Surely There's One to the Princess' Taste (9 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15

In truth, from the very moment Irtis heard Prodia’s scream, he had completely forgotten about the ceremony.

Irtis averted his eyes slightly.

But Prodia grabbed his face firmly with both hands.

“Could it be… you…?”

“Oh, no. The ceremony’s already over.”

It must be over by now.

He was simply the only one missing from the scene.

Unaware of this, Prodia merely let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew, that’s at least somewhat good news.”

She immediately followed up with a barrage of questions.

“Then why on earth did you come looking for me using a magic circle? I clearly told you I must never use magic under any circumstances!”

Irtis felt wronged.

“You called me first, didn’t you?”

“Me?”

“What’s wrong with you? You shouted at me through telepathy!”

Me?

Prodia looked utterly bewildered, as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

Only then did Irtis begin to understand what had happened.

He asked calmly,

“First of all, you screamed earlier, right?”

She had indeed—when Luca suddenly pressed his lips against her wound.

“That’s true, but I never used telepathy.”

“You were thinking of me then. You didn’t?”

“Well…”

Did she?

Now that she thought about it, she might have unconsciously wondered whether she’d have been safe if Irtis had been there.

Seeing Prodia remain silent, Irtis said,

“See? You really did call me first.”

“I didn’t call you consciously.”

“Do you have any idea how shocked I was? I thought something terrible had happened to you.”

“Even if that’s true, couldn’t you just run over instead of opening a magic circle like a madman?”

At that moment—

“Ugh… Where am I…?”

The figure who had been quietly slumped against the wall groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

However, the color of his irises wasn’t red—but a vivid golden hue.

Prodia pressed a hand to her forehead.

‘We’re doomed.’

It wasn’t Luca who had opened his eyes—it was Papier.

Caught completely off guard by this unexpected personality shift, Prodia was deeply troubled.

Unlike Luca, Papier would have absolutely no idea about the current situation.

How utterly bewildering must this be for him?

Waking up to find himself covered in blood and pinned against a wall.

Her head ached.

Where on earth should she even begin explaining this?

She certainly couldn’t say, ‘Your alternate personality asked me on a date and got beaten up by my contracted Archmage. Sorry!’

Just then, Papier’s body, which had been stuck against the wall, collapsed limply to the floor.

“P-Priest!”

Prodia rushed toward him in a single stride.

He lay sprawled like a sheet of paper atop a pile of shattered stones.

Prodia propped up the fallen Papier.

“Priest! Please wake up!”

Surely he wasn’t dead?

At this rate, she’d really end up at war with the Grand Temple!

Fortunately, Papier exhaled a breath in her arms.

“Cough.”

‘Phew.’

Prodia let out a sigh of relief.

Papier slowly opened his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice,

“S-Sister…? What happened…? Why am I… Cough!”

“Well, um…”

How on earth was she supposed to explain this?

No, first things first—she needed to make sure he was okay.

Prodia sent a telepathic message to Irtis.

[Irtis? Hurry and come heal him with magic.] [You want me to channel magic into a priest?]

Ah, right. That would be like forcing poison down his throat.

[Then what should we do?] [He’ll probably be fine soon. That guy seems to have plenty of divine power.]

Ah, of course.

It was incredibly fortunate that Papier was a Miracle Priest.

That left only one option.

She had to hide him somewhere for now.

‘I’ll move him to the waiting room where we were staying, and once he’s feeling better, I’ll send him off…’

At that moment, a deep voice suddenly rang out from behind.

“Sister?”

“…?”

Prodia slowly turned her head.

Her face darkened as she recognized the speaker.

We’re done for. Truly, utterly done for.

“Could you spare me a moment? I’d like an explanation for this situation.”

Standing before them was none other than the High Priest.

[This is the timeline separator]

The High Priest’s office.

Prodia sat across from the High Priest, feeling like a traitor facing judgment.

She began her explanation.

Why the Senior Priest known as the “Walking Miracle” had been beaten to a pulp by an Archmage.

It was no easy task to explain the incident while carefully avoiding all the crucial details.

‘I feel ten years older already…’

After hearing her entire account, the High Priest finally spoke.

“In other words, a participant mistakenly believed our priest was harming you and attacked him… is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

As Prodia nodded firmly, a telepathic message rang in her mind.

It was Irtis.

[Why did you leave out the most important part? Is it normal for a priest to ask a parishioner on a date?] [I’ll explain everything later. Please just wait for now.] […Fine.]

He sensed there was more to this matter and stepped back.

Of course, Prodia knew exactly what Irtis meant.

If she’d revealed Papier’s dual personality, the story would’ve been far simpler.

‘But I don’t know how much the High Priest already knows, so I must proceed cautiously.’

Just then, the High Priest turned toward Papier seated beside him.

“Senior Priest Dopher… no, Papier.”

Hearing his real name spoken so abruptly, Papier flinched in alarm.

He bowed his head and replied in a trembling whisper,

“H-High Priest…”

“Did ‘he’ appear again?”

At the High Priest’s icy tone, Papier’s eyes widened.

He shivered as he answered,

“I-I’ve done wrong.”

The High Priest closed his eyes tightly, as if deep in thought.

Watching him, Prodia realized something.

‘The High Priest already knows about Papier’s dual personality.’

Moreover, he wasn’t even trying to hide it from them. That meant he’d likely already guessed she’d met Luca.

