For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 114

‘But why?’

Ariel felt doubt, but he did not suspect anything. He told himself there must be a reason beyond his understanding.

That’s why, to prove his doubts were unfounded, he had snuck out to the lakeshore in the early dawn.

How long did he crouch there, keeping an eye on the surroundings?

Kyte appeared once again.

Unlike before, when he stood before the believers, Kyte now had his long hair tied up high and had changed from priestly robes into elegant aristocratic attire.

Ariel slowed his breathing even more, trying to conceal his presence.

Was Kyte here to purify the lake again?

Ariel watched him intently, trying not to miss a single movement, but then he rubbed his eyes.

‘What is…’

He doubted his own eyes. He couldn’t understand what he was seeing.

At Kyte’s summons, ripples formed in the center of the lake, and then something surfaced.

It was none other than… a boy who looked even younger than Estira.

A young boy. Naked. Not even his eyes open.

Ariel clamped his hand over his mouth to stifle a scream.

But the real shock came next. The moment the black-haired boy emerged from the lake, as if it were a lie, the water instantly returned to its original color.

‘O, dear God.’

Ariel was left in such confusion, he couldn’t pull himself together.

***

Shut away in his room, reciting every prayer he knew and battling himself, Ariel received word that Kyte was calling for him.

As expected, it was Priest Taolti who delivered the message. Ariel had almost let down his guard, thinking Kyte, the next pope, had sent someone only now after all this time in Dongguk.

Even though Ariel had made it clear he would no longer investigate Estira, Kyte spoke as if he had never heard such a thing, questioning him in a gentle tone.

“Did you find out?”

“Find out… what, exactly?”

“Everything about the woman traveling with you, of course.”

Kyte gently smoothed down his white hair with his fingers.

Ariel sensed something strange in his words.

Hadn’t Kyte first asked him to find out if Estira posed any danger to the temple? Now he was asking for everything about her.

Maybe Kyte’s orders hadn’t changed. It was his own trust in Kyte that had shifted.

Ariel shook his head with a heavy heart.

“Estira… from everything I’ve seen, Estira is not someone who would harm the temple or the Holy Kingdom. She’s just a pure girl, appropriate for her age…”

“That’s enough. That will do.”

Kyte abruptly cut him off with irritation. Ariel was startled by his raised voice. He had never seen this sharp side of the always gentle and composed Kyte.

Ariel gazed at Kyte with a face on the verge of tears.

“C-Can I stop investigating Estira now?”

“Investigate? Anyone overhearing would think I told you to do such a thing.”

“…I apologize.”

It was a classic case of washing his hands of it.

As Ariel rose to leave in dejection, the inner door opened and the black-haired boy he had seen at the lake the night before emerged.

With such an uncommon hair color, there was no way he could mistake him for someone else. He was sure.

As Ariel stared intently at the boy, Kyte added, as if granting him a favor,

“He’s a child who’s lost his mind. We found him on the pilgrimage and took him in out of pity.”

A lie.

Ariel bit down so hard on his lower lip it nearly bled.

The child, now with his eyes open and focused, looked around the room, but anyone who looked for even a moment could see something was off.

He was too strange to be an ordinary person.

From his gait to the way he blinked. His eyelids didn’t move in sync, and he moved his joints as if he were a newborn giraffe.

It wasn’t that he’d lost his mind.

He didn’t feel human at all.

Why was Kyte showing such a child to Ariel and telling such an obvious lie?

‘The next pope is testing me.’

Ariel realized easily that this was a test. He had heard rumors from other apprentice priests—if you wanted to gain the next pope’s favor, you had to answer his sudden, seemingly random questions.

Ariel instinctively knew this was his chance to climb the ranks, but he didn’t seize the lifeline.

He simply bowed his head and greeted him.

As Ariel stepped outside the door, Kyte, left inside, coldly muttered as his subordinate tended to his hair.

“Get rid of it.”