episode_0020

‘……ha.’

Lete had to hold back a sigh at the thoughtless behavior of Kazan Casimir, who immediately blocked the road and threw a bouquet of flowers at her.

I wanted to throw away this flimsy bouquet without hesitation, but that would have been rude in its own way.

I had no hesitation in trampling on Kazan’s innocent and pure heart, but by the same token, I did not want to become a scoundrel like him.

Even if you reject someone, do so as gently as possible.

It’s stressful in and of itself… … Well, I guess it can’t be helped.

In order to prevent this situation from happening in the first place, I had been walking arm in arm with Evan and enjoying snacks while exploring the street stalls, but who would have thought that he would show up right when I was heading back to the library?

I would have rather maintained the pretense of being a couple, even if it meant enduring a little more embarrassment.

If that was the case, Kazan wouldn’t have been so pushy about asking to sleep with her.

‘… … Isn’t that right? Should I have just gone straight ahead regardless?’

Still looking down at Kazan with an emotionless gaze, Lete was inwardly seriously distressed.

Kazan Casimir. He was the successor to the Casimir family, one of the five sacred houses, and had a relationship with her since they were young.

And she was also the one who received an engagement proposal from Oswald Casimir, the head of the Casimir family and the current Cardinal of the Church of the Sun.

Of course, Lethe’s family respected her wishes and flatly rejected the offer.

Lete frowned as she recalled a memory she didn’t want to recall.

In any case, even now, several years later, Kazan personally still tries to approach her from time to time and woo her.

The moment when they were each selected as candidates for saint and saintess was the moment when their stickiness reached its peak.

Lethe, who was already unpleasant, irritating, and extremely embarrassed, kept suggesting sexual relations under the pretext of developing her divine nature.

If it was truly a suggestion for the cultivation of divine power, then who would not know? There was no way Kazan would not notice the base lust that was always in his eyes.

Even now, it was really uncomfortable to look up and down with a nervous face and a bouquet of flowers. Lete unconsciously grabbed Evan’s sleeve and pursed her lips.

I don’t have any great aversion to exposing my body, but at this time, I feel a little resentful of the design of the dress that clearly reveals the sides of my thighs and pelvis.

How long did that heavy silence last?

Lethe almost glanced at Evan absentmindedly, flinched, and clenched her fists tightly.

It’s about keeping your head facing forward so that it doesn’t turn to the side.

‘… …What are you thinking, Lete Heresia?’

Her lips were slightly bruised, as she tried to distract herself from her weak thoughts just before.

Isn’t this the time to lean on Evan? Are you looking at me so awkwardly, like, what? Are you trying to send me a sparkling look to ask me to stop you?

Pride is pride, and Evan had no reason or obligation to get involved in this situation.

At best, he’s a sex partner, but fundamentally, he’s just a friend.

Forcing herself to ignore the inexplicable throbbing in her chest… … Lethe closed her eyes slightly.

‘Because she’s not my lover.’

This was also a problem that he would ultimately have to solve himself.

When I opened my eyelids again, her eyes were quite serious and deep.

And then he looked down at the young man in front of him again. Kazan, who had caught Lete’s gaze, swallowed dry saliva and held out a bouquet of flowers─.

“Kazan.”

“Yes, Heresia Young-ae.”

The answer came back immediately, with a very burdensome look.

Lethe openly averted her gaze without even trying to hide her discomfort.

“I appreciate your kind words, but I guess I have to give you the same answer as always. I don’t want my divine nature to be muddy due to indiscriminate sleeping.”

“… … .”

Kazan’s face, which had been filled with anticipation, suddenly hardened.

An affirmative statement that clearly conveys the intention to reject.

It is fortunate that the ‘rank’ of the Kazan priests did not match Lethe’s from the beginning. At least, can’t one justification be made clear?

Forcing a relationship was an act that went against doctrine, as long as it was rejected for reasons of efficiency and practicality.

I’m just a little tired of this happening over and over again for years.

‘How many rejections do I have to hear before I get the urge to do something, man?’

Even this time, it was in the middle of a hallway where many other people were passing by.

The courage to bear the shame was worth praising.

Lethe sighed inwardly and tried to turn around calmly. After all, she didn’t have the strength to continue talking to Kazan.

“Then, please be careful on your way home. As for the flowers… … . I’m sorry, but I can’t accept them.”

It was the moment when he tried to avoid the situation by secretly dragging Evan along.

Bam!

“Ugh… …?!”

Lethe groaned and frowned at the pressure she suddenly felt on her right wrist.

The hand holding Evan’s sleeve was his left, so this oppression was not his.

Naturally, there was only one culprit. Lethe looked back with glaring eyes, using the pain she felt in her wrist as a raw ingredient.

“… … What are you doing, this.”

“… … .”

Kazan was glaring at her fiercely, his pride seemingly scratched.

Lethe also met that gaze head-on with a cold hostility that was unparalleled. The strength that had been pushed to the limit was replaced by anger.

“I won’t say it twice. Let it go.”

“… … Heresia Youngae.”

“Don’t even call my name, it’ll make me mad.”

Lethe’s eyebrows twitched in discomfort. You’re not going to let go? That would be nice, too.

Saaa… … !

“… … !”

Lethe, who had suddenly created a platinum-colored light, roughly pushed Kazan away. With the divine power involved, Kazan could not force himself any further.

