Grant Me Your Grace

When Dahlia returned the greeting, Hissin smirked and stood up, causing Dahlia to flinch again at the movement, and Hissin stared at her retreating feet.

“You’re afraid, aren’t you?”

Red eyes slowly traveled up her ankles and legs, then up to Dahlia’s shrouded face.

“Or, do you hate me?”

Flustered, Dahlia quickly shook her head.

“I, too, am one of the people of Bahran. How could I refuse a gift from the goddess, when it would be tantamount to denying her will…”

“Then what are you so afraid of?”

“Hasn’t anyone… informed you that no one can face me without the Emperor’s permission?”

Hissin gave her a questioning look. After hesitating, Dahlia revealed her miserable predicament.

“I’m a cursed Princess.”

At that, Hissin smiled, one corner of his lips curling up. It was an unpleasant smirk, as if he’d just heard a bad joke.

“Well.”

Tilting his head, Hissin said in disbelief.

“His Majesty said that the temple is my space, so there’s nothing I can’t do here…”

Was it just my imagination, or did the man who had seemed, so holy a moment ago, suddenly seem dangerous?

“But I know I can’t, facing you like this.”

A sharp sense of dysphoria flashed through Dahlia’s chest. It was as if someone else’s soul had inhabited his body for a moment.

She pursed her lips, then managed to speak, “Is that really what my father told you?”

“How could I lie to you?”

Dahlia was stunned by Hisisn’s assurance.

The temple was a place of the most sacred and strict discipline. To declare that anything was possible in such a place for someone who was not of the royal family, the Emperor of the country, and no one else.

It was a declaration of equality between the Hissin along the temple’s goddess, the Nuit.

Only a month ago, the gifts of the gods were held in an oracle. The fact that this man had suddenly assumed such authority made Dahlia even more curious.

The thoughts she had been trying to suppress nagged at her.

“…You, you really don’t remember anything but your name?”

Dahlia wondered if Hissin liked her curiosity shown for the first time. Hissin smiled gently and replied.

“I woke up in this temple, and all I remember is the name Hissin.”

“What about your birthplace or your family?”

“I have no memory of them, so I don’t know if I forgot them or if they were never there in the first place.”

“Then how do you prove that you are a gift from the gods?”

The innocent question slipped out before I could get it through my head, and Dahlia covered her mouth in disbelief, realizing in hindsight that she had asked a blasphemous question.

“I— I’m sorry, I don’t mean to denigrate you, but I think it’s a little dangerous to assume you’re a god’s gift just because of your appearance and the timing of the oracle…”

Dahlia, who had been rambling, finally chewed her lip. The more excuses she made, the more she felt like an unbeliever.

This man that everyone worships as a gift from the gods, why would anyone openly question their faith in front of him?

Dahlia bowed her head deeply and admitted her mistake.

“You may rebuke me… Doubt is the result of a lack of faith.”

Hovan had always told her. That this innocent curiosity would eventually lead her to dangerous places. That when she needed to close her eyes and plug her ears, the cost of not doing so would come back to haunt her.

“Curiosity will always take you to new places.”

And yet, somehow, despite this, he doesn’t blame me.

“Whether that is a blessing or a curse, only the Goddess knows.”

Hissin moved his long legs and stepped closer to Dahlia. Even as he closed the distance, Dahlia did not call out to him to stop or back away. Instead, she gazed mesmerized at the beautiful man in the enemy’s eyes as he approached.

Soon, Hissin stood before her.

“Do you believe I am a gift from the gods, Your Highness?”

His red eyes burned brightly before her.

“And do you truly believe in this country?”

The intensity of the fire up close made Dahlia’s chest tighten. She felt guilty as if she were eavesdropping on a heathen’s untruths.

“Well, what…”

“I’ve never seen a god, so I can’t say for sure, but I do know this.”

Swallowing hard, Hissin looked down at her and knelt once more.

Dahlia peered down at him questioningly.

“That you are here, in front of me.”

Hissin took her right hand. His fingertips traced slowly across the dots on her palm, and an odd sensation ran through her.

It was a sacred greeting, reserved only for the Goddess.

Then he kissed the back of her hand.

“Grant me grace.”

Dahlia could not help but feel dazed.

