Chapter 59: Christmas in Another World (3) (59/225)
"I've never seen an object like this disc before."
Fedora examined the CD she had taken from the case with an intrigued look, pinching it between her thumb and middle finger and turning it at various angles.
"Oh my… how mysterious."
The way the light reflected and glittered off the CD's surface made it look to her like a jewel in an unfamiliar form.
"So if I put it into this black thing you brought, a song will come out?"
"Yes. I'll teach you how to operate it. But let's listen somewhere other than the cathedral."
"There's no need to go that far… No, there is."
Realizing Jinseo's intent, Fedora nodded and moved the candles placed beneath the Order's symbol to either side.
With a scraping sound, the floor in the cathedral's left corner sank downward, revealing stairs that led underground.
"Then I'll guide you to a suitable place."
"I didn't expect there to be a place like this inside the cathedral."
"It's an emergency escape route built three hundred years ago. It leads to a hill far away from the cathedral. Back then, wars were frequent, so buildings of any size had secret passages like this."
Lifting the hem of her vestments—so long they nearly brushed the floor—Fedora stepped onto the stairs.
"Wait—are you and I going alone?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"...No. I'll go down first."
Jinseo moved ahead and went down the stairs.
Fedora followed, about to light the wooden torch fixed to the wall, but there was no need—Jinseo's smartphone flashlight solved the problem easily.
The passageway stretching northward had a rough, uneven ceiling like a cave.
Jinseo walked in front holding the phone, with Fedora following behind him.
"..."
With nothing in particular to say, Jinseo kept his mouth shut and continued forward. All he heard were droplets falling and the sound of their footsteps.
After walking for a long while, Jinseo reached a hand back and stopped Fedora.
"Let's rest a bit. Sit here."
He flipped his smartphone face-down on the ground, then took off his jacket and placed it beside Fedora.
Fedora's steps had looked uncomfortable, so he wanted her to sit and rest, even if only briefly.
"Thank you."
Fedora removed her shoes and set them aside, then carefully sat on Jinseo's jacket.
"This place hasn't changed since ten years ago."
Remembering a painful past, she pressed her lips tightly together and slowly traced the soles of her feet.
The wounds from fleeing barefoot had healed cleanly, leaving not even a scar.
But the wound buried deep in her chest only ever repeated the same cycle—closing up, then splitting open again.
After emerging onto the hill through the secret passage, Jinseo slipped his smartphone back into his pocket and looked around.
When he turned south, Kaysus Cathedral sat small and distant in the center of his view.
"So this is… it."
Fedora's eyelids trembled faintly as she looked down at the hill that had changed.
Unlike her memories from ten years ago, it was no longer empty wasteland—clusters of big and small trees stood together.
And the bloodstains that had once drenched the ground were nowhere to be found.
The only thing that hadn't changed was Fedora herself.
Watching her, Jinseo set the CD player down on the ground.
A moment later, music began to play, and Fedora flinched—her shoulders jolting.
But having already experienced movies and dramas through the large TV, she quickly regained her composure.
She didn't frown and call it a heretic's song.
She simply closed her eyes and focused on the music.
From Jinseo's perspective, Fedora's lack of hostility toward another religion's music felt strangely surprising.
"I can't understand the lyrics of these songs."
"Neither can I."
Unfortunately for Fedora, she couldn't understand the Latin lyrics.
Even so, Fedora listened to the entire CD's worth of hymns with a serious expression.
"I've never listened to music from another order before, but I'm encountering it like this. It feels similar to our Heirem Order hymns, yet also different."
Solemnity and grandeur.
Feeling elements that were indispensable to most religious music, Fedora's expression looked better than before.
"Yes. I played it in case it might inspire you when you compose a new hymn. I hope it helped. Though I still feel uneasy about one thing."
"I'm curious what is troubling you."
"As far as I know, the Heirem Order is a monotheistic religion. No matter how tolerant it is toward other religions…"
Jinseo spoke as carefully as possible, trying not to offend her.
The other person held the high rank of Cardinal within the Heirem Order.
Even if they were personally close, there was clearly a line that shouldn't be crossed.
Jinseo worried he might be touching a sensitive point, even with good intentions.
"You don't need to worry. The Holy Being we serve is unique, but that is only within the Francia Continent."
"What?"
"We believe that on other continents unknown to us, there may be other Holy Beings. For example, a dwarf recently crossed over to the Francia Continent, didn't he? If that person has a Holy Being she believes in, then it would be a different being from ours."
"Couldn't it be the same god, just with a different name?"
"If that were the case, our scriptures would mention the dwarf race at least once—how they were born, and where they are."
Fedora's answer was oddly realistic for a religious figure.
