Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 19: Thanksgiving Festival (2).

Time passed, and it was finally the day of the festival.

From early morning, people dressed up and wandered around the bustling city, and the lively atmosphere hinted that something was about to happen, exciting even those who had little interest in the festival.

“You look pretty.”

“Thanks.”

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah.”

Amidst all this, I went on a date with Seoyoon, just the two of us. Although other kids looked at us in surprise and disapproval, I didn’t pay them any mind.

“That outfit…”

“Why? Is it weird?”

“It’s the clothes I bought you.”

“Oh, you remember?”

I wore the clothes Seoyoon had bought for me. They were expensive and the most stylish, so I decided to wear them. She seemed to have other thoughts, as she fell silent for a moment.

“Don’t you like it?”

“I like it; let’s go.”

Seoyoon, uncertain whether she liked it or not, extended her hand with an ambiguous expression. Although she thought she wouldn’t feel any particular emotions, her slightly clammy palm suggested she was unexpectedly nervous.

I grinned and shook her hand firmly. She flinched and glared at me.

“Arrogant.”

“What is?”

“This kind of thing.”

Instead of explaining what she found arrogant, she continued to hold my hand and led the way.

Even if she, who was about 20 cm shorter than me, stepped two paces ahead, I could catch up with a single stride.

When I caught up with her, she seemed displeased by the fact and walked even faster. Then I would take two steps.

When she stopped, I also stopped. Seoyoon, who was intently observing the lengths of her legs and mine, seemed to think she couldn’t win by walking quickly, so she slowed her pace leisurely.

I slowed my pace to follow her. Time flowed as slowly as our steps.

As we walked like that, we eventually arrived at the city gate.

Though usually firmly closed, the city gate was wide open today. Around it, people filled with some sort of anticipation were gazing at the gate with sparkling eyes…

“What is it?”

“Looks like there’s a parade.”

“A parade…”

Seoyoon showed considerable interest in the word parade. The problem was that no one knew when this parade would start.

She wasn’t the type to wait for a parade that wasn’t part of her original plan and whose start time was unknown.

However, her desire to see it and her rationality clashed, likely causing her some distress.

“Should we wait and see?”

“But still…”

“It’s fine. People wouldn’t have gathered here since morning for no reason. It should start soon.”

“Alright, but just for a bit. If it doesn’t come, we’re leaving.”

With that, we decided to wait for the parade. The nearby buildings cast enough shade to keep us from getting too hot while standing around.

But even after ten, twenty, thirty minutes, the parade didn’t come.

In the end, I bought a drink from a vendor selling beverages and asked,

“When is this supposed to come?”

“Hmm? No idea. If anyone knew the exact time it’d arrive, do you think all these people would be waiting around like this?”

“That’s true too…”

Having lived in the 21st century, where it was natural for trains to arrive on time due to the advancement of clocks and transportation, I was slightly surprised by the lack of precise time and returned to my original spot.

Handing Seoyoon the drink I bought, I informed her that no one knew when it would arrive.

“So… do you want to wait longer? Or do something else?”

Slurp, with a sharp gaze, she gulped down the drink. Seoyoon glared at me, as if to say we should have gone somewhere else from the start.

I smiled at her, indicating I was innocent, and looked at her. She slightly averted her eyes and bit the straw. Then, somehow, frost began to form on her drink.

“…Wait.”

“But we don’t know when it’ll come.”

“It’d be a waste of the time we’ve already waited.”

It was commonly referred to as the sunk cost fallacy, but pointing it out would have been a very foolish thing to do. She was bound to blame me for the reason her time was sunk…

So we waited for the parade in silence, sipping our drinks. In fact, I even questioned if it was really a parade.

Sweat was growing between our clasped palms. Not just our palms, but sweat began to trickle down our backs as well, when cheers started to erupt from the crowd up ahead.

We looked at the roadside with eyes full of anticipation. Knights clad in armor on white horses were lined up and marching in order.

Among them was a large carriage, hidden by curtains, but just from the exterior, it was easy to tell that someone of great importance was inside.

‘Impressive.’

I looked at the knight riding beside the carriage, cautiously surveying the surroundings. Although the full-body armor covered even their face, making it hard to tell, I could instinctively sense that they were incredibly strong.

If I were to fight them, who would win? I’d never trained in fighting while wearing armor. It would be my inevitable defeat. What about barehanded? It was uncertain. Since I hadn’t seen the swordsmanship of the knights in this world, I couldn’t definitively say they were inferior to me.

“Dojin.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go. I’ve seen enough.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s go.”

As I was shadow-fighting with the knight, I followed Seoyoon’s call. Over the past weekend, she had been scouting plausible date spots with the kids around the city and was now guiding me here and there.