His lips still pressed to the back of her hand, Hissin lifted his gaze to look up at her.

It was as if he were gazing upon the manifestation of a goddess.

Adoringly.

Or, perhaps, greedily.

“Ah…!”

His lips parted to capture the back of Dahlia’s white hand. The moment the delicate lips met, the hot, moist sensation imprinted on her flesh instantly spread throughout her body, raising a strange heat.

Dahlia’s startled eyes peeked out from beneath the veil and met Hissin’s red pupils.

For a moment, their breaths scattered, their gazes locked deeply in the air.

Slap—

“…!”

Dahlia angrily slapped away Hissin’s hand at the abruptness of the sound. She fled outside in a panic, leaving Hissin where he was. In the blink of an eye, she was too far away to catch.

Hissin slowly rose to his feet. As he looked toward the source of the noise, the white stray cat that had run away earlier was glaring at him ferociously.

“Grrr.”

The cat let out a muffled cry. It sounded like he was berating Hissin.

Rayrion. A few times I’d heard the priests at the temple refer to the white cat as ‘the Princess’s cat’.

Somehow, it seemed to chastise me for embarrassing its master.

Grimacing, Hissin turned his gaze back to the direction Dahlia had fled. He could hear the tiny footsteps running fast.

In the desert air, the faint scent of Dahlia’s scent of fig wafted through the air.

His eyes closed tightly and he breathed in. The sweet scent filled his lungs. It was enough, but he kept it inside him as best he could.

Filling himself with her scent. Letting every part of him remember her.

“May you be at peace tonight.”

His silent prayer went out into the dark night sky.

The goddess heard him. A single star twinkled, then disappeared over the horizon, its long tail trailing behind it.

The twilight of the lightless night was deepening.

✨

“Ha, phew…”

Dahlia ran until she was out of breath, and only when she reached the Princess’s palace did she stop running.

Her breathing had been so unrelenting that her throat ached like it was being ripped open with every breath she took, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Nevertheless, the shock of Hissin’s behavior refused to pass.

“Your Highness. Princess!”

Just then, a hoarse voice called out to her. She turned to find Bertha gently opening the back door of the Princess’s palace, beckoning her to come in.

Dahlia entered the palace on weary legs.

“What happened to you? Why did you run so fast? Was someone following you?”

Bertha asked worriedly and wiped Dahlia’s face. Then she handed her some of her favorite fig-juice-infused water. As she drank the sweet water, her pounding heart subsided.

Dahlia gave a slight shrug.

“It’s nothing, I just haven’t been out in a while, and the slightest breeze startles me…”

Although it bothered her that she hadn’t gotten a good look at who it was, she was in no hurry to find out.

I didn’t want to be caught with the gift without permission.

No. I was afraid they’d find out I had dared to seek their favor.

‘Why would he do this to me…’

Dahlia closed her eyes tightly as her troubled feelings resurfaced.

The only one who could ask for a favor in the land of Bahran was the Goddess Nuit. It was a sacred greeting, one that made her believe that her fate was in the hands of the Nuit Goddess and that she was in control of both life and death, prosperity and misfortune.

And yet such a sacred greeting was extended to a human being, a gift from the goddess to a cursed princess in the deepest recesses of the palace.

‘How could someone who has been trained in the etiquette of the imperial court not know that…’

Her head was pounding with thoughts. Dahlia ran a hand through her hair and turned to Bertha.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been outside, and I feel tired. I think I’ll go to bed early tonight.”

“Yes, Your Highness, I will prepare a bath for you.”

After a quick bath, Dahlia lay down on her bed, exhausted. After soaking in the warm water with the olive leaf infusion, her relaxed body quickly grew sluggish.

[Now, in front of me, you are.]

The image of the man alone in the temple flickered before my closed eyes.

His eyes were an endless depth of red, his nose was straight and high, and his skin was flawless.

Red lips that seemed to hold all life.

“…”

Suddenly, my heart went numb. It was an unfamiliar sensation, so different from the pain she’d felt just moments ago, but Dahlia winced as she recognized it as the same pain.

‘I don’t think I should see him again. I feel something… dangerous.’

But despite her thoughts, the man’s face grew clearer and more distinct. Dahlia thought of him one last time before she fell into a deep sleep.