“Promise me as well.”

Seiden had returned to his shamelessly brazen face. Promise? What. Bellota tensed up again, waiting for his next words.

“That from now on, only I shall be the man who knows about the saintess’ full moon.”

At those words, Bellota’s heart sank. Something in Seiden’s red eyes intensely coalesced, piercing through her completely. Her face, which had just calmed down, seemed to flare up again with heat, and Bellota involuntarily clenched her fist.

My full moon.

She couldn’t stop the image of herself crying and suffering in Seiden’s arms, as if she was about to die, from coming to mind. It felt as if the indifferent man before her was mocking her.

“Promise me.”

Under Seiden’s urging, Bellota faced him straight with eyes filled with clumsy defiance.

“I also do not wish to reveal my weaknesses to others anymore. So don’t worry.”

Without giving Seiden a chance to respond, Bellota quickly added.

“Then let’s start executing the contract from this moment.”

And then she turned around and walked away with a cold demeanor, as though a cold wind was blowing. As if the conversation was completely over with those cold steps.

“……”

Having finally obtained a definite answer, Seiden remained rooted to the spot, watching Bellota disappear. The cool night wind that felt almost cold brushed lightly against the back of his neck, which was heated from anger, but Seiden’s body did not cool down at all.

* * *

Perhaps there would be no need to encounter Seiden for a while after the banquet ended. There was plenty of time before the next full moon came.

Bellota’s faint hope was shattered once again. It was because of the Pope’s proposal that she should personally send off and bless the holy knights who were going on an expedition.

Bellota knew why the Pope had made such a proposal. The Pope knew that Seiden had discovered the secret of the Cathedral, and so he was trying to appease Seiden, who must have been uncomfortable.

Since her secret was directly related to the honor of the Cathedral, it wasn’t that Bellota couldn’t understand the Pope’s attitude. Thus, Bellota decided to bless the knights leaving for the expedition.

“Oh God, it’s the saintess!”

Since the next day was the departure day, Bellota’s appearance was not known to the knights in advance. Naturally, it caused a stir among the knights who were preparing to leave.

Luke, who first spotted Bellota walking from afar, shouted loudly, and when he heard someone mention the saintess, Seiden reflexively turned his head.

Seiden’s eyes froze upon confirming that Bellota was indeed approaching him with two priests and a horse pulling a wagon behind her. Why is Bellota here? This had never happened before.

“Saintess!”

Kabillon, one of the most easy-going knights, stepped forward first and welcomed Bellota and the priests on behalf of the gruff Seiden.

Bellota greeted Kabillon with a bow and stood in front of them. Although Seiden was staring intently at her right in front of her, Bellota never gave him her gaze. She only spoke in a calm and kind voice to greet the knights briefly.

“You have returned from an expedition not long ago and now you are departing again for a few days. As a fellow citizen who has received your deep grace, I always send my deepest thanks and support. You all have worked hard.”

Hearing Bellota’s words, excited and honored voices erupted from various places.

“Of course!”

“Don’t worry about it, Saintess!”

“We love going on expeditions!”

Bellota bowed her head slightly and smiled softly at their warm response. Seiden’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he continued to gaze at her clear smile.

“But why is the Saintess here…?”

When Kabillon cautiously asked, Bellota finally gestured towards the priests standing behind her. Then, the priests approached the wagon behind them and removed the cloth covering it. The knights craned their necks to see what was inside. Bellota picked up a few items from inside the wagon.

“Although it’s modest, I prepared these hoping they would be of some help to you knights. This is holy water that I have personally blessed.”

Only then did Seiden and the knights realize that what she was holding were vials containing water that shone with a blue light.

The holy water made by the Cathedral, especially in the cathedral itself, possessed special powers. From trivial abilities like repelling small demons immune to divine power to healing small wounds cleanly.

Of course, there was a proper reason why just a few drops of water contained such power—it was because priests poured their own divine power into making it. Naturally, there were limits to both their divine power and physical strength, so holy water was precious enough to be used sparingly even in the Cathedral. And now, it was being given to the entire knight order. More than that, it was precious holy water imbued with the saintess’s divine power.

As soon as he realized this fact, Seiden’s gaze urgently shifted to Bellota’s face. Her pale face was always beautiful, but it seemed like there was even more fatigue around her eyes than yesterday. Could it be that she stayed up all night making holy water? Thinking so made absurd anger well up inside him.

