Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Interference (2)
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‘......Haa.’
Lete had to forcibly swallow a sigh at Kazan Kashimir's utterly shameless act of blocking her path out of nowhere and thrusting a bouquet at her.
She wanted nothing more than to swat away this unwelcome bunch of flowers without a second thought, but that would be rude in its own right.
She felt no qualms about crushing Kazan's impure "affections," but she had no desire to stoop to the level of a scoundrel like him.
Even in rejection, she had to do it as gently as possible.
The stress of it all was...... well, unavoidable, wasn't it?
She had gone strolling through the street stalls, arm-in-arm with Evan and munching on snacks precisely to prevent a situation like this, but of all timings, he had to show up just as they were heading back to the library.
She should have endured a bit more embarrassment and kept up the lover act.
Then Kazan wouldn't have been so brazenly asking her to bed.
‘......Or would he? Would he just barrel straight ahead regardless?’
Staring down at Kazan with her usual impassive gaze, Lete pondered the question seriously deep down.
Kazan Kashimir. Heir to the Kashimir family, one of the five holy noble houses, and a man she'd been connected to since they were quite young.
He was also the one whose engagement proposal had come from Oswald Kashimir, the current head of the Kashimir family and a cardinal of the Sun Church.
Of course, Lete's family had flatly refused out of respect for her wishes.
Recalling an unwelcome memory made Lete furrow her brow fiercely.
In any case, even years later, Kazan himself persistently courted her at every opportunity.
The peak had been right when they were both selected as saint and saintess candidates.
His constant proposals for sex under the pretext of developing their holy traits had been utterly repulsive, intrusive, and uncomfortable for Lete, who already found him distasteful.
If it had truly been for training their divine power, maybe—but there was no way she could miss the base lust always gleaming in his eyes.
Even now. The way he scanned her up and down, bouquet clutched in his tense hands, was utterly creepy. Lete unconsciously tugged at Evan's sleeve and chewed her lip.
She had no issue with skin exposure in general, but right now, she regretted her holy robes' design, which boldly revealed the sides of her thighs and hips.
How long did that oppressively heavy silence drag on?
Suddenly on the verge of glancing sideways at Evan without thinking, Lete flinched and clenched her fist tight.
Forcing her head, which had nearly turned, back to face front.
‘......What are you thinking, Lete Heresia.’
Her lips mashed together slightly. She was shaking off her moment of weakness.
This wasn't the time to lean on Evan. Was she planning to shoot him big puppy-dog eyes and beg him to step in?
Not only was her pride at stake, but Evan had no reason or obligation to get involved.
He was just her sex partner at best—fundamentally, nothing more than a friend.
Ignoring the inexplicable twinge in her chest by force...... Lete closed her eyes briefly.
‘He's not my lover.’
This was ultimately a problem she had to solve herself.
When she lifted her eyelids again, her gaze had sunk into solemn resolve.
She looked down at the young man before her once more. Meeting her eyes, Kazan swallowed dryly but still proffered the bouquet—
"Kazan."
"Yes, Lady Heresia."
The reply came instantly. Accompanied by an intensely burdensome stare.
Lete didn't hide her discomfort, openly averting her gaze.
"I'm grateful you think well of me, but as always, I can only give the same answer. I don't want my holy traits muddied by reckless beddings."
"......"
Kazan's face, filled with anticipation, hardened rigidly in an instant.
A clear declaration of refusal.
Fortunately, Kazan's rank as a cleric didn't match hers. At least it gave her a solid pretext.
Refusing on grounds of efficiency and practicality made any coercion a violation of doctrine.
She was just tired after years of this repeating.
‘Just how many rejections does it take to satisfy him, damn it.’
And this time, in the middle of a busy corridor with people passing by.
His courage in enduring the humiliation deserved some credit.
Lete sighed inwardly with fatigue and moved to calmly turn away. She simply lacked the energy for more talk with Kazan.
"Take care, then. The flowers...... sorry, but I can't accept them."
Subtly tugging Evan along to escape the scene right then—
Slam!
"Ugh......?!"
Lete winced and furrowed her brows at the sudden pressure on her right wrist, letting out a groan.
The hand gripping Evan's sleeve was her left, so this pressure wasn't from him.
Naturally, there was only one culprit. Using the pain in her wrist as fuel, Lete whipped around with fierce, glaring eyes.
"......What do you think you're doing?"
"......"
Kazan glared at her with a pride-wounded expression.
Lete met that stare head-on with her own icy hostility. Her depleted mental strength was replaced by fury.
"I won't say it twice. Let go."
"......Lady Heresia."
"It's annoying, so don't call me by name."
Lete's eyebrow twitched in irritation. Refusing to let go? Fine, then.
Whoosh......!
"......!"
In an instant, Lete erupted with platinum radiance and roughly shook him off. With divine power involved, even Kazan couldn't push back more aggressively.
Rubbing his stinging wrist, Kazan looked up with an irritated glare.