And just as she expected, the High Priest turned to Prodia and spoke.

“Sister?”

“Yes.”

“You already know what I’m about to say, don’t you?”

There was no point hiding it anymore.

“…Yes, I do.”

Suddenly, the High Priest bowed his head toward Prodia.

Startled, she cried out,

“H-High Priest?”

“This incident is my fault for failing to properly educate the priest. Please accept my apologies.”

“It’s alright. It was just a misunderstanding.”

“However…”

The High Priest lifted his head and now addressed Irtis.

“Participant, how did you know Sister was in trouble?”

Prodia also tensed up at this question.

She’d been summoned straight to the High Priest’s office and hadn’t heard the full story of what happened earlier.

The High Priest pressed further,

“Could it be that you’re the one who fled during the Oath Ceremony?”

Irtis sighed and nodded in response to the High Priest’s question.

“…Yeah.”

Hearing this, Prodia nearly had her eyes pop out.

‘What? He ran out during the ceremony?’

She sent a telepathic message to Irtis.

[What’s going on? I thought you said you finished the Oath Ceremony properly!] [It did finish… without me.]

Prodia felt like she was going to lose her mind.

Seriously, what were they going to do now?

But then the High Priest posed his next question.

“Then there’s only one conclusion. You used magic within the Grand Temple.”

“…”

Irtis remained silent, and Prodia turned deathly pale.

‘Damn it! The High Priest apologized to me first just to gain leverage for this interrogation!’

Prodia’s mind raced.

Would this be reported to the imperial court? Could Irtis lose his participant status?

How could they possibly get out of this?

Then, astonishingly, the High Priest spoke again.

“Normally, this would be considered a grave offense. However, if you grant my request, I’ll treat this incident as if it never happened.”

Prodia seized this lifeline without hesitation.

“What request is that?”

“A young priest told me that your esteemed teacher has once again taken interest in training suitors for the Prince Consort Selection.”

That brat already spread the word?

The High Priest pointed at Papier and smiled gently at Prodia.

“My request is simple. I ask that you personally train this boy and enter him into the Prince Consort Selection.”

“Huh?”

This unexpected statement froze everyone in the office.

Enter Papier into the Prince Consort Selection?

Papier was the first to break the silence.

His voice trembled violently.

“Y-You’re joking, right? High Priest, you want me—a servant of the Divine—to enter the suitor contest?!”

“Papier.”

The High Priest spoke with tender affection.

“This is all for your own good.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Papier.

He was born a commoner, not even granted a family name.

Ordinarily, commoners couldn’t become priests—but Papier was an exception.

He was born with extraordinary divine power.

That sacred light, the most radiant in history, eventually reached the Grand Temple.

To find the source of this miraculous divine power, the High Priest mobilized even the Holy Knights to scour the empire.

At last, they found Papier in a commoner village.

Because Papier was extremely shy, he refused to go with the Holy Knight.

But his parents took money and sold their child to the Grand Temple.

Thus, the most scorned child in the Aivem Empire instantly became a priest in the Sacred District.

Regardless of Papier’s wishes, he became known as the “Walking Miracle” and served as a great asset to the Grand Temple.

Then, one day—

Suddenly, “Luca” with crimson eyes appeared.

“High Priest, we’ve already lost several priests to apostasy because of Luca.”

In the High Priest’s office,

a Senior Priest came to report this news.

The High Priest’s hand stilled as he read through the documents.

Without a word, he leaned back in his chair and quietly closed his eyes.

The Senior Priest asked again,

“High Priest, will you really continue to stand by and watch Luca?”

“Luca or not, he is Papier, no matter what anyone says. Be more careful from now on.”

“But!”

“Just ensure the priests keep their mouths shut to prevent unrest.”

The Senior Priest had no choice.

“…Understood.”

“On your way out, could you send that boy to my office?”

“Of course.”

Moments later, footsteps approached.

Confident and light-hearted.

Even without checking his eyes, it was obvious which of the two had arrived.

‘…It’s Luca.’

Soon, the door opened and Luca stepped inside.

The High Priest asked in a cold voice,

“Luca, you harassed another priest again.”

Luca replied with an incredulous expression,

“Harassed? That’s unfair! I just went out to have some fun together.”

“Because of your reckless actions, that boy has been stripped of his priesthood.”

“Oh, so it ended that way?”

Luca grinned.

“That’s great. He never wanted to be a priest anyway. It’s such a waste for someone stuck here because of bad parents to rot away their youth.”

“You little—!”

The High Priest shouted at him, eyes blazing with fury.

But Luca remained completely unfazed.

“What do you expect me to do? You’re the one who locked Papier in this hellhole. So I have no choice but to stay here too.”

“Don’t blaspheme! This is the Grand Temple, blessed by the Divine.”

“To me, it’s a prison.”

The High Priest rose from his seat and approached him.

“This is my final warning. Never emerge from within Papier again.”

“That’s strange. Why do you assume I’m just a presence inside Papier?”

“…What?”

“Have you ever considered that I’m the true owner of this body, and Papier is merely an accessory?”

The High Priest’s gaze wavered.

Luca continued,

“Have you ever wondered if the life we truly wish to live looks exactly like this?”

That was the last conversation between the High Priest and Luca.

His eyes turned golden, and he soon lost consciousness.

After that, Luca didn’t appear for a long time.

Not until today—right before meeting Prodia.