“…Excuse me.”

Matian reached his arms behind him, supporting Rukna’s thighs. At first, his movements seemed a bit awkward, but he soon started walking well.

“Where should I take you?”

“To the elf village where the pilgrimage group is.”

“You’re going to complete the pilgrimage to the end?”

“Of course. It’s a necessary gateway to becoming a priest.”

“Originally, that wasn’t your dream.”

Rukna had wanted to make a lot of money after graduation.

The fellow who used to mutter to himself like a heretic, saying the world was ending and babbling about going to another world, becoming a priest?

Matian thought it was a path that didn’t suit Rukna.

“I suddenly got to like being a priest.”

Rukna said that while holding back the words that rose up to her chin.

I’m actually not a great person like you, so it’s hard for me to adapt in the pilgrimage group. I’m upset that people don’t welcome my existence. So there are times when I miss my days at the military academy. But I’m here because there’s nowhere else that will accept me except the temple.

However, there was no way she could confidently say such embarrassing words. All that remained was her poor self-esteem, so how could she want to show him her pathetic bottom.

“It seems like being a priest suits my aptitude. That’s why.”

Rukna emphasized it once more.

“If that’s what you want to do, then do it.”

Matian answered as if he was allowing Rukna’s career path.

Saying I’ll live my life as I please, but he uses that tone. Is this the arrogance of a high noble?

While thinking this guy is quite ridiculous in a way, Rukna was also envious of him. If you have such broad shoulders, wouldn’t there be no reason to shrink?

Right now, she was like a shriveled tomato dried in the sun. Before she could become more depressed, she wriggled her feet.

“Let me down now. You’re not planning to walk all the way to the village like this, are you?”

“That’s right.”

“Don’t you have something to ride on?”

Since he followed her without even being out of breath, she thought he might have brought a horse.

“No. When you ran, I also ran with just my body.”

“Earlier, I was so surprised that I ran without knowing… Until yesterday, I definitely heard you were in the capital, so when I saw you in front of my eyes, I thought I was going to faint.”

From the capital to the eastern end of the empire, it would take several days even on horseback.

When she grumbled, asking if he flew here, Matian naturally nodded his head.

“That’s right. I came riding a black dragon.”

“…Are you really crazy?”

Dragon and wyvern flight was only permitted for training or special situations.

If we compare it to our previous life, it’s like causing a major accident by taking off on a fighter jet without permission from the roof of a building, saying we have one at home, and flying to Busan.

The capital must be in an uproar by now, but he was nonchalant.

“I’ve felt it for a while, but I think you’re secretly crazy.”

“You said you’re going to be a priest, but your mouth is rough, Rukna. Shouldn’t those noble lips recite things like God’s grace and mercy?”

“Do I look like I’m going to say nice things right now? Phew, no. I’ll pray like a priest. May nothing come out of the imperial family.”

“How grateful.”

Matian, who had been responding with a gentle voice, continued his question with a slightly stiff tone.

“But you know. Are you planning to pray like this for other guys too?”

“What are you talking about now?”

“I’m glad you’re praying for me, but when I think you might do the same for other guys, I get jealous.”

“Are you going to keep saying weird things?”

Anyway, what a despicable guy. Rukna put strength into the arm she had around Matian’s shoulder, choking his neck. This much shouldn’t even faze him.

But unlike expected, his large body stiffened and even stopped walking.

His ears and the area below his neck turned bright red. What? Did I choke him too hard? He wasn’t originally this weak? Rukna quickly released the strength in her arm and asked if he was okay.

“Have you ever done this to another guy?”

“No, why? Did it hurt a lot?”

“Never do this to another guy.”

Was it that painful? Rukna looked down at her arms that nearly assassinated the empire’s hero.

Then Matian, who had briefly stopped talking, continued.

“When you cling closely, I can feel everything. Your body.”

“W-What are you thinking!”

Startled, Rukna pulled her upper body back to create distance.

As she was about to fall backwards, Matian quickly grabbed her swaying body.

“Don’t do anything silly and hold on tight. I have no intention of letting you go.”

“…You pervert.”

“I can’t deny that.”

“What the hell are you thinking?”

“Why. Are you curious? Should I tell you?”

The lecture hall, hallway, dormitory, infirmary, training grounds. He imagined exchanging breaths with her in all those places.

If he honestly confessed that, it wouldn’t end with just a slap on the cheek.

If the holy sword hadn’t stopped him, saying [If you reveal those dirty thoughts, the chances of the other person running away will skyrocket], he might have said it.

He had to push forward like this for her to think of him as a man, not just a classmate.

Even if he earned her hatred, he wanted to appear as a man to her. This was why the high priest called him a kid. He felt completely defeated.

Rukna repeated words like ‘Wow, this is unbelievable. It’s really funny’ while getting angry, then let out a long sigh and buried her face in his shoulder.

That breath, carrying a temperature as warm as her, spread over the collar of his shirt.

Only after smelling the scent of green in her breath did Matian realize he was walking in the forest. That’s how focused all his senses were on her.

Soon, the area below his neck became damp. Matian frowned. It seemed she was crying.

What happened? He thought it might be because of what he said earlier, but was soon convinced it wasn’t.

