Chapter 38

“No matter what, there’s no way Iris is going to leave me.”

“……”

“Did you really think that just because you reached out your hand, Iris would abandon me and follow you? Sorry, but Iris isn’t that kind of person. No matter what you do, Iris won’t leave my side.”

Theo raised the corners of his mouth in amusement as he said that.

Frey’s trembling gaze turned toward me.

Just like before, as if demanding my help.

“…I’m sorry.”

And once again, there was nothing I could say for Frey.

I wanted to trust Frey. That feeling remained the same even now.

However, that didn’t mean I could hand Frey the hope that I might follow him right away. I didn’t want to do something so irresponsible.

Even while wanting to trust Frey, I couldn’t leave Theo right at this moment.

If I were ever to leave the orphanage with Frey, it would probably be some years down the road from now.

“…I see.”

I couldn’t meet Frey’s hurt eyes.

I had meant to tell him my thoughts eventually, but I hadn’t wanted it to come out this way…

From then on, until we returned to the orphanage, Frey’s words decreased noticeably. Theo, too, didn’t step out of line, perhaps mindful of me.

With this complicated situation compounded by Grace’s eerie remarks, the atmosphere was quite literally like a house in mourning.

As soon as we arrived back at the orphanage, Frey hurried his steps and moved away as if avoiding me.

“Theo, let’s talk properly later.”

Throwing a warning glare at Theo, I chased after Frey with short, quick steps. I couldn’t just leave Frey behind, drooping with sorrow.

“Wait a moment!”

Fortunately, Frey came to a sharp halt at my voice. As if he had been waiting for me.

“I have something to say.”

I walked up right in front of the standing Frey. Frey faced me with tears pooling in his eyes.

“Are you crying?”

At my question, Frey blinked before he knew it, and a single tear dropped from his eye. Frey hurriedly wiped it away with his hand.

I dragged Frey off toward a spot where people didn’t pass by often.

If anyone were to see me and Frey like this, it was certain that quite a troublesome situation would arise.

Frey, who had been crying silently, seemed to pull his emotions together a bit by the time we reached the back of the lounge building and stopped crying.

“I’m sorry.”

Not knowing how to comfort Frey, who was much taller than me, I just paced around in front of him.

Bending down, Frey pulled me into his embrace.

Finding myself hugged by Frey before I could even think, I quietly patted his shoulder.

“Is it true? That you have absolutely no intention of becoming family with me?”

A voice wet with moisture drifted into my ear.

Wishing to be a bit more honest with Frey, I began to share my thoughts.

“No. Actually, I was happy at the thought of getting a family. I was pretending otherwise, but I’ve been very lonely.”

When I first heard Frey say he had come to find me, I couldn’t handle the swelling anticipation.

Even while telling Evelyn otherwise, and repeating to myself that this made no sense…

“I hoped it was true. Wondering what it would be like if my absurd daydream were real.”

Frey listened to me in silence.

“Of course, I’m going to stay by Theo’s side until he can stand on his own. So it’s not a lie to say I won’t follow you right now. But if the priest truly thinks of me as family… then I wanted to accept you as my family later on. Whether we’re blood-related or not, what matters is the feeling of coming to think of me as family.”

As if tears were about to well up again, Frey buried his face in my small shoulder.

“However… there’s something I absolutely must ask you last.”

Frey’s shoulder twitched.

I could feel strength entering the arms of Frey holding me.

I wanted Frey’s sincerity. I wanted us to strip away everything we had hidden from each other and treat one another with true hearts.

So I had no choice but to ask him, unable to put it off any longer.

“Priest, please tell me so that I can completely trust you. Why did you come to find me?”

“I am—”

***

“Grand Priest, why do I live?”

“You were born for the destiny you bear. Therefore, you live to fulfill it.”

The answer to the question blurted out by Frey, who had once harbored doubts about the reason for his existence, was the phrase he had heard most often since his birth.

