The Nun in Heat for Me - 1
The church was in absolute uproar.
After all, I had returned having cured Isabel’s Rose’s Punishment — something even a bishop had been powerless against.
But that wasn’t the only reason the nuns were so astonished.
“Brother Ian, how on earth did you find the Angel’s Shelter?”
Of course. What the church truly wanted was the Angel’s Shelter.
If they went so far as to force a church into a backwater village like this, that had to be the reason.
As Isabel’s recovery had proven, the Angel’s Shelter possessed something like an elixir’s effect — but that only applied to people who knew nothing of divine power.
For nuns who worked miracles, it was an entirely different story.
A direct boost to divine power. That was how Wendy, the regression hero, had grown so quickly.
Still, even within the Church of the Sun God, the Angel’s Shelter was little more than a legend.
It only appeared once a year, at the end of a lunar eclipse, and only if you entered a specific lake within a single minute of the eclipse’s end.
There was a reason the setting had restricted that knowledge to Wendy alone.
So how am I supposed to explain finding it?
I hesitated under Mother Superior Vanessa’s demand for an explanation.
Then I spotted Reina, wearing a complicated, unreadable expression.
Looking at her, I answered Vanessa’s question.
“I came across knowledge of the lunar eclipse in a book I borrowed from the library last time.”
“The library? That place is not freely accessible. Whose permission did you receive to enter?”
“Sister Reina granted me permission.”
“Sister Reina… Very well. Please continue.”
“Yes. I wanted to show my beloved wife the lunar eclipse. So I climbed the mountain with her.”
Vanessa regarded my explanation with open suspicion.
“And why, for the sake of watching a lunar eclipse, would you deliberately climb the dangerous Northern Mountain?”
“There is a beautiful lake on the Northern Mountain. I thought the scenery would pair wonderfully with the eclipse.”
“That strikes me as a rather dangerous choice.”
“If there is one talent I possess, I believed it would be enough to see us through.”
Once I explained my skill as a hunter, Vanessa pressed no further.
Judging by her reaction, she thought I had been planning to abandon Isabel on the mountain.
As the person involved, the idea was absurd — but in this medieval world, discarding an unwanted family member was hardly uncommon.
Parents who sold their own children into slavery just to have one less mouth to feed were a dime a dozen.
In that light, Adelia’s determination to take responsibility for Isabel to the very end was genuinely remarkable.
I should clear up the misunderstanding.
Now that the Angel’s Shelter had been found, the church would not be withdrawing from Entiel Village.
They might even settle here for good.
If I intended to make use of the church going forward, I needed to stay on good terms with them.
“The moment the lunar eclipse ended, an angel wreathed in radiance descended from the heavens into the lake.”
“Do you remember how many pairs of wings the angel had?”
“Three pairs.”
“An Archangel?!”
At my answer, the nuns gasped as one.
In the Church of the Sun God, the only being higher than the Archangel Seraphim was the goddess Helia herself.
In military terms, it was as if the chief of staff had appeared in person.
Is that analogy a little off?
I continued.
“The angel showed me a beautiful woman and a wealthy woman, then asked which of them was my wife. I answered that neither of them was.”
The nuns listened in complete silence.
They might be nuns forbidden from romance, but like any young women, they were clearly fascinated by a love story.
“Finally, the angel showed me Isabel — and only then did I say she was my wife.”
“Kyaaah! That’s so romantic!”
“Quiet down over there.”
“I… I wish I’d had a love like that too…”
Soft whispers passed among the nuns.
Then every one of them turned envious eyes on Isabel.
Embarrassed by their stares, Isabel hid behind my back.
“The angel praised my love, inscribed a mark upon my chest, and departed.”
I showed the nuns the sigil on my chest.
Most of them looked blank — but Vanessa alone went pale with shock.
“The Love’s Sigil…”
“Mother Superior, do you know what this mark is?”
“It is a blessing the Archangel bestows only upon those who practice true love.”
At Vanessa’s explanation, the other nuns were stunned as well.
