Bradley was furious. He was a man of the monastery, and they weren't supposed to be influenced by worldly desires and emotions. Everything in life was supposed to be empty to him. Suffering and joy alike were meant to pass him by without leaving a trace.

Rosalie had never seen him get mad before. He was always calm and stoic, almost as if he wouldn't even bat an eye if the sky crashed down on him.

Yet that night, he flew into a rage. He emptied Rosalie's study of all the scriptures and tossed them carelessly into the yard.

"What are you doing, Bradley? Stop it! Stop it right now!" She tried to stop him, but to no avail.

He looked crazed as he threw all her precious scriptures onto the ground, as if they were trash. He even forbade her from picking them up. The sacred texts lay strewn across the ground as he got a lighter from the living room.

Rosalie's eyes widened as she realized what he was going to do. Her breathing turned ragged, and she cried, "What are you doing, Bradley?"

She didn't even have time to stop him. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, he ignited the lighter and threw it onto the scriptures.

They instantly started burning. The sacred texts she'd treasured for years went up in flames just like that.

Rosalie couldn't stop herself from slapping Bradley hard across the face as she screamed, "Have you lost your mind? Why did you do this?"

The flames illuminated her face, which was streaked with tears. Did Bradley hate her so much? Did he despise her to the point that he felt it was an insult for her to read scripture? Was that why he'd burned her texts to her face?

"You and I both have impure senses and lingering emotions. Neither of us can genuinely serve Sandhara." Bradley calmed down after a long silence. He put his hands together before clutching the rosary around his wrist.

Then, he shut his eyes and said, "What's done is done. Neither of us is destined to serve Sandhara, so don't read scripture anymore."

With that, he turned and left.

The flames continued burning. Rosalie stared at them before abruptly bursting into laughter.

Bradley had admitted it—that his senses were impure and that he had lingering emotions. He was supposed to be a man of the monastery, yet he could renounce the Sandharan Order for Lola's sake.

He claimed he wasn't destined to serve Sandhara, yet he still kept a rosary with him at all times. How could there be a perfect choice in this world—one that betrayed neither the Sandharan Order nor the one he loved?

He couldn't find that perfect choice, so he'd chosen to disappoint Sandhara rather than let Lola down.

Rosalie kept laughing as she reached up to wipe the tears at the corners of her eyes. This was fine. She kept telling herself that even though Bradley had disappointed Sandhara, she wouldn't.

She only had five days left. Once the time was up, she would cease to be Rosalie Stone. She would become the Sacred Goddess, who only thought of serving Sandhara.

She told herself not to be sad. Women of the monastery had pure senses. They wouldn't cry over matters of the heart.

…

When Rosalie saw Bradley the following day, he'd already taken off his rosary. In its place was a bracelet woven from fine red and blue cords, colors that symbolized love in local tradition.

The red cord represented the woman, and the blue cord represented the man. They were intertwined tightly, symbolizing that they would never be separated. Threaded between the cords were a sapphire and a red agate.

Rosalie remembered that red agate stood for eternal love.

"I have to go out to deal with something," Bradley said. "Would you mind looking after Lola for me? She's not familiar with this place, so don't let her run off by herself."

Women of the monastery should be kind and always willing to help. Rosalie tried not to let her emotions influence her, and she smiled while saying, "I don't mind."

Bradley took a closer look at her, perhaps not expecting her to agree so readily. However, he didn't say anything while staring at her. After a while, he turned and left.

Lola soon woke up. She stretched endearingly and yawned while greeting Rosalie. "Morning, Rosie!"

Her sleeves slipped down as she stretched, revealing a woven bracelet on her wrist. It wasn't hard to tell from the design that it was a matching pair with Bradley's.

Rosalie forced herself to look away from Lola's bracelet.

"Where's Brad?" Lola looked around for Bradley. "Yesterday, he promised he would take me to the amusement park today!"

Bradley had always preferred the quiet. He was a bit of a clean freak and hated going to crowded places. He refused to even accompany Rosalie on a shopping trip, yet he was willing to go to an amusement park with Lola, despite the crowd.

Rosalie lowered her gaze, concealing her sorrow. "He went out to deal with something."

"What?" Lola looked disappointed. "How could he? We agreed to go to the amusement park today. I've never been to one, and I've been looking forward to this since last night!"

Rosalie figured she'd be better off taking Lola out than rotting at home, so she said, "I can take you if you're willing to go."

"Really?" Lola's eyes lit up. She pounced on Rosalie and hugged her. "You're the best, Rosie!"

And so, Rosalie drove Lola to the amusement park. It was the latter's first time there, so she was as happy as a lark. She wanted to go on every single ride—roller coasters, spinning teacups, the log flume, the drop tower… She enjoyed each one.

Rosalie was actually a little scared of heights, but she was also afraid of being separated from Lola. So, she forced herself to accompany Lola on all the rides she wanted to go on.

The final ride was the drop tower. Rosalie was ashen when she got off, and her legs were like jelly. Her head spun, too. Yet it was right at that moment that the amusement park's grand parade began.

"Look at that mouse!" Lola exclaimed. She ran after the parade floats.

Rosalie didn't manage to catch her. Just like that, they were separated. She panicked and shoved her way into the throng, forgetting about her dizziness. "Lola! Don't just run off like that!"

Unfortunately, there were too many people watching the parade. The parade's cheery music soon drowned out her cries, and Lola was nowhere to be seen.

