“Compared to what I used to wear, these are much heavier. Of course, they’re high-quality glasses made by a master craftsman… and I’m grateful you had them made for me, but honestly, they don’t seem to suit me very well.”

Nicholas felt secretly pleased as he watched Rarien continuously express her discomfort.

The heavy glasses looked burdensome at first glance. He watched to see if she would just endure it while being overly considerate, as befitting her nickname of being a pushover. But now she knew how to whine and act spoiled.

After being held, sucked, and licked in his arms, her spirit had become quite lively. While it was cute when she used to cower, he liked it even more when she leaned on him and whined. Nicholas tried to hide his pleased smile and answered with a stern face.

“It’s dangerous outside, so absolutely not. Instead, when we’re in the room, you can take them off as you please since I’m there.”

Rarien sighed deeply and hung her head.

‘Is he worried I might bump into something because of my bad eyesight?’

Even so, this was too much. Whether it was because the expensive glasses didn’t suit her physically or not, they were extremely uncomfortable.

Back then, when she bumped into Nicholas in front of the annex, it was because she had been walking lost in thought. In fact, when they collided, her glasses had flown off; she hadn’t even been wearing them properly at first.

She could manage daily life even without glasses. Nicholas was being overly protective of her.

It seemed a more proper explanation was needed to clear up the misunderstanding.

“Your Excellency, I think you might be misunderstanding something. My eyesight isn’t that bad. It’s a bit inconvenient, but I don’t have much trouble living without glasses.”

Rarien took off the glasses and held them out to Nicholas.

Nicholas reluctantly took them, sighed deeply, and stopped walking. Then he suddenly blocked her path.

“The trouble is on my end. Can’t you just go along with it, baby? It’s not like you go out often anyway.”

“What? What trouble?”

Was she really asking because she didn’t know? It was unbelievable.

Nicholas lifted Rarien’s chin and firmly pressed her soft cheek. Automatically, Rarien’s lips puckered out. Their gazes locked.

“Your face is too pretty to show around, so I’m worried.”

“What? Me?”

“Of course.”

Impossible. This was beyond being love-struck.

“I don’t like other bastards drooling over you.”

“There’s no way that would happen to someone like me.”

“If you say that, what does that make me, who’s crazy about you?”

Smack, Nicholas kissed her lips as if stamping them, then put the large glasses back on Rarien.

They covered about half of her tiny face.

“You’re pretty. Pretty enough to make me do such crazy things because I’m so anxious.”

“……”

“Even the Goddess Arne would probably be jealous if she saw you without glasses, Rien.”

Wasn’t this blasphemy at this point? It was an extremely irreverent and embarrassing praise.

‘Goodness. I hope no one saw that?’

As that thought crossed her mind, Rarien’s face flushed red. She looked around frantically. Fortunately, there was no one around, but this lucky coincidence couldn’t last forever.

For Nicholas’s reputation, it seemed best to be especially careful with her actions.

“What if someone sees us doing this outside? Wh-what if someone sees…”

“Let them see. While they’re at it, tell them to spread rumors too.”

“Don’t say such scary things.”

“I’ll stop. Before I end up kissing you completely.”

When Rarien complained, he came back with a mischievous threat. For this deranged man, it was probably more of a warning than a threat. It was unfair, but it would be better not to provoke him. She pouted slightly and kept her mouth shut.

As the two walked together, bickering, they soon reached the confessional.

Today, they came to the confessional together because of Nicholas’s confession schedule. Although it wasn’t clear what role an assistant could play in hearing someone else’s confession, she had come along just to be able to go out like this.

“What should I do while Your Excellency is hearing confessions?”

When they arrived at the door of the confessional, Rarien asked with wide eyes.

The confessional typically used for confessions consisted of two rooms separated by a wall. Of course, there were two entrances as well.

The confessional was structured so that only the confessor and the one receiving the confession would enter each room. Rarien was supposed to wait outside, so she asked about any tasks she should prepare in advance.