"If you are truly worried, then as a Cardinal of the Heirem Order, I will say this: I cannot go so far as to encourage listening to hymns of other religions, but I will not take issue with the act itself. Of course, listening inside the cathedral could be very problematic—so only to the extent of quietly listening outside like this."
"I was worried even while playing the CD, but hearing you say that puts me at ease."
"More than that, I was glad to see an unexpected side of you, Jinseo—being prepared so you can listen to hymns anytime, anywhere… Even if it's another religion, you live a faithful religious life."
At Fedora's praise, Jinseo gave a bitter smile.
"That's not it. I've been lapsed for a long time."
When he was young, Jinseo had held his parents' hands and visited the cathedral every week.
But as he grew older, he began to find even going to the cathedral bothersome, and he stopped.
Still, because his mother faithfully attended, he would sometimes join her for volunteer work or bazaars hosted by the cathedral.
But after his parents passed away, Jinseo cut off his interest in the cathedral entirely.
It wasn't because he grew disillusioned with religion, nor because he was too busy surviving.
With the mother who went every week now gone from his side, he simply drifted away from the cathedral as a matter of course.
"Oh—this isn't a term used here, is it."
"I don't know exactly what you mean, but I think I understand, vaguely."
The longer they spoke, the more it was Jinseo's expression that hardened.
Fedora, noticing, grew fidgety.
"Are you all right?"
"It just reminded me of the past. You don't need to worry."
Jinseo said he was fine, but his stiff expression still didn't relax.
Fedora drew her knees together as she sat, then lightly brushed the weeds beside her.
She kept looking at Jinseo, then turning her gaze away, unable to find what to say.
Seeing that, Jinseo smiled faintly.
"Come to think of it, I've been driving around the Order's sacred relic, yet I don't actually know much about the Order. I've never even heard a Heirem Order hymn."
"Then I'll sing one for you myself!"
"What? N-no. Your throat isn't well—you don't need to push yourself…"
Ignoring Jinseo's attempt to stop her, Fedora stood up.
"Ahem. Ahem!"
Clearing her throat, she extended both arms forward.
"In the place where the Holy One's touch remained…"
Fedora's hymn began with lyrics praising the being the Order believed in and followed.
Like the hymns Jinseo had heard in Korea, it carried a deeply solemn and majestic feeling.
If there was one drawback, it was that Jinseo found it difficult to understand the Heirem Order's metaphorical expressions.
"Wow…"
Even so, it was a voice more beautiful than any song Jinseo had ever heard.
It felt too wasteful for him to be the only listener, so Jinseo hurriedly took out his smartphone and pressed the record button.
Fedora sang a hymn meant only for Jinseo.
Jinseo was captivated by Fedora's voice.
A breeze blew between the man and woman standing face-to-face, and silver hair fluttered to the side.
"…This is Her teaching, and the truth."
Finishing the hymn, Fedora blushed and wiped away the sweat beading on her forehead with her fingertips.
"You sing incredibly well."
Clap, clap, clap.
Without realizing it, Jinseo was clapping.
He had completely forgotten that he'd dropped the smartphone in his hand onto the ground.
"No. I'm still far from good enough. Like I said before, my throat isn't well, so my projection isn't what it used to be."
Even with Jinseo's praise, Fedora couldn't be satisfied.
To bring the Holy Festival to a successful close, she had to sing something more sacred and more beautiful.
"Jinseo—since we've listened this far, would it be all right to play one more CD? This time I want to choose it myself."
"Yes, of course."
Sitting back down on the ground, Fedora picked up a CD case with a colorful cover.
"So… put the shiny side down… then… line up the hole in the middle…"
"Do you want me to help?"
"No! I'll do it myself!"
She struggled to recall Jinseo's instructions as best she could.
Only after a full minute did Fedora finally insert the CD properly, exhale, and press play.
And the song that played was clearly different from the hymns before.
"A revolutionary style of hymn!"
"Well, it is a hymn, but…"
It was a collection of carols—the songs most fitting for Christmas.
Jinseo thought it was far from what Fedora wanted and was about to press stop, but Fedora reached out first and stopped him.
"The hymns earlier were good too, but these songs are definitely different. They feel easier to listen to—more familiar. They're cheerful as well."
"That's because they're carols. They're songs people often listen to at Christmas, and where I come from, Christmas is basically a festival."
Even as she listened to Jinseo's explanation, Fedora kept her attention on the carols flowing from the CD player.
Just like when Jinseo had listened to Fedora's hymn, most of the terms in the lyrics were things Fedora couldn't understand.
Yet after listening to the carols to the end, Fedora looked at Jinseo with an expression like she had realized something.
"That's it. Our Order's hymns lacked this kind of familiarity."
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