Darian stayed silent. The priest didn't say anything either. This went on for more than two minutes, until Darian finally finished savoring his drink.
He turned to the priest and gave a faint smile.
"Actually, I said that to test you. If you really couldn't handle my words and had kicked me out just like that, there'd be no reason for me to explore this Temple any further," Darian said calmly. "From the moment I walked into this room, I noticed you're extremely meticulous. You don't tolerate any imperfection or flaw. From the way you washed your hands, to how you picked up the cups and served the drink. Even the position of the jar and the cups feels obsessively calculated. When you finished pouring, you placed the jar back in exactly the same spot..."
As Darian spoke, the priest's furious expression gradually faded, replaced by deep shock.
Darian continued, "There's an old story from where I come from. It's a tale from the mortal world, about a prince who was born and raised in a palace, sheltered by his father from all the ugly things in the world."
"One day, a servant told the prince the truth, showing him the ugly and harsh side of life. Driven by curiosity and full of doubts, the prince left the palace to search for answers. Early on, he met a monk who assured him that if he lived according to the rules of his monastery, he would reach enlightenment and find all the answers."
"So he joined a sect that cultivated through suffering. Each disciple had to live under some form of hardship. As for that prince… he was condemned to live eating nothing but cow dung."
"He spent six years eating only that… as you can imagine, he became extremely malnourished and weak. Until one day, he had to wash his clothes in a river. The water only reached his waist, but he was so weak that he slipped and started drowning. People quickly saved him. But as he lay by the river, gasping for air… someone nearby was tuning a string instrument… and at that moment, the string snapped."
"That day, he had an epiphany. For the instrument to work perfectly, the string can't be too tight, or it'll snap, and it can't be too loose, or it won't produce any sound. Life is the same: to live properly and remain steady, you must never live at extremes."
Darian paused and looked straight into the priest's eyes. "You're someone who seeks perfection. And it's precisely because you chase perfection that your path is blocked. You're walking at an extreme. Haven't you realized you're stuck in a bottleneck you can't escape, no matter what you do?"
"Yes, yes! Please, enlighten me."
At that moment, the priest looked at Darian with pleading eyes. Seeing that, Lanaya was stunned. She could barely believe it.
"Actually, you were given an opportunity not long ago. Unfortunately, you failed to seize it," Darian said softly, turning toward the princess.
"What? You're talking… about her?" The priest looked shocked and confused.
"Correct. She came, acted, and said a few things she shouldn't have. You expelled her, but in truth, she was your chance to progress," Darian said slowly.
"She was your chance because she was simply naive and immature. She represented the exact opposite of the life you live. This brat had no hidden intentions and, regardless of her actions, she never meant to blaspheme the Goddess, nor did she know the rule about advancing without help. Back then, if you had forgiven her instead of arguing with her, you would've overcome this obstacle on your own, eventually."
Hearing that, the priest muttered, "I'm still confused. Could you explain it more clearly, please?"
Darian said solemnly, "That story I told earlier is a good example. But to put it more directly: you should never live at an extreme. After all, perfection doesn't exist in this world. The sun and the moon wax and wane, the flow of fate rises and falls. Right and wrong, Yin and Yang, positive and negative. Even the Laws of the World are full of small flaws. When something reaches its peak in one aspect, it can only move in the opposite direction. A tree sometimes thrives and sometimes withers. You always chase perfection, which is inherently a dead end. Life is a perfect cycle that keeps turning. Because flaws exist, Yin and Yang can complement each other in constant motion. Ask yourself: if the sun and moon only grew and never waned, if creatures were only born and never died, how would this world even function?"
The priest looked at Darian in shock, still overwhelmed.
"You still don't get it?" Darian continued. "Only when flaws exist can things change and have room to grow. Only by experiencing a bit of the extremes, without clinging to any of them, can you truly grow. Absolute perfection can't exist, because absolute perfection only leads to destruction."
The lost look on the priest's face gradually faded. His body was suddenly wrapped in an aura of light, and a strange fluctuation spread out. It seemed like he was going through a moment of sudden enlightenment; his bloodline was resonating and changing.
