episode_0025

*

“Ugh,”

I frowned and set down the wine bottle.

The lukewarm liquid emitted a fragrance as it slid down my esophagus.

The aftertaste exhaled through my nose sharply scraped the inside, leaving a terrible aftertaste around the base of my tongue.

“It’s bad.”

It was hard to say the sour wine tasted good, even as a compliment.

If I had found it a week later, it would have turned completely into vinegar and would have been undrinkable.

Of course, I know it’s because it wasn’t stored properly.

Besides, in this world where everything has been destroyed, the fact that I can even drink wine is probably a tremendous luxury.

But there was no doubt that the taste made me frown.

Fortunately, I wasn’t much of a drinker.

In the first place, there’s nothing more unsightly than a Priest getting drunk.

I sipped the wine purely to quench my thirst.

“Prieeest-nim.”

“…”

“It’s, my turn, now.”

Lucia eagerly took the wine bottle with both hands.

Then, she put her lips to the bottleneck, raised her head, and gulped it down.

The dark red liquid overflowed her lips and slid down towards her chin.

Unlike me, who only took a few sips to barely wet my mouth and throat, Lucia was drinking that terrible wine properly.

I wiped her chin with my sleeve and carefully put the wine bottle down with my other hand.

“Lucia,”

“Pfft,”

The wine bottle fell from Lucia’s pursed lips with a ‘pop’ sound.

A few sour drops of wine rolled off the bottle’s end, glistening with Lucia’s saliva, and stained her chest.

“Ugh…, Priest-nim…”

“…”

I shook the wine bottle slightly.

Before I knew it, more than half of the wine was gone.

We passed the wine bottle back and forth three times.

I clearly only took three sips, so Lucia must have drunk the rest.

Since it was her first time drinking alcohol, she probably didn’t know how drunk she’d get and drank it like water.

I should have paid attention, but my head was so preoccupied with various thoughts that I didn’t notice.

“Don’t drink anymore. It doesn’t even taste good.”

“It’s good.”

Lucia muttered in a daze.

Her tongue was already twisted, and her eyes were glazed over.

Well, if she’s this drunk, at least she’ll sleep well.

“That’s because you’ve never tasted good wine.”

“Is that… so?”

“I wish I could show you sometime.”

“This is okay too.”

“Hmm,”

I had met nobles who called themselves wine lovers a few times in the past.

Most of them only knew how to elegantly swirl their wine glasses, strictly judging the quality of the wine, but in reality, they were nouveau riche who made the drinking atmosphere uncomfortable.

Compared to them, there was Lucia, who gulped down even terrible-tasting wine.

I wondered which of the two was the true wine lover.

I must be a little drunk too, to be having such useless thoughts.

I got up and spread a blanket next to Lucia.

“Now that your thirst is quenched, let’s go to sleep.”

“Sleep?”

“Yeah, we have to sleep. We need to move again tomorrow.”

“Priest-nim…”

Lucia called out to me in a slurred voice and grabbed my sleeve tightly as I was tidying the blanket.

When I slowly looked at her, she was staring at me with hazy eyes.

Her small fingers gripping my sleeve were as white as piano keys.

Not only her fingers, but also the back of her hand and her wrist were so slender and white.

It was hard to believe that it was the same hand that tore apart monsters, it was such a delicate and cute woman’s hand.

Unlike her hands, her face was flushed with drunkenness, and her eyes, which were somehow full of moisture, were also so cute and adorable.

Lucia blinked her sky-blue eyes, reminiscent of hydrangea petals.

Those eyes, desperately looking at me, and that touch, squeezing my sleeve with weak strength, were telling me that Lucia wanted something from me.

“What’s wrong?”

“… You know. Priest-nim.”

Lucia’s slurred pronunciation sounded cute, so I didn’t bother to correct her.

“Yes,”

“Why don’t you say anything?”

“What do you mean?”

Lucia bit her lower lip slightly and made a moaning sound.

Looking at her desperate expression, it seemed like there was something she wanted to say, but she couldn’t quite get it together because of the alcohol.

I put down the blanket I was tidying up and slowly sat down on the floor to match Lucia’s eye level.