Kazan just rubbed his tingling wrist and raised his head with annoyed eyes.

Lethe didn’t miss the persistent gaze that passed right past Evan.

“… … Really, I don’t understand, Young-ae Heresia.”

And Kazan spat out a voice seething with negative emotion. He glared at Lete as if he couldn’t understand.

“What on earth do I lack that you reject me so thoroughly? Ability? Family? Looks? Or is it simply a matter of taste?”

“Ha… … ?”

“Nothing can be taken lightly. If you’ve rejected me nearly ten times so far, you should know how to accept it as if you can’t win. How much humiliation do I have to make you satisfied?”

Lete laughed in disbelief. She had read the sincerity in Kazan’s passionate voice, and that made it all the more absurd.

In other words, wasn’t it he who rudely pushed in despite my repeated rejections?

‘… … If someone saw me, they would think I had entrusted them with my attention.’

What on earth is the basis for being so brazen and shameless? There is a limit to shamelessness.

“After.”

Lethe suppressed the urge to burst out with divine power at any moment. As she blew lightly, her ivory bangs fluttered around her eyes.

… … Of course, that didn’t stop Kazan’s tirade.

“Yes, is marriage a burden? If you are unhappy with being bound, I understand. That is understandable. That is the nature of a woman’s heart.”

Lete’s expression became cold and sank with a cynical laugh. It was really funny and ridiculous to see her talking as she pleased.

Just as I was about to let out a deep sigh, trying to force an end to this pointless argument,

“But it’s always hard to accept that you’re even refusing physical relations. No, it’s not that hard to say. First, if you have fun with me for one night, Young-ae’s thoughts might change.”

“… … What?”

“It is widely known that your flower of chastity has already been plucked by the orphan right next to you.”

Kazan blurted out his words with a frown as if he was frustrated, and in that moment, Lete felt something in her mind snap.

‘What is this kid talking about now?’

The harsh language I had learned through Evan came out of my head on its own. Inevitably, the string of reason was severed.

The fact that he had his first experience only recently has been widely rumored for some time.

Because it had to be revealed to the world due to the influence of the second quarter evaluation exam.

‘Are you underestimating me because of that now…? Since you’ve already broken through that wall once, do you think you can do it too?’

Kuung-! Lethe’s heart beat violently with the rhythmic force. She felt the divine power circulating inside her body and the blood boiling all over her body.

I had a vague desire to crush Kazan Casimir right before my eyes.

In reality, that desire materialized in the form of a golden glow, and the entire corridor was instantly covered in a heavy air as if sinking into water.

Some of the candidates who had been watching the situation with interest from a distance hastily stepped back.

Lethe’s divine power, which had already reached a certain level, took less than three seconds to dye the surroundings into her own realm.

“… … ?! Huh, huff!”

What about the person who had to most intensively receive the divine power that burst out like that?

Kazan had to flinch at the sudden pressure that pressed down on his shoulders.

However, in order to resist, I gradually raised my divine power─.

‘Don’t get me wrong.’

Lethe’s eyes were already rolling. Taking a big step forward, she looked down with a calm gaze.

Kazan was a promising candidate for sainthood, but there was an unbridgeable gap in divine power between him and Lethe.

How can one properly resist such an absolute difference in level?

Kazan looked up at Lethe, trembling, and Lethe slowly recalled the disgusting words he had just said.

The indisputable truth is that she lost her virginity because of Evan.

But that and this were separate things.

Even though she had played with Evan so viciously… … she really had no intention of giving her body to Kazan.

‘Evan is the closest person to me, but you are not.’

But, not only did you make this kind of suggestion, you dare to talk nonsense without even knowing the topic?

Lethe’s mind began to fill with anger, and her violent thoughts accelerated at a double rate.

‘The fact that I spent the night with that guy was, of course, partly because of the assessment test, but fundamentally because it was him.’

She takes a step. Before she knows it, she is right in front of Kazan and is reaching out her hand.

‘It wasn’t you. It wasn’t you, it was that guy that gave me special permission.’

Kazan turned pale and tried to avoid the hand, but it was not easy to even move his feet while he was crushed by the pressure of the divine power.

‘Because this is the only friend I acknowledge and like the most.’

‘Because you are the only person who wouldn’t feel uncomfortable if you put your hand on my naked body.’

‘Even if a long time passes, the only one who can touch and desire my body is Evan──.’

And so, at that very moment, Lethe’s slender hand, filled with a chilling aura, grasped Kazan’s neck fiercely.

Thud!

Lethe felt a force tearing through her territory and grabbing her wrist.

She shuddered slightly and turned her head with her eyes slightly brighter.

“That’s it, Lete.”

Evan stopped her with a very serious expression, a stark contrast to his usual mischievous demeanor.

And then, as if he understood all of her feelings, he smiled bitterly─.

“… … That’s how it is, Kazan.”

“──?”

Suddenly, without warning, he wrapped his arms around Lete’s thin waist and pulled her towards him.

Lethe blinked at the sudden attraction and hung on to him… … .

Evan smiled again and spoke to Kazan.

“She will always be my woman, so I don’t think I can hand her over to you.”

This time, it wasn’t a bitter smile directed at Lethe.

With a clearly sarcastic and sarcastic laugh.

“… … Huh?”

“What… … ?”

Lete had three or four question marks floating above her head with an idiotic expression, and Kazan dropped his eyes in shock, as if he couldn’t believe it.