After just a few seconds—
"Thank you very much for your guidance. I will never forget this favor." The priest suddenly knelt before Darian and then bowed toward Lanaya, saying, "Princess, I formally apologize for my rudeness in the past."
"I… I…" Lanaya was so startled she hid behind Darian, not even daring to speak.
In her memory, this person would always be that fierce figure who had scolded and expelled her from the Goddess Temple. But now, he was bowing to her, and she had no idea what to say.
"As thanks for your great kindness, I offer you everything I've gathered over the past few years. Please accept it, or I won't have peace of mind." The priest offered a spatial ring to Darian with both hands.
Darian accepted the spatial ring without the slightest hesitation. Sneaking a glance inside, he saw more than a hundred small drops of Goddess Dew.
"Thank you very much."
Darian took the spatial ring, but it was the priest who thanked him. He walked them to the exit of his pavilion, then left for a secluded spot.
The stunned Lanaya didn't even know how she had walked out of the pavilion. She only snapped back to her senses once they were some distance away.
Darian quickly split everything inside the ring and stored it. With the other half, he turned, grabbed the dazed princess's hand, and placed it in her palm.
Then he turned again and kept walking. "Silly girl, why are you just standing there? Come on, let's go..."
Darian took a few steps and saw that Lanaya was still staring at him blankly. He grabbed her and kept moving.
***
The days passed slowly inside the Temple.
That place clearly had expanded internal space and was as large as an entire continent on the inside. All the kingdom's priests lived there, and the pressure coming from the sky only grew stronger the deeper you went.
By now, Lanaya could walk normally with ease. Coming to this temple had caused a huge change in her.
Whenever the priests sensed someone from outside nearby, they would come out of their dwellings to ask questions. Some focused on cultivation, others on random tasks, like preparing drinks, forging weapons, or even refining pills.
Darian simply answered everything calmly. Some things he didn't know directly, but he still gave satisfactory answers, since he had a lot of experience and knowledge in related areas. In the end, he would always receive dozens or even hundreds of drops of Goddess Dew.
Half of everything went to the princess accompanying him.
After spending so much time side by side, she chatted cheerfully with Darian as they walked. Darian felt like he had gone back in time, to when he used to have simple, light conversations with little Alear when they were alone.
At one point, Lanaya murmured, "You kind of resemble Prince Gofan. He has that same air of wisdom and lightness… although he's a thousand times more handsome… and better in every other way too."
"Oh? Do you usually have contact with people from the Golden Scale Kingdom?" Darian asked innocently.
"Not really. After all, the relationship between our two nations is a bit tense, so we don't interact much," Lanaya said, disappointed. "I just don't understand why my father has to keep things so tense with them. Those people are always so kind, and there are so many touching romantic stories from there that make me cry. Both the men and the women are so devoted and faithful to each other."
Lanaya's eyes lost focus as she drifted into her beautiful fantasies.
"Sometimes, what you see is what people intentionally let you see," Darian shook his head. "Sometimes, what you hear is what people intentionally let you hear. If you want to understand a person or a nation, you can't just look at appearances. That leads to seriously wrong judgments."
What Darian didn't expect was for Lanaya to get instantly furious at his words.
"You… you're just talking nonsense! It's obvious you're jealous of them to say such bad things!"
Darian snorted, his patience running out. "Jealous? No one in this world has that kind of power over me. And I hate lowering myself to badmouth others, but it was your brother who asked me to give you a reality check. You say you're 22? By your age, I had already faced death so many times I lost count. You, on the other hand, are just a stubborn fool who prefers your own delusions over the truth. Heaven gave you eyes and ears, but you use them like livestock: you hear the call but don't see the blade. In the end, those who refuse to think for themselves end up offering their neck willingly."
Darian had no choice but to speak as bluntly as possible. By now, he understood that this foolish girl had been completely manipulated by the idiots from the Golden Scale Kingdom and could no longer see reason. Changing her mind gently, before a tragedy happened, would be practically impossible.
"You're the livestock!" Lanaya snapped.
