Don’t Be Holy! - Chapter 140

Eir narrowed her eyes and leaned toward him.

Though much time had passed, she could clearly recognize his unique features. The curly blonde hair, the blue eyes that sparkled like glass beads.

In his childhood, he looked especially angelic, which caused all sorts of commotion. Though they had spent little time together, she had saved the crying Abel several times.

‘I don’t understand why the kids here are so mean. Do they enjoy bullying me?’

Abel, who was hiding in the bushes without eating and wiping away his tears, expressed the sorrow of an outsider in those words.

Eir was also an outsider at the time. Both Abel and Eir were in their fifth year as apprentices, and they were on a temple pilgrimage to commemorate it.

It was a time to deepen their learning by visiting various temples to experience how temples in other regions were like, as well as meeting regional high priests. However, for Abel, who had lived in a temple near the capital for a long time, it seemed incredibly difficult to travel around various provincial areas and meet children of his age.

Well, she understood. Anyone who saw Abel would feel that he had been moved from a precious place to another precious place as he grew up, and they would feel the urge to give him hardships he had never experienced before in the short time they knew him. It came from a feeling of admiration and jealousy, as well as a desire to be deeply remembered by Abel, even if through such actions.

The young Eir thought at the time that since they were all children studying theology with divine power, the bullying was maintained subtly through silent exclusion or harsh words, but it could have been much worse.

‘We are apprentice priests.’

‘That’s why I’m asking how they can act like that while being apprentice priests.’

Sitting beside the indignant Abel, the young Eir said:

‘I’m not talking about those kids, I’m talking about you. In this place where divine power is more certain than anywhere else, anyone who bullies someone will eventually be punished. What’s important isn’t them but yourself. How can you be so easily shaken whenever you’re bullied? As an apprentice priest, you should resolve it by relying on yourself and God like a proper priest.’

At her words, Abel lifted his tear-filled eyes and looked at her for a long time. It seemed less like he was moved by her words and more like he was contemplating how to retort.

Eventually, Abel wiped away his tears irritably and replied with suppressed annoyance:

‘That’s easy for you to say because you have a good reputation with the other kids.’

Then, as if embarrassed and displeased by his own words, he blushed and ran away.

That was already more than ten years ago. She had only met Abel for about two weeks at the Probasc Temple, and never encountered him again afterward. But after that incident, Abel had followed Eir around, and when they parted, he said goodbye with ambitious words about meeting again someday when they both became high priests, which is why the memory remained with her for so long.

But why was Abel here?

She looked down at his face gravely once more to confirm, and suddenly realized how much his face resembled Rubel’s, causing her mouth to open.

So he’s the third son of House Shinote!

The fact that the third son of House Shinote had become a priest was already well-known, but she didn’t know it was Abel. Looking back now, it was almost foolishly naive. Rubel Shinote, Abel Shinote. The similarity was clear even from their names.

“So now I’ve… the third son of House Shinote…….”

Eir’s face turned pale as she briefly looked down at Abel, who had fainted as cold as death. She quickly placed her finger under his nose.

Fortunately, he was breathing normally, and it seemed he had just fainted from shock. Eir infused divine energy into her hand and woke Abel with healing power.

The entire process was so natural that it was hard to believe she was someone who hadn’t used divine energy at all for a long time. It was only possible because no people had been around this place at all.

If there had been any sign of people visiting, she probably wouldn’t have been able to do that eerie thing she did every night, vomiting darkness in the bathroom.

As soon as Abel received the healing power, he sat up sharply, gasping for breath like someone who had been underwater. Eir calmly folded her hands as if she had never used divine power, and faced Abel with a composed expression.