Chapter 273.1

"Is that true?"

Dans asked back with a crease formed between her eyebrows. She never knew such details as she never really showed any interest in what Jin was up to while she secluded herself in the manor, away from the society.

"Yes, mother. But Sir Pides took a vow of soul in the end."

"I believe I've heard of it."

"A vow of soul?"

"It is a declaration of one's eternal devotion to God," answered Dana as Eugene asked.

"How come she didn't try to hide her feelings towards him? If everyone knows about how she feels about him then it's hard to say it's an unrequited love."

Dana and Arthur's eyes met for a moment in the air before Dana said to her son,

"I think it's better for me to explain from here."

"As you say, mother. I'll get going then as I have some matters to attend to. I won't be home until later tonight."

"Alright, you may leave us."

With a startled look in her eyes, Eugene waited for her mother to speak as Dana had somehow urged her brother to leave them alone.

"I'm not sure if the word 'unrequited love' is appropriate in this case."

It took Eugene quite some time to repress the shock she received after hearing her mother's further explanation.

According to her mother, it was pretty common among the wealthy noblewomen to have affairs with the knights in the Holy City. A handsome knight was without doubt most popular among the ladies that the competition typically fierce over who gets to make him their lover. Without saying, those who were at the top of the ladder of the society's hierarchy, just like the Arse family or Anika, were capable of showing their interest in certain knights by making public declaration.

Basically, when a noblewoman shows her public interest in a knight, the said knight would later pay a private visit to the woman when the rumor reaches to his ear. However, there were also the opposite cases of the knights approaching the noblewomen of their interest first.

The rumor about the knights' promiscuous behavior prevailed in the city although no one mentioned it out loud. It surely was not a rare sight to see a married woman having a knight as a lover. In fact, there was even the case of two married women fighting over the same knight by pulling each other's hair publicly in the social gatherings.

Eugene murmured, still looking in shock. "Aren't the knights supposed to devote themselves to God by practicing celibacy?"

"Practicing celibacy doesn't have anything to do with serving God."

Eugene was immensely shocked once again hearing her mother say it so like it was an obvious fact. All of sudden, she remembered hearing Kasser say it to her once that chastity was never a necessity for one to become a priest. She couldn't help but to feel like her general knowledge was being challenged.

"Aside from affairs, is it common for an unmarried woman to marry a knight?"

"That almost never happens."

"Why?"

"Because knights will have to resign from their post upon marriage. And the main reason women have affairs with the knights is primarily because they are attracted to their social position as a 'knight'."

"But I thought you said chastity isn't important."

"As long as they stay unmarried."

Eugene couldn't help but to sneer with her brows furrowed into a crease. "I really don't understand. Don't the knights get reprimanded for their lack of self-restraint by His Holiness?"

"His Holiness doesn't seem to mind at all."

Eugene snorted inwardly to think that Sang-je, who keeps a tight rein on Anikas, was giving unbounded freedom to the knights instead. She highly suspected that there is some perverse nature in Sang-je's disposition.

"But those who takes a vow of soul would keep away from opposite sex as it is considered a virtue to restrain their desires."

"So the meaning that Pides took a vow of soul... is pretty much the same as declining her confession in public."

Dana laughed a little as she thought it was quite an interesting way of interpretation.

'I wonder if it was just an obsession along with her unyielding nature towards something she couldn't have.'

The feelings her imposter had for Pides didn't seem like it was out of pure affection.

Her imposter had in fact faced quite a few setbacks after the change of their bodies. Firstly, she had failed to be acknowledged by mother as her daughter while she suffered fear and a sense of inferiority as an Anika without the power of Ramita. So, perhaps it was Pides's public declination that acted as a trigger to the animosity she had kept hidden inside her.

"My lady." The butler's voice was heard along with a knock from the door. As Dana permitted his entrance, he came in with a message.

"His Grace, the Desert king has arrived."

Eugene spring to her feet at once, while her eyes sparkled with joy. "Is he at the gates now?"

"I came to inform as soon as I saw his carriage coming in so..."

Even before the butler could finish his sentence, Eugene strode past him as she told her mother, "I'll go get him, mother."

Watching as her daughter leave the room in hurried steps, Dana murmured with a smile on her face, "She really must like him very much."