Don’t Be Holy! - Chapter 162

It was true.

If it had been the usual Rubel, he would have certainly assigned people to report back to him daily the moment he left.

If he had done that, instead of sitting absentmindedly worrying about what she might be doing now or whether her father was treating her too harshly, he would be reading reports.

But Rubel wanted to trust her.

And to Rubel, who believed in God, trust meant wholly submitting oneself to that anxiety without the slightest hint of cheating.

Would she stay put? Trusting only him. Would she not run away? Would a woman who was always looking for ways to escape here and there miss this perfect opportunity?

Throughout, he had surrendered his body to thoughts that swung from one extreme to another, anxiously waiting, staking everything on a woman who might betray him, and then wanting to return to where she was and face Eir, who had likewise given up everything for him.

He wanted to make her listless, directionless body entirely his own. Just as he had once done for God, now they would become each other’s gods.

That was Rubel’s plan.

But…….

“So, she ran away?”

If she had broken her promise.

Then he wouldn’t need to be polite or show his trust.

Rubel’s eyes sank deeply. His downcast, transparent blue eyes changed to become as calm and eerie as a midnight lake.

Abel witnessed Rubel’s grip tighten on the bars until his hands turned pale white, and soon divine energy emanated from his hands.

“Brother!”

Before Abel could stop him, a power not of human origin shattered the bars.

Crack! The bars broke as easily as if they were glass fragments, and the sound of metal rods rolling on the floor echoed loudly through the empty prison. Abel, who had been standing in front, nearly got hit by those bars and fell sideways in shock.

“Brother! What are you doing!”

Setting aside whether such a thing was possible with human strength, at the very least, if Rubel Shinote was God’s messenger, he shouldn’t be acting like this. It was as if he had completely forgotten both his duty and his very existence.

“I have to catch her. I don’t have time to be locked up in a place like this.”

Rubel spoke while looking straight ahead. Whatever desire lay at the end of his fixed gaze was all too clear.

Seething possessiveness. A slight wound born from betrayal. And…… strangely, even a vague sense of relief, as if this was just as well, subtly present on his face.

‘Did my brother always have this side to him?’

Faced with an aspect so utterly different from what he knew, Abel was momentarily stunned before belatedly coming to his senses.

This was because Rubel was truly fearlessly striding out toward the exit.

No one acts so recklessly within the temple. And in this central temple where the Representative himself lives and breathes!

Abel hastily grabbed his shoulder, but there was no way that his frail body, used only for prayer, could stop Rubel, who had lived as a knight for ten years. As if Abel’s restraining force was no obstacle at all, Rubel’s steps didn’t falter. As a result, Abel, who was being dragged along, ended up falling down.

Since physical restraint showed no signs of working, Abel, still lying on the ground with a flushed face, suddenly stood up and even resorted to using divine power.

His hands glowed white, and Abel pressed his palms directly against Rubel’s back. He intended to siphon off his divine power to create an opening. An ordinary holy knight would have lost his strength and his legs would have given way, but Rubel just turned to look at him as if to ask what he was doing.

“Ah…….”

To siphon divine power, one typically needs to possess a divine energy level higher than the target, but in this moment, it became evident that Rubel’s divine energy far exceeded Abel’s.

Abel was so shocked to discover that his divine energy was lower than his brother’s, who was a holy knight, that he stood dumbfounded for a moment before grabbing onto his brother’s leg as he tried to leave again.

“Did you forget that you initially asked Del Gatos to imprison you here? You might enter as you please, but leaving isn’t the same. What will people think of you!”

But this time too, Rubel proceeded forward as if nothing was wrong, with Abel hanging onto him.