She wouldn’t take his openly expressed feelings that seriously.

Then what made you cry? He had a rough idea.

His heart felt like it had frozen and tightened, but at the same primitive satisfaction that she revealed her weak side in front of him, his stomach felt hot.

It was as cowardly as it gets. He swallowed the bitterness at the root of his tongue.

Matian moved neither slowly nor quickly. Because he walked at a constant speed, he couldn’t even tell how much time had passed.

The sun that had been floating far away tilted and the shadows of the trees slowly changed direction.

The slanted afternoon light fell on Rukna’s head. Oops. Matian was about to move his steps back into the shade.

Rukna, who had been burying her head for a while, opened her mouth.

“Why don’t you resent me?”

Matian tightly gripped the arm supporting her legs.

“What resentment.”

One corner of his mouth lifted crookedly.

“I secretly had the holy sword you were desperately searching for. I lied about my gender and deceived you all.”

She spoke in the most tears-stifled yet indifferent voice she could muster.

But like a thin string vibrating, the tremor in her voice could not be hidden.

Even when she drank the gender juice, her voice was thin for a man, but now wailing in a woman’s voice, Matian felt like he was going crazy.

“Yeah, I was angry. I felt betrayed too.”

Even though it was an expected question, his emotions fluctuated.

“I definitely did, but more than that, I was angrier that you left without a word.”

He wanted to console her right away.

But he couldn’t dare acknowledge her, who had buried her head to hide that she was crying.

“So please don’t disappear without a word. If you don’t want me to, I won’t look for you… Just don’t hide.”

With that, Matian walked in silence.

Feeling his shirt get soaked with her tears, as slow as possible. Until she fell asleep, tired from crying.

I think I heard Matian asking something in my sleep.

“Can I come see you sometimes?”

So Rukna answered like this.

“I don’t like it yet.”

“I wish you’d allow it even if you don’t like it.”

“Why do you keep doing this. Like a child.”

After saying that, she buried her face in his back like a child herself.

If she only had his warm temperature and the sound of his pounding heart, it seemed she wouldn’t be afraid even if she was trapped in an endless nightmare.

“Do I seem like a kid to you too?”

It’s rough for him to use such words. That’s why you’re really like a kid.

“Yes.”

“When I become an adult, will you see me properly?”

“I’ll think about it…”

And she fell into a deep sleep, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling. It was the elf village where the pilgrimage group was staying.

After Jude’s treatment was over, the pilgrimage group returned to the temple.

Rukna went through the formal priest procedures.

Prayer and service, purification, healing, cleaning.

As she repeated the busy schedule, the season of falling white snowflakes arrived, and after going on several dispatches, flower petals were already fluttering around her.

After becoming an adult, she received the ‘God’s Pattern’ from the high priest.

This was a kind of magical formula that amplified holy power, engraved on the body like a tattoo, and was the coming-of-age ceremony for priests.

The size of the pattern differed according to one’s holy power, and it usually ended at the back of the hand or around the arm.

However, in Rukna’s case, her innate holy power was so vast that the pattern had to be engraved on both arms and back.

“Euk!”

Rukna bit down hard on the cloth in her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut.

The cold sweat that welled up on her round forehead flowed down her straight nose bridge and dripped to the floor with a plop.

“It’s done. It must have hurt, but you endured it very well.”

The high priest removed the golden sacred object shaped like a large needle from her back.

The magic pattern he had engraved on her small back sparkled and disappeared under her skin.

Rukna, who had been exposing her back, spat out the cloth she was biting and raised her body.

Her flushed cheeks and smooth skin drenched in sweat exuded a bewitching charm, drawing the eyes of men.

Even the female priests guarding the surroundings looked at that face as if enchanted.

“I heard the imperial palace is holding a debutante this time.”

The high priest briefly held the large needle he was holding to his lips, then dusted off his robe and draped it over Rukna.

“Wasn’t it not long ago that the priest of the Red Eagle was captured? Are they already holding such an event?”

Rukna said that while naturally receiving the high priest’s robe.

Chad was captured by the imperial knight commander last winter and is now locked up in the imperial palace’s underground prison.

Although it was suspicious that he was caught so easily, the imperial family raised a toast, and prohibited social activities also began to take place little by little.

“I’m also dissatisfied with that part, but how can we go against the emperor’s will. The temple will also have to prepare for the nobles’ coming-of-age ceremonies.”

The high priest finished arranging the carelessly draped robe, covering the rest of her round shoulders and upper arms.

In the process, his fingers touched Rukna’s skin, but she accepted the contact familiarly.

It was just that they had become accustomed to each other during temple life, but because both of their appearances were so outstanding, some priests who watched them fantasized that there was something between the two.

“Matian Wiegratz said he wants to receive a blessing from you.”

A blessing was an act of sprinkling holy water on a noble who had come of age, bestowing a blessing, and declaring them an adult.

“Is that… so? I heard he was drafted to the western frontier and is in combat right now.”

He was traveling around various places by imperial order, rooting out remnants of black magicians.

Whenever he returned to the capital, he never forgot to visit the temple, but he never looked for Rukna.

However, he somehow swept away all the sacred objects Rukna had infused with holy power.

“He will return in time for the coming-of-age ceremony.”