Chapter 73
Rather, he was relieved that Roarna was letting it slide.
If she found out that he was struggling to stay friends, she would surely not act as comfortably as she did now.
She might even… find it annoying and push him away.
‘Of course, as long as I have this damn curse, she’d still see me.’
Roarna wouldn’t completely avoid Celesto. As long as he was afflicted with an interesting curse, she would see him anytime and even relieve his desires.
Because Roarna wouldn’t attach any meaning to those acts.
That was even worse. The thought of being bound together solely by the curse, no longer even Roarna’s friend.
Just thinking about it was miserable.
So he had to suppress it. The sincerity that kept leaking out, drunk on the curse and pleasure.
“…I was working.”
Celesto answered in a calm voice.
“Work? You mean with the Temple Knights?”
“No… I haven’t been back there for a while.”
“Why… Ah. I see.”
Roarna nodded.
Watching her matter-of-fact reaction, Celesto felt his own head cooling down as well.
He began tidying his disheveled clothes.
“So right now, I’m staying with a knight order in the capital. It’s not free; I have to take care of holy missions.”
“Holy missions? Ah, you mean monster subjugation?”
“Yeah.”
At Celesto’s answer, Roarna snorted.
“Now I see why your condition was so bad. You exhausted too much holy power, didn’t you? Enough that you had to use even the holy power you were using to suppress the curse?”
“…”
Only then did Celesto lift his head.
Roarna, having tidied her own clothes, was writing something in her notebook. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Unlike him, who was exhausted from suppressing what he wanted to say, Roarna was exactly as she always was.
As if she had never made anyone’s heart leap with a question like ‘Why do you kiss like that?’
“If someone with holy power as strong as yours can only last about ten days… then Leocel definitely couldn’t have avoided the Lust Curse.”
Roarna chattered on, jotting down notes.
“…”
Celesto silently gazed at her.
Roarna, who could do those things with him and then immediately turn her attention to the curse.
He repeated to himself what he had told himself many times before.
‘So how could I possibly do anything with someone like this?’
Even if their relationship were different from now, the situation would probably be the same.
That is, even if he were Roarna’s fiancé arranged long ago, rather than her friend. Or even if he had fallen for Roarna much earlier. Celesto would still have wanted to touch her.
While Roarna would have only been interested in the curse.
Right, she was Roarna Balseren.
So engrossed in taboo studies that she turned her back on her family.
So oblivious and uninterested that she wouldn’t even notice a man’s advances.
Whom even the skillful Leocel couldn’t lure into bed.
…The one and only woman in Celesto Castanor’s life.
So it was right to suppress it deep down. Thoughts like wanting to have this woman completely, even if it meant giving up everything—Leocel’s death, his honor as a Holy Knight.
Just then, Roarna let out a playful laugh.
“Good thing I taught you how to do it with your hands in advance.”
“…”
“What did I tell you? I said you might end up in a situation where you’d need to take care of it outside.”
The woman beside him, unaware that the man next to her was experiencing something akin to heartbreak, giggled.
But the worst part was when this woman acted kindly, calling herself a friend.
“I told them to come pick me up with a carriage in an hour.”
Roarna said, pulling his hood back over his head.
“You know, right? I ride around in a carriage with no markings. I’ll take you to where you’re staying.”
“…No, it’s fine.”
“You should break that habit of saying ‘it’s fine.’ Anyone can see you’re not okay.”
“I said it’s fine. What would people think?”
“Do you think this is the first time I’ve told a coachman to drop me off somewhere discreetly, avoiding people’s eyes? I’ve entered all sorts of private estates like that.”
Roarna smiled confidently.
“And… if you’ve used that much holy power that you can’t even muster the minimum protection against the curse, your condition isn’t normal anyway. Do you think I don’t know that?”
“…”
“So let me at least take you nearby. I couldn’t stop Leocel from dying, but I can’t just leave you to die from overwork either.”
Like a complete fool, his mood lifted from that point on.
That even though she wouldn’t do it for Leocel, she would for him. He wasn’t in a state of mind composed enough to maintain his composure after hearing such words.
In the end, Celesto waited for the carriage with Roarna. The nape of his neck, visible beneath his deeply pulled-down hood, was burning hot.
After a short wait, a carriage stopped before them.
Soon, the door opened, revealing a space that was not just narrow, but cramped for Celesto.
“…Ah.”
Only then did Celesto realize.
The fact that, for at least the next twenty minutes, he would have to be alone with Roarna inside this small, practical carriage.
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