“It’s surprising. It’s embarrassing. I thought it would be okay in the prayer room, but this isn’t right.”

Yesterday, it was really nice to see him in the prayer room.

Until he arrived, she was so captivated by the sight of Ileion smiling at her in front of her that she couldn’t think of anything, and she didn’t even remember the things that bothered her.

Human hearts are truly cunning.

When she was with Ileion at the Grand Temple all day long, she was always anxious, wondering if what he liked and wanted was not the current her but Lona.

After returning to Haudensha, where she couldn’t see him as much, those things became trivial and insignificant.

Elesia felt pathetic about herself.

“Well, by the way, how did you get in here?”

“I said I’d go to Haudensha every day, and the butler went crazy.”
Ileion thought about bringing a large sum of gold coins to Haudensha every day, wondering how the situation was over there. However, Bernard, who had managed the duke’s household while Ileion was blind, was thriving.

“Donating such a large sum to the temple every day.”

“If I don’t donate, I can’t see Elesia. What can I do?”

Ileion genuinely didn’t mind the money. He had never felt powerless even in the midst of the battlefield. Vigilance in every direction. Knowing the enemy and knowing oneself, what is there to fear?

Whether commanding from the rear on the battlefield or standing at the forefront, there was never a situation where he fought without knowing who the ‘enemy’ was. He collected information, strategized according to the terrain, and implanted spies in enemy territory for the foreseeable victory.

A stroke of luck in a war where the lives of hundreds or thousands of soldiers were at stake never happened even once.

But Ileion doesn’t know Sonatek. It felt frustrating to stumble around without properly fighting against elusive enemies hidden in the fog.

Not knowing invoked fear, and it made Ileion uneasy. Just for a day. If he couldn’t see Elesia, it felt unbearable. He felt like he might collapse unless he personally embraced her, confirmed that she was alive, and assured that there was no harm in areas his hands couldn’t reach.

“Wouldn’t it be better for rumors to spread that the blind beast of the Grand Duchy has gone crazy than to go to Haudensha every day?”

He began to think that if something happened to Elesia this time, he might finally lose his mind. He meant that he would turn everything, even a single pillar of Haudensha, into dust.

Rather than doing that, Ileion thought it would be better to spend some money for the benefit of everyone.

Nevertheless, it seemed unreasonable in the eyes of the butler.

“Do you know how much money this is? If the lord goes to Haudensha every day for just a month, you could build a new hall where prayer meetings are held.”

Bernard, who was putting the pouch of gold coins on the desk in the office with an expression that didn’t seem to agree with Ileion’s gaze, finally muttered a word.

“Wouldn’t it be better to set up the lord’s household in Haudensha?”

“…Should I?”

“…Yes? My lord?”

Thanks to the sharp butler Bernard, Ileion could come up with a plan to infiltrate Haudensha.

“Why would that be the conclusion?”

Ileion furrowed his brow slightly at Elesia’s words.

“In the end, shouldn’t you be happy to see me?”

Elesia didn’t know how to react. When Ileion came to see her in the prayer room, he came as the Grand Duke, after all.

That was the Ileion she knew.

Seeing him now in a priest’s robe somehow felt unfamiliar, and she didn’t know what to do.

“Maybe it’s because of the priest’s robe.”

Elesia hesitated, making excuses.

“Because you’re dressed like that, it feels a bit strange.”

“Is that so?”

Ileion abruptly stood up and put his hands on the waistband.

Why? What is he trying to do?
When Elysia widened her eyes, he casually replied, “If this attire is uncomfortable, I’ll take it off.”

Agh! Elysia quickly stood up and tried to stop him. “Ah, no. That’s not it. It’s just… I didn’t expect to see you like this, and it’s so welcoming.”

Her face, already turning red, seemed about to burst. Elysia embraced Ileion and rested her head on his chest.

“Doesn’t it suit me?”

“No, of course it does.”

“Then close your eyes. Consider it saving a life.”

Listening to his shameless request for a continuous kiss, Elysia felt her tension easing as she closed her eyes. She tilted her head up, and Ileion’s warm lips gently touched hers, then pulled away.

“Now I’m here. My beloved.”

He briefly explored Elysia’s face with his hands.

“Is it really okay?”

“Yes. You saved me.”

If Ileion hadn’t been there, she might have faced some trouble with Saviel earlier. She didn’t say it aloud, but the thought crossed her mind. He had once slaughtered priests to kidnap her, and then sent people to abduct her again under the sponsorship of the Grand Duchy. Elysia shivered, thinking he might do something like that again.

“There won’t be a third stroke of luck.”

Elysia felt a chill, not knowing why, and shrugged her shoulders unconsciously.

“Sit down.”

Ileion seated himself on the bed and knelt in front of her.

“Agh!”

When he touched her wrist, she couldn’t help but scream.

“It hurts!”

“Because you’re lying.”

“I’m not lying. It was fine earlier.”

“I saw that bastard biting your wrist.”

“Ah…”

She had completely forgotten about what happened afterward. When Ileion carefully lifted the sleeve, her slightly swollen wrist was revealed.

“We might need to apply a warm compress before anything else.”

Ileion’s lips gently touched her wrist.

“Ah.”

As he circled around her wrist, Ileion looked up carefully.

“I can’t just leave the place that filthy lips touched.”

She wanted to retort, asking what about his own lips, but Elysia kept her mouth shut.

“I’ll get a cold towel. Just wait a moment.”

Seeing Ileion, with the playfulness completely gone from his face, looking at her wrist with a serious expression as if she were an extremely precious person, Elysia felt an inexplicable urge to cry.

“Ileion.”

The voice calling him sounded a bit choked.

“Hold me for a while, please.”