The parade floats soon passed, and the crowd dispersed. Rosalie still couldn't find Lola, though. She stood there, ashen-faced. They were in the middle of summer, and the sweltering sun hung high in the air. However, she felt cold all over and began to tremble.

She'd lost Lola! Bradley had explicitly told her not to let Lola run off by herself, yet she'd lost the latter in a matter of hours!

She had to calm down. She pinched herself hard, using the pain to force herself to focus. Lola couldn't have gone far—she had to still be in the amusement park. She just needed to search the place, and she would find Lola…

However, Rosalie bumped into Bradley before finding Lola. The sky had already turned dark, and the amusement park's staff members were helping her in her search. Lola's name was even being blared over the PA system, but she seemed to have disappeared into thin air. No one managed to track her down.

Bradley's gaze was cold enough to freeze the midsummer sun. "Do you hate Lola that much, Rosalie? I can't believe you pulled something like this just to get rid of her."

Rosalie was stunned. She looked at him as tears welled in her eyes. "Is that what you think of me?"

He actually thought she'd lost Lola on purpose to make her suffer, give up, and go back to Zolt.

Bradley didn't spare her another glance. He turned and left with a staff member to continue looking for Lola.

A drop of moisture landed on the back of Rosalie's hand. She looked up at the dark sky and realized it was starting to rain. Women of the monastery didn't shed tears, so it had to be a raindrop.

Rosalie spent the rest of the night braving the downpour while searching for Lola. When she finally dragged herself home, soaked to the bone, she found Lola bundled up in a thick blanket on the couch. Bradley was in the kitchen, making her a cup of hot tea to chase away the cold.

Neither of them looked like they'd gotten caught in the rain. That meant they'd returned ages ago, but neither of them had bothered taking even a minute to call her and tell her Lola had been found.

Rosalie's hair was still dripping, and her clothes were soaked through. The heels of her shoes had snapped because she'd run around searching for Lola all night, rendering her unable to walk in them anymore.

She wouldn't have returned if not for that. She would've continued searching in the rain.

"Why have you only just gotten back, Rosie?" Lola asked in surprise. She ran over with her feet bare and draped the blanket she was bundled up in over Rosalie's shoulders. "Oh, my God! You're soaked! Where were you? How did you end up like this?"

Rosalie didn't answer. All she did was look at Lola as tears stung her eyes. She asked, "When did you get back?"

"Me? Ages ago," Lola answered. "Brad found me! I had no idea where I was, and my phone's battery was flat. The sky was getting darker, and it started raining. I almost had the living daylights scared out of me.

"Luckily, Brad found me just as it started raining. It's almost like he can sense where I am—he was also the first to find me when I lost my way in the grasslands…"

Rosalie couldn't help laughing. It turned out Bradley had found Lola just as it started raining. This was the power of true love—he'd found her so quickly.

It was a heartfelt tale—no matter the distance and the storms they had to weather, their hearts linked them to each other. That was why he could find Lola faster than anyone else.

Rosalie felt like a joke. She'd braved the rain throughout the night for nothing. It was laughable.

"Rosie, are you mad at me?" Lola lowered her head uneasily when she saw that Rosalie didn't look too happy. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off like that…"

Rosalie shut her eyes tiredly. "Forget it."

Yes, she would forget about it. They wouldn't see each other anymore anyway.

"You don't need to apologize to her," Bradley said, his voice as cold as always. "Evil deeds reap evil outcomes. She's the one who sowed these evil seeds, so she has to reap them."

And so, Rosalie knew what had happened. He'd done this on purpose—he'd deliberately avoided calling her after finding Lola because he wanted to punish her on Sandhara's behalf. He wanted to punish her for losing Lola out of jealousy.

Rosalie looked at him calmly. Her eyes were wet, but maybe the moisture was from being out in the rain all night. She said, "I hope you remember what you just said, Bradley. 'Evil deeds reap evil outcomes.'

"If one day you find yourself choking on the consequences of your actions, don't forget that you sowed those evil seeds."

With that, she turned and left without another look back.

…

For the next few days, Rosalie and Bradley settled into a cold war. They didn't see or speak to each other.

On the day before the wedding, she received the monastic robe that the Sacred Goddess needed to wear during the ordination ceremony. Stanley had mailed it to her.

It was pure white with red and gold embroidery on the sleeves and hem. The red cosmos was in full bloom along the trim, and the gold scriptures shimmered with quiet reverence.

She only had one day to go. After that day, she would fly to Zolt and be ordained as the Sandharan Order's Sacred Goddess. She would join the monastery and cut all mortal ties.

Rosalie sat in a daze with the robe in her arms for a long time. Ultimately, she decided to seek Bradley out and end the cold war.

She figured she would say her goodbyes properly and ask him to cancel the wedding. He didn't owe her anything, nor did he need to repay her. She would soon join the Sandharan Order, so whatever love, resentment, and regrets lay between them would cease to exist.

She headed to Bradley's study with that thought in mind. However, it was empty. All she saw was a piece of paper on the desk. The ink had yet to dry, which meant Bradley had just left.

Out of curiosity, Rosalie looked down to see what he'd written. On the paper, written in bold brushstrokes, was a single sentence.

"I would willingly transform into a stone bridge, enduring 500 years of wind, rain, and the scorching sun, just for the chance that you might walk across me in your next lifetime."