🌹💘🌹
AFTER Miss Monica and I went our separate ways, I headed for my bedroom. I stepped inside, closed the door, then slumped against it. When I looked up at the ceiling, it felt like the angels drawn on it were laughing down at me. I groaned in despair.
“I’m…definitely at my limit too.”
Ever since coming to Kophe, I’d been keenly aware of the constraint cast on me coming steadily apart at the seams.
Binding magic like Darius’s held firm because specific actions triggered them. No matter how strong the person’s desire or how aroused their body became, as long as they didn’t give in to their long-cherished wish, there wouldn’t be a price to pay.
As Prince Richard of the Belktrius Empire, my constraint was different. The price I paid was magic itself. With constraints like mine, the bound desires were connected directly to emotions themselves. Thanks in part to my strong sense of reason, simple desires not accompanied by emotions were curbed. However…
“Miss Monica…”
Even through her comfortable holy attire, I could see the slim set of her shoulders. Her soft cheeks. Every time her carefree smile disturbed my emotions, I could feel my constraint rattling too.
“She trusts me too much.”
I rubbed the medal pinned closest to my heart. It declared to any and all my position as the emperor’s younger brother. But most importantly, only the imperial family knew the true meaning of the magic stone set in it.
The magic stone disguised the carnal passions that leaked through the gaps of the spell binding me. In the face of such overwhelming desire though, it too would become expendable soon enough.
“Haaa…”
I closed my eyes and the image of how Miss Monica looked when we first met played on my lids. Wounded, exhausted, and sobbing. Treated as a disposable saint. Thin arms and a thin neck. Brand-new priestess garb stained with dirt and blood. Despite all that, she worked earnestly and even smiled while doing so. My saintess.
At first, my respect for her was close to devotion out of a need to protect and cherish her. It started from there. The more I got to know her, the more my desire for her accumulated, like sediment at the bottom of my well of feelings for her.
Her small hands that showed clear signs of a hard worker. Her soft hair spilling from her wimple. Her bright, natural smile that stroked gently over me like a refreshing breeze.
“…I love you, Miss Monica.”
The state I was in put the Arousing Priestess’s moniker to shame. I had no doubt of it.
✦ ✦ ✦
🌹💘🌹
“OH, this is…”
The early summer sun shone down warmly. White clouds drifted in the sky and dazzlingly green grass blanketed the knoll. Vibrant verdant farmland stretched as far as my eyes could see.
Baby goats tottered all around me, still uncertain on their young legs. I stood in front of a small wooden church where the villagers and my family clapped for me.
“Monica, congratulations on your marriage!”
“Be happy!”
“Huh…?”
I looked down to see myself clad in beautifully embroidered wedding clothes made entirely of undyed cotton.
“M-Marriage? Me…? With who…?”
My eyes were blurry for some reason, so I couldn’t see their faces clearly. I felt my mother approach even though I couldn’t see her face. She spoke to me as she placed a wreath of flowers on my head then a veil over it. Her gentle voice was nostalgic to me.
“Be happy, Monica.”
I heard the sound of a door creaking open directly behind me.
“Now go.”
She pushed gently at my back and I stepped through the church doors with my father, whose face I also couldn’t see. My hand was tucked into his arm. The groom waited for me under a wooden carving of the goddess. Every step I took brought me closer to him until I finally stood by his side.
Clad in dignified black wedding clothes, he reverently lifted my veil.
“Miss Monica.”
A tall man with vivid, blood-red hair, blazing flame-colored eyes, and a gentle gaze.
“Richard…”
The moment I realized the groom was Richard, the world changed colors. The soft, warm atmosphere of the wooden church transformed into a cold, stone-built church. The guests were all aristocrats with black voids for faces. I couldn’t tell if they were smiling or scowling.
The applause rang out ceaselessly. But I had no idea what it was like outside. Were people wishing us well or not?
Before I knew it, he was dressed not in the black wedding clothes but in his ultramarine formal military uniform. My usual holy attire draped over my figure now too as he stroked my hair.
The jewel on his chest glittered strangely. I smelled blood and gunpowder.
Wearing his usual unchanging smile, Richard stretched his hand out to me.
“Miss Monica… Stay by my side, even in this painful world…”
“Richard…”
At that moment. The sweet smell of honey wafted in the air. Followed quickly by the dual scents of hot, freshly made pancakes and melting butter. Szzzl. Ah, the sound of something frying in a skillet. This was…
“Ah, you’re awake?”
When I jerked upright in bed, the first thing I saw was Richard sitting on it, eating pancakes. Remembering what happened in my dream, I was at a loss for words, my mouth opening and closing uselessly.
“Here, open wide. Say ‘Ahhh.’”
“Oh— Ahhh…”
He lifted his fork to my lips and slipped a small piece of pancake into my mouth. The sweet and delicious taste almost made me tingle. He fed me another piece after I finished chewing and swallowed the first. I opened my mouth. Ate. The pattern continued for a while, him feeding me, me eating. In the meantime, Solarus poured us black tea.
I took the sturdy cup from her with both hands and sipped slowly. A few more swallows to fortify myself…then I looked at Richard properly again.