Chapter 24

“…”

“Because I haven’t answered you yet.”

“…”

Therefore, even if I have sex with another man while Felix is away, I am innocent. As soon as I made this realization penetrate his still-sleepy brain, he cried out in protest.

“That’s not right—! We were good together last night—!”

Was it only good at night? Felix, who complained that it was also good this morning, suddenly tried to change the narrative to suit himself, claiming that this should count as us dating. So, I intertwined my fingers with his and personally reenacted what he had done to me the day before.

“This is flirting, sex appeal, so this—I suppose it depends on how you’re feeling right now, doesn’t it?”

When I asked him where there was any premise that we were dating in that, Felix immediately squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip. It seemed he was embarrassed by what he had said. If he thought I would stop there, he was mistaken.

“Your feeling! The feeling—you—said—with—your—own—mouth—ugh!”

In an instant, Felix’s hand reached out to cover my mouth. However, it didn’t mean much since he couldn’t bring himself to use real force against me. So, I didn’t back down until the end, and I teased Felix thoroughly for his smooth-talking, butter-up lines that he’d used to ride the mood the day before. Your feeling! Your feeling!

It was on my way back from attending a tea party that morning. The building of the Temple suddenly caught my eye. And out of the blue, I felt an impulse to go visit.

I wasn’t the type to visit the Temple often. Before I was married, I hadn’t gone because my heart had grown small due to being eliminated from the Saint candidates, and after I was married, I hadn’t gone because of issues related to the Otherworld gods—or rather, I couldn’t go because my own conscience was pricking me.

I didn’t bother attending Temple events either, unless they were state functions. The fact that I was walking toward the Temple now must have meant that my heart had finally found some peace.

While I was there, I stopped by the prayer room and wished for a passing breeze. It was surprising how calm my heart felt afterward.

“Excuse me, Countess Lallanne.”

“…?”

I turned around at the cautious call and saw the Saint I gave a polite greeting in my confusion, and she returned it with equal grace. The current Saint was someone who had been a candidate in the same year as me and was ultimately chosen; her Divine Compatibility was ridiculously high.

All the candidates at the time must have had no choice but to accept the result. Of course, I had accepted it fully as well, but in my youthful heart, I couldn’t help but feel bitter about it.

“Saint, did you have something to say to me?”

“Yes. If you have the time, would you be able to help me with something?”

“What kind of help?”

The task the Saint asked for was to hold a ladder. She climbed the ladder I was holding and replaced a few seasonal decorations.

“Thank you, Countess. Thanks to you, it was finished easily.”

“It was nothing.”

“This is a reward for your help.”

What the Saint handed me was a wand.

“This… isn’t this for a priest?”

“It’s one I used. I received a new wand this time, so this one was going to be for storage anyway.”

“Why give this to me?”

“I sense a very high divine power from you. Something seasoned in the Temple will suit you better than anything else on the market. If I keep it, it will just remain in a storage box, but if the Countess uses it, that child (referring to the wand affectionately) will be very fulfilled.”

I accepted the wand the Saint repeatedly held out in a daze, feeling nothing but confusion.

“I’m not affiliated with the Temple; is it alright for me to possess something like this?”

“If anyone asks, just say I gifted it to you. It will be fine.”

“Ah… yes. I only held the ladder, yet you give me something so precious…”

“Essentially, it’s just an old wand.”

And with that, the Saint turned away without hesitation, as if her business were done.

Even after returning home, the strange feeling lingered, so I examined the wand in contemplation. I didn’t know if I would ever need it, but if it was the wand of a Saint—who was on the level of a high-ranking priest—it had to be a well-crafted item.

The Saint had called it just an old wand, but no matter how I looked at it, it looked precious, so I tucked it safely away in a drawer for now.

Although I held the noble title, I didn’t live a noble lifestyle. I shopped, cooked, and lived like an ordinary person. Since my husband was dead and the in-laws’ family had vanished anyway, there was no one left to tell me what to do. I didn’t know what they might say behind my back, but since I didn’t care, I decided to ignore their chatter regardless.

