

Eugene had no choice but to answer yes although she had no idea of what he was talking about. When she saw Pides as she walked on, she heard Jin’s voice.

[Please give Sir Pides to me, Your Holiness.]

[I want to have him.]

[I’ll swear to devote my whole life to God if you’ll just allow me to have Sir Pides.]

Eugene walked past Pides with odd feelings. Does Pides know about this deal between Sang-je and Jin? It was doubtless that Pides was just as clueless as the Desert king.

‘She seriously has a twisted mind.’

Eugene clicked her tongue as Jin’s selfish desire to own someone with the help of the third person in power, irrespective of the person in question’s feelings, was just pathetic.

***

Eugene couldn’t seem to relax even after she got on the carriage. When it started to take off, she couldn’t get rid of the uneasiness at the pit of her stomach. She became anxious that any second from now, the carriage would be stopped at Sang-je’s call.

‘Ah. I forgot to stop by the secret library.’

The thought had only belatedly crossed her mind. It was the very place where she’d planned to visit just until she finally arrived at the palace. Since she came all the way from the desert, she intended to take some time looking around the place and see if she could recall some of Jin’s memories. Visiting the renowned secret library might help too.

However, she might have been overzealous after all. Her anticipated visit to the secret library has long been forgotten when the desire to leave the palace as soon as possible overwhelmed her. Her interaction with Sang-je had left her weak, as if though she just embarked on a rigorous activity.

‘Are we still within the vicinity of the palace?’

She did not have an idea as to how long it had passed since the carriage departed, nor how far it is now from the palace. Her internal clock must have been broken as one part of her felt like it hadn’t been long since they set out, but at the same time, it felt like she already gained ample distance from the palace.

She carefully parted the curtain to browse what was on the outside. Just in time, the carriage passed the main gate of the palace. Eugene closed the curtains only after they were completely outside the walls of the palace. It was only then that she was able to finally relax her rigid posture and leaned back in her seat.

She heaved a sigh with her eyes closed. Her mind was all jumbled with the things she saw and heard today, along with her own thoughts. Although she was desperately in need of a rest, she managed to bring herself back to focus on one of many doubts she had in her mind.

‘The high priest… How could he bear a striking resemblance to Sang-je?’

Sang-je was known as Mahar’s vicegerent while the high priest was a vicegerent of Mara. They have a surprising amount in common as they both were regarded as a delegates of the Gods and both were not human indeed. This could suggest that how they appear on the outside is not of much importance. In fact, Eugene remembered that the angels who appeared in most religious paintings she had seen back on earth, all looked pretty much the same with each other.

However, the absolute truth about Mahar being a God of goodness while Mara was a God of evil, was denied by Aldrit. According to Aldrit, neither Mahar nor Mara existed in times immemorial. Which suggested that it was either the name representing the ‘God’ has changed throughout the times or that both Mahar and Mara were never Gods in the first place.

‘God…’

Could Sang-je truly be God’s vicegerent?

Before she finally encountered Sang-je, Eugene anticipated that there should be some kind of special air surrounding him. However, he gave her no sacred impression which differs him from the others, aside from the fact that she was practically sapped after having to constantly put her brain to work during the whole conversation, for he was such a hard nut to crack.

His prepossessing beauty which transcends humanity must be awe-inspiring to the citizens of the Holy City. However, Eugene was not particularly impressed. She used to live in a world where such an unworldly beauty was commonly portrayed in images or videos with advanced graphic technology.

‘By any measure, I rather think that it’s Kasser who is profoundly impressive.’

Eugene then recalled the Desert King. The sight of his whole body surrounded by his Praz, that takes the form of a snake, along with how he manages to leap into the air and lands on a building a few stories height, was indeed a sight to behold.

She opened her eyes and lifted her left hand. With that, a tiny squirrel which had glued itself under her sleeve, lifted its head with a pout. When she brought her right hand close to it, Kid swiftly jumped and landed on the back of her hand.

“You little troublemaker.”

Eugene laughed as she lightly tapped onto Kid’s tiny nose with her finger.

“But you really did save me today.”