4. The Incomplete Son of God

After returning from the masquerade ball, Nicholas habitually filled the bathtub with water.

And he stayed in it much longer than usual. The events of the day were so absurd, it felt as if he had been hit hard on the head, leaving him dazed.

She’s just a crazy woman.

After much contemplation, Nicholas came to a surprisingly simple conclusion. Yes, just a crazy woman. She was undoubtedly completely out of her mind.

He shouldn’t have gone to such a place in the first place. Strange places naturally attract strange people. A place where people wear masks and engage in lewd acts, it was only natural to meet a crazy woman there.

He should have resisted and refused, no matter how much his mother insisted. Nicholas regretted his foolish decision.

Even on the carriage ride back, he pondered over the woman’s identity but ultimately couldn’t figure it out.

Before he could even question her, she had done something crazy like a surprise kiss and then ran away.

She had asked for forgiveness, but it was more like a one-sided notification. He had never agreed to forgive her.

Stealing the lips of someone she had just met. No, perhaps they weren’t strangers. She clearly knew who he was.

She recognized him just by his voice and even addressed him as ‘Your Excellency.’

“Is she someone from the temple?”

At first, he naturally suspected someone from the temple, but he also considered that might not be the case.

Nicholas was always surrounded by followers during worship. For a devout believer who fervently supported him, remembering his voice wouldn’t be difficult.

“Could she be a stalker?”

Strangely, she seemed familiar. They must have crossed paths subtly at some point.

It might be his paranoia, but he wondered if she had followed him from worship to the ball. It seemed like a reasonable suspicion, and the thought made him feel uneasy.

Regardless of who the woman was, her actions were utterly senseless. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

Of course, he had wrapped his arm around her shoulder without permission first. But his reasons and intentions were clear.

Felix Cervantes. That damn bastard seemed to have noticed the awkwardness between them and was sure they were acting.

Sera Evotte was already in trouble and had come to the temple to reflect. Her father, Marquis Evotte, made that decision, and he was also the temple’s biggest patron.

It wasn’t appropriate for Sera Evotte, who should have been in the temple, to be involved with someone like Felix Cervantes, a person of interest.

Moreover, impersonating a high-ranking noble was a serious crime. If the guards were called, Sera Evotte would be summoned as a witness, and the situation would inevitably become complicated.

Initially, he thought Sera Evotte had secretly left the temple to attend the masquerade ball.

Frankly, that alone was a significant issue. The masquerade ball was a place known for the high-ranking nobles’ escapades, and she, who was supposed to be reflecting, shouldn’t have been there.

Nicholas followed the woman who got off Evotte’s carriage to persuade her to return to the temple.

So he followed her, only to find out she wasn’t Sera Evotte.

Perhaps because he was her fiancé, Felix Cervantes realized it immediately. He even grabbed her, questioning why she was impersonating Sera Evotte.

It was definitely Evotte’s carriage. Regardless of who the woman was, she had to be connected to Evotte, meaning it was something that couldn’t happen without involving Sera Evotte.

So Nicholas decided to pretend to be her partner to get out of the situation.

Physical contact with others was one of the things he disliked the most. But wrapping his arm around her shoulder was a necessary choice in that situation.

It was the only way not to arouse suspicion and to get away from the persistent Felix Cervantes.

He wasn’t saying he was blameless or that his actions were righteous. But shoulders and lips were different dimensions. Even if it was to repay him, she had gone too far.

Anyway, the issue with Sera Evotte was resolved without any major incident. The problem was with Nicholas. The sensation from that moment kept driving him insane.

As their bodies got closer, a sweet peach-like scent wafted over. Her lips, which had aggressively locked onto his, were surprisingly soft and tender. Even when he backed away in surprise, she clung to him, pressing her small body against him as if depending on him.

The soft and pliant feeling of her sticking to his firm chest was indescribably peculiar.

The lips were even worse. She sucked on his lips with a ‘chup’ sound, as though she was sucking on candy. The wet mucous membrane made a messy sound. It was absurd to make such a sound without any sense of shame.

Or maybe she had candy in her mouth? It felt like there was a sweet taste. It was an inexplicable taste otherwise.

When he unknowingly opened his mouth, the sensation of a tongue curling deeper inside and the feeling of the tender mucous membrane sliding over was still vivid. It was a somewhat violent sensation that stirred all the nerves in his body.

“I love you, Benjamin!”

Who on earth was Benjamin? She said she loved Benjamin. So why was she kissing him?

From start to finish, nothing made sense. Trying to understand such an unreasonable woman with reason was a mistake.

That crazy woman committed such a rude act and ran away as if she felt no guilt. If she had done something wrong, she should have apologized. Oh, did she apologize? Then she should take responsibility. It was utterly irresponsible.

He stood there dumbfounded, and when he hurriedly chased after her, he lost her. It felt as if he had seen a mirage.

No, what was even more maddening was that every time he recalled it, his lower abdomen automatically tensed…

“Damn it…”

He was hard again. He was hard then, and he was hard now. It wouldn’t go down.

He had been confident that he would never get aroused by anything in his life. To get hard from such a violent act was humiliating.

“Get a grip. You crazy bastard.”

Nicholas cursed at himself, repeatedly splashing bathwater on his face.

To get hard because of such a rude and insane woman made him want to die from self-loathing. Something was definitely broken.

He didn’t know how well-used her lips were, but it was his first kiss. He wasn’t someone who could casually kiss like that woman just to get out of a situation.

Just thinking about it should have made his skin crawl. Strangely, it didn’t feel that way. He couldn’t understand why he wasn’t repulsed by a woman whose identity he didn’t even know.

It wasn’t his first unpleasant experience. Many women had approached him with s*xual intentions before.

Though he never had direct contact, he had experienced all sorts of things, including n*ked women barging into his room and trying to embrace him. But he had never felt any excitement, let alone an er*ction.

In fact, he disliked it so much that he decided to become a priest to avoid it. He despised it to the point of abhorrence.

He prided himself on not being swayed by carnal desires. It felt like the solid world he had built up until now was crumbling.

It was unsettling that he wasn’t disgusted when he should have been, and it was most unsettling that it kept lingering in his mind despite not wanting it to.

“Just forget it.”

She wasn’t someone he would see again anyway. Therefore, such an unreasonable event wouldn’t happen again.

At least he managed to fend off an annoying pest, so wasn’t that fortunate? He later heard that Countess Austin had been bribed by his mother to put up some strange prize.

Regardless…

After throwing herself at him, she had the eyes of a preyed-upon victim. Her fleeing figure was so absurd that it only made him laugh hollowly.

Whether she had drunk champagne or not, there was a faint smell of alcohol on her trembling tongue. If she was going to drink, she should have done it gracefully. Why cause trouble for an innocent person?

Anyway, if she was so scared of her own actions that she ran away, the likelihood of her doing it again was extremely low.

More than that, he would never again visit such a masked and grotesque place.

Nicholas shook his head to rid himself of the dirty thoughts.

“Forget it, just forget it.”