The tall, well-built man accepting my touch obediently like a real puppy was newly endearing.

So I unknowingly kept petting his head, when Carl whispered in a low voice.

“I’ll never leave my master’s side from now on, so know that.”

“Even when I go to the imperial palace?”

“If you go again, I’ll have to put on a mask and follow.”

Unlike before, he answered quite firmly.

Thud.

Carl grabbed my wrist, looked straight at me and said.

“Shailyn, you’re someone I must protect.”

I somehow found it hard to meet the black eyes that gazed at me seriously without any trace of laughter, so I averted my gaze.

Was it because he called my name after a long time?

“Ahem, right. Um. That’s the attitude of a true bondservant. Ah, I’ll be watching from now on.”

When I blurted out whatever came to mind, Carl chuckled.

What is this feeling like I’ve lost?

That evening.

I, who had been eating meals in my room for nearly a week, stubbornly insisted and went down to the dining hall.

The doctor clearly said I could move as long as I didn’t overexert myself.

Everyone made such a fuss that Dain came to fetch me personally.

“Get on my back, Shailyn.”

To be precise, to give me a piggyback ride.

When I desperately refused saying I hated it, Carl who was watching from the side stepped forward.

“Shall I do it?”

That’s not right either.

I chose being carried on Dain’s back over being carried princess-style by Carl.

As I keep saying, I have dignity and image to maintain too.

When I arrived at the dining hall carried on Dain’s back, Deborah rushed over like lightning to support me.

So I’m telling you I’m not injured to that extent……

“Sister, come here! You worked hard coming all the way here. Are you tired?”

Deborah who sat me beside her with an angelic face and rubbed my back picked up the utensils.

“I’ll feed you.”

“Ah, no, Deborah. You don’t need to go that far.”

Please don’t burden me like this. I’m not a nine-year-old child.

When I firmly refused Deborah’s attention, Lord Diart pushed all the plates in front of me and spread a napkin on my lap.

“Oh, it’s fine. This will make it hard for others to eat……”

“It’s fine. If there’s anything you want to eat, just say so. Grandfather will serve it for you.”

It was a statement not much different from Deborah’s offer to feed me.

Then Deborah, as if she wouldn’t be outdone, placed a small piece of cut meat on my plate.

Following that, Dain and Lord Diart also moved food to my plate. Even the duke subtly served me salad, so I raised both hands and said.

“I’m sorry, but this seems a bit excessive. I just have slight cracks in my ribs, and I’m nineteen years old……”

“Nineteen years old, so what, in my eyes you’re no different from a complete baby. Even that Benjamin fellow sometimes looks like a baby to me.”

“Father, I’m a bit…….”

Everyone burst into laughter at the duke’s seemingly troubled voice.

In the end, I couldn’t refuse the food flying at me from all directions like bringing food to a baby sparrow and obediently ate it.

Was it because I had always suffered alone when sick?

I felt a feeling that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

***

When he opened his eyes, Raviel was lying in the temple lodging.

It was thanks to the Diart ducal family bringing him, who had fainted at the ducal house, all the way to the temple.

“Ah……”

As he held his splitting head and raised his body, the door suddenly burst open.

A woman with dark gray hair entered.

She wore pure white priest robes adorned with luxurious gold embroidery and had an elegant, classically beautiful appearance.

“You’re awake.”

Raviel, who had been frozen at her bluntly spoken words, quickly got up, straightened his posture, and bowed his head.

“Have you come, High Priestess?”

High Priestess Morphina.

The head of the Central Temple and a sacred, great being who protects the sun god Solaris.

Raviel’s shoulders stiffened at the fact that she had come personally to check on his condition.

“I heard you were kidnapped by slave traders. Is it true?”

“I was just coincidentally caught up in an incident targeting someone else.”

“You didn’t go there on your own feet?”

“Of course not. Why would I do such a thing?”

Morphina’s eyes narrowed at the composed answer that came without hesitation.

She approached Raviel who was kneeling on one knee on the floor and lightly grasped his shoulder.

“Nothing special happened there?”

