Carl’s lips were unexpectedly soft and cool. His breath that flowed out brushingly lightly tickled her skin.

At the unexpected physical contact, she froze completely.

“You……”

This mischievous guy.

Who gave permission to kiss the back of my hand without asking?!

She wanted to scold him like that, but her lips only gaped open and closed, unable to properly form words.

Carl, who watched her like that and smiled with his eyes curved, tapped her cheek.

“You’re incredibly red. You look like you’re about to burst.”

“……It’s because of you.”

“When you say it like that, I’m even happier?”

This guy, just how shameless is he going to get? This is driving me crazy.

Carl left riding the carriage with a gently smiling face.

Left alone by herself, she stood there dazed until Mandy came and shook her shoulder.

Still savoring the sensation of lips that seemed to remain on the back of her hand.

***

After that day, Carl came to ask her on dates once every two or three days.

At first, Shailyn found it a bit awkward, but before she knew it, she had grown used to it and was now secretly looking forward to it.

‘Will he come today too?’

Since the last date was already three days ago, it was about time for Carl to come.

Shailyn couldn’t concentrate on the book in her hand and kept glancing toward the door.

As if hearing her inner thoughts, Mandy came to find her.

“Miss, you have a visitor.”

“Really?”

To her who jumped up with a pleased face, Mandy urgently reported.

“But it’s not Duke Celsior.”

“……Then?”

An unexpected name flowed into the instantly disappointed Shailyn’s ears.

“The head priest has come.”

“Raviel?”

Shailyn’s eyes widened. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen him much since the heresy trial.

However, in the meantime, she had learned that Raviel was a heretic, which created a sense of distance in her heart, so she hadn’t paid close attention.

‘Why did he suddenly come to see me without any contact? Is it okay to let a heretic into the mansion freely?’

Shailyn’s mind became complicated in an instant. However, since Raviel was not yet publicly a heretic, she couldn’t turn him away at the door.

Moreover, she hadn’t properly thanked him for his help during the heresy trial.

‘Even if I sort things out later, I should definitely acknowledge what I’m grateful for.’

Maybe she could also dig up information about heresy.

Having made up her mind firmly, Shailyn went down to the reception room to meet him.

“Raviel, it’s been a while.”

“You came, Shailyn?”

Raviel, standing in front of the window, turned around sharply. Shailyn, facing him, was startled.

His complexion was damaged beyond recognition.

From the appearance that had once been like a gift from God, a damp and gloomy aura emanated.

It wasn’t simply because shadows fell under his eyes and his gaunt cheeks were slightly sunken.

His purple eyes, which had lost their vitality and become dim, played the biggest part.

“Why does your face look like that? Did something happen?”

“Ah……”

At the worried question, Raviel, lightly touching his own face, smiled faintly.

“Yes, something happened.”

Something very big at that.

He who strode toward Shailyn stretched out his dry hand.

A strange heat rose in the eyes of him who had come here for a single purpose.

“Shailyn, will you come with me?”

“What? Where……”

“Anywhere is fine as long as it’s with you. Let’s leave together.”

He grabbed Shailyn’s hand firmly. Unlike when Carl held her hand, Shailyn felt unpleasant and narrowed her brow.

As if not noticing this, Raviel grinned to himself and added.

“Throwing everything away completely. Freely.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

Just like in the temple prison before, Shailyn firmly rejected his proposal.

She had hated it then, but now she hated it even more. When she was even postponing leaving this world, what was this about.

“Raviel, I don’t know why you’re doing this, but if you need help, rather—”

Still thinking of the help she had received from him so far, it was when she was about to extend her hand to him in return.

“Shailyn, I love you.”

Raviel, rudely cutting off her words, suddenly confessed.

‘Shailyn Sharofe, I love you.’

It was certainly a confession similar to Carl’s, but the feeling was completely different.

Instead of the pleasant fluttering that had come then, goosebumps rose on the inside of her arms.

Shailyn was able to realize the reason before long.