In the Church of the Sun God, “true love” was one of the most sacred doctrines of all.
Was the doctrine called Agape?
It meant holy, unconditional, absolute love.
Looking back, I wasn’t sure I deserved to receive it — but thanks to this sigil, I now held the absolute trust of the Church of the Sun God.
“Brother Ian, I am truly sorry. I believed you had intended to abandon Miss Isabel on the mountain. My suspicion has dishonored your love, and for that I offer my deepest apologies.”
“Not at all. Looking back, it was genuinely dangerous. I fully understand why you would have been suspicious.”
“That does not erase my fault. I wish to make amends. Please, if there is anything you desire, do not hesitate to ask.”
Vanessa bowed her head even lower as she spoke.
True to her principled nature, she was responding to her own mistake exactly as doctrine demanded.
“If you put it that way, there is one favor I would ask.”
“What is it? If you need it, we will offer you our miracles.”
“A miracle won’t be necessary just yet. Rather, I would like to express my gratitude to Sister Reina.”
“To Sister Reina?”
Hearing her name from my lips yet again, Reina started in surprise.
“That my love could be fulfilled at all is entirely thanks to Sister Reina’s help. If Mother Superior would permit it, I would like her to grant Sister Reina a single day of leave so that I may repay her.”
“It is against regulations — but if that is the compensation you desire, then so be it.”
For the first time, Vanessa smiled.
I wondered if that meant her favorability had gone up.
Or maybe not quite that much.
In the game she had been a mob character, so there wasn’t much information on Vanessa, making her temperament hard to read.
In any case, Vanessa was Vanessa. Right now, my focus was on Reina.
She should be getting restless about now.
I was already looking forward to how that lustful nun would react.
At that moment, Reina’s feelings were complicated and conflicted.
She was genuinely glad that Miss Isabel had been healed — and yet the thought that she would no longer be able to meet Ian in secret left a hollow ache seeping through her chest.
What am I even thinking? Reina, you’re a nun. A nun who has to keep her chastity! What would the goddess Helia think of you?
Reminding herself once more that she was a nun, Reina did her best to tidy away the regret.
That was when it happened.
“Sister Reina, so this is where you were.”
“B-Brother Ian?”
Ian’s sudden appearance set Reina’s emotions surging all over again.
“I’d like to repay you, Sister Reina. Which day would suit you?”
“I-It’s fine. As a nun who follows the goddess Helia, I only did what was expected of me.”
“That ‘expected’ act is what allowed Isabel to be saved. So please — accept my repayment.”
At Ian’s gratitude, Reina’s lips parted and closed without a sound.
She ought to have been happy to receive his thanks — and yet a flicker of jealousy stirred in one corner of her heart.
I wanted to receive a love like that too.
The nuns of the Church of the Sun God were meant to guide the faithful toward true love.
And yet they themselves never received it.
They delivered love, but were never loved in return.
That irony was the very nature of a Sun God nun.
It would have been better if I’d never known Brother’s true love at all.
The regret in Reina’s chest hardened into a knot that tormented her.
I shouldn’t be like this.
Forbidden imaginings and her twisted desires began to tangle together.
“Brother… i-if… if it’s all right with you…”
Reina hesitated to the very end — but her desire was stronger than she had expected.
And she acted on it.
“Would it be possible… to see that lake you mentioned?”
“The lake?”
“Yes. As a senior nun, I’d like to survey the place where the angel descended — for future reference.”
It was a date invitation dressed up in a pretext.
Thump-thump.
At her first real act of defiance, Reina’s heart hammered wildly.
Why… why is this so exciting? Haah♥
She had already done things a nun must never do in the confessional — but that had been under the cover of anonymity.
This was the first time she was committing a sin with her own face bare.
And Ian was a man whose true love had been recognized by an Archangel.
The thought of defiling that love made Reina recoil from the desire that had been rising in her all this time.
I’m an irredeemable fallen woman♥
But even knowing that, Reina could not restrain her desire.
That was her essence — and that was her true nature.