It would be different, of course. He was a Border Count, no less. The healing priests he met would be at least high-ranking priests or archpriests. There was no way divine power would taste the same.

Moreover, Evelyn’s operational capacity was disgustingly short, making her truly talentless for demonic energy purification.

“Haa… I’m sorry, but anything beyond this should be healed by a high-ranking priest. If you continue accumulating it like that, you’ll soon have trouble moving around. I’ll return and rest now. Please forgive my rudeness.”

Evelyn suffered from increasingly strong waves of dizziness and nausea. It felt like the Border Count’s demonic energy had transferred to her rather than being purified. Since he was holding her wrist anyway, Evelyn used that strength to pull herself up.

“Ah, urgh…”

When she swayed with her vision spinning, the Border Count roughly pulled her wrist to prevent her from falling.

However, falling would have been better. Evelyn’s body swayed back and forth, and with her wrist feeling like it might snap, she erased her gentle priestly expression and frowned deeply.

“My wrist, please…”

“……”

He surely knew she had spoken through gritted teeth. Yet the Border Count neither released her wrist nor scolded her for being rude. Though Evelyn was the one confused by this situation, Norton simply glared at her with wide eyes, acting like he was the most bewildered one.

“Are you really a healing priest? Are there different types of divine power? Are you a holy knight?”

Holy knights, or combat priests, appeared maybe once in a hundred people.

And most inherited this lineage through bloodlines. This meant holy knights came from families that produced holy knights, and when their divine power manifested, blue or red light emanated from their bodies.

Combat priests received noble titles regardless of who was born with the ability, so eventually holy knights came from noble families, and those houses naturally continued the lineage of knight families.

Healing divine power followed a similar pattern, but differed from holy knights in that divine power manifested in children born to healing priests. In other words, there were far more of them compared to holy knights.

Most children born to healing priests manifested healing sacred power. Naturally, marriage among priests was forbidden, but imperial law permitted childbirth to increase the number of priests.

So most healing priests could be considered illegitimate children. Their mothers couldn’t marry but had children and returned to the temple.

However, treatment varied depending on how high-ranking the father was among nobles. Since divine power was effective and influential, the stigma of illegitimacy held little power. In Evelyn’s case, her father was merely a poor Baron who couldn’t provide support.

The sacred power Evelyn manifested was white light.

Usually when white or golden light emerged, it possessed healing power, with golden light having stronger purification abilities.

If Evelyn’s abilities were limited to calming troubled minds, helping with insomnia, purifying demonic energy that briefly clung after exposure to monsters, or simply bestowing blessings, then golden light was strong enough to purify land where demonic energy had accumulated.

The difference in abilities varied considerably according to the color of the light, and operational capacity also differed based on size. Evelyn, who possessed only palm-sized power, naturally could only be a low-ranking priest.

No matter how capable holy knights were, they had no healing abilities, so the Border Count’s reaction was somewhat forced.

“Please release my wrist first. It hurts.”

“No.”

“Pardon? Why not?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. Why indeed.”

There were appropriate times for word games, but Evelyn felt irritated by this man old enough to be her father and his old-fashioned attitude. Her dizziness was too severe.

“Your Grace. I need to…”

“It won’t let go. My hand.”

“……Pardon?”

“I want to release it, but my hand won’t open. No, I can open it, but I don’t want to.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I’m f*cked, is what I mean.”

Though the words flowed from a noble’s refined mouth, she couldn’t believe it even hearing it directly.

When Evelyn looked up at him with her mouth agape and pale face, Norton grew increasingly thirsty from the very weak, gentle stream of refreshing sensation rising from the wrist caught in his hand.

The moment he released this, he felt desperate urgency, like all the moisture in his body would evaporate and his body would crumble into sand grains.

Simply being near monsters exposed people to demonic energy that accumulated in their bodies. Most could be healed with divine power, but as the Border Count guarding this land where monsters swarmed beyond the boundary, Norton was inevitably exposed to unimaginable amounts of demonic energy.

Each knight order had intermediate or higher healing priests assigned as essential personnel, but Norton had violently rejected divine power since childhood. Not him, but his body.