The biggest beneficiary of this lifestyle was, without a doubt, Felix. If I had still been living in a noble manor with servants waiting on me hand and foot, Felix might have found it a bit difficult to see me. Or, he would have become an expert at climbing through windows to hide in my bedroom every day.

“Iel, are you still not going to give me an answer today?”

Felix hugged my waist from behind, swaying me back and forth as he pestered me for an answer to his confession. In truth, my mind was already made up. But because he kept rushing me, I felt shy about saying it.

“Is it that hard to decide? If you tell me what the problem is, I’ll try to fix it.”

“…I’ve made my decision.”

“Really?”

Felix hugged me tighter from behind as he spoke.

“I’m ready to hear it.”

“…”

“Hurry.”

“…”

“Well? Hurryyy.”

As I continued to stay silent, Felix placed his ear next to my lips and said it was fine to whisper. Might this look like consideration? Not at all! He already knew the answer and was just teasing me.

If it had been a rejection, he wouldn’t have even been allowed to hug me like this in the first place. Felix knew that. Yet he pestered me simply because he wanted to hear the cringeworthy words come out of my mouth.

In the end, not having the courage to do it alone, I demanded that Felix confess one more time. Even though I said it quite grumpily, Felix agreed readily.

“Let’s date!”

“Yeah.”

“Do you love me?”

“…Yes.”

“I love you.”

“…Me too.”

Even though that was all I could say, Felix smiled so happily. Seeing his face, for some reason, my heart felt heavy with emotion. I felt I had to treat him better.

It was with that thought that I did what I did that day.

Building up a sense of debt that I wasn’t reciprocating his expressions of affection properly, I did something I would never have done otherwise.

“Why is the house so dark? Iel!”

“I’m in the bedroom.”

“Were you sleeping?”

Felix walked into the bedroom, holding the light he’d brought from the kitchen. As soon as he discovered me sitting on the bed, his eyes went wide.

“W-what are you doing?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“Why… in that state?”

I felt very sad at his question.

“State…? Did you call it a state?”

“No, no. Sorry, that came out wrong. Why are you dressed like that?”

“Yes, there is a sad story behind this state of mine right now.”

“I told you I was sorry. What kind of sad story?”

“I wanted to do this with confidence, but once I actually ended up in this state! I couldn’t do it with a sober mind. So I drank a bit of alcohol and prepared.”

Felix looked at the liquor bottles I had pushed into the corner of the room.

“You drank a lot.”

“That’s not the point. The point is that I! In this state! Have been waiting for you since early evening.”

“Hmm…”

Felix laughed awkwardly and placed the light on the table. Then he climbed onto the bed and sat facing me.

“I’m a bit late. Something urgent came up.”

“No, no. It’s okay, you can be late. You don’t have a set time for work. You’re a mercenary. So, it’s only natural. Yes, yes.”

“Uh… then was the problem that I’ve been coming home early lately but was suddenly late today? Did something go wrong with the plan you anticipated and prepared?”

“Plan, schman. What could be so great about it? I’m just sitting here in this state!”

Felix hesitated, then reached out to stroke my bare shoulder and said, “Your skin is cold. You must have been like this for a very long time.”

I sniffled loudly, as if to make him hear. Felix quickly pulled a blanket from the corner of the bed and wrapped it around my body. At that moment, my perfectly fine mood suddenly plummeted.

“What are you doing?”

“I was afraid you’d be cold.”

I slapped his hand away as he was tucking the blanket around me. Then I glared at him with all my might.

“Iel?”

“Afraid I’d be cold? Afraid I’d be cold?”

“Huh?”

I aggressively unraveled the blanket I was wrapped in and tossed it aside. Then I spread my arms wide and shouted.

“I am in this state! Right now! And you’re worried about me being cold? Say that again! You impotent bastard!”