The Priestess's Embarrassing Day and Resolve (2)
#
There was a reason I had prepared the rings.
Because the words Yuri had sobbed out yesterday had been weighing on my mind.
'You acted as though you were going to take responsibility for us for life, then immediately went around sleeping with just anyone? Of course, eventually we'd...'
Yuri had left the rest unsaid, but I had enough sense to understand what was being left out.
Being forgotten. Being abandoned. Breaking up.
It was probably something difficult to define in a single word. Reni's desire for a child came from the same place.
In the end, it was anxiety. The fear that I might cast them aside while going around seeing other women.
But they could never openly demand that I stop taking other women into my arms.
I was saving people, after all. They couldn't keep me all to themselves.
So they'd even gone as far as tying me down and ambushing me at night like yesterday.
It was amusing at the time, but if I thought about it carefully, it was an unsettling situation. Even Yuri, who always put on a haughty front, had been reduced to tears. It must have been considerable stress.
For my part, I didn't want to just leave this unstable situation alone.
So I had prepared a symbol that could directly confirm our relationship—the rings.
"Sniff... sob..."
...So why was Reni crying?
# # #
Reni burst into tears the moment she stepped into the room.
"Sob... hic..."
Crying the instant she came in. This really threw me off. I had absolutely no idea what this situation was!
Could she be so deeply moved before I'd even given her the ring?!
No, it didn't seem like that...
Reni's crying wasn't the sort of tears shed from being overwhelmed with emotion—it was more like she was truly sad and miserable but trying to hold it in.
"Hic... sniffle... sob. Hic... hwaaah..."
"Reni, I said, will you look at me?"
"Sob... hic..."
No matter how many times I called her, she only kept her head buried toward the floor and wiped her tears. I'd been trying to set a romantic mood, but this was hopeless!
I decided to get right to the point.
"Reni!"
"Eek?!"
"Reni. Look at this."
"...Huh?"
Reni stopped crying when she saw the ring. One sniffle. Then tears began to well up in both eyes, even more than before. Uh-oh? This wasn't the reaction I'd wanted.
"Is, is this a farewell present?"
Farewell? What in the world was that supposed to mean?!
I was so incredulous I couldn't say anything, and Reni began to mutter to herself unprompted.
"Y-you don't have to give it to me. Because I did wrong, sniff, y-you don't have to give me something like this, you mustn't, please don't give me this, I don't need it, don't give it, don't throw me away... sooob..."
"..."
Having said that, Reni collapsed and clung to my leg, seemingly about to wail in earnest.
It wasn't the first or second time Reni had harbored strange delusions, but that didn't make it any less baffling.
I felt like I was losing my mind. Seriously losing it!
I shook Reni hard.
"Reni! Snap out of it!"
"Ack! Arrrrrrrrrrrgh! Hic! Arrrrrrrrrgh! Hic! Blergh..."
...
Only after shaking her until she was too disoriented to cry did I finally manage to talk to her.
"Huff... Fine. What's all this about farewell? And what's this about not throwing you away?"
Reni was still sniffling, but she seemed to have calmed down a little, perhaps realizing this wasn't the mood she'd imagined.
"A-aren't you angry?"
"Angry? About what?"
"Wh-what we did by force yesterday... so... you weren't angry?"
"No?"
"I-I thought for sure I was being cast aside..."
"Why?"
"..."
After a brief silence.
Reni's face flushed as red as if it were about to boil water. Then she cupped her face in both hands and sank down.
"Urrrgh..."
She must have kicked that absurd delusional engine of hers into gear again. Though it seemed she was embarrassed about it herself.
What a ridiculous priestess. She'd ambushed me at night more than once or twice, and now she was giving me this reaction.
I sat Reni, who looked ready to burrow into the ground, down on the bed.
"Reni. Show me your face."
"..."
The priestess was outright ignoring me.
"Huhk?!"
I grabbed Reni's hands and pulled them down by force. Her face was covered in dry tear tracks, her nose had turned bright red from all the sniffling, and her entire face was flushed as if ready to burst from embarrassment.
She desperately averted her eyes, but it wasn't out of fear like before—it was out of embarrassment.
"Reni, will you give me your hand?"
"..."
Reni didn't move a muscle. I took her hand and brought the ring...
"N-no!"
"Huh?"
Reni pulled her hand away from me!
"N-no, I cannot accept something like this..."
What?!
# # #
"...Why?"
My voice dropped on its own.
To refuse the ring.
Even though I'd considered us to be practically more than lovers, even if we'd never said it aloud—was she saying now that wasn't the case?
Reni seemed slightly frightened by my tone. I tried to calm my pounding heart and waited for her words.
"I don't deserve to receive something like this..."
"What do you mean?"
"I-I'm a selfish and bad woman..."
Before I could say anything, Reni waved her hands. She seemed to have a lot to say, so I quietly waited for her.
"F-from the very beginning, I approached you with an ulterior motive, Yoo-jin. It wasn't purely to help you—I approached you wondering if I might be able to obtain Divine Power, hoping I could find a clue. That's not all."
One sniffle.
"Wondering how I could obtain Divine Power, I peeped at you, watched you, and s-secretly touched you at night. A-and after I obtained Divine Power, even that wasn't enough,"
Two sniffles.
"Y-you're an Apostle of the Goddess, and I got jealous of other women, butted in, told lies... a-and if someone like you gives me a ring and then gets disappointed in me, at that point I'll truly be cast aside...!"
"No, what in the world are you—"
"You just don't know, Yoo-jin!"
Three sniffles.
"I-I've done plenty of bad things. Even though Yuri was there, I tried to cut in line and forced you to sleep with me over and over... eep!"
Reni stopped mid-sentence, covered her mouth with both hands, and cautiously gauged my reaction. She wore an expression as if she thought she'd just accidentally confessed something terribly wicked and serious.
I bit my lower lip. Because I felt laughter threatening to burst out.
"I already knew, you know?"
"Huh."
-Thud.
I thought I heard the sound of Reni's heart dropping from somewhere.
"Wouldn't it be weirder if I didn't know?"
-Thud.
Did she have two hearts?
Uh-buh. Uh-buh-buh.
Reni opened and closed her mouth like a fish. It was funny seeing her make that face with her swollen eyes. Funny, but also adorable. The fact that she thought such a minor transgression had gone unnoticed, or that she thought it was such a terrible sin.
In the end, I had no choice but to say something a little embarrassing.
"You did it because you liked me, didn't you?"
Reni burst out as if she were about to explode.
"I-I do like you! From the moment you saved me back then—no, from that underground chamber—I've always liked you! Sniff, I love you, but I'm useless, I'm always dragging you down like this, and I'm so sorry that..."
"Reni, I don't mind anyway."
"...Pardon?"
"Even so, I don't mind. As much as you like me, I also want to monopolize you. I think that's only natural. Even I get angry just seeing you talk with some other lowlife. If you like me, it must be the same for you. No, I actually think you've been incredibly patient. If I were in your position, I wouldn't have been able to stand it."
"..."
"If anything, I'm the one who doesn't know if I'm worthy of liking you. But even so, I want to love you. I want to keep you by my side."
"Yoo-jin..."
Tears began to well up in Reni's eyes again.
"Reni. Will you give me your hand?"
Though she hesitated, Reni held out her hand. A pale, small hand trembling faintly. I took out the ring with its gleaming emerald and slipped it onto Reni's ring finger.
"Reni. I love you."
Reni's tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I-I love you too. Sniff. I-I love you. F-forever and ever..."