Chapter 57
The man who had been so furious just moments ago had disappeared somewhere. As he had for the past several days, Felix wore nothing more than a gentle smile.
“So you really are going to kiss me once a day?”
Abel had expected him to retract it at any moment.
So it hadn’t just been something he’d blurted out in anger? He’d meant it? Abel absently touched his lips, now smooth again without so much as a split after being healed.
“Am I just too inexperienced?”
Maybe Abel, who had grown up in the Temple, was simply too old-fashioned.
“But Felix said it himself back then.”
When they had hidden together in the entertainment district, soaked by the night dew, Felix had said:
‘Not everyone lives such a debauched, tomorrow-be-damned life.’
‘Even outside the temple’s teachings, there are decent people everywhere.’
‘…People live outside the temple too. So you should…’
Felix had never managed to finish what he was saying, because a drunken middle-aged man with a bulging belly had suddenly stripped off his clothes right in front of them, completely lost in his own world.
Though, in truth, that probably wasn’t the only reason.
‘That man is smiling while looking at you. Do you think he likes you?’
Thinking back on it now, Abel’s response had probably played a part too. Even if Abel hadn’t pointed it out, there was no way Felix hadn’t noticed the man grinning at him.
In any case, what Abel was trying to say was that, back then, Felix had looked at the people in the entertainment district with undisguised contempt.
He had repeatedly insisted to Abel that such a place was anything but normal, and more than that, whenever someone showed interest in him during their journey, Felix had always responded with cold indifference.
“Was it only because you were keeping an eye on me?”
Then again, with a face like Felix’s, he had probably dated plenty of people. Maybe kissing simply came more easily to him than talking.
“Then why are you so bad at kissing?”
Maybe he simply had no talent for it?
As question marks floated through his mind, a priest happened to knock before entering the room.
“Lord Abel, your tea—”
“Is being good at kissing something you’re just born with?”
“…Pardon?”
Startled by the sudden question, the priest stared at Abel before answering awkwardly.
“I-I suppose so?”
“Hm. I see.”
Well, Felix’s swordsmanship was only average too. Maybe he just wasn’t particularly skilled at things that required physical coordination. Abel was just about to settle on that conclusion when the priest cautiously spoke again.
“Um… Lord Abel.”
When Abel silently turned his gaze toward him, the hesitant priest finally continued.
“Would you like me to report on the rumors regarding Sir Felix that you asked about before?”
Ah, this priest. He was the one who had drawn his sword back then. The one Abel had tasked with investigating the rumors about Felix.
Come to think of it, after that, a different priest had been the one reporting the rumors to him.
There wasn’t just one priest among those serving Abel who was fanatically devoted to the Father.
Abel looked impassively at the priest, who was practically itching to be of use to him.
“Go ahead.”
With Abel’s permission, the priest hurriedly began his report.
“Ever since Your Holiness began confessing to Sir Felix again…”
As he listened, Abel finally realized why Felix had brought up kissing.
The rumor spreading throughout the temple—that “Abel’s love was clumsy and somewhat forceful”—which, strictly speaking, wasn’t false in the slightest, had begun to take on a different shape.
People were saying that Felix was trying to manipulate the innocent, inexperienced Abel with nothing more than a kiss.
According to Abel’s own expectations, he should have been the one criticized for his recent behavior.
After all, rumors had already been circulating that he treated Felix rather poorly.
But then an unexpected variable had appeared: the miracle Abel had displayed during the prayer ceremony.
‘I’ve become too well-liked.’
Because it had been so soon after the prayer gathering ended, the clergy’s admiration and reverence for Abel had surged to unprecedented heights. More and more people wanted to earn the favor of the newly transformed Abel.
As a result, people began saying that Felix was being unreasonable for refusing to accept him, and increasingly unpleasant remarks about Felix started making the rounds.
People were saying things like Felix was relying on his face to dare reject Lord Abel; that he’d already done everything with him but was only playing hard to get in public; that he was deliberately keeping Abel desperate so he could get what he wanted; that it was ridiculous to make such a fuss over a single kiss when he’d probably already done everything else outside the temple, only acting precious in front of Lord Abel, and so on.
The priest had undoubtedly chosen his words as carefully as possible because he was reporting directly to Abel. If even the censored version was like this…
There were now far too many stories that would disgust Felix, not merely upset him, if he ever heard them.
‘I think I’ve completely ruined this.’
And ruined it spectacularly.
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