Pious Hyde and the Crazy Women #1
The Orleans family villa was every bit as large and beautiful as the Volterre baronial mansion I had visited before.
As befitting a proper villa, the gardens, ornamental statues, and fountains were exquisite. Flowers of every kind poured out their fragrance, and a small army of maids and servants kept everything immaculate.
Compared to the Agarpe family—another prestigious count’s house that was drowning in debt and could barely afford a handful of knights—the Orleans villa felt almost decadently luxurious.
“Brother Hyde! Or should I call you Father Hyde now? Meeting you again in a place like this—I’m just so, so happy!”
Swoosh—
Cathy Volterre—no, Cathy Orleans now, daughter-in-law of a great count’s house—threw her arms wide open toward me.
Was she going for a hug?
“Men and women must keep their distance.”
Milione Archibold shoved Cathy Orleans aside with a casual push. Hearing those words come out of Milione’s mouth was a little funny, but she was absolutely right.
Maybe my righteous guidance is finally steering Milione onto the proper path!
Cathy Orleans quickly recovered with a light laugh. “Oh my, I’m a married woman now, aren’t I? Hohoho—” She stepped back a little.
I gave a polite bow.
“Congratulations on your marriage, both of you.”
“Congratulations? It’s all thanks to you, Father Hyde! If you hadn’t saved me from that horrible curse back then, I really would have died! Isn’t that right, my love?”
Swoosh—
The new Orleans daughter-in-law slipped her arm around her husband’s waist. Aaron made a pained “hmph” sound, his face looking distinctly pale.
Watching them, I held out my hand to the newlywed Aaron.
“You two must be having the most blissful honeymoon. I’m envious. My own wife Psyche is so far away we can’t even see each other’s faces.”
“Well… it’s fine enough, I suppose.”
Swoosh—
Aaron Orleans took my hand.
Squeeze—
His grip was crushing, and his eyes burned.
Is he mad at me?
Your wife is the one who slept around, so why are you angry at me?
I wasn’t even one of her affairs.
Still, I had to admit I was impressed. Even after his wife’s past had been dragged out into the open for the whole world to see, he still chose to marry her. Love really was something else.
Amazing.
Then again, the Orleans family probably hadn’t had much choice. One look at this villa told you everything—they were extravagant and vain to the core. Baron Volterre’s gold mine must have looked irresistible.
As I was thinking that, Aaron released my hand and spoke.
“Sir Hyde, I hear you’re heading to the Stone Island soon. Quite a few priests have gone there full of bravado only to piss themselves and run back. Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“Thank you for your concern. But a priest’s heart must go wherever the afflicted and the sick are found, no matter how difficult the place.”
“Oh my, Father Hyde, the way you speak is simply wonderful! Darling, stop standing around and have the banquet prepared at once! We have a precious guest!”
Cathy Orleans looked utterly radiant with happiness.
“So anyway? Once this honeymoon at the villa is over, my husband Aaron is going to inherit twenty merchant ships and run the trading company himself!”
Cathy Orleans was a talkative woman. Most of what she said was praise and boasting about her husband Aaron Orleans, and to be fair, there was quite a lot worth boasting about.
Aaron Orleans drained his wine and shook his head.
“Nothing to brag about. My older brother is the impressive one. Roland, one of the Knights of Six! I’m just the spare who has to carry on the family line.”
The Orleans heir had sworn a vow of chastity and become one of the Knights of Six. Similar to Alter Archibold’s situation, really. That was how the second son, Aaron, had become the de facto heir of Orleans.
“So when are the two of you getting married?”
At Cathy Orleans’s question, Milione and I locked eyes.
When are the two of us getting married?
Milione answered that one.
“It fell apart because of what happened recently.”
Yes. And I was extremely grateful for that.
Aaron Orleans, hearing this, burst into the loudest laugh of the entire evening.
“Is that so! A broken engagement? Hyde, so you finally couldn’t stand the fact that Lady Milione lost her virginity when that bastard Rust raped her!”
He must have been drunk. Aaron’s face was flushed deep red.
“A real man, if he truly loves a woman, has to be able to embrace her past and her pain completely! That’s what a real man is! That’s how it has to be!”
Is he talking to me?
Or is he talking to the man in the mirror?
Aaron Orleans.
When we first met, his curt attitude had actually annoyed me a little. I’d even spent some time thinking about how to get even. No need for that now. This guy was already living in hell of his own making.
“The past is already over, isn’t it! A man needs a broad enough heart to look past it and move forward. If a person gets petty and fixates on virginity like some—”
Aaron’s tongue was getting looser by the second, spouting whatever came into his head.
That was when Cathy jabbed him hard in the side with her finger.
“Aaron, what past are you talking about? I was a virgin…! You saw the blood on the sheets that night with me…!”
“Right, of course! I must be a bit drunk!”
“Aaron, let me take you to the bedroom. Guests, I’m so sorry, please excuse us for a moment—”
Swoosh—
Cathy supported Aaron and disappeared somewhere. Once they were completely out of sight, Milione finally let out a snort of laughter she couldn’t hold back.
“Hilarious.”
“Mili, keep it down. Laughing is rude.”
“But look at him. Aaron desperately defending his wife like that—isn’t it funny? Honestly, are men really that obsessed with a woman’s past?”
Is it important?
