“Yes, naturally, since I grew up in the monastery. My parents weren’t around, so Father raised me, which naturally led me to choose this path.”

“You must know a lot, having lived in the monastery from an early age. I only started recently, so I’m quite lacking……”

“Haha, not at all. If there’s anything you don’t know or if you have concerns, please feel free to ask me.”

“Yes, I will, Father Pablo.”

It was also her first time talking with a priest close to her age. Especially since she didn’t know how to define the confusing emotions she had been feeling lately, this experience wasn’t bad.

There was an apprentice priest named Andrew at the capital’s Temple, but she hadn’t encountered him lately, and above all, he was too young to consult about her worries.

“Um, Father Pablo, may I ask…… what kind of priestly education do you receive from your direct superior? Oh, if I’m being impertinent by asking such things, I’m truly sorry.”

After much deliberation, she cautiously posed her question, to which Pablo laughed with his freckled face and assured her it was fine.

“It’s alright. It’s perfectly natural for someone just beginning saintess training to be curious. Well, I suppose each priest has their own teaching method, but the basics should be similar, shouldn’t they?”

“Yes…… I, suppose so?”

“First, since I spend most of my day with Father Gregoric, I help with conducting mass or assist with administrative duties when he handles church affairs. In my spare time, I interpret scriptures and classics, learn doctrine, offer prayers, and sing hymns.”

What about you, Saintess Florencia? At his subsequent question, she quickly tried to recall what she had been learning.

Sometimes Ludwig would play the piano and she would sing hymns, they would pray together, study doctrine, or he would read scriptures and classics to her, but…… thinking about it, these were all things she had always done when visiting the Temple even before beginning her saintess training.

What had been added after she officially decided to become a saintess was…….

Only that secret education, which supposedly built holy power, helped her feel God’s authority, and strengthened her faith.

Father only thinks of it as education, but I keep having strange feelings and becoming self-conscious…….

“You came with Father Ludwig, didn’t you, Saintess Florencia? How does the high priest educate you? I’ve always been curious.”

“Well, that……”

“Is there some special teaching method? If there’s a good approach, I could mention it to Father Gregoric and do the same……”

Pablo leaned closer with genuine curiosity, causing Florencia to start and take a step back.

“Well, actually……”

Florencia hesitated for a long time, unable to speak.

No matter how much she trained to get used to holy power, she simply couldn’t tell him about the deep kisses she shared with the priest, where their tongues and lips entwined, or how he stripped her n*ked to suck and bite various parts of her body, or how he inserted his fingers into her most private place and stirred until she cried out loudly. It was absolutely impossible.

“Ah, if it’s difficult, you don’t have to tell me.”

Noticing the expression on her face, Pablo spoke first. He had shared everything he knew, and she felt bad for keeping silent. Florencia finally chose to speak indirectly.

“Perhaps…… Father Ludwig is trying to build strong inner faith. He lets me directly feel his holy power so that I can never doubt God’s existence…… something like that.”

“Hmm, inner faith. That is indeed most important. Perhaps it’s more fundamental than memorizing a hundred theological books.”

“Yes…… that’s right.”

“I suppose since you’ve only recently begun your studies, Father Ludwig wants to build a solid foundation.”

“But, you see…… I’m worried that I’m not following Father’s teaching method properly. Especially lately. I feel like I’m not properly receiving what he wants to convey and keep having other thoughts……”

“I see, that can happen.”

Just as Pablo, who had been pondering Florencia’s concern, was about to offer his opinion—

“Laura, can we talk for a moment?”

As if treating Pablo as if he didn’t exist, a tall platinum-blond man stood blocking Florencia’s path.

“Father Lud…wig……”

Her violet eyes showed signs of confusion. Ludwig, who had clearly been in a meeting until just moments ago, now stood directly in front of her, staring straight.

“I knocked on your door when I returned yesterday, but you didn’t hear?”

“Yes…… I must have been tired after visiting the hot spring. I fell asleep right away…… I didn’t hear the knocking.”

“Is that so.”

Ludwig appeared to smile briefly, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all. Florencia was very poor at lying. Even now, she was visibly flustered and avoiding his gaze, making it obvious to anyone that she was lying.

