“You got hurt coming to see me, teacher.”

“It didn’t hurt much. Thinking of seeing you gave me strength even as I fell.”

“Oh, really!”

“Sorry I’m late, Rukna.”

Gale squatted down and ruffled Rukna’s hair as she sat at his feet.

Sorry? Rukna opened her eyes wide and looked up at Teacher Gale.

It was strange. For what reason were tears welling up at words without context?

“Our Rukna is an adult now too, but thinking about how you only congratulated others on their coming of age at today’s ceremony made me anxious. So I got delayed wandering here and there.”

Gale shrugged, saying the more urgent it is, the more you have to go around, but he didn’t know he would make such immature mistakes at this age.

“…The priests received blessings from the divine beforehand. As proof, the god’s patterns were engraved on our arms and backs.”

“Oh my, patterns? It wasn’t painful?”

Gale let out a gasp of surprise, then squatted down to Rukna’s eye level and felt her arms.

“It was bearable. Strangely, the patterns only appear outwardly when using holy power.”

“That’s really amazing, Rukna.”

“You say that without seeing it.”

“I see it all.”

“You can see these patterns with your mind’s eye too?”

“No. I see your soul and emotions that have grown while I haven’t seen you.”

Gale patted Rukna’s head once more.

“Well done, our Rukna.”

Well done, you say, Teacher. I ran away. I ignored the people cheering for me and hid here like a coward, afraid to face reality.

Rukna bit her lip, unable to say those words. But Gale smiled kindly as if reading her mind.

“In life, persevering isn’t always the best way. When facing waves you can’t handle, you have to be able to relax and submerge under the water. In that sense, you made a pretty good choice.”

With that, Gale took out a silver bracelet hidden deep in his pocket and put it on Rukna’s wrist.

In the center of the rough yet simple bracelet was an opaque crystal that looked like it was carved from a sage stone.

It had the power to make one’s heart swell, like Gale’s consolation that she had made a pretty good choice.

“It’s a gift. Merfolk have a custom of making accessories for their children who come of age.”

Gale chuckled playfully as Rukna felt the wrist wearing the bracelet.

“I could make an elixir with my eyes closed, but I guess I have no talent for this. I wanted to see so badly that I stumbled!”

“You went through all that hardship walking here to give me this? I’m not even your child.”

At those words, Gale only laughed.

He couldn’t confidently say in front of her that she was his child, but to Gale, Rukna was no different than his own.

She was the child who kept him bound to this land when he was losing purpose and disappearing, and the only flame in a world going out.

How could he let such a child’s coming of age pass by?

Thinking she would be praying blessings as an attendant for others today, a thousand resentments welled up inside him and he ran here like this.

He really wanted to give the blessing for Rukna himself.

“You are precious to me, Rukna.”

Gale compressed all these feelings into a single phrase.

Then he took Rukna’s hands and closed his unseeing eyes tightly to pray to whatever god might exist.

Praying that his second child could live happily. That rather than burning as someone else’s flame, she could simply live comfortably and happily looking at another’s flame. That she could become a bit of a cowardly and selfish being.

Seeing such Gale, Rukna spoke with a choked up voice.

“Thank you, Teacher.”

“What’s there to thank? Still, I’m glad I got to see you before leaving.”

“Leaving, you say?”

“Actually, I submitted my resignation to the school. To go traveling with a good friend who doesn’t judge my life.”

“Could that companion be… the Professor of Divine Studies?”

“Oh my? How did you know?”

“He frequented the infirmary, didn’t he?”

And he openly expressed interest in Gale.

It’s just that Gale didn’t pay him much mind. Even now, there seemed to be no major progress in their relationship as Gale tilted his head, saying “Did he?”

“When do you leave?”

“In a week.”

“The day the imperial court holds a ball.”

“Right? I heard there will be amazing fireworks but it’s a shame I can’t see them.”

Mentioning fireworks while being blind was Gale’s own joke. He got up, brushing off his skirt.

“Well then, take care Rukna. Don’t do your best, just do it roughly. It’s a loss to live too diligently.”

“Puhahaha. As expected of you, Teacher.”

“Don’t trip or get sick. Only get sick where I can see you, so I can heal anything with my panacea.”

“Teacher, your red medicine is shoddy, you know.”

“Oh my, do you want to nag just like my late husband?”

Gale hugged Rukna tightly once more, then turned around without hesitation.

“Go safely, Teacher!”

Rukna called out toward the receding back. Gale raised a hand and waved it roughly, then quickened his pace.

It was to catch a horse-drawn carriage ringing a bell as it passed by.

Rukna watched until Gale safely boarded the carriage, waving the whole time.

She wanted to, even if Gale couldn’t see. The silver bracelet on that wrist sparkled more beautifully than the stars in the night sky.

4:30 AM.

Matian woke up habitually at this hour, finished a short training session, then washed up.

At 6 AM, a simple breakfast. 20 minutes later, he read through weekly magazines published by other companies to examine the domestic and international state of affairs.

