Temptation (6)
“What is it? Why did you come out?”
“Why are you so late? You usually come straight home like clockwork. Did you deliberately come back late?”
“Deliberately? Can’t you tell just by looking? I was on a date.”
I lied casually in response to my master’s words, and it seemed this particular lie had worked surprisingly well.
“What? Are you two finally making progress?”
“Pardon?”
“Well, if that’s the case, I suppose it can’t be helped. I’ll forgive the late return without notice.”
“??”
Who exactly was the one who needed to make progress right now, saying things like that?
“Are you alone?”
“No. That cleaner you called refuses to leave and it’s driving me insane. She’s sleeping inside right now.”
Sleeping? Seeing his nonchalant expression, it didn’t seem like anything unusual had occurred. Even if you can’t fill up from the first bite, the simple fact that they were still spending time together made the effort worthwhile.
“Would it be all right for me to go inside? Or should I sleep elsewhere tonight?”
“Good grief. If you don’t come home, where exactly would you go? Are you trying to hand your house over to someone else completely? It’s not as if you have anywhere else to… Wait, don’t tell me you’re planning to sleep there?”
My master suddenly seemed to remember something and pointed at the neighboring house.
“No!! Of course not.”
The house he indicated was, naturally, the one belonging to Melody and her sister. I was already feeling unsettled because she had genuinely made such a suggestion, and now even my master was saying such things. I couldn’t help but be startled.
“If you don’t want to come in, then don’t. You’re not at an age where you still need my permission to stay out overnight.”
I had no idea how the situation had turned out like this. My actions had clearly been meant to help with my master’s romance, yet somehow I had become the one distracted by my own.
“Why are you doing this to me? I’m not the one who needs to date—you are, Bishop.”
“I’ll handle my own romance. The important thing right now is getting a man who’s never dated before to experience one.”
At the phrase “a man who’s never dated before,” more than one person present flinched. Unaware of this, my master continued.
“Her profession is a bit of a concern, but since you’re so picky, it seems unavoidable… And if she continues serving as your bodyguard, it shouldn’t cause any major problems, right? Settling down, building a family, and taking an honorable retirement wouldn’t be bad at all.”
He went on to say that since working as a heretic inquisitor would force her to witness all the world’s ugliness, this might actually be better. I had never considered it so seriously before, so hearing his words made my heart sink.
Marry Melody?
“That won’t happen.”
At that moment, Melody—who had remained calm even when misunderstood—answered with a straight face, firmly declaring that it would not happen.
Why did her decisive rejection sting so much?
I considered Melody a friend, or a colleague. But being rejected so cleanly and completely made it impossible not to feel hurt. It made me wonder if I truly lacked any appeal as a man.
“Do you dislike the idea that much, without the slightest bit of room?”
“Pardon?”
“You said no so firmly.”
“Ah.”
I had seen many different expressions on Melody’s face by now, but this one was new. Her cheeks flushed red, her pupils dilated with utter embarrassment. Seeing her face made mine burn as well.
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, it seems I phrased things in a way that invited misunderstanding. That wasn’t what I meant.”
Thud!
It seemed my master was truly determined; he actually closed the door and went back inside.
“…….”
“…….”
Left alone together, an awkward atmosphere settled over us. I felt like I should say something to ease the tension, but nothing appropriate came to mind. As I simply swallowed dryly and stared dumbly at the ground, Melody suddenly let out a small laugh.
“Pfft.”
Did you know laughter is contagious?
“…Ahem… Hem!”
When Melody laughed, I couldn’t help but laugh too. For a while, the two of us simply stood there smiling.
In that unexpected way, our laughter dissolved the awkwardness.
“I said something strange. For a moment I felt a little hurt…”
“It seems you misunderstood. When I said that won’t happen, I was referring to the part about retiring.”
“I see. Ha, haha. Thinking about it again, that was obvious. I don’t know why I made such a strange misunderstanding.”
Hearing her answer only made my feelings more complicated.
“Well… I should ask him to open the door again.”
Unable to endure the awkwardness any longer, I moved to knock when Melody caught the hem of my clothes.
“It seems like those two are getting along well. Wouldn’t it be better not to disturb them?”
Our plan had been to make the two of them see more of each other, so it appeared things were progressing nicely.
“Come in.”
Melody opened the door to her own house. It seemed she had no problem letting me inside.
“I know you won’t do anything strange, so there’s no reason to hesitate. Come in and have another drink.”
The light drinking we had done at the tavern had left me wanting just a little more. Since this was between friends rather than a man and a woman, I accepted her invitation with the simple thought of visiting a friend’s house.