“This morning too, I was so worried when they told me you had left by yourself.”

“……I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me. Anyway, let’s go outside to talk.”

“W-wait, Father!”

Florencia didn’t want to be dragged away by him right now. She feared she might end up revealing all her hidden feelings.

“I’m sorry, but right now, I’m talking with Father Pablo……”

“That’s right, High Priest. Actually, Saintess Florencia mentioned she had an important concern…… I was counseling her about it.”

Pablo, who had been standing beside her with reddened freckled cheeks and a flustered expression, quickly stepped forward to help Florencia, who seemed troubled.

Of course, his well-intentioned action seemed to plunge Florencia into even greater difficulty rather than rescuing her from her predicament…….

“……Concern?”

Ludwig erased the remaining smile from his lips and spoke in an icy voice.

“Do you have a concern that you can’t tell me about, Laura, but can confide in a man you just met today?”

Fortunately, the almost menacing situation ended when someone urgently called for Ludwig from the conference hall. Afterward, the meeting continued without breaks and only concluded in the afternoon.

As soon as the meeting ended, Ludwig came out through the door and grabbed Florencia’s arm while she was trembling anxiously.

“Shall we depart, Laura? We can continue our unfinished conversation on the way.”

“F-Father……”

Florencia’s face turned pale. To others, he might have sounded as kind as usual, but from years of experience, she knew Ludwig was truly angry.

“Um, High Priest. Due to time constraints, you were supposed to depart directly for the disaster area……”

“I will take the apprentice saintess back first. If I alternate horses and travel by carriage through the night, I can arrive by tomorrow morning.”

A middle-aged priest with a full beard spoke cautiously, but Ludwig replied firmly without even looking at him.

“Since it’s on my way, I’ll escort the saintess to the capital.”

The next to step forward was the assistant priest, Pablo.

Florencia nodded vigorously, afraid of riding alone in the carriage with the angry Ludwig, but he glanced at her and refused with an unprecedented intimidating attitude.

“No, I will take her back myself. I am her only guardian here, so I don’t think it would be appropriate to entrust her to someone she barely knows.”

With those final words, Ludwig grabbed Florencia and headed toward the carriage. Though it looked like he was gently escorting her, he was practically dragging her, causing Florencia to follow him with a pale face.

From behind, she heard someone saying that the high priest was truly a compassionate person.

“Get in.”

Though the carriage seat was soft, Florencia, who nearly fell onto it, felt somewhat angry.

Her lips moved unconsciously as she impulsively blurted out.

“Father Ludwig. I’m sorry, but if it’s alright with you, I’d like to receive education from another priest from now on.”

That way, I won’t harbor different feelings toward Father anymore, or feel needlessly hurt and sad on my own.

“……Another priest?”

A deeply sunken gaze stared at her as if about to devour her. Ludwig’s eyes were terribly cold yet burning, like blue flames. Meeting his gaze, she instinctively realized she had made a mistake.

“You mean you want to receive the same kind of education I’m giving you now from another man?”

The luxurious carriage door closed with a bang that sounded like it might break.

The windows of the carriage had thick curtains drawn, making it impossible to see outside. When the door, the only exit, closed, the space containing just the two of them was completely cut off from the outside. Though the door of the luxury carriage actually closed very softly with minimal sound, to Florencia’s ears it sounded as loud as thunder.

“F-Father……”

She looked alternately at the firmly closed carriage door in front of her and at him blocking her way, her trembling hands braced against the wall.

A cold face without a trace of humor and frightening eyes that looked ready to devour her stared at her. Under his persistent gaze that seemed to scrutinize her thoroughly as if trying to discover what thoughts she had been having alone, Florencia felt as if she were being stripped n*ked.

His voice, much lower than usual as if suppressing something, resonated inside the carriage.

“Say it again. What did you say you wanted to do and how?”

As she had been conditioned since long ago, Florencia cowered in fear when he showed signs of anger. Especially now, he looked much scarier than usual.

Avoiding Ludwig’s gaze, she made excuses in a small, uncertain voice.