Chapter 140: Sincerity
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 140: Sincerity
I led the unexpected visitor, Choi Hyena, inside.
“...I’m sorry.”
Looking at the desolate living room, which was filled with scorch marks and lacked even a sofa, Choi Hyena whispered in a low voice.
The fact that she was at least aware she'd done something wrong made her better than the rabbit who'd demolished a wall over a poorly chosen gift, turning my three-room apartment into a two-room.
“It’s okay.”
A corner of my heart ached every time I saw the empty living room, but everyone makes mistakes.
I was willing to forgive any mistake one of my women made, as long as it didn't cross the line.
Besides, Hyena had promised to take responsibility and restore everything to its original state.
“Anyway, what brings you here so early in the morning?”
I treated Hyena as I normally would, as if nothing had happened.
This wasn't the time to bring up the pregnancy incident; Hyena was in no state for it. She was covering it with makeup, but a closer look revealed rather dark circles under her eyes.
For a mage who handled mana to look like that, a few sleepless nights wouldn't be enough.
She must have been going through a lot.
Thinking of how she must have been struggling in secret, I couldn't bring myself to be harsh with her.
It wasn't like I was truly angry with her in the first place.
“...Are you busy today, by any chance?”
“Today?”
It would be a lie to say I wasn't, but I couldn't just coldly send away my lover, who had dark circles under her eyes for a reason like this.
“I’m free until this evening.”
“Th-Then...!”
“Master?”
A voice from beyond the collapsed wall made a faint wrinkle appear on Hyena’s brow.
Without a word, Hyena and I both turned our gazes in the same direction. Noel was standing there, scratching her stomach under her slightly raised hoodie.
“Oh? Isn’t that the terrorist from yesterday?”
“...”
The gazes of Noel, who was looking at Hyena with eyes full of curiosity, and Hyena, who was looking at Noel with eyes full of hostility, clashed in mid-air.
Sensing the tense atmosphere, I kept my mouth shut. Getting involved rashly seemed more dangerous than not.
A smile formed on Noel’s lips as she looked at Hyena.
“Have you come to blow up the house again?”
At Noel’s playful remark, Hyena’s eyes turned cold.
“...That incident was my mistake, so I have nothing more to say. However, I don’t think that’s something I need to hear from someone who isn’t even the owner of this house. What is your relationship with my ‘fiancé’?”
Strictly speaking, we had only promised to get engaged.
But I wasn't clueless enough to point that out when Hyena was so clearly accenting the word “fiancé.”
Besides, if I handled this wrong, the entire building might go up in smoke, not just the apartment.
“Why, it's a close relationship connected by soul and soul. Isn't that right, Master?”
Noel came to my side, linking her arm with mine and leaning against me.
Did she eat something weird? Why is she suddenly acting like this?
Grind. A sound of teeth grinding came from somewhere.
“Haa... By the way, you were too much last night. I begged you to stop, but you kept me up all night until morning...”
Crrrack. This time, the sound was so intense it made me worry about someone's dental health.
“What are you talking about? You said you were sleepy and just fell asleep yester...”
“Shh.”
My attempt to correct the false information was thwarted by a finger poking me in the side.
Noel brazenly caressed my chest and stomach, flashing a blatant smile at Hyena.
I'd heard that herbivores were supposed to be good-natured, but it seems that was just my prejudice.
I should have known when she was tearing into that chicken yesterday. She wasn't an ordinary rabbit; she was a carnivorous rabbit.
I let out an incredulous chuckle without realizing it.
Squeeze. Just then, a soft, warm sensation pressed into my other side, and I turned my head.
“...Did you really do it?”
“What?”
“Did you really do it all night long...?!”
Hyena’s eyes trembled as she looked at me.
“Of course. He can’t even sleep at night without me...”
“You, be quiet.”
I pinched and pulled Noel’s lips to stop her from making the situation more annoying with her strange bluffs.
“That never happened. She’s just lying.”
Even after I told her the truth, Hyena still looked unconvinced, so I gently squeezed her cheek. The soft, chewy texture was exquisite.
In the past, she would have slapped my hand away and asked what I was doing, but it was cute how she just stood there quietly.
Come to think of it, she wasn't always like this.
“Did you stay up all night? Your dark circles are pretty bad.”
“...What?”
Hyena, who had been leaning against me, quickly turned her head and pulled a hand mirror out of her bag.
A blush crept up her face as she, too, noticed the dark circles.
“It’s not weird, so you don’t have to fix your makeup.”
If she put something on, it wouldn't feel as good when I touched her cheek.
When I used my selfish hands to stop her from applying makeup, Hyena shot me a resentful look.
“I’m telling you, you’re pretty even with dark circles. Anyway, what brings you here today?”
I actually had a good idea of why she had come.
But I wanted to hear it from her own lips.
“...”
“You’re not going to tell me?”
Hyena’s lips parted and closed several times, but the words wouldn't come out. She ended up biting her lip, seemingly lost in thought.
Worried she might hurt herself, I used my hand to stop her. This time, she looked at me with trembling eyes.
“...I’m sorry for lying.”
“Are you going to lie again?”
“...No.”
“Good.”
It was a strangely anticlimactic conclusion, but this was enough.
It’s impossible to never lie, but at least she probably wouldn't tell lies that bordered on crossing the line like this one again.
“Excuse me, why are you two being all lovey-dovey and leaving me out?”
As I held Hyena and stroked her hair, a disgruntled voice came from my side.
“...Tsk.”
“Hey! Master, that woman just clicked her tongue at me! Hurry up and kick her out! She’s the type to blow up the house again just because she’s in a bad mood!”
“...”
I don't think you're one to talk.
*
The morning had its ups and downs, but I managed to get the situation under control.
