She knew he would easily see through her obvious lies if she lied about seeing a pond or a well in her dream when she had in fact turned ark to a tree. So, she had instead thought of referencing Anika Roxy’s lucid dream, who’s known as a legendary figure, as Roxy’s lucid dream was already widely known by people.
– Ake? Did you just say you saw ake?
Sang-je’s brows furrowed at once. Eugene felt a chill as she answered him when his cold voice pierced into her mind.
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
– If so, how did the water feel in your dream?
All of sudden, the voice of a girl was heard in the back of her mind.
[I saw a very clear pond, Your Holiness. And the water was as cold as ice when I dipped my hands into it.]
Eugene was left perplexed since she had thought her imposter never had a lucid dream as she didn’t possess any Ramita. Meanwhile, she also wondered what Jin had meant by the water being cold. But it didn’t take much long before Eugene finally realized what her imposter had actually done.
<em>‘I can’t believe this. Did she really tell a lie? To Sang-je?’</em>Doubtless her imposter had believed Sang-je as God’s vicegerent. Still, Eugene couldn’t help but be amazed by how her imposter had managed to lie in front of such a figure without batting an eye.
<em>‘I guess she wouldn’t have been able to put on a pretense in the first ce if she hadn’t had the brass nerve.’</em>
Eugene suspected that her imposter was fully aware of the fact that she was in someone else’s body. As a matter of fact, what her mother had told her, had further supported her assumption.
Dana vividly remembered everything before and after her daughter’s disappearance like it was only yesterday. She had in fact told Eugene that aside from the aura itself, there were some visible changes as well.
[I remember that you were fully capable of expressing yourself in words from the age of three using the limited vocabry of your age. However, you somehow didn’t speak a word after you were safely returned home to us. It almost seemed like you couldn’t understand us. And ever since that day, all the habits and manners you used to have before the incident had changed as well.]
The doctor seemed to have diagnosed it as mutism and said that it had probably developed because of the shock from the incident. It took about a year before she started to speak again which clearly was the time her imposter had taken to pick up the newnguage.
“Your Holiness,”
Eugene dropped her gaze to show that she was feeling guilty for lying.
“I beg your forgiveness for my imprudence for telling such a lie to you in the past. I’ve now realized that one can never touch or feel the water in the lucid dream.”
– You really seem to have dreamt a real lucid dream this time.
While Sang-je remained silent, Eugene was starting to grow fretful since she couldn’t quite put her finger on what Sang-je was really after. Ramita surely wasn’t something he can easily take away no matter how much he desires it. Even her imposter, who had literally taken everything away from her, had failed to earn the power of Ramita.
– Anika Jin.
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
– Will you show me your Ramita?
“I beg your pardon?
As Sang-je lifted his right hand, a small basket, which was ced on the table along with candle stands, floated across the room to Eugene. It was indeed a marvelous scene even though she already knew that it was the power of spell.
The basket, however, was filled with nothing but translucent beans inside. As Eugene kept her gaze fixed at the beans, Sang-je said,
– This is almost like toys for Anikas. You may have not touched them before but I’m sure you know how it works as you must have seen other Anikas do it before.
Eugene had no idea what the seeds were used for as no memory regarding them had struck her so far. So she had no choice but to guess the use of it from the context.
<em>‘So will he be able to measure my Ramita when I touch this?’</em>
Eugene clearly had not expected this.
‘What should I do?’
Cold sweat started to break out from her back as she knew there was no way for her to escape this. There was no guarantee of how he would react If she refused to be measured. The main reason for her visit today was to lower Sang-je’s guards down around her but things were likely to get worse at this rate.
<em>‘Believe in yourself. Believe in your Ramita.’</em>
Eugene reached out for the basket after making up her mind. Fundamentally, Ramita is a power that resides within her soul. So she would be able to control her Ramita at will like kings taking full control over their Praz.
She picked a seed and gave it a light squeeze in her palm before she recited inwardly to herself.
<em>‘I’m ake. I just have to reveal my Ramita as much as the size of ake.’</em>
The seed then began to tremble inside her palm. And as soon as she opened her hand, dim lights started to beam out from the small crevices on the seed before it finally cracked as it sprouted.
Its stem, which continued to shoot up without end, crumbled into dust right before it could touch the high ceiling of the prayer room. Nothing remained on Eugene’s palm as both the stem and the seed seemed to have fully dissolved into fine dusts in the air.