It probably varies from person to person, but generally speaking… most men would care, wouldn’t they? While I was briefly lost in that thought, Milione Archibold asked,
“You kept dragging your feet about our marriage. Was it because I got raped by Rust and lost my virginity? Because I’m not a virgin?”
No.
The reason I didn’t want to marry you had nothing to do with virginity or lack thereof. What kind of crazy woman tries to strangle her groom to death on the wedding night?
A pure virgin who tries to murder her husband on the first night and will keep looking for chances to kill him afterward.
vs.
Not a virgin, but she loves her husband. Might cheat occasionally.
Which life is better?
Truly a contest that makes your cardiovascular system swell instead of your dick.
But of course I couldn’t say any of that out loud.
“Mili, I’m not going to ask about your past. It’s already over. And in your case that cowardly Rust forced himself on you, didn’t he? It wasn’t your fault.”
“Is that so?”
Milione frowned as if something still didn’t sit right with her.
Scrape-scrape—
She sliced into her meat with a knife and added,
“Then what if Psyche isn’t actually a virgin? Or what if she’s got some man in her heart and that’s why she keeps refusing to sleep with you?”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that? Absolutely impossible. Psyche is purer, more devout, and more faithful than anyone. That’s something I’m proud of.”
She was so pure that even her own husband couldn’t casually touch her.
And right now, I was proud of that.
“What’s this? You said you wouldn’t ask about the past. My past doesn’t matter, but Psyche’s past is important enough to make you angry? Are you discriminating between me and Psyche?”
I have no idea what point she’s getting mad about.
Of course you and Psyche get treated differently!
And the truth was, every man secretly wanted to be his girlfriend’s or wife’s first.
That was instinct.
They pretended otherwise because they didn’t want to hurt their girlfriend or wife, but deep down every man preferred a pure woman!
Why?
Because it was written in the Bible as truth!
Women must be pure!
A twenty-year-old woman with thirty ex-boyfriends and five years of cohabitation starting at fifteen.
vs.
A twenty-year-old woman experiencing everything for the first time with me.
If you had to choose a wife between those two options, even the guys who said things like Aaron—“you have to look past a woman’s past—” would all honestly pick the latter.
And it went both ways.
Men should be pure too, like me.
The Bible said so.
But Milione clearly didn’t get it.
“Tsk—”
She clicked her tongue and whipped her head away.
About ten minutes later, Cathy Orleans reappeared in the banquet hall looking thoroughly disheveled.
Her face was flushed, her bangs damp with sweat. She came up to me and asked in a small voice,
“Um… is there some kind of prayer for getting pregnant quickly and having a son?”
“Gender is something the Lord decides. I’m not sure whether prayer can change that—”
“Is that so? I really want to have a son soon! I have to produce the heir who will carry on the Orleans line! Father Hyde, if you ever learn of a method, please tell me!”
I see.
Everyone was living hard in their own way, whether you noticed or not.
Thanks to Cathy Orleans’s goodwill, we spent our entire time in the port city of Veneto without a single inconvenience.
Truly, it paid to live as a good person.
If I, Hyde, hadn’t shown Cathy Orleans kindness in the first place, none of this hospitality would have existed.
Swoosh—
With that thought, we boarded the ship bound for the Stone Island.
Stone Island.
An island about the size of a single soccer stadium, with nothing on it except the Grande Nunnery.
The number of nuns living there was thirty.
For such a large place, that seemed a little sparse.
It wasn’t far from the mainland, so after about half a day the ship arrived. Seeing it up close, “island” felt generous—it was more like a massive reef.
Clouds hung only over this place, making it look thoroughly gloomy.
“Hyde!”
Someone called my name.
I turned and saw a woman dressed as a nun waving both arms wildly at me.
“Psyche!”
The moment I saw her face I waved back with pure joy.
This gloomy Stone Island suddenly felt like the Garden of Eden.
Pat-pat-pat—
Psyche came running toward me with the lightest steps, leaping from rock to rock.
Like a butterfly fluttering from flower to flower.
“Hyde, I missed you so much!”
“I felt the same!”
“I felt the same~”
Milione beside me parroted my words in a mocking tone, then made a gagging sound and scowled. How dare she interrupt this moving reunion after nearly a month and a half apart?
I really want to smack her on the ass with my bare hand.
But if we fight I’ll lose, so I’ll hold back.
Psyche melted that dark thought away.
“Hyde, how have you been? News from the outside world barely reaches the Grande Nunnery! Have you been eating properly?”
“Let’s go inside first. We can talk once we’re in.”
As I spoke I deliberately swung the bronze-badge rosary hanging on my chest. Psyche’s eyes went wide with admiration.
“A bronze cross! Hyde! How did you go from a Wood Badge monk to a Bronze Badge priest so quickly? That’s amazing!”
“A lot happened. More importantly—Mili, why are you still dawdling? You have to enroll in the Grande Nunnery! Get over here!”
I shouted toward Milione, who was still lingering by the shore.
Only then did she shuffle over, looking thoroughly displeased. Something about her restless posture really got under my skin.
“What’s wrong? We need to go inside.”
“Hmph.”
She must be dreading the boring life waiting for her at the Grande Nunnery. Or maybe she’s hit her limit after not being able to blow off steam as Wrath these past few days.
Worried she might cause an incident, I quickly started walking.
And so—
Bronze Badge priest Hyde entered the Grande Nunnery!
Come to me, you who are possessed!
Come to me, you who are weary and sick!