Although the holy water Bellota made would certainly be excellent, it wasn’t exactly vital for these knights here. How robustly foolish these guys were; why go through such needless trouble…

But regardless of Seiden’s feelings, the ceremony for distributing Bellota’s holy water started immediately. Bellota carried bottles of holy water from the wagon into her arms and began distributing them personally among the knights, one by one.

Two priests also distributed holy water following Bellota, but since everyone wanted the holy water from Bellota, the holy water from the two priests was barely, reluctantly, and awkwardly distributed in just a few bottles.

Seiden still stood displeased, piercingly watching Bellota as she distributed the holy water to the knights.

“Thank you, Saintess. I will use it preciously.”

Finally, the holy water was passed to Kabillon, who was standing next to Seiden. Next was Seiden’s turn. Swallowing his displeasure in a sigh, Seiden unconsciously reached out his hand, but unfortunately, Bellota passed by him indifferently at a speed faster than his hand could reach the bottle of holy water.

“…….”

As a result, Seiden’s hand awkwardly stopped in mid-air, Kabillon, who witnessed this, glanced at Bellota with a puzzled face. Huh? What? Did the Saintess not see the commander? No, he’s too prominent to not be seen……?

However, Bellota, treating that prominent presence as if he were invisible and passing by him blankly, ended the distribution ceremony by handing the last bottle to Philip, who was too nervous and fidgety to even reach out his hand.

Philip’s face, having received the holy water from Bellota, turned red as if it would burst if you touched it. Watching him, a priest with a friendly smile approached Seiden, who was standing stiff.

“Commander, you haven’t received the holy water yet, have you? Here it is.”

The priest smiled broadly and offered the last remaining bottle of holy water. Grinding his teeth, Seiden menacingly looked down at the bottle offered to him and then coldly snatched it.

Without giving any attention to Seiden, Bellota returned to her original place and encouraged the knights with a warm smile.

“I hope you all return safely.”

Seeing that sight, Seiden, feeling a surge of irritation, carelessly shoved the cold bottle into his pocket and commanded lowly.

“Let’s depart.”

Hearing Seiden’s stern command, the bustling knights quickly moved to find their places and prepared to depart. Seiden too, after smacking Philip on the back of his head, who was still in a daze, briskly mounted his horse.

“…….”

Seiden slowly gripped the reins, piercingly gazing at Bellota’s face, which he wouldn’t be able to see for several days. Bellota still looked down with a modest face, as if to prove that her coming to see off the Order of Holy Knights had nothing to do with Seiden and that she didn’t come to see him off specifically.

“…….”

Seiden found it amusing that he felt good just being able to see her face like this.

He deliberately spoke out to Bellota.

“I will be back. Stay safe until then.”

At that almost provocative shout, Bellota’s blue eyes finally turned towards him. It was a look filled with a surge of emotions provoked by Seiden’s challenge.

Seiden looked at Bellota more relaxedly now that he saw her eyes. Seeing her eyes made him happy, confirming that he was indeed twisted in some way but it didn’t matter. What was important was that he finally caught Bellota’s gaze. Seiden kept eye contact with Bellota and slowly pulled on the reins.

When Seiden’s horse started moving, the Order followed behind him, creating a loud noise.

“…….”

Bellota stood, holding her hands tightly together, watching his annoying back disappear. It was only after the man with black hair had gone far away that she slowly exhaled the breath she had been holding. Although she had been pretending to be calm, every moment she encountered Seiden after that day was like a trial for her.

Every time their eyes met, she couldn’t help but recall that night. How much longer would she have to endure moments like these? It was at that moment when Bellota was about to turn away with questions she could never answer,

“Saintess.”

Someone called her from afar and hurriedly approached. Bellota lifted her head to see who was coming towards her.

“Priest Felton.”

Standing in front of Bellota, Felton bowed deeply and came a bit closer to whisper a secret story in a low voice.

“……!”

After hearing everything Felton said, Bellota’s eyes widened. Without realizing it, she hurriedly turned her head, looking for Seiden’s figure. But his figure had already completely disappeared. Bellota’s vacant eyes, filled with despair, shook in confusion.

* * *