Chapter 662: Volume Eighteen: Stormy Secrets, - Thirteen: Perfect Deception
"Do you need my help with anything else?" Eve raised her beautiful eyebrows, the clarity and tranquility in her eyes flowing through Komer’s heart like a gentle spring. This girl truly had a talent for being a missionary, her innate peace and serenity always bringing a sense of calm to those who were lost.
"Eve, as humans live in this world, we face all the complexities of the material world, toiling for our livelihood. Certain things are inevitable, and it seems we’re all striving for our own goals. But what, exactly, are we aiming to achieve with all this? Is it to hold peerless power, or to possess inexhaustible wealth, unparalleled beauty, or supreme magic and martial arts? And after obtaining these, what then? Do I sometimes question myself, what am I really pursuing?"
Komer sighed softly, his face clouding with thought, "Human desire is sometimes hard to describe. Without it, it seems we lose our motivation to strive. Yet the pursuit of desire to an extreme can become a kind of obsession, a madness. More importantly, sometimes we cannot be sure of what we need, what result we wish to achieve. The superficial noise cannot mask the loneliness in our hearts. What do we truly need? Eve, can you tell me?"
His words poured forth like a confessional torrent from the depths of Komer’s heart. He initially just wanted to find an excuse to elicit the other person’s sympathy, to make her feel at ease to stay. But once he started speaking, he found himself genuinely expressing the confusion deep within. From Homer, the endless humiliation that Philip and Tracey brought, the bitterness and mixed emotions of two years in exile—almost every time he woke from a dream he had to lick the wounds deep within his soul. Now it seemed he had escaped those shadows, but why then did he always find it hard to fall back asleep when he woke in the night? Could it be as Eve once inadvertently mentioned, that it isn’t what faith one has that’s frightening, but rather, the absence of faith?
With a self-deprecating smile, he hadn’t expected to move himself with his speech that was intended to sway the other person. How ironic. Komer didn’t know what effect his incoherent words would have. At that moment, he could only pretend to be a lost lamb to gain the other’s sympathy. Good thing acting had always been his forte; putting on a performance wasn’t difficult for him.
Eve was struck by Komer’s passionate self-disclosure, or rather, it was the heartfelt questions he roared from his soul that stunned her. She didn’t expect that beneath Komer’s usual composure, his nonchalant and carefree demeanor, there lay such desolation and uncertainty. His outward success concealed his inner bewilderment. She began to realize she understood less and less about the person in front of her. A loss of faith, perhaps that was it; no matter how glorious they appeared, the emptiness and loneliness in their hearts were inescapable. What, if anything, could she do for him?
Seeing that although Eve’s expression remained unchanged, she had fallen silent, clearly pondering the impact of his words. At this time, Komer dared not relax in the slightest. He could only put on his most desolate, sorrowful facade, desperately trying to evoke her deepest pity and compassion with his helplessness.
The entire Caucasus might be just like Komer, a facade of flourishing prosperity, but behind it lay the decline of faith. Spiritual emptiness and a wasteland of belief spread across both the Caucasus and Leon. As a priest, one’s duty isn’t only to save human bodies, but also to strive to save their faith. Eve had thought of this, but it seemed an impossible ideal for the entire Caucasus and Leon.