His heart felt like molten lava surging through his chest.

Not long after Irynsis began the treatment, Cassion was convinced his heart was about to explode.

The place where her hand touched burned—scorching hot, like it was boiling.

“It’s only because it’s the first time.”

Her flat whisper, meant to comfort, only made it worse. The blotch consuming his heart writhed violently, sending waves of pain crashing through his body, sharp enough to blur his vision.

Perhaps sensing this, Irynsis began to gently stroke his back with her other hand. It didn’t help. If anything, it made things worse.

Heat erupted inside him, and something inside snapped with a jolt.

When he opened his eyes, he was met with icy blue—colder than frost in autumn.

‘Swallow her whole.’

He wanted to trap those frigid, glacial eyes deep inside him. If he could bury his burning face against that snow-white neck and shoulder, rub himself into her cool skin, he’d want for nothing more.

Once the urge began, it grew beyond control.

“Mmph!”

Like a starving deer stumbling across a bright red cornelian cherry in the snow, he dove into her lips—His breath came ragged against her skin.

The hand that had been resting limply on the ground now gripped her like a tightly drawn rope. One arm coiled around her slender waist, the other pulled her head in with greedy force—And he devoured her lips.

The moment Irynsis let out a faint moan from lack of air, it became an opening. Cassion immediately parted her lips and forced his tongue inside.

Her small body offered no resistance—strength drained from her limbs. Breath mingled with breath.
His tongue, bold and unrelenting like a predator, grew more savage as it became intoxicated by the sweet fruit hidden within her mouth.

The more he tasted, the more he drank, the more insatiable he became.

“What is this?”

His breath, hot enough to boil iron, brushed roughly against her ear.

“You said I wouldn’t go mad—You never said there wouldn’t be any side effects…”

The words barely escaped her, broken and gasping, and even then, they never reached the end.

Cassion surged forward again, devouring her lips whole.

Compared to his large, rock-solid frame, Irynsis was terribly small. That massive body, hungry for something smaller than itself, bent forward. Unlike the tireless, growing fervor of Cassion, Irynsis’s frail body began to weaken.

She couldn’t withstand the weight pressing down on her.

With a soft thud, she finally collapsed backward.

In that fleeting moment, the hand that had been cradling her head slipped away—
only for their fingers to lace together.

“Haa…”

Irynsis let out a shallow breath. Even that brief pause, he wouldn’t allow—he closed in again without hesitation.

She hadn’t been all that surprised when Cassion kissed her.

Her control over divine power was unrefined, and that often led to side effects. The Cassion from her past life had also lost control like this—though even then, he had never taken her into his arms.

Stubborn to a fault, she’d thought. Still, it made her wonder—what kind of woman was his type?

Eventually, she came to believe that no man would ever desire a broken body like hers.

Even as those thoughts flowed endlessly, her lips continued to accept him.

And just as she finally tried to push him away—realizing people might come looking for them any moment now.

“Irynsis!”

A shrill voice rang out above their heads, it was Lomia.

****

Lomia had only been able to leave after promising the noblewoman, who was sobbing after having a drink spilled on her, that the marquisate would send her a new dress soon.

“I’m worried about my sister.”

A few nearby guests, moved by her trembling voice, volunteered to help search for Irynsis.

Had Irynsis known, she would’ve scoffed at the act, calling it pure hypocrisy.

“I believe she went toward the garden.” 

Said Laurel, who had already searched Irynsis’s room and several other places around the estate.

“Thank you, Sir Herzen.” 

Lomia replied with a sweet smile.

“Would you like to come with us, too?”

One of the guests who had offered to help asked Laurel, glad to have the knight along.

A saintess and her holy knight—what a picturesque pair. It was a scene worth remembering.

Laurel said nothing, only nodded silently before stepping up beside Lomia and leading the way toward the garden.

And the sight that greeted her—Irynsis, sprawled across the garden floor, receiving a kiss from the man.

Lomia trembled as she watched Cassion brush dirt and fallen leaves off Irynsis, gently lifting her from the ground.

‘He knows I like him. He’s doing this on purpose.’

He was doing it deliberately. Knowing full well that Lomia had liked Cassion Pathsbender since childhood, he had chosen to do this right out in the open, as if to turn her inside out.

