“You seemed bored.”

“No, it’s not that, but…”

“Anyway, I have nothing more to discuss, so leave.”

After he elegantly told the mage to get lost, he strode back toward JeJe. It wouldn’t be particularly surprising now if he grabbed her hand or seized her shoulder. JeJe moved her steps slowly, letting Shahan lead her by the hand.

“I remember buying you a wool coat at the same time.”

“…”

“I didn’t give it to you to stuff away in your wardrobe. It means don’t catch a cold wandering around on cold days and bother me.”

“I have no intention of troubling you, Shahan.”

“Enough excuses. Wear it starting tomorrow.”

JeJe let out a quiet sigh at his words telling her to come get his approval every morning before going out to work. She no longer worked in Shahan’s office. 

It was near the end of the promised four weeks, and at Elpida’s request, she had received permission to take herbology lessons and officially tend the temple’s fields. 

Though Shahan did occasionally visit to check her temperature and blood pressure, and to ask about private matters like whether her stomach felt heavy or uncomfortable, or about the amount and cycle of her menstruation.

Sometimes he would visit for no reason at all. When she asked why he had come, the only dry response she got was that he was curious about what she was doing. 

Having experienced Shahan’s eccentric behavior for more than a day or two, JeJe, who had initially found it suspicious, soon lost interest. Occasionally he would ask strange things in passing.

“Are you uncomfortable living here? Do you need anything?”

“I’m living well without lacking anything.”

“Do you still miss Narcissus?”

“I think of him sometimes, but not to the extent that I can’t function in daily life.”

JeJe chose her words slowly, trying to understand the intent behind his questions.

“I don’t think I have the same tender feelings for him anymore.”

She trailed off hesitantly after pondering. Shahan, who noticed that this was an obvious lie, pretended not to hear and turned his head, taking her hand in his as they walked along.

“Where did you sell off the hat I gave you? Don’t you know how harsh Eodiphia’s winters are?”

He asked indifferently.

“But winter has just begun, and we’ll have to wait at least another month for snow. I can’t wear a fur hat around the temple from now—especially one with rabbit ears attached.”

He had been strangely often buying items that matched JeJe’s appearance and body size. Suddenly, the horrible memory of when Shahan had forcibly violated her and shoved a rabbit tail behind her came flooding back. 

As she grimaced at the chilling memory, Shahan, who had been watching her closely and seemed to read her thoughts, pressed his lips together tightly. He immediately changed the subject.

“A temple trial will be held in a few days. My final judgment will be handed down then.”

Charged with crimes including the beastkin auction incident and raping apprentice priests for years, Shahan maintained a completely indifferent attitude about the situation ahead. 

He didn’t seem to have any intention of making excuses. He didn’t seem to care about Persephone Rotran’s betrayal either, acting like he had never expected anything from her in the first place.

“They cannot sentence me to death. But they will try to remove a more fundamental danger. What they feel threatened by is not my existence but the position I hold. So I might have to step down from the High Priest position if things go wrong.”

He continued speaking in an unperturbed voice. He was so calm and smooth that it felt like talking to someone who had lost all emotion.

“I made you a condition in exchange for providing Amantalium. I asked you to stay by my side for life. Even if I’m permanently dismissed from the High Priest position and fall to become an insignificant priest, will you remain by my side until the end?”

It wasn’t a coercive voice. But incomprehensibly, something like faint desperation could be felt. The mask-like eyes looking down at her rippled with incomprehensible emotions, and his bloodless lips were tense with anxiety.

“High Priest!”

Just then, Elpida called out loudly from far away, hurrying across the grass field.

“The Imperial Magic Association says they have something to discuss with you and sent an attendant and carriage asking you to stop by the conference hall right now. What would you like to do?”

Shahan didn’t even glance at the approaching Elpida and stared down at JeJe with an expression waiting for an answer. Why is he making such a request of her? JeJe swallowed dry saliva and moved her lips. 

When there was no answer for a while, Shahan’s hand, which had been hanging down, trembled and reached forward like being drawn by something. When she reflexively stepped back, the hand that had stopped in mid-air smoothly returned to its place.

Contrary to his fist clenched tightly enough to crush, his expression was nonchalant, like asking what had just happened.

“…Don’t those bastards know the meaning of moderation? They’re being quite bothersome. Tell them I’ll arrive within an hour.”

Shahan calmly turned around and commanded Elpida. Then he took JeJe’s hand again, which had moved away, and headed toward the temple, saying:

“You help me dress.”

Since it was natural for a servant to help their master dress, she did as instructed. As long as it wasn’t frown-worthy, he didn’t particularly care how JeJe styled him. Even if she deliberately made him look ridiculous, his superhuman beauty could probably handle anything. 

JeJe draped a dalmatica with purple and gold embroidery over a long gray-white wool toga alba (a type of tunic). Then she placed silk stoles with seams on both of Shahan’s arms and hung a V-shaped ornate decorative band around his neck. 

