‘How impressive. I guess he’s trying to cut off all remaining affection before dying…’

Rarien may be gullible, but she wasn’t stupid.

This was clearly either deliberate harassment, or the person was rotten from the start, or both.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to endure if I didn’t try to think positively like this.

Given the remaining workload, an all-nighter was guaranteed, let alone getting any sleep.

“Your Excellency.”

“What.”

“I was hoping you could do an interim review of what I’ve done so far, at least.”

“Alright. Bring it here.”

Nicholas lowered the book he had been holding halfheartedly. He took the documents Rarien handed him, skimmed them over, and blurted out one comment.

“Isn’t the introduction a bit too ordinary?”

“I deliberately chose ordinary ones.”

“Why?”

“After analyzing Your Excellency’s preaching style so far, I thought that would be most suitable. You usually utilize a style that gives special insights from everyday things rather than religious talk. Personally, I think that’s the secret to your popularity.”

He deliberately tried to find fault, but it was more substantial than expected. He thought she had just processed things carelessly as they appeared, but she had her own specific reasons.

Still, something didn’t feel right.

He knew he was being childish like a little kid. He knew, but…

Thinking about how his insides had rotted for a month after that woman had f*cked him and run off made his anger boil.

Why did she f*ck me and leave?

Who on earth was Benjamin?

Thinking about how he had jerked off like a loser, turning those two things over and over in his mind, made him want to torment her more to feel better.

Her crying face was quite cute, and she was an arousing woman too. He couldn’t deny he had somewhat dark intentions.

Nicholas looked back and forth between the documents and Rarien, then shot back in a sharp tone.

“Besides your own thoughts. You should speak while citing accurate evidence. Isn’t that the basics of reporting?”

“Just a moment.”

Rarien took out a notebook, flipped through it, and showed him what she had written.

“This summarizes the content of Your Excellency’s sermons so far.”

Nicholas scanned the notebook filled with tiny handwriting.

Her dedication was impressive. The sermon contents were neatly organized by date.

“As you can see, Your Excellency has mainly preached content that anyone can relate to in daily life, even without knowing doctrine. That’s why you’ve been able to resonate with more believers.”

“Are you saying my sermons are lacking in doctrinal aspects?”

“No, easy and lacking are different. Rather, I think it’s more difficult to explain complex things simply.”

He knew it was a pointless nitpick, but he wanted to see how she would handle it. Even when deliberately shaken, the woman didn’t waver.

“Your Excellency avoiding difficult terms and religious concepts, and explaining things simply… it’s because you’re considerate of the listeners, isn’t it?”

“Tell me more in detail.”

“I believe you do it deliberately for the believers. What believers want from religion is rest and comfort from their exhausting daily lives, not intellectual vanity like ‘the doctrine is this and that’…”

She seemed naive, but Rarien had accurately grasped his intentions.

While clergy may be well-versed in doctrine, most believers are not, nor are they interested. So, to preach in a way that’s not boring yet memorable, it had to be based on stories everyone could relate to.

Nicholas wouldn’t know, but Rarien herself was one of those people who’s not very interested in religion or doctrine. She entered the temple solely because of Nicholas and walked the path of faith wanting to be close to him.

The reason she especially liked Nicholas’ sermons was that they could be immediately applied to daily life.

“So you summarized all this every time?”

“Yes.”

“Seems like temple life was more leisurely than I thought.”

“No, was there ever a leisurely clergyperson in the busy Central Temple?”

When Nicholas laughed mockingly, Rarien cut him off firmly.

“I needed a compass to endure the grueling temple life. So every time I returned from worship, I quickly summarized it even if it meant cutting back on sleep.”

“You endured all this time using my sermons as a guide?”

“Yes. Thank you, Your Excellency.”

Rarien, who habitually expressed gratitude, flinched and looked around nervously.

“Ah, th-this isn’t just a habitual phrase. I’m sincerely grateful.”

He fell into deep thought for a moment before letting out a hollow laugh.

“Well, so I was a kind of benefactor to you. Is that how you treat someone you’re grateful to — f*cking them and running off?”