“Then go in first. I’ll buy some simple drinks and snacks for us to have inside.”
How much alcohol could there possibly be in Melody’s house? From her usual lifestyle, there were probably only one or two bottles at most. That wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the lingering desire, so I told her I would buy more and stepped back outside.
“Whew~”
It hadn’t been long since I last felt the night air, yet my heavy chest felt refreshingly clear.
“Ugh! It’s cold.”
When had the weather turned this chilly? It hadn’t felt this cold when I was with Melody. How strange.
We drank almost until dawn.
Since we weren’t outside, getting drunk didn’t matter. It had been a long time since I ignored my usual limits and drank freely.
The next morning, I woke up sprawled across the sofa. Clutching my aching stomach, I rushed to the bathroom.
“Ugh!”
After emptying my stomach once, I used divine power to drive away the hangover. The temple would never treat a simple hangover unless it was acute alcohol poisoning, but as a priest, I handled it myself.
With a clear mind, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and let out a sigh.
“Wow, you crazy fool. I should have drunk in moderation.”
I couldn’t remember anything that had happened after getting heavily intoxicated. I worried whether I had done anything disgraceful in front of Melody.
After washing my face and rinsing my mouth to clear away the stale feeling, I came out. As I began cleaning up the traces of the night’s eating and drinking, Melody emerged from the kitchen with a slightly disheveled expression.
“You were awake?”
“You said that on days you drink, you must have a hangover cure.”
“Did I say that? Wait, don’t tell me you made food this early because of that?”
If it was just a hangover cure, I could have prepared it myself. I never imagined I would have pushed that task onto Melody.
“I didn’t cook it myself.”
“Huh?”
“I only heated it up. I can’t cook. This is something the priest made in the early hours yesterday.”
The idea that I had cooked while drunk was so absurd that I checked to see what I had made.
“This is…”
“The ingredients were limited, so it must have been difficult. Still, you put genuine effort into making it, so it would be good to taste it.”
The hangover soup she brought was bean sprout soup. Memories of food from my previous life occasionally surfaced, and bean sprout hangover soup was one of my favorites.
“To think I made this while drunk. Have you tried it?”
“Yes. You asked me to check the seasoning. But you really don’t remember?”
“No. I drank past my limit, so my memories are completely gone.”
“Hmm…”
“Nothing bad happened, right? Did I do anything rude?”
I asked earnestly, desperately hoping the answer was no.
“You were well-behaved.”
“Does a well-behaved person suddenly start cooking at dawn?”
“I handled the dangerous knife work and the fire. You couldn’t maintain proper balance.”
“Oh, dear god.”
I felt sorry to the Sun God, but at that moment I wanted to hide in the shadows. I never imagined I would make such a mistake while drinking.
“It’s true. You cooked obediently, looked satisfied afterward, and then fell asleep. I tried to lay you on my bed, but each time you would bolt upright, firmly say no, and lie down on the floor instead…”
“…That doesn’t sound well-behaved at all.”
Just hearing a fraction of what had happened last night made my head spin. It was a good thing Melody’s patience far exceeded that of ordinary people. Anyone else would have been complaining bitterly the next day.
“From now on, I will never drink past my limit again.”
“You said it was fun and refreshing because it was a rare moment of indulgence.”
“…It was probably fun while it lasted.”
Dealing with the aftermath was no easy task.
“Ah, and it seemed you went out at dawn.”
“What? Who did?”
“Bishop Saul.”
“Where did the Bishop go?”
“Since he hasn’t returned, perhaps he went somewhere?”
“What about Cardinal Bella?”
“It seems he left after putting her to sleep.”
It looked like I would need to return home after eating. The two of them had spent the entire day together; surely they had reached some conclusion, whether good or bad.
“Let’s eat this first and then go see.”
A short while later.
The fact that I had to be cautious about entering my own house was absurd, but what could I do? First, I knocked to wake Cardinal Bella.
Knock, knock, knock—
I expected it to take a while since she was sleeping, but the door opened surprisingly quickly. Standing there was Cardinal Bella, looking exactly as she had yesterday morning.
“You were already awake?”
Surprised that there was no sign she had slept, I asked, and she nodded.
“Yes. I should be going now. Thank you for everything.”
“Already?”
I was curious about what had happened and wanted to hear the details, but the atmosphere felt too heavy to ask. As if reading my mind, Cardinal Bella spoke.
“That old man left at dawn.”
“Yes, Melody mentioned she heard the sound.”
So what exactly happened between the two of you?
I struggled with how to voice the question I couldn’t quite bring myself to ask. Then Cardinal Bella dropped a bombshell.