“No, there was nothing particularly concerning. Please be at ease.”

Raviel didn’t tell her about Theo’s incident or about the other power he had used.

Because he knew it would be stirring up trouble.

Morphina’s hand gripping his shoulder applied slight pressure.

“I can trust you, can’t I, Raviel?”

“Of course, naturally.”

“I understand. Then rest.”

Morphina, who released the strength from her hand, left the room as she was.

Belatedly, Raviel worried about Shailyn’s mouth, who had witnessed all of that, but unexpectedly, she was quiet.

Still not reassured, he went directly to the ducal house of Diart to meet Shailyn.

Thus, Shailyn, whom he met after a long time, was……

“Head Priest, please help me!”

Rolling on the floor.

What?

Raviel looked down at Shailyn, unable to hide his bewilderment.

Then when Shailyn grimaced and reached out her hand, he awkwardly bent his legs and crouched beside her.

“What’s wrong, what happened?”

“My leg, I have a cramp in my leg.”

The trouble started when she hastily got up from sitting on the sofa reading a book upon hearing news of Raviel’s visit.

When Shailyn collapsed from the cramp in her leg and was groaning, he happened to open the door and enter.

“I can’t get the cramp to go away by myself……”

At her voice filled with pain, Raviel reached out and carefully grasped Shailyn’s ankle.

Her delicate, white ankle was so slender it fit in his one hand.

‘I could break it with just a little force.’

Thinking so inwardly, Raviel loosened his grip.

He gently pulled her toes toward her body and stretched her calf muscles.

“Breathe slowly. This should help a little.”

“Ah, I understand.”

Following his words and breathing calmly, the cramp gradually subsided.

Finally, when the cramp was gone, Shailyn awkwardly nodded her head.

“Thank you for helping me. This is the first time we’ve met since that day, and I’ve shown you an embarrassing sight.”

“Not at all. I get leg cramps too. Get up carefully.”

Shailyn, who slowly got up holding Raviel’s hand, raised her head.

Because they stood close together, her pretty and beautiful face was visible right before his nose.

Eyelashes longer than his, skin clean without a single blemish, lips with a reddish tinge.

‘Her face is really amazing.’

For a moment, Raviel gazed at Shailyn in a daze and opened his mouth.

“You have a lot you want to ask me, don’t you?”

“……Yes?”

“I also have things I want to ask you. How about we take turns exchanging questions?”

At the not-bad proposal, Shailyn nodded her head.

The two sat facing each other on the sofa. Seeing Shailyn touching near her ribs uncomfortably and frowning, Raviel asked bluntly.

“Are you feeling alright? Ah, this isn’t a question, it’s a greeting.”

“Ah, yes. I’m not seriously injured, so you don’t need to worry. Would you like to ask first?”

“You go first.”

Shailyn, who accepted rather than refusing the first turn he readily gave up, pondered and asked her question.

“Do such incidents occur frequently among apprentice priests?”

Being forcibly corrupted and destroyed by demonic power like Theo.

Raviel, who immediately understood the meaning implied in her words, answered.

“Not frequently. If that were the case, there would have been chaos long ago. In a way, it’s…… a great misfortune that only a chosen few experience.”

A bitter and lonely air settled in his purple eyes and quickly evaporated.

Raviel pulled up the corners of his mouth in a drawn-like smile.

“Now it’s my turn. Have you ever told anyone about what happened between you, me, and Theo that day?”

Currently, the slave trader incident was announced as a building collapse caused by one of the captured people falling into mental derangement and setting off a bomb.

The investigation results came out ambiguously because Theo’s body, which had ultimately gone berserk, disappeared without a trace.

Of course, Raviel’s interference in the name of the temple was a bigger factor.

Anyway, it was a matter that could be roughly passed over if only Shailyn kept her mouth shut.

‘But there’s no reason for Miss Sharofe to do that for me, so I need to persuade her myself.’

Raviel waited for Shailyn’s answer in a somewhat tense state.

“No, I haven’t told anyone.”

Shailyn answered readily and added.