7 AM. He rode a horse out of the capital gates to hunt undesirables.

From small game to large magic beasts. If lucky, he arrested remnants of the Red Eagles.

12 PM. He stopped by a nearby inn to wash up. He didn’t eat.

1 PM. He headed to the temple. It was time for afternoon service, so the priests were busy greeting believers.

Seeing Matian standing there in bloodstained clothes, the priest called Rukna.

To suppress the fragments of a demon that had grown stronger required at least the head priest, but as they were occupied with service preparations, Rukna, who had strong holy power, had to take charge of him.

Matian sat in the prayer room waiting for Rukna.

The space was so narrow that lying down, he could barely stretch out his legs, but that’s why he liked this place.

“Are you trying to stamp a perfect attendance card? As if anyone would doubt you’re a model student.”

Rukna entered the room with a sigh. This rude visitor aiming for the temple’s busiest time several days in a row was truly bothersome.

‘Where do you see someone in need of purification?’

His clothes were splattered with blood, but that was just for show.

If graduates of the military academy saw, they would have scoffed, asking if he got blood on himself on purpose.

Rather than the smell of blood, the scent of his usual cologne wafted from him.

No idiot would go around reeking like that while hunting. It was proof he had washed up very cleanly before coming.

‘He could have at least changed into neat clothes while at it.’

Of course, if he had stood there looking tidy, the priests wouldn’t have called Rukna in the first place.

“Why do you keep coming to the temple when it’s not even urgent?”

Rukna roughly looked him over. He didn’t particularly seem in need of purification.

“You’re too harsh on a hero working hard for the empire, Lady Priest.”

“You’re the awful one, exploiting my holy power every day. Is the sacred sword constantly telling you to do something? Is that why you scour the capital outskirts like catching mice from dawn?”

When Rukna glanced at the sacred sword at his waist, Matian raised an eyebrow.

“This sword seems quite talkative to you, Lady Priest.”

He made an expression as if displeased by something.

Why is he like that, really. And how long will he use that way of speaking?

Rukna plopped down in a chair. Matian knelt at her feet as if he had been waiting.

Thinking how easily he bends his knees despite his strong pride, Rukna placed a hand on his forehead.

Until yesterday, she had brought holy water to hold a semblance of a ritual, but by the fourth day she omitted the bothersome process.

As Rukna infused holy power, golden patterns shimmered along her arm, emitting light.

The glow could be seen faintly through the priest robe covering past her elbow.

Usually people close their eyes at times like this, but Matian stared wide-eyed at Rukna’s patterns with blue eyes as always. He blurted out the question he had held back for days.

“Were those patterns engraved by the head priest?”

“Asking when you know.”

“The other priests’ stop around the back of the hand… Yours are quite long, it’s strange.”

“The more holy power you have, the longer the patterns need to be engraved. It’s something to be very proud of as a priest.”

“…How far do they go?”

“Huh?”

Rukna, who had infused sufficient holy power, took her hand off Matian’s forehead and asked back.

Matian grabbed the withdrawing hand tightly, then rubbed the soft skin on the inside of her wrist. It was where the patterns began.

“I asked how far these continue.”

His fingers traced upward along the patterns.

The long digits slipped under her short sleeve, slightly lifting it, then trembled as if momentarily despairing at the endlessly continuing patterns within.

“What will you do knowing that?”

Rukna pulled her arm away, embarrassed.

Even though she hadn’t committed any sins, the other person reacting like that made her feel uncomfortable, as if she had cheated.

“I need to know. As the man who will be yours.”

“Wh-whose what?”

Rukna glanced around the room in a fluster.

She reconfirmed whether anyone overheard, despite knowing it was just the two of them in the cramped room, that’s how embarrassing the words were.

Seeing her beet red face, Matian laughed as if finding her cute.

It was clearly Matian kneeling and Rukna looking down at him, yet the force of presence was the opposite.

‘That wretched Matian Wiegratz.’

The purification should be finished with this much, Rukna thought as she got up to leave the room.

But she failed as Matian stood up with her and pushed her against the wall.

She had only stepped back three paces, but her back hit the hard wall. His two extended arms propped on either side of her head, completely blocking her escape.

“Thinking of only sucking out an innocent man’s nectar and running away. You’re a priest of poor character.”

“When did I ever suck out nectar?”

“Holding hands and kissing. If you took all of a man’s firsts, shouldn’t you take responsibility, Rukna Closet, Lady Priest?”

“Just for that much?”

“Just?”

Just, he says. Matian twisted one corner of his mouth. He slightly tilted his head and hardened his expression coldly, then gazed at Rukna again.

“Then you’ll have to teach me, Lady Priest. How much I need to bite and suck for the nectar to disappear.”

He was smiling softly like before.

This guy is really angry. Rukna gulped.

Matian suddenly unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open. Thick contours of muscle showed through the parted front.

He took Rukna’s hand and placed it on his chest. Then he held it in place so that hand couldn’t escape.

“Is this much enough?”

“Matian!”

“Or lower?”