When That Door Opens - Chapter 25
“It’s been a while, noonim.”
He wiped the blood off his cheek with a gentle smile. I looked at the ruined prayer hall with dismay.
Corpses were strewn where prayers to God should have echoed. My ceremonial robe, once a symbol of sanctity, was now stained with their blood.
“Have you been well?”
Not far away, a young priest lay fallen. Only days ago, he was brimming with excitement about becoming a priest. Now he lay dead, eyes wide open, his face frozen in his final agony.
The sight made me feel nauseous.
“Oh dear. Are you feeling unwell? Should I call a doctor?”
He asked gently as I retched repeatedly. The very person who turned my sanctuary into a living hell, yet he wore a nonchalant expression. Despite everything, I couldn’t bring myself to resent him.
For it was I who had brought such a good man to this point.
“If you need anything, just say the word. I will do everything you desire.”
His unobscured blue eye, not hidden by the black eyepatch, glinted at me. Evidence of my sin after all these years. My body began to tremble. As if sensing my thoughts, he asked,
“What are you thinking so deeply about? Are you recalling the day you abandoned me?”
He lifted my chin and without asking for permission, kissed me. I accepted his kiss without daring to resist.
Here, in this place where my people lay dead, kissing the murderer of them all.
The most horrifying part was that the moment our lips met, I realized something. I had been desperately longing for this moment for years.
This was the one truth I could never reveal to the demon he had become.
“You wish to escape from me, don’t you?”
After the brief kiss, he smiled beautifully.
“Give up, sister. From now on, I won’t let you go, not even for a single moment.”
* * *
Astel.
The child who held God.
People called me Astel.
The people of Schultz had been waiting for Astel for a long time.
Long ago, it was said that Schultz’s deity appeared on this land by borrowing a human body. The deity lived a life of service for humans and when the body reached its end, left the mortal world with a promise to return. The deity left a message to take good care of a child born with the deity’s symbol, Astel.
Following the deity’s will, the people of Schultz prepared for Astel’s return. They built a grand temple, prepared a golden chair for Astel to sit on, and priests to serve Astel. They also chose a leader to goVerne Schultz until Astel’s return.
That leader was the King of Schultz.
When Astel appeared, the King of Schultz was to relinquish all of his power immediately, as he had been told. Only after Astel’s death could he ascend to the throne again.
Naturally, the royal family of Schultz despised Astel. They wished to destroy Astel’s temple but couldn’t, as the devoted people of Schultz revered Astel more than the royal family.
The royal family of Schultz agonized over this long standing issue and eventually came up with a clever solution.
“Indeed, there really is a mark.”
Young Prince Roman was the first to execute this plan. He looked down at the baby’s hand with an intrigued expression. A circle made of runes, the divine symbol passed down through the Schultz royal family, was on the chubby hand. After examining the mark for a while, Roman grimaced.
“Hoo. Get rid of these quickly. The smell of blood is making me nauseous.”
“We apologize, Your Highness.”
The knights hastened to clear the corpses. The bodies of the family members who had been celebrating the birth of the youngest just moments before were now being dragged out like garbage. The empty eyes of the mother, who was killed before she could even hold her newborn baby, reflected the scene.
“The mother looks gentle. The child will resemble the mother, right? The gentler, the better. It’ll listen to me well. How about the father’s reputation?”
“He was praised as a good man. The couple was known to have a very good gold thread*.”
(T/N: A gold thread in Korean culture refers to the bond and affection between a married couple.)
“Good. I like it.”
“Your Excellency, everyone who knew about Astel’s birth has been killed, so we can still keep it hidden. But I still think it’s better to kill the child. No matter how gentle its nature, it could become a problem if left alive.”
