The book she dropped hit her foot and fell to the floor, but Irene couldn’t pay attention to it.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you in the library before.”

Because Abel was right in front of her.

His smiling face with thin lips smoothly curled upwards was beautiful enough to make many women’s hearts flutter, but it had no effect on Irene.

Rather, it sent chills down her spine, feeling like a poisonous mushroom hiding deadly venom behind its flashy exterior.

Even the fruit incident before had a hidden trap, didn’t it?

So I mustn’t let my guard down.

…But this man, he’s creepy.

Just making eye contact with Abel felt as eerie as touching a snake’s skin, so Irene tucked her head in like a turtle.

The book that was kicked by her feet as she unconsciously stepped back hit the bookshelf, bounced off, and came to a stop in front of the well-polished shoes that were shining brightly.

“Hmm?”

Naturally, Abel’s gaze shifted to the book.

Irene also looked down at the book.

The book was splayed open like butterfly wings.

As a result, an even more explicit and embarrassing picture than the one she saw earlier was openly revealed.

“…!”

Irene’s eyes widened to their limit as she belatedly discovered this.

Oh, I need to close the book quickly!

Although it seemed rather meaningless to close it after Abel had already seen the picture, she still couldn’t leave that indecent book out in the open.

Irene hurriedly reached for the book, but unfortunately, Abel picked it up first.

Her hand that missed its target froze in mid-air.

“Hmm.”

Abel flipped through the pages with great interest, then looked at Irene with a strange smile.

“Judging by your appearance, I wouldn’t have thought you’d be interested in this kind of thing… I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Faced with the crisis of being seen as someone who likes lewd things, Irene waved both hands that had been awkwardly frozen from side to side.

“Th-that’s not it! The book had no title, and the cover was red, so I was curious about what kind of book it was… I absolutely didn’t take it out because I wanted to read it! I have no interest in this sort of thing!”

She exclaimed her excuses earnestly, even raising her voice, but it was a useless effort.

“It’s okay. Everyone’s like that at your age, so you don’t need to be too embarrassed.”

Because Abel didn’t believe her at all.

“Looking through it, this seems a bit low-quality. Shall I introduce you to some better books?”

Moreover, as he teased her with such words, Irene’s face grew redder and redder.

If this continues, I’ll end up being labeled a pervert for sure.

Irene disliked both being falsely accused of being a pervert and being teased by Abel.

But what she hated most was the thought of Kalos finding out about this.

If he finds out about this, he’ll look at me with disgust.

What if he thinks the reason I didn’t avoid his kiss was because I’m a pervert?

“…”

The mere thought was so terrible that Irene shuddered.

I have to clear my name somehow.

Irene looked straight at Abel and strongly expressed her stance.

“I’ll say it again, I didn’t look at that book because I wanted to. I didn’t even know it was that kind of book!”

Abel shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright. I’ll think of it that way.”

“It’s not just thinking that way, it’s the truth!”

“I said I understand.”

Anyone could see he clearly didn’t believe her, so what does he understand!

“But you know, are you really an adult? Are you sure you’re allowed to look at these things?”

“Yes, I’m an adult, and I’ve told you several times that I didn’t look at it because I wanted to!”

“Ah, right, we agreed to think of it that way.”

Argh, this is really frustrating!

Irene pressed her furrowed brow with her hand. It had been a long time since she felt so exasperated.

It seemed that no matter how much she explained, Abel had no intention of believing her words at all.

If that’s the case, at least prevent it from reaching Kalos’s ears.

“Hey, listen…”

Changing her strategy to suit her opponent, Irene focused on persuading Abel.

She didn’t even notice that the tightly closed library door had opened and closed again.

*

Click-.

The sound of the door closing echoed loudly in the quiet hallway.

“Master?”

Why did he close the door again without entering the library?

Dewey called out to Kalos in confusion.

“…”

Kalos stared intently at the library door as if thinking about something, then soon sighed and turned around.

“She seems busy now, so let’s come back later.”

“Pardon?”

What nonsense was this now?

It was strange that he described Irene as seeming busy when the only thing she could be doing in the library was reading books.

What was even stranger was that Kalos was being considerate of Irene.

The Kalos that Dewey knew would focus on his own business first, regardless of whether the other person was busy or not.

Backing off because Irene seemed busy was unlike him.

As expected, the Master… thinks of the young lady as more than just a sacrifice.

Suddenly recalling the conversation between Irene and Kalos in front of the kitchen last dawn, Dewey clenched his fist tightly.

I must absolutely prevent Kalos from making wrong judgments after having his heart stolen by Irene.

“By the way, the lifespan of a yomi is at least 50 years, I wonder if that will be alright.”

As Dewey mumbled as if talking to himself, Kalos, who was walking ahead, turned only his head to look back at him.

At the gaze that seemed to ask what he meant, Dewey added with a grin.