“Pardon?”

“I thought you were just ill-mannered. But it seems you’re more of an ungrateful type. Or maybe your understanding of the dictionary meaning of gratitude is completely different from mine.”

I thought he wasn’t showing it, but I guess he was still harboring that incident.

Though it wasn’t intentional, Nicholas’ words weren’t wrong in the end.

Rarien felt a bit sorry.

“That was because my transfer was already scheduled, so I had no choice.”

“If you were going to transfer, you shouldn’t have fooled around with me in the office.”

That’s right… No, you’re the one who had s*x so casually.

She wanted to argue, but that seemed like it would lead to a prolonged war of words with this eloquent man. How could one win a verbal fight against someone whose job was preaching? It’s best not to engage in impossible battles from the start.

“You’re right. I made a mistake. I’m truly sorry.”

“……”

“Of course, this isn’t just lip service either. I’m sincere.”

Rarien put her hands together and bowed her head politely.

“What good are verbal apologies? You should take responsibility through actions.”

“……”

“If you’re sorry, just finish the work you were doing.”

“…Yes. I’ll organize the selected introductions so you can use them by weather and theme.”

As she was about to bow and return to her desk,

“Wait.”

Her wrist was grabbed. What? Rarien’s eyes widened.

“Do you like sweets?”

“Me?”

“Yes. Everyone was buying them on the way, so I bought one too.”

Nicholas opened the first drawer of the desk and took out a palm-sized box. Inside were 6 cute chocolates.

It was the chocolate Rarien had wanted to line up and buy in the busy street.

“Take it and eat. You barely ate earlier because of me.”

“……”

So you did know. Giving the disease, then the medicine. How annoying.

“What, afraid it might be poisoned?”

When Rarien just stared at the box, frozen stiff, Nicholas took out a chocolate and put it in his own mouth.

“Is that better now?”

“…Th-thank you.”

“Never mind the thanks. Eat one right here now. If you don’t like it, you can throw it away or whatever.”

Rarien hesitantly put a chocolate in her mouth. As soon as it melted, a sweet taste spread in her mouth. She had been exhausted from the heavy workload, but it seemed to give her a burst of energy.

For a moment, their eyes met. The corner of his mouth curved up as he stood.

His face drew closer. Startled, Rarien held her breath for a moment. His gaze was now directed at her lips.

His large hand cupped Rarien’s cheek.

“……!”

Is he trying to kiss her?

As she reflexively squeezed her eyes shut, the tip of his thumb touched her mouth and pulled away.

“You’re not a child. It’s all over your mouth.”

A low voice resonated in her ear.

“Though you probably hoped for something more adult-like.”

As he joked, Rarien’s face flushed bright red.

“N-no, that’s not it. I was just a little surprised…”

“Was it delicious?”

…Nod nod. Rarien nodded with a bright red face.

Unrequited love is hopeless. To think the heart could flutter like this from a small kindness after being thoroughly disliked.

She felt foolish.

“If it’s delicious, let’s continue the work we were doing. We’ll end up pulling an all-nighter at this rate.”

Unlike the flustered Rarien, he picked up the book he had been reading again with a very relaxed attitude.

***

“You wouldn’t even notice if I carried you away.”

It was amusing watching her doze off earlier, but now she had fallen fast asleep, sprawled across the desk. Nicholas approached the desk and silently gazed at Rarien’s face as she slept while working.

“Should I say she has no sense of caution? Or that she’s naive?”

She diligently and meticulously handled other people’s work. But when it came to taking care of herself, she was utterly careless. A wry smile involuntarily formed on his lips.

She said she was only twenty? Her face was still full of youthful charm, along with the soft down she had yet to shed. To think he’d end up coming all the way to this rural backwater, obsessed with such a little kid.

While flipping through the sermon notebook she showed earlier, he found something strange and was tempted to take a peek while she slept. Nicholas silently opened the back pages of the notebook.

“……”

Someone’s portrait was densely drawn from various angles. The skill was quite good, enough to recognize it was him at a glance.

“You said you loved Benjamin. Why is it only me?”