Don’t Be Holy! - Chapter 92

For a while, the only sounds in the dining room were the clinking of utensils and an awkward silence. Eir felt like she had truly messed up.

Seduction isn’t something just anyone can do.

‘I even puckered my lips!’

But since she had already started the seduction and puckered her lips, she had to see it through to the end, even if it meant drawing a sword and cutting through the fog.

‘Let’s take a moment to regroup. Don’t just blurt out anything.’

But the silence gnawed at her. Out of habit, Eir picked up some food and suddenly spoke.

“Um, uh……. Grandpa, you said last time you’d lend me a book on herbs, right? Do you remember where it is?”

Rubel, relieved that the conversation had returned to a normal topic after the long silence, answered dutifully.

“It should be in the study. Why do you ask?”

“I was thinking of going to the mountains. I mean, I should be of some help, after all.”

“That’s fine. But how long do you plan to stay here?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Just as the conversation had returned to a normal topic, another awkward moment arrived. Both of them looked puzzled.

Rubel, not understanding why she looked so confused, continued.

“Are you planning to leave once your hand heals? I need to know so I can prepare.”

“Uh…… do you think me being here is within my capabilities?”

“Well, isn’t it?”

Eir’s expression went blank again. This was an entirely new level of conversation.

Rubel frowned at Eir’s completely clueless expression. He looked at her incredulously before roughly running a hand through his hair.

“You’re the one who cast the spell, aren’t you?”

“Uh…… yeah, it might seem that way.”

Eir gave up on insisting she wasn’t a witch. From Rubel’s perspective, he had seen her cast a spell, so there was no way to argue otherwise.

Unable to bear her rolling eyes, he pressed her.

“Why are you acting like this? What’s going on?”

Eir hesitated before answering.

“Well…… I didn’t mean to come here. It was an accident.”

Huh?

The already stern-looking man furrowed his brows and stared at her, making her tense up. Eir wished he would go back to being the way he was last night.

At least then, even if her body was tired and humiliated, her head didn’t hurt like this.

“It’s not like I can leave whenever I want.”

She managed to say this without lying. Rubel rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache.

His lack of response made her even more nervous. Eir glanced at him while putting a piece of oil-roasted asparagus in her mouth.

“I can’t control my abilities at will.”

She omitted the part about divine power as she explained. Rubel seemed to have half-expected this, but the grim reality still made him close his eyes and rub his brows in despair.

“Has it always been like this since you were young?”

He gave up on the idea of leaving and decided to learn more about Eir. Eir wanted to avoid this topic where she had to lie, but she also felt like she’d have to keep lying if she didn’t answer, so she gave in.

“No. When I was young, I was actually quite promising…….”

“You?”

His voice was full of disbelief. Eir became curious about how Rubel perceived her.

She ignored his comment and continued.

“But I didn’t like it, so I ran away and met Grandma.”

“What didn’t you like? Was that when you first learned about the witches who joined hands with Albarm?”

She quickly took a sip of water. He was listening to her past with curiosity. When she talked about her real past, he looked at her like she was full of nonsense, but now he was listening seriously to the story he wanted to hear.

Well, it wasn’t entirely a lie.

The cold water helped calm her mind a little.

“Uh, well…… desires? I didn’t like desires, I guess.”

“I thought so. So after meeting Grandma, something went wrong with your abilities?”

“That was relatively recent…….”

Through this conversation, Rubel pieced together a rough version of Eir’s past. She had been a witch since childhood but ran away after seeing the witches who joined hands with Albarm, realizing it wasn’t right. After meeting Hecate, she grew up naively, and something went wrong with her abilities, leaving her in a state where she couldn’t even be called a witch.

“Is that why the witch mark disappeared?”