Instead of answering, Nicholas grabbed Rarien’s hand and pulled her along. As she stumbled into the prayer room with him, he locked the door from the inside to prevent anyone from entering.

“Ah, why…”

“You asked me to tell you your duties.”

“Here?”

Nicholas raised an eyebrow and nodded.

For work, he suddenly locked the door? Rarien’s eyes darted back and forth.

“Since we’re at the confessional, shall we make a confession?”

“What?”

“I actually don’t like confessions very much.”

Nicholas Reinhart confessed about confessions.

Impossible. She thought he loved confessions. Even just now, it was a confession. It seemed unbelievable to suddenly declare he didn’t like them, especially after they had spent time burning flesh and bone through each other’s confessions.

As Rarien tilted her head in confusion, he kindly explained the reason.

“I have absolutely no interest in others.”

Even the Goddess Arne is indifferent. To say such things with a face more holy and gentle than anyone else’s.

It didn’t suit him at all.

“In the first place, if you’ve committed a sin, you should pay the price, asking for forgiveness seems a bit shameless. No, I don’t even understand why they seek that forgiveness from us. Shouldn’t apologies be made directly to the person you’ve wronged? Isn’t that right? Why bother uninvolved parties with something that could be resolved simply?”

“……”

“And decisively, I’m not in the mood today to listen to the lamentations of people I don’t even know.”

People can have different values. But the problem was that these words came from the mouth of someone who was the High Priest.

After all, a person acting as God’s representative was discussing confession thoroughly from his own perspective, not God’s.

“But Your Excellency is a high priest. If you have no desire to serve the believers, why did you become a priest?”

“I think just hiding this side of me is service enough.”

“Don’t play with words.”

“To be honest, it was because I didn’t want to have s*x.”

“You should say something more believable.”

To say he disliked s*x when they had just finished doing it. It was complete nonsense. Rarien’s eyes narrowed.

“That’s how it was then. Not now.”

“……”

“Why are you glaring at me like that? This is all because of you.”

And now he’s blaming it all on Rarien.

“Anyway, I despise others. Most humans are worthless and just annoying. I want to keep only the necessary people around me, but that’s not as easy as it sounds.”

“That’s absurd. Then why do you act so kindly to everyone in public?”

“Because it’s convenient.”

“What?”

To say it’s convenient to act kindly while internally having no interest and even contempt?

Rarien had a hard time understanding his words.

“The name Reinhart comes with certain expectations. The moment you deviate from that, troublesome things happen, and I hate that. So, what do you think is the most convenient response from my position?”

“……”

“The simplest way to manipulate others is through words. It’s about showing them what they imagine from a step back.”

Rarien was at a loss for words in the face of his confident attitude.

It wasn’t wrong, since she had been the same until recently. But there was certainly a big gap from the image she had imagined.

“Why are you surprised? I thought you knew. That it’s all fake.”

“Then are you fake with me too?”

“You’re different, Rarien. You’re not ‘others’, you’re ‘my person’.”

Nicholas Reinhart had very firm ‘criteria for classifying humans’.

He felt that others, excluding himself, were basically uncivilized and dirty. Even he thought it was a strange sense of superiority, but he was born that way, and the endless praise from those around him only strengthened this trait.

He could kiss Rarien Claude and exchange bodily fluids, so they could have s*x.

And for the same reason, it was possible to share the bathtub and bed, which were the most private and precious assets in Nicholas Reinhart’s life.

Since he didn’t share these even with his blood family, a new category was needed for Rarien, with whom he could share them.

So the newly created category was ‘my person’.

For Nicholas Reinhart, the world revolved strictly around himself, and Rarien Claude was inside that center.

From the moment he defined her as ‘my person’, being even more fragile than himself, he always took care of her before himself.

For Nicholas Reinhart, s*x wasn’t simply s*x, but had such a complex meaning.

However, Rarien, who’s unaware of his feelings, wore an expression as if she had discovered some fatal error.

So, although it was a bit annoying, Nicholas decided to defend himself to the best of his ability.

Of course, entirely in Nicholas Reinhart’s way.