Chapter 4

Bradley was furious. He was a man of the monastery, and they weren't supposed to be influenced by worldly desires and emotions. Everything in life was supposed to be empty to him. Suffering and joy alike were meant to pass him by without leaving a trace.

Rosalie had never seen him get mad before. He was always calm and stoic, almost as if he wouldn't even bat an eye if the sky crashed down on him.

Yet that night, he flew into a rage. He emptied Rosalie's study of all the scriptures and tossed them carelessly into the yard.

"What are you doing, Bradley? Stop it! Stop it right now!" She tried to stop him, but to no avail.

He looked crazed as he threw all her precious scriptures onto the ground, as if they were trash. He even forbade her from picking them up. The sacred texts lay strewn across the ground as he got a lighter from the living room.

Rosalie's eyes widened as she realized what he was going to do. Her breathing turned ragged, and she cried, "What are you doing, Bradley?"

She didn't even have time to stop him. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, he ignited the lighter and threw it onto the scriptures.

They instantly started burning. The sacred texts she'd treasured for years went up in flames just like that.

Rosalie couldn't stop herself from slapping Bradley hard across the face as she screamed, "Have you lost your mind? Why did you do this?"

The flames illuminated her face, which was streaked with tears. Did Bradley hate her so much? Did he despise her to the point that he felt it was an insult for her to read scripture? Was that why he'd burned her texts to her face?

"You and I both have impure senses and lingering emotions. Neither of us can genuinely serve Sandhara." Bradley calmed down after a long silence. He put his hands together before clutching the rosary around his wrist.

Then, he shut his eyes and said, "What's done is done. Neither of us is destined to serve Sandhara, so don't read scripture anymore."

With that, he turned and left.

The flames continued burning. Rosalie stared at them before abruptly bursting into laughter.

Bradley had admitted it—that his senses were impure and that he had lingering emotions. He was supposed to be a man of the monastery, yet he could renounce the Sandharan Order for Lola's sake.

He claimed he wasn't destined to serve Sandhara, yet he still kept a rosary with him at all times. How could there be a perfect choice in this world—one that betrayed neither the Sandharan Order nor the one he loved?

He couldn't find that perfect choice, so he'd chosen to disappoint Sandhara rather than let Lola down.

Rosalie kept laughing as she reached up to wipe the tears at the corners of her eyes. This was fine. She kept telling herself that even though Bradley had disappointed Sandhara, she wouldn't.

She only had five days left. Once the time was up, she would cease to be Rosalie Stone. She would become the Sacred Goddess, who only thought of serving Sandhara.

She told herself not to be sad. Women of the monastery had pure senses. They wouldn't cry over matters of the heart.

…

When Rosalie saw Bradley the following day, he'd already taken off his rosary. In its place was a bracelet woven from fine red and blue cords, colors that symbolized love in local tradition.

The red cord represented the woman, and the blue cord represented the man. They were intertwined tightly, symbolizing that they would never be separated. Threaded between the cords were a sapphire and a red agate.

Rosalie remembered that red agate stood for eternal love.

"I have to go out to deal with something," Bradley said. "Would you mind looking after Lola for me? She's not familiar with this place, so don't let her run off by herself."

Women of the monastery should be kind and always willing to help. Rosalie tried not to let her emotions influence her, and she smiled while saying, "I don't mind."

Bradley took a closer look at her, perhaps not expecting her to agree so readily. However, he didn't say anything while staring at her. After a while, he turned and left.

Lola soon woke up. She stretched endearingly and yawned while greeting Rosalie. "Morning, Rosie!"

Her sleeves slipped down as she stretched, revealing a woven bracelet on her wrist. It wasn't hard to tell from the design that it was a matching pair with Bradley's.