Then, I waited silently, looking at her until she was ready to speak.

Finally, Lucia took a deep breath and continued.

“Today… I.”

“…”

“I said I liked you.”

“… Yes, you did.”

“But… you’ve been saying so much less since then.”

“…?”

I paused to gather my thoughts at her words.

Certainly, I had hardly spoken since leaving the woodworking shop today.

But that wasn’t because of her confession.

It was because of the terrible sight I saw at the woodworking shop.

Because I witnessed how monsters violate humans, and what situation this world is in.

“That’s not because of you, Lucia…”

“Did I… say something… I shouldn’t have… said?”

Lucia began to sob.

The moisture rippling in her eyes finally took shape and rolled down her red cheeks.

Flustered, I shook my head and replied.

“No, that’s not…”

“Priest-nim… I, Pri… Bu… Boo… Hmm, heuung…”

Lucia slowly cleared her throat, which was flushed with alcohol, and opened her mouth again.

“I, no… I, like Priest-nim.”

Lucia put strength into the hand that was holding my sleeve and pulled me towards her.

I suddenly looked down at her hand.

Her hand was still jade-white.

Clearly, her hand was a white woman’s hand, but for some reason, I couldn’t resist her delicate strength and had no choice but to be pulled along.

“Lucia…”

“Pri…est-nim…”

Lucia’s eyes were looking straight into my eyes.

As if engraving my image reflected in her pupils,

She didn’t move a muscle and just stared at my face.

I looked back at her.

Lucia’s body was stiff.

Her hand, which had been holding my sleeve, slowly loosened and gradually moved up my sleeve towards my shoulder.

Lucia slowly closed her eyes.

I didn’t close my eyes.

If I closed my eyes like this, it felt like there would be no turning back.

It felt like I would be sucked into somewhere irreversible.

“…”

No.

Something’s wrong.

Was Lucia this kind of person?

Is it because of the alcohol?

Or was it because of the Devil?

Devil?

‘The Devil didn’t do anything. It’s all the Priest’s fault.’

Suddenly, Anna’s confession from last night came to mind.

‘When I see you, Priest, my heart races.’

‘No, let me be honest.’

‘I get wet.’

Ha,

I let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.

The fact that I had received confessions from two out of three Nuns in the past two days was so unreal that I couldn’t help but laugh.

What did the previous Monastery Head teach them?

No, more than that, why?

No matter how few men there are around, no matter how chaotic the world is, to me, a Priest and a Father?

To someone who looks this menacing?

Of course, Anna had said some strange things to me about being sexy.

But I thought that was because Anna was at the height of her blossoming as a woman.

But Lucia is different.

She is a young child.

Of course, Lucia is also of marriageable age, but thanks to growing up on the island, she has no sexual knowledge at all and can be considered a child.

She’s literally just a little better than Sola.

But even Lucia has feelings for me? In a romantic way?

She, who had been trapped on the island her whole life, learning only the doctrines of religion, for a Priest?

It was not easy for me to understand.

“Lucia.”

“Do you… dislike me, Priest?”

“…”

“Is it… because I’m a Devil?”

“No…”

Damn it.

What am I supposed to say when she comes at me like that?

If I tell her she shouldn’t, she’s sure to blame herself for handing her body over to the Devil.

But saying it’s okay for her to like me is too creepy even for myself, and of course, it’s something that shouldn’t be done religiously.

Well, to be honest, I’m wavering too.

I am a Priest and a Father, but I am just a human being.

Just like I wavered at Anna’s fierce temptation last night,

I couldn’t take my eyes off of Lucia’s touching purity, which revealed her heart so defenselessly.

But, shouldn’t I not do that?

Above all, I couldn’t find a reason to justify their favor towards me.

After much deliberation, I decided to ask honestly.

Believing that it was the right attitude to reveal my ignorance and seek an answer rather than being mistaken by worrying alone, I asked Lucia.

“Why…”

“…Yes?”

“Why do you like me?”

Wow, that’s crazy.

Now that I’ve said it, it’s such an embarrassing question.

How could I say such a thing?

I guess I’m not in my right mind either.