4.2

“I’ve taken it off…”  

“Sigh. Look at this.”  

As Isaac’s injuries, hidden under his priestly robes, were revealed, Helena let out a sigh. His broad chest and shoulders were wrapped haphazardly in white bandages, stained with patches of red where the blood had seeped through. She clicked her tongue in disapproval as she examined the mess.  

“I knew this would happen. What’s the point of a patient avoiding their doctor?”  

“I’m sorry…”  

“If your shoulder muscles start to decay, you’ll never be able to use your arm again. Do you understand?”  

“Yes… I won’t do it again.”  

Helena’s scolding tone, like that of a mother reprimanding a child, left Isaac visibly deflated. His large frame hunched over as he tried to make himself smaller. She sighed again and began carefully unwrapping the poorly tied bandages.  

As the distance between them closed while she worked, Isaac squeezed his eyes shut and sat as still as a statue, though his heart pounded furiously. For some reason, he imagined a faint scent of roses, though he knew it wasn’t really there.  

“All done. …Why are your eyes closed, anyway?” 

Helena muttered to herself as if talking to no one, examining the wounded area. Thankfully, it seemed the wound had been disinfected in time. As she had feared, the flesh had not necrotized, and the injury was healing well. There was still some bleeding, though.

The sight of the wound brought back the memory of him fainting, and her brows furrowed involuntarily.  

After removing the stitches that had held the torn flesh together, Helena carefully applied ointment over the wound. At her gentle touch, Isaac shivered unconsciously, his eyes still tightly shut as he sought the Goddess who wasn’t even there.  

“…O noble Goddess, protect me from the darkness, and may I—.”  

Listening to his prayer, she found the situation absurd. If he was going to be so conscious of her presence, why was he seeking the Goddess instead? Feeling a mischievous impulse, she lightly kissed his lips. The eyes that seemed as though they would never open suddenly shot wide open.  

“H-Helena…!”  

“Isaac, didn’t you kiss me without my permission too?”  

Helena, speaking with a pout, brought out fresh bandages and firmly wrapped his shoulder and chest. This time, her actions had nothing to do with their wager. She simply found herself wanting to do it, which she found amusing. Meanwhile, Isaac remained silent, his lips tightly sealed. Unlike earlier, he now wore a strangely sullen expression, which left her feeling frustrated.  

“The treatment is done. Don’t you have anything to say?”  

“…About the last time I kissed you…”  

“Are you going to call it a mistake?”  

A mistake. Isaac thought to himself. Could he dare call it a mistake in front of her? Claiming that he had done something foolish to her because he was confused between dream and reality would just be a cowardly excuse.  

“…It wasn’t a mistake.”  

Clenching his fists tightly, he looked into Helena’s brown eyes, which reflected the color of green forests, and spoke as if making a vow. It wasn’t a mistake; it was his will that had led him to kiss her.  

“Then that’s fine.”  

Hearing his confident answer, Helena felt relieved, thinking that at least it was a step forward. She curved her eyes prettily and smiled.  

***

It was, however, her pathetic delusion. Despite that one step forward, there had been no progress between them for days now.  

“Isaac.”  

“Yes, Helena.”  

When Helena grabbed Isaac’s hand as he watered the vegetable garden, he turned to her and smiled, his face flushing red. He no longer ran away or avoided her touch, but that was all.  

“The weather is so nice today. How about going out together for a bit?”  

“I’m sorry. I’m on confessional duty today. Let’s go together next time. I promise.”  

Next time. Isaac’s scent carried a sweet fragrance, but it had yet to ripen. With the deadline for their wager fast approaching, an increasingly anxious Helena eventually sought him out in the confessional booth.  

‘Today, I’ll settle this here.’  

Creak—  

The sound of the confessional window opening echoed softly in the small booth. Helena parted her red lips.  

“May the holy name of the Goddess be with you.”  

At her whispered voice, a rattling sound came from the other side of the confessional. Soon, Isaac’s slightly hoarse voice rose in prayer.  

“…The Goddess illuminates your darkness. Under Her love, confess the sins you have committed thus far.”  

‘The love of the Goddess, huh.’  