Though he had survived with excellent martial arts until now, it was also true that cutting down monsters was becoming increasingly burdensome.

But had healing divine power always felt like this?

So that’s why the knight order bastards wouldn’t let go of priests after returning from monster subjugation. Because of this thirsty feeling.

Once tasted, absolutely impossible to release, like ice water flowing directly through his veins. The contradictory sensation where the more refreshing it felt, the more thirst arose made Norton immediately lift the young priest who seemed about to collapse.

“Kyaak!”

“I’ll let you rest.”

“Put me down! I can walk. I can go by myself.”

“I said I can’t do that.”

“Hiik!!”

The elevated view made Evelyn even dizzier. The man’s solid chest touching her body felt alien.

As a priest, Evelyn had never had such contact with the opposite s*x except for healing and blessing purposes.

With each step he took, the man’s body resonated with thump-thump-thump sounds. When she realized these were heartbeat sounds heard through fabric from within his chest, Evelyn found herself seated somewhere.

Firm yet soft, uncomfortable yet warm.

Seated on the man’s thigh, Evelyn’s face flushed with embarrassment.

Instead of laying Evelyn down, Norton Border Count sat heavily on the sofa while still holding her in that same position.

The sofa sank deeply, and when the young priest in his arms struggled, Norton pulled her shoulders closer to himself.

“This is rude. Please release me.”

“Hmm… I suppose I can think of it as healing.”

“This position isn’t necessary. Besides, I don’t have any divine power left to care for you right now. Please let me go!”

The more she struggled, the more Evelyn became trapped in the man’s embrace like vines that tightened when pulled.

“You said you wanted to rest. Rest then. I like this position.”

“Th…this is harassment. I’ll file a complaint with the temple!”

“A priest who won’t even purify demonic energy… Go ahead and try.”

Unlike the arm holding Evelyn firmly, he leaned his head back and even closed his eyes comfortably. He didn’t forget to add threats in a languid voice that sounded like he might fall asleep soon.

“I came to care for commoner children. Your Grace should have the territorial priest…”

“Is it also God’s will to refuse healing to someone in urgent need simply because they’re not a child?”

“Th…this…”

Though she boiled with anger inside, doubts crept in wondering if this wasn’t such a big deal given the Border Count’s nonchalant behavior. Did high-ranking priests have broader contact? 

Before deep thinking, she desperately needed rest. There had been ten days of travel to reach the Border Count’s territory, and she had participated in purification work for monster traces found along the way.

While six low-ranking priests put their heads together and poured out divine power daily to the point of dizziness, they had finally arrived at Norton’s territory, famous for monster subjugation.

This meant there was a disgusting pile of work ahead.

So today might be the only day she could rest upon arrival. Evelyn didn’t realize divine power was leaking from her body and thought drowsiness poured over her simply due to overwork.

The reason she couldn’t overcome sleepiness despite being positioned like a baby princess on a strange man’s thigh was surely only that…

“Already standing, I see.”

At the Border Count’s incomprehensible words, she turned her gaze to see his sharp Adam’s apple protruding as he leaned his head back. 

Only such things entered Evelyn’s vision. Her sight narrowed, became hazy, and though she wanted to sleep, her lower abdomen kept tingling and her nerves grew sensitive.

“Stop rubbing. Unless you want to make it bigger.”

“!!”

After being dazed by incomprehensible words for a moment, it became hard to ignore the blunt hardness she felt nakedly beneath her bottom. She might lack experience, but she wasn’t without knowledge.

Her face instantly flushed, but with eyes still closed, the Border Count leaned her stiff head against his chest, helped her find a more comfortable position, then began patting Evelyn’s upper chest like soothing a baby.

Though absurd, she had no words as drowsiness poured over her. Evelyn fell into deep sleep while gauging her body’s condition as it gradually warmed with returning heat.

When Evelyn feels like the heat has become unbearable, suffocating her, she finally awakens.

She looks down to find the Border Count still holding her tightly, his arm buried between her thighs, lifting the hem of her priestess robes that flow down to her ankles.

“W-What are you doing right now…?”

“Do you know this?”