<CHAPTER 11>
The God of Things Hidden and Veiled
“Please allow me to do it, Your Highness.”
Evelyn’s head throbbed at the words “Your Highness.”
“I told you, I’m not Your Highness.”
Even though she had corrected him several times already, the young attendant Gail had no intention of fixing the way he addressed her.
He simply smiled brightly and pretended he hadn’t heard Evelyn.
However, Evelyn could not bring herself to scold or snap at him.
“Shall I do it, Your Highness?”
That was because this young attendant was clever, quick-witted, and innocent.
He only smiled brightly as if he knew nothing at all, which made it awkward for her to say anything to him.
Evelyn turned her head and tried to continue what she had been doing.
“Oh dear.”
“Ah!”
“Ah…”
However, whenever she tried to do something, Gail kept letting out exclamations beside her as if he felt regretful, shocked, or troubled.
Evelyn fell into deep thought.
What did I do wrong this time?
From repeated experience, Evelyn had learned that whenever Gail made noises like that, it meant she had done something wrong.
So she reviewed what she had done.
But she could not see what mistake there could possibly be in the process of placing a pan over the lit stove and frying an egg.
Gail quietly watched Evelyn’s revolutionary cooking method in which she placed a round egg directly onto the pan without oiling or heating it, then smashed it with a spatula, split it open, and peeled away the shell.
“Huh?”
As the pan heated up, the egg began sticking to it.
But Evelyn still had no idea what she had done wrong.
She flustered and tried to scrape the egg off the pan, but she failed.
The fried egg, whose flipping time had been missed, was burnt black.
It also clumped and crumbled after she forcibly scraped it off the pan where it had stuck.
“Please allow me to do it for you, Your Highness.”
Feeling like a defeated person, Evelyn stepped aside.
She did not even have the energy to say that she was not “Your Highness.”
Having obediently moved aside, Evelyn carefully watched as Gail wiped the pan clean with a cloth after taking it off the stove, placed it back on the fire to heat it again, and poured oil into it.
“Wow!”
Holding the pan handle with one hand, Gail cracked the egg with just his other hand.
Evelyn exclaimed in admiration.
She had seen Simila do it like that before, but she had never imagined that such a young child could do it as well.
“How did you do that?”
Her pure admiration made Gail embarrassed.
The boy’s ears turned red, and he lowered his head slightly while smiling shyly.
“It’s nothing, Your Highness.”
“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”
Evelyn truly found what Gail had done fascinating.
He had cracked the egg with one hand, placed it into the pan without dropping the shell inside, and without breaking the yolk.
That fact was incredibly surprising.
When she had learned from Simila and failed, she had simply thought she couldn’t do it because she didn’t have as much experience.
But if even such a young child could do it—
Ever since she had been born into Raven’s body, Evelyn had thought this many times.
She once again realized that she truly knew little and could do little.
Encouraging Gail, Evelyn tried to learn how to crack eggs.
“If Your Highness wishes, I can teach you, but it would be my greatest joy if you would entrust the task to me, Your Highness, Crown Princess.”
With his cheeks slightly flushed, the boy spoke firmly despite his embarrassment.
The sight was incredibly adorable and earnest.
Evelyn swallowed a short sigh and eventually had no choice but to allow the child to do his work.
“Since when have you been serving His Highness?”
While eating the well-cooked fried egg with a fork, she quietly asked Gail, who was completing tasks at an unimaginable speed.
Gail, meanwhile, sautéed the neatly chopped vegetables in melted butter before adding water.
“It’s been about a year since I first came here.”
“I officially began serving His Highness about three months ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a child who couldn’t do anything.”
“I needed time to learn the etiquette suitable for serving His Highness and to understand what was required.”
Surprised, Evelyn asked,
“You’re not a noble?”
He looked to be around thirteen or fourteen.
If he had only begun learning etiquette last year, it meant he had not been born and raised as a noble.
But more than that, Evelyn was amazed that he had mastered such complicated imperial etiquette in less than a year.
Perhaps understanding her curiosity, Gail nodded and answered.
“No, I’m not a noble.”
“I was an orphan who lived not far from here.”
“His Highness picked me up.”
It seemed to be his habit to draw out the ends of his sentences.
Perhaps it was a habit that had been beaten out of him by the harsh instructor who taught him etiquette, but it had slipped out unconsciously while he was focused on cooking.
“If not for His Highness, my younger sibling and I would have been beaten to death.”
“Beaten to death? Why?”
Gail smiled as if wondering why she didn’t know.
“Because I’m a child of a different people.”
“Children who don’t believe in Remensias are considered ominous.”
“The villagers didn’t take care of us.”
The boy’s skin was dark, like someone tanned by the sun.
But it was not the result of being burned under sunlight.
Only then did Evelyn realize that the color of his skin had been that way since birth.
“After our parents died, we couldn’t find food.”
“So my sibling and I went into the forest.”
“It was a forest owned by a noble and managed by the villagers.”
“We were caught stealing fruit and beaten nearly to death.”
Evelyn let out a sympathetic groan.
But Gail continued his story with a bright voice as if it didn’t matter.
“Still, thanks to that, I met His Highness.”
“His Highness took my sibling and me in.”
“It’s all thanks to His Highness.”
But there was something strange about Gail’s tone.
He said it was all thanks to “His Highness,” yet for some reason it didn’t seem like he was referring to Rexfail.
Feeling puzzled, Evelyn looked at him.
Then Gail returned his usual innocent eye-smile.
“I used to believe I was simply lucky to be saved.”
“But that wasn’t the case.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
Gail set down the wooden spoon he had been stirring the pot with and lightly pointed at his own eye.
Only then did Evelyn look closely at the boy’s exotic eyes.
Beneath the neatly cut hair framing his eyes, the pair of eyes she saw resembled the ones she had often seen in mirrors in her previous life.
Though the boy’s color was brighter and clearer, Evelyn easily recalled her own former golden eyes from Gail’s yellow eyes.
“His Highness must have seen you in me.”
“That must be why he saved me.”
“For that reason… but my eye color is…”
Flustered, Evelyn looked around, trying to find somewhere she could see her reflection.
As she remembered, Raven’s eyes were black.
Black like a smooth pebble freshly lifted from water.
Yet Gail had yellow eyes and claimed that hers resembled his.
Now the reality Evelyn perceived began to feel confusing.
It felt like dreaming while awake.
Up and down seemed to reverse.
She could no longer sense the distance between the things around her.
“Please… sit down, Your Highness.”
The attendant with yellow eyes calmed Evelyn, who seemed to have forgotten even how to breathe.
Gail guided her to a chair at the table.
Sitting there, Evelyn struggled to steady her breathing.
Even with her eyes closed, Gail’s gaze seemed vividly visible.
“In Delpeo Empire, they do not acknowledge any god other than Remensias.”
“God is the only—”
“But there are people who remember other gods.”
“Gypsies like us worship Him.”
“The god of things hidden and veiled.”
The bright yellow eyes followed Evelyn.
Frozen stiff, she had no choice but to face those eyes that seemed to pierce through her.
“Remember Maskayaman.”
“He is the brother of Remensias and the god of the shadowed places.”
“Why… me?”
“Because you must.”
The young boy was resolute.
The innocent smile that once seemed carefree disappeared as he stared at Evelyn with serious eyes.
He spoke clearly, emphasizing every word as if carving them into place.
“The one that connects Remensias and Maskayaman is a bird.”
“A great bird born with black feathers that follows the shining light.”
“The raven.”
The woman who bore the name of the bird that connects the gods drew in a breath.
Her frightened eyes shone golden.