Finally, to mask the distinctive musk scent emanating from him, she brought thick rose oil and applied it meticulously to every corner of his body with obsessive thoroughness.

“Now, it’s my turn.”

“Pardon?”

Shahan rolled up his sleeves, revealing his white, slender arms.

“You have to come with me too. Did you forget? I told you to stay by my side at all times. You can’t set foot in the imperial palace looking so shabby.”

JeJe blinked blankly and then looked down at herself. She wasn’t particularly dirty, but after tending the fields all morning and running around on errands, her appearance wasn’t exactly neat. 

She understood that she had to escort him, but what did he mean by “my turn”? 

The confusion was brief—JeJe let out a shriek at the skilled hands that suddenly touched her body.

“You seem to like rose scent?”

After removing her outer clothes, Shahan wiped her neck, shoulders, and arms with a clean wet cloth from a basin and asked. JeJe shook her head frantically in horror.

“Right, such a flashy scent probably wouldn’t suit you. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean it’s not suited to your level, but rather that freshness or elegance would suit you better than flashiness… something like that.”

Frowning and lost in thought, he took out one of the oils lined up in the drawer and applied it to her curly hair, ears, neck, and wrists. She didn’t know what kind of flower fragrance it was, but it matched quite well with JeJe’s natural acacia scent. 

JeJe remained stiff like a stone until a silver upland embroidered with purple violets was draped over her existing tunic and a hood was placed on her head. This outfit was not that of a mere servant.

‘This is clothing that only apprentice priests like Elpida or intermediate priests can wear.’

She touched the hem of her clothes with an uncomfortable expression. Shahan wasn’t satisfied with just that. Seemingly bothered by the hair hanging loosely outside the hood, he brought a comb and began brushing her hair. JeJe turned completely pale.

“I think I’ve mentioned this several times before, but do you really have no intention of becoming an apprentice priest, JeJe?”

His soft hands without warmth braided her hair into two strands and let them hang down her back. Then he rolled them up in circles by her ears and secured them with accessories set with blue-green gems.

“There, all done.”

JeJe forgot to answer and stared blankly at her reflection in the mirror. With her hair completely hidden under the hood, she looked exactly like an apprentice priest.

“Now let’s go.”

The two finished with their preparations left the room. Shahan took her hand and walked down the long corridor to board the carriage waiting outside the temple. She could feel glances from here and there, but the person holding her hand seemed to pay no attention to them.

“I intend to elevate your status to that of a priest.”

Shahan suddenly spoke up inside the moving carriage.

“Since we can’t ignore your origins, becoming a full priest would be difficult, but apprentice priest should be no problem. Even Persephone Rotran, who lived below commoner status, became a novice priest with my backing.”

“But I…”

“JeJe, don’t try to refuse unconditionally—seize the opportunity given to you. I’ve wanted to keep you by my side for a long time, but that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to elevate you to apprentice priest. How long will you remain a servant? I left you alone because you seemed happy beside Kesera, but… for you, who is no longer the Grand Duke’s adopted daughter, to survive, you need a status that can’t be ignored.”

He paused to catch his breath, then continued in a quiet voice.

“My current position is no different from a candle in the wind. If I receive a guilty verdict at the temple trial, I’ll fall to the bottom in an instant. So while I still have power left, I will elevate you to the position of apprentice priest.”

In Eodiphia, which had maintained a thorough class society, there weren’t many ways to legally rise in status. Why else would even Princess Kesera and Rictusa, who wielded tremendous power, have carefully adopted her into House Eros? 

It wasn’t common, and required some degree of maneuvering to be possible. The same was true for Shahan. JeJe, who had been staring blankly at this second opportunity for social advancement, quickly came to her senses. 

She had learned painfully how disadvantageous her position was in this society, where she didn’t even have a voice. If Shahan, who had been protecting her in his own way, was imprisoned, only one path remained. 

Returning to being a palace slave and living in constant anxiety about having her body violated. Moreover, now that her bond with Princess Kesera had grown dim, in the worst case, she might have to flee the palace pregnant with a prince’s child like Ninian’s colleague, or face execution. 

Of course, the latter would only happen in extreme circumstances.

“But, but Elpida said that to be appointed as an apprentice priest, you must perform the mandatory first night ceremony with the High Priest, who is God’s representative.”

“If you don’t want it, there’s no need to perform it. The first night ceremony is merely a show-off method to prove how much favor you receive from me. Whether it’s a facade or not. Actually, since you’re not interested in such things, it won’t be necessary. Above all, you wouldn’t want my favor, would you?”

Shahan, who had been casually looking at the scenery outside the window, met JeJe’s gaze directly again and smiled hazily like a ghost.

“Of course, I still desire you, but what can be done?”

“…”

“I won’t be able to quench this damned thirst until the moment I die. You could never understand what I mean.”