The city was filled with the excitement of a festival. It was fervor close to madness, and we were being absorbed into that.

“Whew… it’s hot.”

After wandering around the city under the scorching sun, Seoyoon entered a tea house and said, fanning her sleeves. Each time she fanned them, the scent mixed with her pheromones wafted over to me.

As I caught a whiff of that scent and stared blankly at her, she cautiously fanned her sleeves, checking my reaction.

When our eyes met and I turned my head with a forced cough, she let go of her sleeves with a sly smile.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

“Really?”

Seoyoon brought her hand back to her sleeve. I, worried someone might see, grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“…Well, is there a problem if I want to look at my woman?”

“Your woman…”

“Why? Aren’t you?”

I stepped forward confidently. Anyway, she couldn’t live without me now. I made it that way. Seoyoon blushed and remained silent, perhaps thinking about my confident demeanor.

Thus, love was a war of push and pull, of eating and being eaten.

“…What do you want to drink?”

“Anything.”

Seoyoon, feeling the heat, looked at the menu and called the waiter. The waiter quickly came over, took the order and tip, and rushed to the kitchen.

A moment later, as I looked at the drink the waiter brought out, I grinned mischievously.

“It’s still afternoon.”

“It’s okay. It’s a festival.”

“Right. Because it’s a festival, huh?”

We filled our glasses with fruit wine, rich with fruity aroma, and toasted. The drink flowed down my throat.

The scent of alcohol, condensed from fruit, filled my body. My whole body heated up, and I started feeling warm.

“Hooh, it’s hot.”

“…Hot?”

“Hm? Oh, a bit? Maybe because there’s no fan or air conditioner…”

“Want me to cool you down?”

“How…?”

She opened her mouth slightly. Inside, a freshly made ice cube was glistening.

Understanding her intention, I sat up and kissed her. Indeed, the ice was cool.

Clatter, a carriage adorned with intricate designs stopped at the Lord’s castle that governed the city.

While dozens of knights stood guard, prepared for any possible attack, the carriage opened, and a woman dressed in a pure white nun’s habit stepped down slowly.

With a veil covering her face, her delicate figure seemed like a goddess descending to earth.

Holding the hand of the selected female knight to ensure the purity of her body was not compromised, she stepped onto the ground and followed the knight’s guidance to the reception room.

“Oh, you’ve arrived, Saintess.”

The Lord, who had been waiting in advance, immediately stood up to welcome her. However, the Saintess sat down without responding.

Then, she whispered into the ear of the attending female knight. Hearing the Saintess’s words, the knight straightened her back and conveyed the message.

“The Saintess says, ‘Thank you for the invitation, my Lord.’”

“It’s nothing, Saintess. It would have been even better if I could have heard that voice directly…”

Whisper.

“The Saintess says, ‘That is impossible.’”

“I understand. As you are blessed by the Virgo constellation.”

“The Saintess says, ‘Thank you for understanding.’”

“Not at all; it’s an honor for me and my family to serve the blessed Saintess, and a blessing for the nation.”

The Saintess quietly nodded and drank the prepared tea. Having been trained for years not to show her bare face to a man, eating with a veil was not a difficult task.

“By the way, I thought usually a bishop or archbishop would come. Is there a particular reason the Saintess came in person…?”

“…The Saintess says, ‘That’s a secret.’”

“I see. Understood. I shouldn’t delve deeper.”

The Lord said, looking over the Saintess. Even with the veil, her appearance was so enchanting that it was understandable she was blessed with the Virgin’s blessing.

If that much beauty was hidden and veiled, just how stunning must her bare face be? The urge to lift her veil and explore that face surged within him.

However, the Lord quickly suppressed his feelings and took a sip of tea.

‘I can’t bring ruin to my family.’

The Saintess blessed by the Virgin’s Star had to maintain purity as a price. The problem was that this price was imposed on others.

A man who would see her bare face would go blind.

A man who would hear her voice would become deaf.

A man who would touch her body would be struck by lightning.

If she had decided to misuse that power, she could have become a great witch, slaughtering tens of millions of men.

But she was a devout nun, ready to sacrifice and restrain herself.

The church designated her as a saintess, and thus she grew up without receiving a man’s touch, let alone a proper gaze.

She participated in the city’s grand festival not for any other reason but because she received a divine message.

─A star has fallen into the dungeon.

─Go and claim it.

Stars, by nature, were sacred and divine.

The church immediately dispatched an investigation team.

The one chosen for this was the Saintess.

‘What could it possibly be?’

Wondering what the fallen star could be, the Saintess planned her infiltration into the city.