Sweetheart, Do You Still Love Me?

The plaintive sound suddenly stopped soon after Elspeth entered a court, and she was about to turn

and leave when the door behind her suddenly shut tight.

Shoot, I’ve been had. Those guys probably haven’t had enough and quickly devised a plan to

subterfuge me, seeing that I’m alone.

At that, she looked toward the coping, intending to climb over the wall. However, it was too high, and

she couldn’t even reach the top.

Hence, she wandered around, traversing a corridor and a bridge before arriving at a massive side

court.

Elspeth had sensed a depressing atmosphere before even entering the place, but her curiosity drove

her to continue forward. With that, she walked into the place, which was smoke-filled despite being

brightly lit.

As she went further in, she found an octogenarian dressed in a cleric’s robe, lighting candles at the

altar.

“I don’t mean to intrude, Abbot…”

“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, child of God.”

“Have you been waiting for me?” Elspeth was stumped.

“Yes.” The abbot turned around with a rigorous smile. “The Holy Father guides those who have a

predestined relationship with fate.”

Elspeth smiled in response. “Well, technically, I’m an atheist.”

Nuance laced the abbot’s face as the young woman continued, “I was drawn over by a strange noise. I

haven’t come looking for you, Abbot.”

Just like that, the smile on the elder’s face stiffened.

“But if there’s something you’d like to say, I’m all ears.”

Elspeth smiled so harmlessly that the abbot became rather ill at ease. “Well, you see, it’s been a long

while since I last had visitors, and you’ve shown up out of the blue. It’ll be nice if I can have someone to

talk to…”

Well, this isn’t what I was expecting…

Elspeth thought he must be some prophetic saint who would tell her some kind of secret that must not

be told if she talked to him. But when she found the elder smiling somewhat reservedly, she was

suddenly baffled.

“Are you not going to tell me some kind of secret?” She looked skeptically at his face.

“I am but a simple man, child of God. I know no prophecies.” The abbot’s eyes curved into crescents as

he smiled. “In science, we must trust.”

Trust in science… The head of the abbey is telling me to trust in science…

The elder’s words stupefied Elspeth, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to do.

“Okay, if you say so. To be honest, I don’t know what led me here. Can you tell me how to leave this

place?” Elspeth gazed at the strange octogenarian and thought she should still head out first.

At that, a hint of disappointment laced the abbot’s face. “You’re the first person in many years to enter

the Abbot’s Court accurately. Can’t you sit down and chat with me for a moment?”

“But…”

“A storm will be coming in an hour. There’s no need to rush,” said the abbot as he invited Elspeth to

take a seat.

Helpless, the young woman sat down and pulled her phone out to call Callum, only for her heart to sink

as she realized her phone was dead.

“Is your phone dead, child of God?”

Elspeth nodded in response.

“Here, allow me. I’ll revive it.”

Is it me, or is this conversation somewhat odd…

As baffled as she was, she still handed the elder her phone.

“I see affably in you, child of God. You must be favored by the Holy Father.”

“Thank you, Abbot.” Elspeth smiled courteously.

“If my guess is right, you must be a Lynwood, are you not, child of God?”

He should know my name if he knows my last name, then!

“Do you know me, Abbot?”

“Of course. I surf the net too.”

The young woman was rendered at a loss for words.

“However, you look exceptionally like the woman who often donated money to our abbey twenty years

ago.” The abbot gazed at her like he saw another person through time.

“I’m sorry?”

“If my guess is right, she’s probably your mother, Miss Joneson.”

“Do you know my mother?! In that case, do you have other news about her, Abbot?!” Elspeth sprang to

her feet at once.

But to her dismay, the abbot shook his head. “I don’t know her situation, child of God. However, I can

tell you that those who are fated to meet will meet again. There’s no reason to rush.”

Was there anything useful in what you just said? Elspeth quirked the corner of her lips and said, “Well,

can you tell me what you know about my mother? Perhaps I can find some clues from it.”

Seeing the expectant look on her face, the abbot knew he couldn’t rain on her parade. “She was a very

gentle woman. She would come and donate money every month for three years. All of us in the abbey

came to know her.”

“And then?”

“Later on, she held a baby girl in her arms every time she came. She visited less and less frequently

with time, and she disappeared in the end. I assumed she had gotten busy.”

“That’s not it.” Elspeth lowered her head as a hint of sadness flashed across her eyes. “She had gone

missing.”

However, the abbot was unruffled. “There’s a reason for everyone and everything. The Holy Father

saith, ‘say nothing’. You will have to find the answer yourself, child of God.”

“Is there no other way?”

The abbot paused for a second before answering, “The answer you seek is right under your nose.”

Right under my nose… Elspeth took a deep breath and was struck with a realization.

“Thank you, Abbot. I get it now. Can you show me the way out now?”

The abbot sighed in response. “Very well. I’ll see you out.”

With that, Elspeth traversed the complicated route under the abbot’s lead and finally returned to that

tree.

After seeing the elder away, she began searching for Callum and found him in a gazebo not far away.

On the other hand, Callum dialed Elspeth’s number multiple times only to receive the cold, monotonous

voice of the answering machine every time. Hence, he strode toward her when he found her

approaching his direction and clasped her shoulders, asking, “Where have you been?! Do you know

how worried I was?!”

Elspeth’s heart skipped a beat when she noticed the hint of anxiety lacing his usually staid face. “I’m

sorry, but my phone was dead. When I was walking, someone suddenly shut the door from behind me.

I didn’t know where I was, and it was an abbot who guided me out of there.”

“Someone shut you in?” Callum narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah! I thought it was weird too. I have a feeling that someone’s ambushing us.”

“I see.” Callum nodded. “Let’s head down the mountain now. We still have scenes to shoot at night.”

Since they had to shoot the kissing scene at Capolis at night, Elspeth decided to make a trip to

Waeldestone Abbey during the day, but who’d have thought something like this would happen?!

“Well, we’ve already made our wishes anyway. Let’s go.”

On the other hand, Eric heaved a sigh of relief after exiting the washroom, seeing that Elspeth had

returned in one piece. “I thought you had gotten lost. Callum and I have been looking for you

everywhere. We came back and waited here, in an obvious place, worried that you wouldn’t see us

after you returned.”