episode_0002

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After a rather eventful breakfast, they chatted for a bit before dispersing.

Lucia went to her room, Sola climbed up to the lighthouse, and Anna began loading the empty dishes onto a tray.

They all spent their day doing their assigned tasks.

Being a seclusion monastery cut off from the world, most of the food and drink, as well as the items they wore and used, were largely self-sufficient.

Of course, a small monastery with only four people couldn’t possibly produce everything they needed, so they did receive some donations.

Larger monasteries sometimes earned money through labor, but this monastery was fundamentally a place of exile, so that wasn’t an option.

Besides, the maidens who were still in their teens or barely over twenty couldn’t work outside.

That’s why life here was generally harsh.

I felt sorry for Anna, who had prepared the meal since early morning, but it was hard to say that today’s breakfast was excellent.

It was just thin porridge with no thickness and one or two pieces of dried vegetable pickles. Even though I cautioned her, I couldn’t help but understand Sola’s complaints.

The amount of crops coming from the greenhouse, which wasn’t even at the level of a kitchen garden, was limited, and the manpower was woefully insufficient.

Lucia was too weak to work in the fields, and Sola couldn’t handle tasks that required delicacy.

In the end, only Anna and I cultivated the field. It seemed that Anna had been doing it alone when I wasn’t there.

Moreover, she managed the fruit trees growing on the hill on the opposite side of the island, and she also took care of the monastery’s housework, so she probably needed ten bodies to manage it all.

Of course, it wasn’t like the other two were just playing around.

Sola was in charge of the lighthouse.

Every night, and whenever there was fog, she tended the lighthouse fire, watched the waves, and rang the bell to alert nearby fishermen if the weather seemed strange.

She said she liked it because it was simple labor that didn’t require much thought, but I was worried about the youngest of them handling fire.

But thanks to living here her whole life, she handled fire skillfully.

Since lighthouse management was the biggest reason for receiving donations, Sola was, in effect, the biggest source of income for this monastery.

Lucia wasn’t suited for labor due to her weak body, but she was dexterous due to her delicate nature.

She was especially good at sewing, so she served as the resident clothing designer and repairwoman.

She altered donated used clothes to fit us, made new clothes from fabric, and did all the laundry.

The three nuns all did their part.

“Anna.”

“Yes, Father?”

I spoke to Anna, who was clearing the dishes.

“I’m not trying to indulge Sola’s complaints, but it’s true that the meals are inadequate.”

“Ah… Did you not enjoy it?”

“No, it tasted good. There’s no doubt about Anna’s cooking skills. But…”

“…”

Anna was waiting for my words with a troubled look.

I carefully chose my words and slowly uttered them.

“Sola is Sola, but Lucia needs to eat more to get better… Anna, you work so hard, you need to eat to have strength.”

“That’s… true…”

Anna put down the tray and slowly sat down across from me.

Her face was full of worries.

I sighed and continued.

“You know it’s not your fault. You don’t have to be so upset.”

“I know… I know, but…”

Anna couldn’t continue, biting her lip.

I looked at Anna with pity and asked.

“Is it… the one-month mark today?”

Anna nodded without answering.

“… It is strange. That supplies haven’t arrived in a month.”

The reason why the meals had become so poor was because the supplies hadn’t arrived.

Various subsidies and donations received by Sola for her lighthouse keeper work.

A ship loaded with various foodstuffs and medicines purchased with that money came to this island on a regular cycle, but the ship that should have arrived a month ago was still nowhere to be seen.

Anna carefully asked.

“Could something have happened outside? Maybe… a war or something…”

“I don’t think so. If there was a war, the Bishop *nim* would have contacted us.”

“… Then.”

Anna hesitated for a moment before slowly opening her mouth.

“Perhaps the Bishop *nim* decided not to support us anymore…”

I shook my head and said.

“That can’t be it either. If he didn’t care about you, he wouldn’t have sent me here.”

“… Is that… right?”

“And Anna, your parents donate the most among the subsidies.”

“… That’s right.”

Anna is the daughter of a renowned blacksmith.

Her father, who was recognized enough to supply the kingdom’s knights with weapons and armor, had amassed wealth comparable to that of a noble despite being of common birth.

Most of the subsidies coming here were from her father.

Anna exhaled shallowly and said.

“… Maybe my father has finally abandoned me.”

“… Anna.”

Anna continued with a self-deprecating smile.

“I’m a shameful sinner…”

“Sinner?”

“You know, Father…”

“…”

Anna slowly raised her head and looked at me with those deep brown eyes.

I could feel the regret, pain, and faint resentment lingering in her gaze.

“Why I’m trapped here.”

Yes, I knew why she had been exiled here.

Four years ago,

Anna was possessed by a devil and attacked a man.

＊

Until a few years ago, Anna had been helping her father with blacksmithing work.

Anna, a seventeen-year-old engaged in the harsh blacksmithing work that even five out of ten robust men couldn’t endure, was a celebrity in the city at the time.

The story of a girl hammering iron in front of a hot flame had reached my ears, which wandered around the continent, several times.

The taut arm muscles revealed beneath the sleeves rolled up due to the heat of the hot iron and oil, and the presence of her breasts that couldn’t be hidden due to the thin clothes.

