The One Who Doesn't Find Me Disgusting #5
“Oh my, is that really true, Priest?”
Surprisingly, life as Leni’s personal priest was not the terrible environment Emil had imagined.
The servants assigned to her were mostly maids who had fallen out of favor with Lady Cately.
Those who were slow to understand, made frequent mistakes, and whose work was still clumsy. Or those who had failed to adapt and were eventually driven out, only to be reassigned to Leni.
That’s why I like them.
Women like these usually had low self-esteem, so the smallest kindness was enough to make them easy to manage.
It was a rather vulgar way of seeing things, but it was the truth.
“Exactly. Have you truly never been to Tyssos? Everything beautiful in the world gathers there. Sweet fruits ripen on their own without being planted, and the lovely women adorn themselves with sapphires, onyx, and rubies.”
In truth, Emil knew almost nothing about Tyssos. He was simply repeating fragments he had overheard, yet the maids listened with sparkling eyes.
Of course, he never forgot the finishing touch.
“Naturally, none are as beautiful as you ladies.”
The maids burst into giggles.
“Priest, you really…”
“…Noisy.”
A voice that sounded hoarse from infrequent use, thick with displeasure, cut through the air.
It was Leni’s, without question.
“I clearly told you to stay quiet while I’m reading… Are all of you that slow?”
Leni rarely spoke, but she possessed a special talent for freezing the room the moment she opened her mouth.
Of course Daisy’s own manner of speech was hardly refined, yet the girl’s naturally bright disposition made everyone adore her.
Leni was the complete opposite.
“I apologize, Miss. It seems my voice was a little loud. Or perhaps my head is simply slow. One or the other, I suppose.”
When he brushed it off with a jest and a smile, the maids awkwardly laughed along. But Leni spat out in clear irritation.
“Stop that giggling… it grates on my ears. All of you, get out. Disappear from my side.”
The instant the words left her, a chill spread through the silence, carrying waves of displeasure among the maids.
Who does that bastard think she is? He could almost hear them cursing her.
“I’m sorry. It appears my little joke entertained everyone too much. I’ve always been rather amusing, after all. Did you all hear? Let’s keep quiet.”
“No. She said to get out. Leave. All of you.”
Emil tried to keep his tone cheerful, but Leni stubbornly insisted.
“Ah, we’ll be going now, Miss. We’re sorry.”
In the end the maids retreated with strained smiles. Why did this girl insist on creating enemies for herself?
He disliked this atmosphere.
An atmosphere was always better when it was light—light as a woman’s weight, preferably.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
Just as he was about to sit, Leni spoke.
Did she hate him that much? He shrugged.
“Someone must remain by the young lady’s side.”
“You annoy me the most. Get out of my sight.”
“Please don’t say that. I promise you’d feel lonely without me, Miss.”
Leni’s gaze sharpened into a fierce glare.
Whoa, whoa. How terrifying.
“People like you are the most irritating… pretending to be kind, pretending to be cheerful, wrapping everything in smiles and nonsense. You look down on others, mock them, yet hide it all behind laughter. I’ve seen your kind until I’m sick of it. I know exactly what you are. So in front of me… cough!”
Having spoken so much at once, Leni broke into a fit of dry coughs, gasping for breath.
“Are you all right?”
When he instinctively moved closer, she glared even more viciously through her coughing.
“Don’t come near me. Just leave me alone…”
Then the coughing started again.
Why was he met with such hatred? It seemed he would have to retract his earlier assessment that this wasn’t such a bad environment.
“Cough… Stop pretending. You think I’m disgusting too, don’t you? You want to flee this place right now. So get out.”
What was this now?
It appeared the young lady suffered from a touch of paranoia.
Or perhaps these were defense mechanisms born from years of reading the room as the lord’s illegitimate daughter.
Either way, neither is normal.
“Miss…”
“Get out, get out!”
She shouted so fiercely that he had no choice but to withdraw. Outside the room, the maids were already chatting and laughing among themselves as though nothing had happened.
They all seemed quite used to the situation.
“It looks like I owe everyone an apology. I’ve caused you trouble…”
“An apology? It’s not your fault at all, Priest. Miss Leni has been like this since before you arrived.”
