Our Child Has Changed (2)
The muggy scent of summer softly filled the cathedral.
Beyond the windows came the chirping songs of wind-birds, the rustle of leaves swaying in the gentle breeze, and the cries of insects that had begun their earnest activity in earnest.
It was a truly peaceful morning.
Yet here, Lowen’s heart was anything but peaceful.
Lowen tapped the table with his fingers as he watched Ariel from behind.
The presence of her breasts visible even from the rear, the hips that flared wide along her curved waist, the peach-like buttocks made all the more prominent by the form-fitting nun’s habit. It was a carnal body that invited penance merely by being looked upon. But Lowen was not admiring Ariel’s figure.
—Clatter clatter
He was anxiously watching her back as she stood atop a small step stool, washing the dishes.
Since their return from Windfield, Ariel had changed.
Should one say she had become diligent?
Or rather, that she was merely acting the part of a diligent person?
Ariel, who had always done nothing but loaf about, had begun taking the initiative—helping with the cleaning, the laundry, and all manner of other chores.
Wasn’t that a good thing?
It was only natural to think so. Yet charging ahead with nothing but enthusiasm and no knowledge was worse than simply doing nothing at all.
“L-Lowen Bishop…”
Ariel, still washing dishes, turned around.
“If you keep staring like that… i-it’s embarrassing…”
A flush bloomed across Ariel’s fair cheeks.
Lowen’s eyes, fixed on her back, were as intense as a wolf’s upon a rabbit. If he kept staring, it felt as though she would be devoured.
—Thump-thump
Her heart raced.
She liked it when he smiled gently, but Ariel preferred Lowen’s fierce eyes far more.
Those were the eyes he wore during sex.
Fidgeting helplessly under Lowen’s gaze, Ariel drew her hips back. The motion naturally thrust her buttocks out like a duck’s.
She had been casting seductive glances at Lowen at every opportunity anyway.
She had expected that once they returned to the cathedral in Baram-sae Forest, they would share a bed at least once every few days, if not daily. So she had showered more diligently than usual and waited every night for Lowen to open her door and come in. But no such night ever came.
She had even deliberately made it obvious when she could no longer restrain her lust and masturbated.
It had been embarrassing, yet right after finishing she had approached Lowen while still reeking of that sweet, female scent. A few days later, Lowen purchased perfume through the Robarara Merchant Guild and presented it to her as a gift.
Ariel was always ready to present her buttocks to Lowen, yet he remained steadfast against every temptation.
It was not that Lowen harbored no such thoughts.
He was holding himself back.
If she used her power to read his emotions, she could tell easily enough.
And so she began raising the intensity of her seduction, more blatantly and more actively with each passing day.
“H-hmm~ Hmm, hmm~”
Humming an awkward little tune, Ariel swayed her hips gently from side to side.
It was meant to convey: I’m shaking my butt because dishwashing is so much fun.
Behind it lay the seductive invitation: Please devour this ass.
Yet that appeal lasted only a few seconds.
“Ah…”
The plate slipped from her hands.
—Crash!
The plate that had been plummeting straight toward the floor met a tragic fate, body-slamming the ground and shattering into countless pieces.
“Haa……”
Lowen’s long sigh made Ariel’s shoulders flinch.
“I knew this would happen.”
This was precisely why Lowen had been watching her so anxiously.
Including the one just broken, this was already the ninth plate Ariel had shattered.
It was truly admirable and endearing that she took the initiative to wash the dishes, yet he feared she might break every last plate in the cathedral at this rate.
“Uuuu….”
Looking apologetic, Ariel awkwardly climbed down from the stool and began gathering the broken shards.
Lowen stopped her hands as she reached for the pieces.
“It’s dangerous, so I’ll clean it up.”
He lifted Ariel bodily and set her well out of the way.
Only recently she had cut her finger while clearing broken plates.
It had been a small wound, easily healed with divine power, yet as her guardian he could not simply stand by and watch the Saintess injure her finger.
“I… I-I’m sorry…”
Her lips trembling, Ariel hung her head low. Then she slowly bent her knees as if to prostrate herself on the floor.
“No need to prostrate.”
At Lowen’s firm voice, Ariel—who had already half-bent at the waist—straightened up again.
“Hnn… uu…”
Her recent decision to wash the dishes had not sprung from impure motives, but from a pure desire to lighten Bishop Lowen’s burden. She felt sorry for leaving everything to him day after day like some freeloading parasite, and she also wanted to look good in his eyes.
More precisely, she wanted to look mature.
She was so often treated like a child by Lowen.
If food stuck to the corner of her mouth while eating, Bishop Lowen wiped it away. He dried her hair every day, brushed it, and tied it up for her. Beyond even that, she received care from him that bordered on excessive. Had Bishop Lowen been a woman, he might well have bathed her too.
She did not dislike being cared for.
On the contrary, being looked after by Bishop Lowen made her feel precious, and that made her happy.
He’s paying this much attention to me.
