Chapter 172
“……!”
The black knot unraveled. Beneath his hand, Arzeletta’s shoulder was revealed, translucent peach-tinted skin like a noble pearl.
The man’s straight fingers slowly caressed her exposed shoulder. The circles he drew on her bare skin, and the meaning within them—Arzeletta understood them all too well.
…Theogrim desired her.
“Tell me in detail, Rzel.”
This was a feeling entirely different from the obedience Arzeletta had always offered Theogrim until now.
It was not a white, pure devotion, unashamed before God.
It was a dark, burning animalistic desire, as thick and heavy as a red blossom filled with aphrodisiac fragrance, as intoxicating as a dizzying perfume.
The kind of perilous temptation she could never have believed existed within the soul of Saint Theogrim, a man compared to an angel.
“Tell me what happened.”
Arzeletta’s shoulders trembled faintly. It was the powerless resistance of a hunted deer.
With her white shoulder half-bared, her body engulfed in Theogrim’s shadow, Arzeletta seemed on the verge of being overtaken at any moment.
Her greenish eyes fluttered beneath lashes that blinked rapidly.
Theogrim was the master of her soul. He was the love she had kept in her heart all her life. He was the one whose fleeting presence alone had made her weep with longing through sleepless nights.
Yet within his touch and shadow, Arzeletta trembled in fear.
Arzeletta was afraid of Theogrim. His unfamiliar expression and gaze, the clear desire contained in the fingertips that touched her, made her shrink back.
“Rzel.”
“……”
“You must answer.”
Arzeletta’s chin was lifted. Entrusting her face to the hand of the man she loved, she trembled with unease. Her instincts kept sending her reason relentless warnings of danger.
“Be good, quickly.”
But no matter how much her reason stayed awake, it was meaningless.
Her entire being belonged to Theogrim.
‘For you, a single prayer.’
The moment Theogrim’s violet eyes met hers, the chain binding Arzeletta’s soul was pulled taut. His demand shot straight into her heart.
His command was absolute.
“Ah….”
Arzeletta opened her mouth, like a puppet bound by strings. It was an action that betrayed her will.
“To… to the Lord, I offered my blood as a sacrifice….”
“What?”
“To save you… I wanted to save you. I heard your voice, Theo. You kept giving me commands.”
At Arzeletta’s trembling confession, Theogrim’s eyes widened.
“…To kill him.”
Theogrim raised his hand. He pressed her forehead. Arzeletta shut her eyes tightly, like someone awaiting judgment. It tormented her to face the sin she had confessed with her own lips.
“…I don’t know how such a thing is possible, Theo. Every time you suffer, my heart hurts the same. When you speak to me with your heart, I hear it.”
“……”
“I cannot disobey your command, Theo….”
Moisture welled once more at the corners of Arzeletta’s eyes. The fate she had confessed to her master, her weakness, felt unbearably tragic.
“…But that is not your fault.”
Suddenly, Arzeletta shook her head. She was afraid Theogrim might blame himself.
It was not that he had controlled her. To offer him prayer, to come to know his pain, to commit such a terrifying sin—these were all choices she had made.
“So let me put it back in place. From beginning to end, it was my choice. So…”
Theogrim’s shoulders trembled as he pressed his forehead in self-reproach. Arzeletta swallowed a breath.
“…Theo.”
“Haa. Rzel.”
His shoulders, heaving as though in sobs, slowly sank. The hand Theogrim had placed on his forehead lowered.
And beneath that neat hand was revealed a smile.
The noble, pure smile that Arzeletta had cherished and loved for so long.
“Rzel. My sweet Rzel.”
“Th-Theogrim.”
“What do you mean, put it back in place?”
Arzeletta’s lashes fluttered like butterfly wings. Theogrim’s smile was sincere.
“If we leave it as it is, we can erase Ragnar.”
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