A short while later, someone else came to my apartment.
It was a middle-aged man who looked to be quite old.
“I called him,” Hyena said.
The man was a Restoration Mage who specialized in repairing disaster sites. He had come at Hyena’s request to fix my home.
...I'd heard that even the government was reluctant to hire Restoration Mages because of the cost.
Restoration magic was something only those born with a rare talent could learn, so I’d heard that the supply was far from meeting the demand.
I was afraid to even guess how much Hyena had spent on this.
But it didn't take long for me to realize that worrying about the finances of the successor to the Seongbuk Choi family was pointless.
So, I left the repairs to the mage and headed to the church with Hyena.
“It seems there are religions no matter where you go in the world.”
“Humans and religion are inseparable.”
Noel, by the way, had tagged along.
Hyena didn't seem pleased, but we couldn't just leave her behind by herself.
And so, we crossed Seoul in a luxury sedan driven not by a taxi driver, but by a chauffeur.
About thirty minutes passed.
We arrived at our destination, the Blue Church. I had visited it a few times before to buy holy water or when I was hospitalized.
“Wow... Are all churches on Earth like this?”
“No.”
Noel let out a stream of exclamations as she gazed at the magnificent church building.
Still, I couldn't tease her for being like a country girl who'd just arrived in the big city. Even I, who had seen it several times, was amazed every time.
Its reputation as one of the three largest and most magnificent churches in East Asia wasn't for nothing.
Noel and I followed Hyena into the church.
Perhaps because it was a Saturday, the enormous building was overflowing with people.
But not every part of it was.
“Welcome, Sister.”
A priest who had been blocking the way like a sentry removed a golden rope and guided us inside.
It was probably a VIP-only entrance.
Seeing things like this, I couldn't shake the feeling that churches were more worldly and snobbish than corporations.
There was a reason they were called corporate religions.
Beyond the hallway was a luxurious reception room.
“The Bishop will be here shortly. Please wait for a moment.”
The priest who had guided us bowed politely and withdrew.
Is this the taste of power?
“Master, can I ask them to pack some of these to go when we leave?”
“What is it?”
Noel placed a cookie in my mouth.
Crunch. The subtle sweetness was exquisite. It was incomparably more delicious than anything you could buy at a café.
“What is this? Did the church make it themselves?”
“No, it’s a luxury item you can buy at a department store. It’s for serving guests.”
“...That kind of ruins the image.”
I thought they were homemade cookies baked by pretty, laughing nuns.
“Luxury and greed. My grandmother chose those two words as the ones that best suit the church.”
“She’s a wise woman.”
Even this simple reception room was ostentatiously filled with expensive furniture and luxury goods. I could understand why Grandma Choi Young-ok had said such a thing.
It was extravagant, even to my eyes.
“The corruption and fall of religion are the same in any world, it seems.”
“...What have you been talking about this whole time? You speak as if you’re from another world.”
“Who knows?”
Noel casually brushed off Hyena’s glare with a smile and leisurely popped a cookie into her mouth.
Then she lay down with her head in my lap, making it hard to tell who was serving whom.
“You'll get acid reflux like that.”
I said it, but there was no way Noel, who handled mana, would get such an illness.
“How rude, lying down in a reception room. Get up this instant.”
“I don’t want to.”
Crunch. Noel defiantly took a bite of her cookie while lying down and smiled at Hyena.
“If you’re jealous, you should just say so.”
“...Stop talking nonsense and get up.”
I tuned out the squabble between Noel, who was now humming and ignoring her, and Hyena, who was glaring daggers.
They would stop on their own soon enough.
Knock, knock. At the sound of a knock from beyond the door, Noel sat up.
A moment later, a man with salt-and-pepper hair entered.
“Thank you for visiting our church today, Sister Choi Hyena.”
“I apologize for visiting without notice, Bishop.”
“Haha, please don’t worry about it. It would be strange to pick and choose a time for a member of the congregation to visit the church.”
A bishop. He was a high-ranking cleric, one of only ten in all of South Korea.
“But... what brings you here today?”
“...Could we move to another room for a moment?”
“Hmm?”
Hyena’s gaze fell on me.
I had a rough idea of what she wanted to say.
“Noel, wait here for a bit. Hyena and I have to go somewhere.”
“What? By myself?”
“Excuse me, Father? Could you possibly bring some more cookies?”
The priest standing behind the bishop smiled and nodded.
“Take your time coming back!”
Leaving behind Noel, who was waving me off, Hyena and I left the reception room.
We followed the bishop down a magnificent corridor.
After about five minutes of walking, the bishop stopped in front of a room.
When he opened the door and we went inside, the room seemed smaller than the reception area. Judging by the furniture, it looked like an office.
“This is my office, so you don’t need to worry about security.”
“...Thank you for your consideration, Bishop.”
Hyena bowed her head slightly.
“I know you must be busy with your official duties, Bishop, so I’ll get straight to the point.”
Hoo... After taking a deep breath, Hyena glanced at me.
“I want to remove the blessing of infertility.”
At Hyena’s completely unexpected bombshell, both the bishop and I were stunned.
“...I’m sorry to say this, but that blessing, as a rule, can only be removed after a marriage has been officiated by the church...”
It happened in an instant.
Before the bishop could finish his sentence, Hyena lunged at me and pressed her lips against mine.
Our front teeth clashed in a minor disaster, but Hyena paid it no mind, forcefully pulling my tongue out with hers for a passionate kiss.
“Mmph, schlick... slurp...”
The kiss wasn't very long.
Hyena was the first to pull away. When she did, a thin, silvery thread stretched between our lips before snapping.
“...He’s my fiancé.”
Hyena then made her declaration to the bishop, who was staring at us with his jaw agape.