He’s thinking of me this carefully.
Thinking that way made her want to act spoiled toward him every single day.
Yet being treated too thoroughly like a child was a problem.
They could not marry, but she wanted a closer relationship than this. Not the current ambiguous state, but one intimately connected as one man and one woman.
Yes—if she had to choose one ideal, it would be like those truly devoted saintesses she loved reading about in her books, utterly dedicated to a single man.
And someday, nestled in Bishop Lowen’s arms, she would tell him.
With all her heart: “I love you.”
Ariel’s violet eyes, which had been clouded with apology, sparkled with fresh resolve.
In the early afternoon, when the sun had grown hot, Lowen was preparing to go out.
“Where are you going?”
Ariel, who had been reflecting after breaking the plate, tilted her head and approached him.
Her pretty violet eyes sparkled with the bright, eager look of a puppy that had mistaken its master’s outing for a walk.
“I’ll just head to the village for a bit to help with some work.”
Right after morning mass, the villagers had asked Lowen to help with the potato harvest.
He had no particular reason to refuse, and since the villagers were always looking after them in various ways, he had readily agreed—partly as repayment. Besides, once this life ended and he entered seclusion, he would likely take up farming; learning about potato cultivation in advance seemed worthwhile.
“Would the Saintess like to come along as well?”
He had expected her to answer that of course she would, yet Ariel hesitated a moment, then shook her head with a soft “mm-mm.”
“I’ll stay and guard the cathedral.”
Surprised by the unexpected reply, Lowen asked again.
“You really won’t come?”
He had been certain she would. Lately Ariel had followed him everywhere like a chick trailing after its mother, no matter where he went.
“Yes.”
Yet Ariel nodded firmly.
Lowen regarded her in silence, as if asking “Are you certain?” Then, as though he had suddenly grasped why she wished to remain behind, he gave a small nod of understanding.
“Ah… I see.”
There could be only one reason Ariel wanted to be alone.
“Just don’t overdo it.”
Lowen gently stroked her hair.
“Y-yes? What?”
Ariel blinked blankly, not understanding. The next words from Lowen made the meaning crystal clear.
“And while going into the confessional is fine, please don’t make a mess of it.”
The confessional.
There was only ever one reason Ariel entered that place.
“A-ah…”
Heat rose in her face as though water were filling a glass bottle, until she turned as red as a perfectly ripe tomato.
“Th-that’s not—! Auugh… i-it’s not like that…!”
Ariel rose onto her tiptoes and stared straight into Lowen’s eyes, as if determined to prove her innocence.
“My, how indelicate of me.”
“I told you it’s not like that!”
The more she raised her voice, the more pity filled Lowen’s gaze.
“You’ve been holding back so well lately, so I’ll look the other way just this once.”
Since returning from Windfield, Ariel had become much better at restraining her lust.
She had not stopped masturbating entirely, yet where once she had slipped into the confessional three or four times a day to fondle herself, now it was only once every two days—or even once every three. For a masturbation-addicted Saintess who once could not sleep properly without climaxing at least once a day, it was tremendous progress.
“Ugh…! I said it’s not like that!”
Like someone pleading injustice, Ariel clung to Lowen. She puffed out both cheeks and glared up at him with all her might.
“Yes, yes. I understand. It’s not. It’s not.”
Lowen patted her head as though soothing a sulking child.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Furious at how thoroughly he disbelieved her, Ariel pummeled him with soft little fist-punches.
Watching her, Lowen let out a quiet laugh.
“If it’s truly not the case, then tomorrow I’ll bake you a delicious strawberry pie.”
The soft punches thumping against his chest came to an abrupt halt.
The power of strawberries was mighty indeed.
Mighty enough to soothe even a Saintess’s wrath.
Still looking up at Lowen, Ariel hunched her shoulders and dropped her gaze elsewhere.
“…Th-that alone isn’t enough.”
Her voice was as tiny as an ant’s footsteps.
“The price for doubting the Saintess’s word doesn’t end with a mere strawberry pie.”
“Then what?”
Ariel lifted her bright-red face.
“F-for now… just go and come back!”
Judging by her reaction she was surely entertaining lewd thoughts again, yet Lowen simply nodded for the time being.
Once left alone, Ariel would masturbate—of that there was no doubt.
The idea that this lewd-loving Saintess would refrain under the most ideal conditions, free of any interruption, was simply absurd. The moment he left she would surely dash to the bedroom or the confessional and strip her clothes off in a flurry.
“Very well.”
Lowen smiled faintly.
He still clearly did not believe her in the slightest.
“Then I’ll be off. Guard the place well.”
Ariel placed a hand over her ample bosom.
“Leave it to me.”
Lowen set out for Baram-shimteo Village, and Ariel was left alone in the cathedral.
“Tsk… Not believing me till the very end. Bishop Lowen really needs a good scolding.”
Ariel had resolved to diligently guard the cathedral.
Yet she had no idea that a harsh trial was about to befall her from this very moment.