As the arrow of suspicion turned back towards Philip, all the eyes of the knights focused on him. Philip flinched, feeling like he was falsely accused, and waved his hands frantically.

“It wasn’t during the ordination ceremony! I swear there was nothing! It was so boring!”

“Then was he upset because it was boring?”

At this point, one of the knights protested, already feeling resentful.

“No, wasn’t it unnecessary for the Commander to go there in the first place? What’s so great about novice priests becoming priests? Why did he go there anyway?”

In the face of that valid question, Kabillon’s forehead narrowed again. Certainly, it wasn’t mandatory for the Commander of the Holy Knights to attend the ordination ceremony for the novice priests, but…

“Well, don’t you know that the commander has been known to suddenly attend irrelevant events. It’s not just once or twice.”

For the knights, attending even the small events of the temple that were not mandatory was Seiden’s strange hobby. Thanks to this, Seiden couldn’t avoid the misunderstanding that, despite his erratic personality, he was more faithful than anyone else.

But he didn’t expect that he would attend the ordination ceremony for the novice priests… Is he really angry because it was boring? No, he didn’t even call for him, he just left…

“But why did you go, Philip?”

When Kabillon asked suspiciously, Philip’s face suddenly reddened. There was no reason for Philip to attend the ordination ceremony for the novice priests.

“Why is your face turning red? What’s going on?”

“Oh, it’s obvious. You went to see the saintess! Isn’t this guy a follower of the saintess? He’s acting like he’s going to pull out the heart of a Rockdragon soon.”

Laughter erupted around at someone’s exclamation. As Philip seemed to freeze in response to the words hitting home, Kabillon looked at him and clicked his tongue.

“This disrespectful guy…”

At that moment, the door of the council chamber swung open, and a tall and well-built man entered. All the noise inside the council chamber disappeared at the same time, and the air became heavy in an instant. As Seiden, with an expressionless face, walked in steadily, the faces of the knights who had been talking about him just moments ago turned pale.

“Commander, you’ve arrived?”

Among them, only Kabillon quickly regained his composure and skillfully spoke to Seiden.

“Anyway, Sir Philip suggested we host a dinner in celebration of the safe return of all the knights.”

Kabillon put his hand on Philip’s stiff shoulder and cheerfully lied, causing his eyes to widen as though they were about to pop out.

“When did I agree to this!”

“Shut up.”

Without a word in response, Seiden walked to a corner of the council chamber and picked up a sword lying there haphazardly. The knights’ spines stiffened at his peculiar behavior.

“Will you also come with us, Commander?”

Only Kabillon, undeterred by Seiden’s demeanor, continued his persistent attempts. Eventually, Seiden turned his head at Kabillon’s pitiful effort. His gaze pierced through Kabillon’s soft green eyes.

Hmph. Kabillon held his breath and met his red eyes. Yes, those eyes. Those eyes that looked so indifferent, but could explode at the slightest touch… those eyes…

For a moment, a sharp silence filled the council chamber. It was at that moment that everyone sensed impending doom. Slowly rummaging through his pockets, Seiden pulled something out.

Thunk. In the suffocating silence of the council chamber, a heavy pouch fell onto the table with a thud. Huh…? Not immediately grasping the meaning contained in the pouch, Kabillon blinked as Seiden nodded and opened his mouth.

“Go and come back.”

With that, he turned decisively to prevent being held back again. In one hand, he held a rugged and worn-out sword that had been stuck in the courtyard for a long time…

Thud.

As Seiden closed the door behind him, another dull sound echoed in the council chamber. As they heard footsteps moving away from the door, the knights collectively exhaled and wiped away their cold sweat.

Philip forcefully pushed away Kabillon’s arm which was still around his shoulder and hurriedly ran to lift the pouch on the table.

“Wow, it’s gold coins! We can spend it all at the tavern and still have some left over!”

Hearing that, the knights’ expressions instantly brightened, and an air of excitement quickly spread through the heavy council chamber.

“Wow, our commander is truly generous.”

“Can we spend all of this?”

Seeing the knights filled with excitement after a few gold coins, Kabillon muttered absentmindedly.

“…What is this, really.”

* * *

Seiden headed towards the training grounds located north of the temple. Although he wouldn’t engage in such crazy behavior as visiting the training grounds by himself just three days after tirelessly fighting demons, Seiden couldn’t bear it any longer without subjecting himself to such self-torture. Every time he didn’t torture himself, he remembered those blue eyes that stared at him.