“Isn’t that His Grace the Duke?”

“Oh dear…”

Of all times, they had arrived with several people in tow. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before rumors spread.

Laurel, too, felt displeased. He had been feeling uneasy whenever he saw Irynsis for some time now.

From the beginning, he had known that a foreign woman accompanied the Saintess. It was said to be the result of the Marquisate of Cambria’s past good deeds, fitting for the household that had birthed the Saintess.

He had thought the Saintess’s devoutness would one day cleanse the shameful bloodline that required a white veil to be worn at all times. At one point, the thought even stirred a desire in him to glimpse the face behind that veil.

But Laurel came face to face with Irynsis’s veiled face much sooner than he had expected.

“What is going on here?”

He had gone to an outbuilding’s basement, said to be a storage place for unused weapons. He hadn’t expected anyone to be there.

But someone was.

Behind a rusted grate and a firmly locked door, a small figure curled on the cold floor.
Her body covered in wounds, white garments stained red, veil torn to shreds—It was Irynsis.

“I’m in repentance. Please leave without saying anything.”

Upon seeing Laurel, Irynsis murmured in a low, lifeless voice, her face devoid of any expression.

Laurel, unable to believe that this was the face hidden behind the veil, couldn’t take a step forward.

Then, wariness flickered across her pale face, and icy contempt filled her bright blue eyes.

“Are you so desperate to make a spectacle of me?”

“…My apologies.”

It was wrong to disturb someone’s time of repentance.

Telling himself that, Laurel forced his feet to move, though each step creaked with hesitation. He already knew that Irynsis would enter a time of repentance after every visit to the Imperial Palace. It was said to be a special instruction from the Saintess herself—to keep arrogance at bay, should she receive too much favor from the royals.

The fact that she never missed a single day of it had once seemed admirable to him.

But what exactly had he just witnessed?

Her body had not a single spot untouched by injury. Could that truly be called repentance?

That thought made it increasingly difficult for Laurel to look at her. She was a woman who stirred doubt.

And to harbor doubt in one’s faith or toward God—such thoughts were sins.

Laurel Herzen had been born into the depths of sin. Without his devotion, he had no right to exist.

In short, Irynsis was a woman who made him question his entire existence. Of course she made him uncomfortable.

So then, seeing her now—lips pressed against another man’s, sprawled so carelessly—how could he not feel deeply disturbed?

There could be no other reason.

“If she made you uncomfortable, I apologize, Your Grace.” 

Said Lomia—the Saintess, and Laurel’s top priority—cutting through his spiraling thoughts.

“Sir Herzen, take Irynsis back to her room.”

“Yes, my lady.”

At her command, Laurel stepped forward and seized Irynsis by the arm.

“Let’s go.”

But she did not move.

From the other side, Cassion had wrapped an arm around her waist and showed no sign of letting go. His sharp gaze fixed on the hand gripping her arm, nearly hostile.

“Didn’t she call you ‘sister’?”

His voice was thick with open ridicule.

As if to say: you took in a foreigner as family and earned all that praise, yet this is the treatment you give her?

“I, That is…”

“Then I don’t think she’s someone just anyone can grab like that.”

Before Lomia—who had just addressed Irynsis like a servant—could offer an excuse, the sharp-edged words were already aimed at Laurel.

“…Sir Herzen, please escort her sister with respect.”

At that, Irynsis pulled herself away from Cassion’s hold.

That small motion alone soured Cassion’s mood.

So she’s just going to let that bastard’s hand stay there?

Why tear herself away from me and not him?

Just as he was about to spit out his protest without a shred of self-restraint, Irynsis suddenly shoved Laurel’s hand away.

‘That’s more like it.’

An inexplicable satisfaction curled Cassion’s lips into a smile.

She turned slightly and fixed his collar. Understanding her silent message to hide the plague’s mark before others could see, Cassion swiftly fastened the button.

“You won’t have any choice but to accept my offer.”

A small voice whispered by his ear—an expression of confidence in the effectiveness of the treatment.

“Is that so?”

Cassion chuckled.

And around them, gasps erupted from the mouths of the watching crowd.