“The young lady is destined to bloom and die for the Master’s sake, isn’t she? Considering the speed at which flowers bloom, it seems it would be at most a year… I’m worried that the yomi might go berserk after its contracted master dies.”

To avoid making Kalos suspicious by directly emphasizing that Irene was a sacrifice, Dewey expressed it in a roundabout way.

At that, the purple eyes wavered for a moment.

Though it was just for an instant, Dewey, who had been closely observing Kalos’s reaction, noticed it immediately.

“…”

He thought Kalos would scold him for worrying needlessly, but unexpectedly, Kalos said nothing.

As the silence lengthened, it became suffocating, and anxiety intensified.

Imagining the worst-case scenario, Dewey could no longer wait and asked directly.

“You haven’t… forgotten the young lady’s role, have you?”

“…”

“Master.”

When Dewey pressed for an answer, Kalos sighed deeply as if annoyed and turned his head again.

“I know it well, so stop with the unnecessary talk.”

*

The underground prison of the Masu Training Center was dark and damp, without a single ray of light entering.

Moreover, as cold winds continuously blew in from somewhere, Sergio huddled his trembling body tightly.

After being captured by Kalos, his body was left with no intact parts due to the numerous severe tortures he had endured.

His two legs were twisted in different directions, and all his fingernails and toenails had been pulled out, leaving him covered in blood.

He thought they would surely kill him after obtaining all the information they wanted, but whether fortunate or unfortunate, Kalos did not kill him.

This aroused an extreme sense of fear that he might be tortured again.

Although Sergio thought it would be better to die than to experience those terrible moments again, he lacked the courage to do so.

“May the holy God’s protection be upon me…”

All Sergio could do now was pray that God would take his life before Kalos appeared again.

How much time had passed like that?

Creaaak, at the sound of the iron gate opening, Sergio squeezed his eyes shut.

It seemed that God had no intention of calling him to His side.

Although straw was spread on the floor, it couldn’t completely muffle the heavy footsteps.

Is it Kalos? Or the guard knight who was with him?

Sergio tried to raise his head to see who it was, but due to the shock of torture, his vision was blurred as if covered in fog, making it impossible to identify the person.

Although his sight was impaired, his hearing was still intact.

“You’re still alive, I see.”

“…!”

A voice he could never forget even in his dreams.

Sergio, who had been weakly hanging his head, lifted it again abruptly.

“Ron, is that you!”

“…”

The other person didn’t answer, but Sergio was certain it was the man who had stolen his identity tag.

If his body and mind had been intact, he would have wondered how Ron, who claimed to be a commoner, was here and what kind of relationship he had with Kalos.

Sadly, Sergio, enraged at meeting the enemy who had reduced him to this state, didn’t think about that at all and shouted angrily.

“Do you know what humiliation I suffered because you took my identity card, you bastard? Even tearing you to pieces wouldn’t be enough…!”

“For a priest who serves God, your language is quite rough.”

The other person mocked Sergio and dropped something in front of him.

Clang, the sound of metal echoed through the narrow underground prison like an echo.

“Here, this is the identity tag you’ve been looking for.”

Even without a kind explanation, Sergio’s face twisted hideously as he immediately recognized the identity tag.

“Are you mocking me now!”

The other person shrugged.

“You’re making a fuss even when I’m returning it.”

“You, you…!”

“First, I’ll say thank you. Just by carrying that identity tag, no one noticed that I wasn’t a priest. It was truly a useful item.”

At these additional words, Sergio’s eyes bulged.

“Not only did you steal a priest’s identity tag, but you also pretended to be a priest! Aren’t you afraid of God’s wrath? God will not leave you be!”

“Haha, what an interesting story.”

The other person let out a small laugh, then stepped firmly on Sergio’s hand.

It was the same hand that Kalos had stepped on, breaking the bones.

“…!”

“There is no God in this world.”

As an unbearable pain washed over him, making even groaning difficult, his mind became hazy.

But as if unwilling to let Sergio lose consciousness, the other person grabbed Sergio’s hair tightly and thrust his face close.

“If there was a God, He would have saved you before you ended up like this. You’re His faithful servant, after all.”

“…”

His vision was still blurry, and with the added pain that felt like his scalp was being ripped off, Sergio couldn’t even see the face of the person so close to him properly.

But he could clearly see the purple eyes.

‘Purple? That’s impossible.’

The Ron I met had blue eyes.

Of course, magic could be used to change hair and eye color, but no one ever changed them to purple.

Purple was known to be the color of demons.

Moreover, as far as he knew, there was only one person in the entire continent with purple eyes: Kalos.

So how could this man’s eyes also be purple?

Amidst the swirling questions, the purple eyes suddenly became moist with bitterness.

“Ah, is that why God didn’t save me?”

With that short lament and meaningful question.

Sergio was finally completely liberated from pain and able to rest by the side of God he had been seeking so desperately.