Helena barely held back a scoff, choosing instead to utter words that would leave him no room to escape.  

“I have fallen in love with someone I dare not hold in my heart.”

She focused her attention on the confessional window, but when there was no response, she continued her lie.  

“At first, I admired his faith. Then, I became fond of his pure, green eyes.”  

Helena recalled the first time she met Isaac—the face of the young boy praying in front of a dead elk, and then those budding, innocent eyes looking up at her. As the cherished memory surfaced, her red lips continued to move.  

“I found him adorable as he hovered around me, and I liked his pure-hearted nature.”  

Whether as a child or as an adult, he always stayed by her side, blushing and smiling, which she found endearing.  

“I even felt relieved when he showed jealousy.”  

The day the hunter from the neighboring village, Bill, came to the treatment room, she had noticed Isaac’s reaction—jealousy. That night, when they were together, she had deliberately refrained from saying, “I am yours.”  

‘But did I really feel relieved…?’  

Helena began to question whether what she was saying was a lie or the truth. Yet, the confession that had already burst forth showed no signs of stopping.  

“When he came to me wounded… I was scared.”  

The sight of him bleeding overlapped with the images of her prey, who had died at Dennis’s hands. Perhaps that was why—the forgotten specter of death suddenly struck her anew.  

“…Once I realized it, I couldn’t stop. And… ah.”  

Helena let out a short sigh and clasped her cold hands over her face. She seemed angry at her own foolishness. Perhaps this was why Dennis had imposed the condition that she would lose if she fell in love. The more forbidden something was, the deeper it etched itself into her mind.  

When had it begun? Was it when we first met? When I first tasted his blood? …No, perhaps it was the day he pitied the vampires. 

Without realizing it, she had been drawn in, denying for so long what had already become love.  

In the silence that seemed endless, she lowered her hands from her face and let out a hollow laugh.  

“No… it’s a lie. I don’t love him. Forgive me for the sin of lying, and for the sins I dare not confess, under the name of the Goddess.”  

Even if she found her ‘Uncle’ and became human, the Goddess would never forgive her. It wasn’t enough that she had become a vampire and stolen the lives of others—she had also toyed with one of the Goddess’s servants. And in the end, she didn’t even believe in the Goddess. She would surely fall into the gods’ prison.  

With self-mockery, Helena rose from her seat and left the confessional. Normally, a confession would end with the priest’s prayer, but she didn’t want to hear any words about her sins being forgiven by the Goddess.  

“Is it really a lie?”  

Isaac’s voice followed her as he emerged from the confessional, but Helena didn’t turn around as she replied.  

“…Who knows.”  

Her voice, tinged with sadness, echoed as she walked away. Watching her retreating figure, Isaac felt as if his chest was about to collapse, unable to breathe. He thought it might be right to let her go, but before he realized it, his body had already moved. He ran to her and grabbed her pale wrist.  

Even when he had avoided her out of guilt, even when he had tried to maintain the distance they used to have, Helena’s smile kept coming back to his mind, leaving him unable to calm his heart. And now, her confession in the confessional left him utterly broken, unable to do anything. He couldn’t even begin to grasp what she must have felt to come this far.  

Finally, the thought of denying her last words—that it was all a lie—was what spurred him into action.  

“Let go of me, Isaac.”

Helena tried to pull her wrist free, but the more she struggled, the tighter Isaac’s grip became. He dragged her into the priest’s confessional. The space, which was barely large enough for one person, became cramped with the two of them inside, forcing their bodies to press against one another.  

Although Helena could have easily pushed him away if she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to exert her full strength, worried about his wounds that had yet to fully heal.  

“Let me go. Please…”  

She didn’t even know what she was pleading for. She had intended to settle things, yet here she was, falling apart. How pathetic. She just wanted to stop being swept away by him and focus on the wager.  

Even though desire flickered in those pale green eyes, Helena felt no joy. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. She moved her body, trying to leave the confessional.  

That’s when Isaac roughly tore the necklace from around his neck and wrapped it around her wrists, tying them behind her back. It was the necklace she had given him long ago, the one with the Goddess’s wings.