A child born solely to carry on a generation-spanning destiny was locked away in the temple the moment he was born, and his life was thoroughly stained with brainwashing.

Frey naturally came to think of himself as a tool. …A tool to find the Goddess.

The guide who awakens the Goddess’s true destiny when she is born and leads her down the right path.

Chosen by the Primordial Goddess, they had been able to sense the Goddess’s divine power from generation to generation.

They could know where the Goddess was born and where she was right now, even if they didn’t want to.

And based on that, visiting the living Goddess who had not yet realized she was a Goddess, and leading her to the temple—that was precisely the task of the Goddess’ guide.

Born with such a destiny, Frey was abandoned to the temple by a family whose faces he didn’t even know, and stood forever on the cold floor waiting for the Goddess to be born, without ever having any meaningful interaction with anyone.

With an empty heart, an existence alive solely to find the Goddess. Only the shell of religious faith kept him going.

As time went on, however, Frey grew and began to sense the presence of the Goddess. At that, everyone in the temple took notice of him and showed great anticipation.

Frey, who had finally found his use, stepped foot into the orphanage where the living Goddess resided to prove his own existence.

“Come here, sister will tie your hair up.”

And the living Goddess he discovered not only met his expectations, but surpassed them.

Seeing Iris, Frey truly realized the work he was meant to do. She was someone who rightfully belonged in the temple.

Her disposition, which could be called Iris’ essence, had all been formed because she was the reincarnation of the Goddess.

The same went for her instinctive benevolence—sacrificing herself for others without hesitation despite her young age, and never being able to pass by someone in pity.

So it was only natural in the first place that he had wondered why the children followed her without him even giving orders.

Frey, who had approached Iris to bring her to the temple, began lingering by her side to eliminate her wariness.

That was the problem. Or perhaps, the very beginning was when he appeared before Iris.

“Alright. Then I’ll do it for you. I’ll be your little sister.”

What was so special about those few words that greed began to take root in Frey, who had previously been nothing more than an empty shell?

‘If I just create a situation where she has no choice but to use her divine power, I can take her away right away.’

Even while knowing that, Frey kept stalling.

‘I should let her study up to this point, I should wait until all the flowers in the flowerbed bloom…’

Thus, his postponement extended endlessly. It was also out of a sense of guilt toward Iris, who wanted to take the academy exams and step out into a wider world.

In reality, as long as he was chosen by the Goddess and existed to find her, it was only natural for Frey to be drawn to Iris.

That wasn’t simply a rational attraction. It was the deep affection for the Goddess, carried on across long generations, unconsciously drawing him in.

Yet, rather than strictly that, it was closer to Frey finding his own ego and coming to follow it.

Once an empty shell existing solely to find the Goddess, he began to change after experiencing human interaction for the first time.

Before he knew it, Frey found a sense of fulfillment in teaching Iris. Chatting together with the cute children was also fun.

The hollow space inside the shell began to fill up with unfamiliar emotions.

Frey didn’t want to escape from that sweetness. He wanted to protect the emotions he had newly felt.

However, if he had only wanted that much, it would have been fine; instead, he began to desire inclusion in the name of family.

The loneliness he hadn’t felt because nothing existed was now tormenting him.

And he wanted to grow closer to Iris, who had awakened those feelings.

“Did you really come to find me?”

“To become… family.”

Not as a Goddess and a guide, but simply as his true self with Iris… as an older brother and a younger sister.

For a guide who must serve and live with the Goddess to think of the Goddess as a younger sister—it was truly an absurd notion.

Yet, Frey had already changed. He had escaped from the lonely past where he wanted nothing and talked to no one.

When he was with Iris, he realized his heart was beating, and through that, that he was alive.

It was a feeling far warmer and cozier than finding the Goddess.

He had already grown accustomed to life at the orphanage, too. Spending peaceful times with the cute children was Frey’s happiness.

He had thought countless times that he would rather forget everything and stay like this.

However, artificially created relationships were bound to twist sooner or later.