Lete didn't miss how that persistent gaze flicked precisely over Evan.
"......I just can't wrap my head around it, Lady Heresia."
Kazan spat out the words in a voice boiling with negativity. He glared at Lete as if he truly couldn't comprehend.
"What exactly am I lacking that you reject me so thoroughly? Ability? Family? Looks? Or is it just a matter of taste?"
"Ha......?"
"I lack in none of those. After nearly ten rejections, shouldn't you just give in? How much more humiliation do you need to be satisfied?"
Lete let out an incredulous scoff. She read sincerity in his passionate tone, which only made it more absurd.
Flip it around—who was the rude one still pushing after all those rejections?
‘......Anyone would think I'd promised him my attention.’
What gave him the right to be so brazen and shameless? Shamelessness had its limits.
"Hoo."
Lete suppressed the urge to unleash her divine power right then. A light breath sent her apricot bangs fluttering across her eyes.
......Of course, that didn't stop Kazan's tirade.
"Fine, is marriage the burden? If you dislike being tied down, I understand. It happens. A woman's heart is fickle by nature."
Lete's face hardened coldly amid a cynical scoff. His self-indulgent rambling was pathetic and laughable.
Just as she drew a deep breath to forcibly end this nutrient-void argument—
"But refusing even physical relations? That's always hard to accept. It's not complicated, is it? Spend one night with me first—your thoughts might change."
"......What?"
"As for preserving purity, it's already widely known your flower was plucked. By that orphan right beside you, no less."
Kazan spat the words with a frustrated grimace, and in that instant, Lete felt something snap in her mind.
‘What the hell is this bastard saying?’
A crude phrase she'd picked up from Evan bubbled up unbidden. Inevitably—her last thread of reason had snapped spectacularly.
The fact that she'd only had her first experience recently was already common gossip.
It had been unavoidably exposed to the world due to the second-quarter evaluation exam.
‘Is he looking down on me now because of that......? Thinks since the wall's already broken once, he can have a go too?’
Thump—! Lete's heart lurched violently under raw impulse. Divine power circulated through her body, making her blood boil.
A desire to crush the Kazan Kashimir before her flickered vividly.
In truth, that desire materialized as golden radiance, and the corridor was instantly shrouded in heavy air like sinking into water.
A few candidate students watching from afar hurriedly backed away.
Lete's divine power, already at a considerable realm, claimed the area as her domain in less than three seconds.
"......?! Gah, ngh!"
How much more so for the one forced to bear the brunt of it?
Kazan had to shrink his body under the sudden pressure bearing down on his shoulders.
He tried to muster his own divine power in resistance—but—
‘Don't delude yourself.’
Lete's eyes were already rolled back in rage. Stepping forward boldly, she cast a chilling gaze downward.
Kazan was a promising saint candidate, but an insurmountable gap in divine power separated him from Lete.
How could he mount proper resistance against such an absolute difference in realms?
Kazan trembled as he looked up at her, and Lete slowly replayed his vile words from moments ago.
It was undeniable truth that she'd lost her purity to Evan.
But that had nothing to do with this.
No matter how sticky and indulgent she'd been with Evan...... she truly had zero intention of giving her body to Kazan.
‘Evan's the closest guy to me, but you're not.’
And yet he'd made that offer, then dared spout nonsense without knowing his place?
Lete's mind began filling with rage, accelerating her violent thoughts twofold.
‘Spending the night with him was for the exam, sure—but fundamentally, it was possible because it was him.’
She stepped forward. Before she knew it, she was right in Kazan's face, hand outstretched.
‘Not you. I permitted it specially because it was him, not someone like you.’
Kazan paled and tried to dodge her hand, but pinned under her divine pressure, even lifting his feet was a struggle.
‘The one and only person I acknowledge—the one I like most, so even touching my naked body wouldn't disgust me.’
‘Even far in the future, the only one allowed to touch and explore my body is Evan—’
And so, just as Lete's slender hand, charged with razor-sharp energy, moved to roughly seize Kazan's throat—
Snap!
Lete felt a force casually tearing through her domain and grabbing her wrist.
She flinched with a small tremor and whipped her head around, her eyes regaining a bit of light.
"That's far enough, Lete."
Evan restrained her with a serious expression utterly unlike his usual mischief.
With a gentle wry smile that seemed to fully understand her feelings—
"......That's that, Kazan."
"──?"
Suddenly, without warning, he wrapped an arm around Lete's slim waist and yanked her toward him.
Lete blinked in surprise at the abrupt pull, left dangling from him......
And Evan, letting out another laugh, spoke toward Kazan.
"She'll keep being my woman from here on out too, so I don't think I can hand her over to you."
This time, not a wry smile toward Lete.
But with a transparently infuriating sneer.
"......Huh?"
"What......?"
Lete floated several question marks above her head with a dumbfounded look, while Kazan stared in shock, eyes unblinking in disbelief.