“Damn it…”

Solely to erase those eyes, Seiden spent several hours like a madman inside the training grounds from midday until early evening, destroying everything present there. Only after even his old sword broke into pieces did Seiden stop his manic thrashing and breathe heavily.

“…….”

However, on a day like today, when he met Bellota’s eyes, no amount of physical exertion would help. No matter what he did, he couldn’t erase the face that looked at him with such piercing eyes from his mind.

Those eyes that shone so brightly. Even though he knew that, he repeated this behavior every time…

Seiden lifted his head and looked at the slowly rising moon. It seemed like it was already halfway through its cycle.

“…….”

Seiden, who was looking at the round, silver-shining moon, swallowed a sigh and turned his steps. It seemed useless to struggle any further, so he decided it would be more beneficial to wash up and get some sleep. But Bellota would probably appear in his dreams and torment him…

“Ha….”

If there was no hope of meeting her even in his dreams, he would have turned back long ago.

But Seiden’s pitiful hope of meeting her even in his dreams crumbled and faded away in less than an hour. After finishing his bath, Seiden remembered the gloves he had left in the armory and set out to retrieve them, but he heard a strange sound on the way.

“Ugh!”

His quiet steps abruptly stopped at the faint groaning sound coming from somewhere. Seiden instinctively turned his head towards the direction of the sound. At that moment, divine power washed over him as a faint light burst through the dense foliage.

Divine power?

Seiden’s brow furrowed. Feeling divine power in the grand and dignified temple, the largest in the empire, was nothing out of the ordinary. However, the divine power he felt just now was the kind used for attacking others. It was indeed strange for someone with divine power in a holy temple to attack someone.

Seiden held his breath and quietly took a step forward. Behind the tall, dense foliage, he could hear faint voices.

“We should have knocked her out for sure.”

“I’m sorry. It seems that the resistance possessed by this person is not to be underestimated.”

“Resistance? Oh no. It wouldn’t harm the Saintess, would it?”

Seiden’s eyes widened when he heard the word ‘Saintess’.

“It shouldn’t be that serious. Let’s move her for now. I’ll check again.”

“This way.”

Seiden quietly pushed through the foliage and confirmed the identities of the individuals who mentioned Saintess Bellota a moment ago. He saw the figure of a middle-aged cardinal and a young, high-ranking priest. It was not difficult for Seiden to recognize the cardinal and the silver-haired priest.

Cardinal Loubert and Priest Felton.

Among them, Priest Felton had a high level of divine power and had been promoted quickly among the young priests. Currently, he is serving closely with Saintess Bellota. But why would such a person be doing something like this at this hour…

Perplexed, Seiden frowned as he noticed a person lying beneath their feet. The man¹the author used the word 사내 which means ‘a vigorous and virile male at the peak of his manhood was wearing a mask on his face and was tied up with ropes, unconscious. He was being lifted up by the divine power of the priest to waist height. As the priests looked around and hurriedly moved away, the man’s body involuntarily followed behind them.

It was a sight that Seiden could not understand at all. If they hadn’t mentioned the word ‘Saintess’, Seiden would have ignored whatever was happening in the temple and go to sleep, but since Bellota was mentioned, he had no choice but to follow. Seiden held his breath and quickly followed behind them.

As he followed them, even more bizarre scenes unfolded. Two people reached a closed warehouse next to a secluded stable where the foot of worshipers did not reach, threw the man inside, and firmly locked the door.

“We must depart before midnight.”

The cardinal said, and Priest Felton quietly nodded in response.

Seiden skillfully hid behind the foliage while thoroughly observing their actions. The priests who kidnapped and imprisoned someone on a moonlit night. In this bizarre event, there was only one thing Seiden wanted to know.

“Where is the Saintess…?”

Why was Bellota mentioned in these uncomfortable and unpleasant situations? When Priest Felton mentioned Bellota once again, Seiden’s brow furrowed.

“The Saintess has already departed.”

Departed. But where to? Seiden held his breath.

“We must leave after evening mass is over. If both the Saintess and us disappear suddenly, it will raise suspicion.”

Felton nodded quietly and then looked around at the tightly closed warehouse with a grim expression.

“It won’t break until then, right?”

“Even if he wakes up, he’s tied up and locked in; there’s no way out. Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Seiden watched as the two priests disappeared. Only after their figures had completely vanished did he emerge from behind the foliage and approach the tightly closed warehouse door. Beside the warehouse, a large carriage was waiting.

“…….”