Chapter 44
“Please, let this be easy.”
If I had to search this vast church, that would be incredibly tiring. Surely, there can’t be just one priest here.
However, my expectations were shattered as the mass began. A grand hymn started, and the priest who appeared with the altar boys holding incense clearly wasn’t the man I was looking for.
If they made the male lead’s face like that, that’s a sin.
I wasn’t unaware that it was rude to think like that about someone’s face, but with my life on the line, I was desperate. Even if the priest’s features were abstract, surely, there couldn’t be a male lead who looked so… large?
“…It couldn’t be.”
This was a romance genre, after all. A priest with that physique couldn’t possibly be Vice, one of the male leads.
“Ugh, I guess I’ll have to keep searching the church…”
As I was about to stand up, Dante, who was beside me, scolded me. I was about to make some excuse when he added something that made me freeze mid-action.
“Her Majesty is here too. Try to bear it.”
He seemed to think it was just a natural bodily function. I slowly sat back down and glared at the black-haired figure in front of me.
Why did the Empress have to be here too? There’s a dedicated chapel in the palace, isn’t there?
In the end, I failed to escape and had to sit through the sermon. Well, I didn’t really listen. As soon as the priest started reading passages from the Bible, I drifted off into a devout dreamland.
“Camil! Camil!”
How long had I been bowing my head? When Dante’s voice called me, someone shook my shoulder. I looked up at him groggily, and with an exasperated expression, he helped me to my feet.
“Let’s go. We need to line up.”
I followed his gaze, and there, in front of us, was a long line of people. It seemed like there was some sort of communion or similar religious ritual happening here.
I nodded and followed him to the end of the line. I wasn’t sure of the exact rules, but judging by how he directed me, it seemed that Camilli had been baptized. After all, in the world of Harent, most nobles followed the national religion.
Still half-dazed, I stood in front of the priest with my walk looking anything but graceful, definitely not how a noblewoman should carry herself. As I noticed the priest’s hair, I realized that it was different from the one who had been leading the mass.
“I thought his hair was short…”
The long, loosely braided green hair caught my eye. As I raised my gaze, I froze.
“Gasp!”
As soon as I saw the face of the priest holding the holy water, I almost fainted.
“You—!”
“…”
I pointed at him in surprise, with my mouth hanging open. Seeing this, a training priest standing behind us gave me a disapproving look and reprimanded me.
“How rude to Priest Vice!”
“…Vice?”
Hearing his name caused my mind to go completely blank. The priest, who had stood still amidst my sudden outburst without showing any signs of disturbance, spoke in a calm yet firm voice.
“Sister, the brother behind you is waiting.”
“…!”
Suddenly, every person in the chapel was staring at me. The shock intensified, and I quickly turned red, rushing to leave the area.
“Camil!”
I heard someone calling me from behind, but I ignored it and kept running. My heart was pounding as if I had just finished a marathon.
The pounding in my ears and my increasingly labored breathing made me squeeze my eyes shut, trying to steady myself. I needed to calm down.
“What’s wrong with you?”
I heard Dahlia’s high-pitched voice follow me, but in my state, I focused only on regulating my breathing and ignored her.
“Why are you like this?”
I didn’t have the energy to respond, nor could I have explained even if I wanted to.
Because…
“Crazy.”
The person who was supposed to be my future husband. The one who had been my hope after my break up with the prince.
He was none other than the terrifying exorcist priest who had once exorcised me away.
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