When he offered an awkward smile of apology, the maids spoke in unison, denying it.
“To be honest, we were talking loudly on purpose.”
“Ah, I did it too.”
The maids smiled at one another.
“On purpose?”
“Well, you know, Priest. That strange smell comes from Miss Leni.”
“That’s right—like the stench of rotting corpses. The first time, I nearly vomited. But you don’t even react… You’re incredible.”
A strange smell? From Leni?
“Wait, what do you mean? You’re saying a foul odor comes from Miss Leni?”
“It’s not just foul—it’s an unbearable stench. Why else do you think the lord never calls her to meals?”
Those words summoned the memory of the dinner several days earlier.
The table where no one had touched their food, everyone simply sitting in silence.
And Daisy pointing at Leni, calling her “the smelly one,” “the disgusting one.”
No, but…
He could not understand it. He had never once smelled anything unpleasant from Leni.
On the contrary… she had always carried a sweet, fragrant scent.
“That’s actually why we were being loud. Miss Leni hates noise, so this way she quickly drives us out.”
“Exactly, exactly.”
As they spoke and giggled, mockery and contempt leaked from the maids’ voices.
He truly disliked it.
Even the women who had been scorned and driven out by their fellow servants, only to end up at Leni’s side, were now mocking the very girl they served.
Stop pretending. You think I’m disgusting too.
Only now did he understand.
Why Leni had to speak and act with such thorns.
When everyone around her found her repulsive, what else could the lord’s bastard daughter do?
His heart grew strangely heavy.
“What causes the stench? An illness?”
“Probably. It smelled like that from the moment the lord first brought her here. Everyone frowned at it. Ah, but…”
“But?”
The maid hesitated, wondering if she should continue, then lowered her voice.
“This is only a rumor, but… some people say something different. That it isn’t a sickness, but… a curse.”
A curse. Surely not.
The maids loved empty gossip, and the more superstitious, the better.
“A curse that causes stench? That’s frightening.”
“It’s true. Doesn’t it seem odd? Such a terrible smell pours from the young lady, yet it never lingers. Once she leaves the room, you can’t smell anything at all.”
The maid shuddered.
“Someone else said that there’s a large scar on Miss Leni’s ankle, and it’s the mark of a demon. They say the stench of Sheol—the abyss—wafts out from that scar.”
This could become a problem.
Emil cut her off.
“That’s enough. Speaking of demons hardly seems appropriate in front of a priest, and I doubt the lord would be pleased. It would be best not to spread such stories, don’t you agree?”
“Ah, of course… I’ll be careful.”
Even after the warning, the maid’s words could not be dismissed as mere rumor. Something about them struck a chord, reminding him of what the helper had once said.
Have you ever smelled the air of Sheol? The scent of death, grief, pain, and disgust… it is truly… sweet. Sweet enough to make your head spin.
Why did the stench everyone called unbearable smell so sweet to him?
You think I’m disgusting too.
No.
He did not find her disgusting. Not in the slightest.
To know one was repulsive to others and therefore had to live despising and pushing people away… how pitiful for a young girl.
That was why he wanted to tell her.
That he knew no such stench. That someone here could smell only a sweet fragrance.
Lost in thought, he realized he had once again returned to the door of Leni’s room.
When he opened it and stepped inside, her voice flew at him, thick with displeasure.
“Didn’t I tell you to get out?”
What should he say?
Emil simply smiled and offered a light jest.
“It seemed you might feel lonely without me, Miss.”
Leni’s eyes narrowed.
“If you want to spout nonsense, go outside and do it… Tell it to those stupid women who giggle at your nonsense…”
“Well, I would rather see you smile, Miss Leni.”
Now she was outright glaring.
Glare all you like. As if a child’s glare could frighten him.
“More nonsense… I hate you.”
“I rather like myself. The problem is I like myself far too much.”
He shrugged.
Even after that, Leni continued spitting venom, trying to drive him out. She even raised her voice at times, but he laughed everything off.
In the end Leni gave up and returned to her book.
It was unfair to her, but today he had no desire to leave the room.
After all, such a sweet fragrance was drifting from her.