And even her blacksmith’s typical easy-going personality.

Even though she was far from a modest woman, her charm that made the hearts of many men flutter warmed the men’s drinking parties.

But, she was just a topic of conversation for some men, or a sight for the eyes of the few mercenaries and knights who came as guests.

Few men wanted to marry her, as her skin was dark from being scorched by the flames and her status was lowly.

After passing the appropriate marriage age of 16 for ordinary common women, she began to feel restless.

She began to worry if she would live as an old maid forever.

In addition to her anxious heart, her body, which was maturing day by day, was also unbearably hot.

Every day, after pouring her energy in front of the hot furnace and going home to lie on the bed, she would be overwhelmed by the urge to release the heat that had accumulated during the day.

Since she first brought her hand between her legs, she had soothed her unbearable impulses herself every day.

Even though she knew it was a shameful thing to do, she couldn’t stop herself.

As the days went by, her fingers were no longer able to satisfy her.

The current Anna recalled that at that time, it felt like a huge hole that could never be filled had formed in her lower abdomen.

And, weak humans with such great desires are always easy prey for devils.

One day, she was possessed by a devil.

As can be seen from the fact that she was drawn to her intense desires, the devil was a Dream Demon ‘Succubus’ famous for corrupting women.

The Succubus, who had infiltrated Anna’s body, slipped out of the house through the window in the middle of the night and hunted the first man she met on the street.

If Anna had consummated the act with that man that day, Anna’s soul would have been led straight to Hell by the Succubus.

But fortunately for Anna, and unfortunately for the Succubus.

The first man she met on the street that day was me.

I defeated the Succubus on the spot, and as a result, her soul was saved from falling into the clutches of Hell.

However, the fact that her body had already been tainted once by being given over to the devil was an unchanging fact, and the fact that she possessed desires so intense that she became a target of the devil was itself a sin that had to be washed away.

That’s why she was sent to this monastery.

“My father would think of me as a dirty whore… Even if he tries to fulfill his duty as a parent, that instinctive revulsion… he can’t help it.”

“Anna.”

“Father knows best. What kind of women that Incubus targets… Back alley whores, wives who even try to covet their sons, adulteresses who can’t spend a night without a man.”

“…”

“The whole world knows that I’m as lewd as those people, even though Father saved me. Do you know how much contempt and seduction I received from men while I was leaving home and coming to this island?”

“…”

“Father also thinks that way, right? That I’m dirty…”

“Stop.”

I resolutely cut her off.

“We still don’t know what happened outside. The only thing that’s certain is that the supplies aren’t coming.”

“…”

“It’s too much to judge that your father despises you based on that fact alone. Right?”

“… Yes.”

“Calm down. Nothing has happened yet, and nothing has been revealed yet.”

Anna smiled weakly and asked.

“Then… why aren’t the supplies coming?”

I shrugged and replied.

“I don’t know. Maybe the delivery guy intercepted them in the middle, or maybe one of the investigators under the Bishop *nim* dozed off while doing paperwork and missed the documents. I have no way of knowing here.”

“…”

“All I know is that your father isn’t the kind of person to easily withdraw his affection for his daughter, and,”

I looked straight at Anna and continued.

“Anna, that you are a very diligent person.”

“… Ah.”

Anna lowered her head.

“Everyone has times when their hearts waver. Devils are the ones who dig into those gaps. And saving those people is the work of a Priest.”

“If Father hadn’t saved me back then… It’s really terrifying just to think about it.”

“I was more worried, back then… Even though it was to drive out the devil, I beat you up quite a bit.”

“I’m healthy, so I was fine.”

“Yeah… Thank goodness. When I met you again here, I was worried you might resent me.”

Anna shook her head.

“Why would I resent Father… I can’t thank you enough.”

She said that, but I clearly felt the faint resentment in her gaze.

Perhaps that wasn’t resentment for the violence I had committed, but resentment for the situation of being caught by me and trapped on this island.

Of course, the biggest thing would be resentment and self-abuse towards herself, who caused this situation.

“I have never thought of you as dirty, not even when that Incubus attacked me, and not even now that I’m living with you like this.”

“… Yes.”

“Be sure to keep that in mind. It’s not your fault.”

I caught Anna’s cheeks turning red as she lowered her head.

It seemed that she was ashamed of what she had said now that her mind, which had been trapped in self-abuse, had returned.

I teased her slightly, mixing truth and jest in equal parts.

“Rather, I don’t know how lucky I am to have you. In terms of housework and this monastery, and above all, how would I handle Sola alone?”

“Sola… I was very embarrassed when I first met her too.”

“Yeah, and besides, I’m a man anyway, so it’s a little difficult for me to point out all of that child’s actions.”

Anna was starting to smile little by little.

“Is it because you’re a Father? You’re subtly immune to that kind of thing.”

“Please don’t tease me.”

“Hehe.”

“Lucia isn’t as bad as Sola, but she’s lived here for so long that she sometimes says things that don’t make sense… So I don’t know how lucky I am to have Anna, who I can talk to.”

“Oh, really?”

“Of course, of course.”

Anna smiled shyly and covered her mouth with her hand.

Her dark silk-like hair flowed down her shoulder line softly.

“I don’t know how lucky I am to have you here either, Father.”