“I love you. From childhood until now, my heart has never changed even once. Even without memories, I’ve always wandered looking for you.”

She felt burdened and repulsed by Raviel’s appearance as he unilaterally poured out his heart while tightly gripping her hand.

“You also definitely said you’d leave with me. We promised that the two of us would go far away and become husband and wife.”

Did I……?

Shailyn’s eyes wavered. In fact, the real Shailyn who had made promises with Raviel had never said such things either.

She couldn’t hide her bewilderment and reflexively refuted.

“What nonsense— no, what rubbish.”

“Don’t pretend not to know now.”

But Raviel was already not in a state to listen to others’ words.

He had been confined in the temple undergoing the preparation process to become the greatest being in the empire and had barely escaped.

Since this might be his last chance, Raviel was also desperate in his own way.

“Even though there were several opportunities to give up, the reason I endured was because of the promise I made with you. Then you should also keep your promise.”

Although his memories of Shailyn were dim, her existence was carved into his soul and always supported Raviel.

If she had made him endure this far, he thought Shailyn should also take responsibility.

“Raviel, don’t do this.”

“Why did your heart suddenly change? Why are you rejecting me?”

Gripping tightly onto Shailyn who was trying to push away his hand with a flustered face, Raviel slowly knelt down.

The closer the great being came, the more he crumbled. Fear swept over him that there would be no place left for him to stand.

“Now I only have you……”

Those desperate words made Shailyn’s heart ache, but they couldn’t shake her heart.

Shailyn, failing to help Raviel stand up, instead met his eyes and asked clearly.

“Raviel, you’re a heretic, aren’t you?”

“How do you know that……”

Raviel’s eyes, filled with tears, widened greatly in shock.

He had wanted to keep that fact secret from Shailyn, but he was confused about how she knew to ask.

“Howard told me.”

“……That damned bastard.”

For the first time, Raviel’s speech, always using only proper words befitting his beautiful and holy appearance, became rough.

Even this was unlike his usual self.

Or maybe this was actually his true nature?

Shailyn, staring at him intently, opened her mouth as if she couldn’t understand.

“How…… did you become a head priest while being a heretic? Do you know what will happen if this fact becomes known?”

“Do you think I wouldn’t know that?”

Raviel laughed self-deprecatingly. He knew best what kind of storm would arise when his identity was revealed.

That’s why he had lived his entire life suppressing himself and walking a tightrope precariously.

As the high priestess’s illegitimate child yet like an orphan, as a heretic yet like a faithful believer.

“If I tell you why I became a heretic, will you leave with me?”

He grasped Shailyn’s hands like a lifeline and drooped his eyebrows.

“If you listen, you’ll find me quite pitiful and pathetic.”

He wanted to have Shailyn even by evoking sympathy like this.

Since she was the only light in his ruined life.

But Shailyn coldly shook off his hands and stepped back.

“I still won’t go.”

She could tell just by looking that Raviel had unavoidable circumstances.

However, Shailyn had no intention of participating in escape just because she felt sorry for him.

Whatever the reason, abandoning everything and leaving would be nothing but running away.

Most importantly, the most important thing was—

“I’m really grateful that you like me. But…… there’s already someone else in my heart.”

Shailyn didn’t love Raviel enough to bear all of that.

That’s why she couldn’t go with him.

Staying with him out of sympathy when she didn’t even love him would be deception.

Hearing her words, Raviel laughed hollowly. He had expected it to some degree, but hearing it directly felt like his heart was shattering into pieces.

“That person, is it Duke Celsior?”

He who had been noticing the strange current flowing between Carl and Shailyn from before asked sharply.

Shailyn answered without any change in expression.

“I won’t tell you who it is. Whoever that person is, my rejection of your feelings won’t change.”

“……Won’t you regret it?”

“I’m sorry.”

She bowed politely in apology. At the rejection that didn’t even give him room, Raviel’s face hardened coldly.

Slowly rising from his seat, he left only these words and departed.

“Someday you’ll regret this choice, Shailyn.”