"I won't bother saying anything else to you. If I can't talk to you, then don't come with me." Darian spoke indifferently. Either she figured things out on her own, or he'd completely give up.
"Hmph, I'll go with you and annoy you until the end of the world! You idiot!"
To Darian's surprise, she shouted and grabbed his hand tightly. Even she didn't know why she acted like that; it was like her rational mind didn't understand, but her survival instincts were begging her not to let him go.
Seeing Lanaya clenching her teeth with tears in her eyes, Darian's heart softened once again. He sighed… it was really hard to properly guide someone.
"Alright, let's calm down. This is the Goddess Temple, and if we act like this, we'll get kicked out. Then the princess would really lose her reputation." Darian softened his tone.
"No, you're the one who has to apologize! Who said you could be so harsh and scold me like that!" Lanaya refused to let go of his arm, as if she wouldn't release him even if she died.
"Alright, I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so aggressive. I shouldn't have scolded you." Darian raised his hands in surrender, like he was dealing with a stubborn child. Deep down, he felt she had already taken a big hit; that alone was worth it, since it would make her reflect more.
"You… you…" Lanaya suddenly started crying for real.
"Hey, what's wrong with you? I already apologized. Why are you crying?" Darian was speechless.
"My father… my mother… my brother… none of them ever scolded me this harshly, but you… " You called me an idiot and said I was livestock!" she cried harder and harder.
Since she was young, she had always been spoiled because of her talent and was rarely scolded. Even though Lanaya was stubborn and headstrong, she was kind at heart. She had simply never been disciplined strictly.
That was why Darian's scolding triggered such a strong reaction. She didn't know how to handle it, even with him apologizing.
Darian muttered, "Hey, don't make a scene. This isn't the place to cry."
"I don't care. You bullied me…!"
"The Goddess Temple is a quiet place. Who's causing such a disturbance?" Suddenly, a reprimanding female voice sounded ahead, making Lanaya freeze mid-step.
"Ah, it's a misunderstanding. There's no trouble. My little sister here got emotional from the environment and decided to sing a song to express her reverence for the Sacred Goddess," Darian said with a smile.
Lanaya, who was crying, let out a small laugh when she heard that. Her expression quickly turned to embarrassment, and she hurriedly wiped her tears.
"My little sister sings very well. But in her excitement, she went off-key, so it sounded like crying. Please don't take offense," Darian continued. Then he pulled the princess closer. "Alright, no more fuss. Time to get back to work."
As they turned the corner, they saw a woman standing in front of a small pavilion, looking at them coldly. She was a priestess.
***
Exactly thirty days later, Darian and Lanaya finally left the Goddess Temple.
They had basically cleaned out all the priests inside without mercy. Around 90% of the Dew they had was handed over to Darian, who split everything with the princess.
He didn't really need those things, so he just stored them without much thought.
On the way back, Lanaya happily held onto Darian's arm. Darian didn't mind, because even if Niara were there, upon sensing her childish and completely pure aura, she would understand that this was just a young girl with a childlike mind, without any ulterior motives.
In fact, he was working hard to help her come to her senses.
Only after leaving the Temple did she let go of his arm and return to the castle with the guards.
The guards were surprised to see her smiling so openly. When they had entered, the two seemed hostile toward each other, almost ready to fight. The guards exchanged silent glances.
Upon reaching the castle, Lanaya said goodbye, and the guards took Darian to Prince Davion's residence.
The prince had been waiting for him for a long time. As soon as he sensed him, he rushed out to meet him. "Sir Darian, how were your gains in the temple?"
Darian waved lightly. "Haha, I gained quite a lot."
"Has my sister started to understand the truth?" the prince asked eagerly.
A bit awkwardly, Darian said, "I suppose I made a big step in that direction. But she's quite… let's say… dreamy… and a bit of an airhead…"
"That's fine, that's already great. We can't rush things. That girl is extremely defensive. Right now, I don't even dare bring up anything about this topic around her, or she'll explode. Since you just met her recently, you need to earn her trust first and, for now, avoid sensitive topics. We don't want her to become defensive toward you as well," Prince Davion sighed.
