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Chapter 32
Until now, the only place still operating in this alleyway had been the library. Which meant that man was definitely coming here.
Careful not to wake the young lady, Saint stepped outside the curtain. He then meticulously closed it so the inside wouldn’t be visible.
He leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Soon, the door opened, and a man entered the library.
Jet-black hair, as if it had devoured the abyss, and cold, dark eyes. A presence so imposing it was almost terrifying.
“I thought a candidate for High Priest would look more wholesome, but I guess not.”
The man’s emotionless tone was similar to Saint’s.
However, unlike Saint, his voice was filled with emotion. Contempt, suspicion, disdain… all those kinds.
Saint had never encountered this man before, but he knew immediately who he was.
Nox Granard.
The man that brown-haired woman never stopped talking about. Her supposedly reliable ally, though still a bit unstable.
Now that he met the duke face-to-face, Saint found Olivia’s endless praise laughable. He was someone whose presence alone made you feel unpleasant.
“I don’t know why you’ve come all the way here.”
Saint spoke coldly, and Nox let out a chilly laugh.
Nox carried an air of arrogance and superiority. His gaze looked as if he were staring at some lowly insect beneath his feet.
“Shouldn’t I at least meet the contractor in person?”
He replied leisurely, still with probing eyes.
Saint knew very well that in order to rise to High Priest, support from the nobles was essential.
No matter how powerful the imperial authority, unless it was going to be a coup, the nobles’ opinions couldn’t be entirely ignored.
And he also knew that Olivia had persuaded her father and Nox for that very reason.
“She wouldn’t have told you this location, so I suppose you followed us. She’ll be delighted to know.”
At Saint’s pointed sarcasm, Nox twisted his lips into a crooked smile.
But more than the words themselves, he seemed more enraged by the fact that Saint had spoken Olivia’s name aloud.
Olivia had once told Saint that Nox didn’t trust her. But Saint knew that was just her misunderstanding.
Those dark eyes of his were already overflowing with possessiveness.
“You should leave now. You’re disturbing business.”
Saint made no effort to hide his displeasure. At that, Nox’s emotionless gaze swept over the library.
What radiated from him wasn’t ordinary power. It wasn’t magic or divine energy, which left only one possibility.
But this was the middle of town. Not the sort of place to be unleashing a force like Estella.
Yet it seemed Nox didn’t care about such things.
“Someone’s inside.”
His abyss-like eyes fixed precisely on the curtain.
It was a clear threat. That with just a little effort, he could kill the person inside.
“The Crescent noblewoman, is it?”
When Saint kept his lips tightly sealed, Nox let out a frosty laugh and spoke.
“Mind your own business.”
At the mention of Lilith, Saint immediately revealed his hostility. A low growl slipped out between clenched teeth.
Nox ignored the warning and stepped forward. Instantly, every glass lamp on the walls cracked at once.
In a flash, all the lights in the library went out. Even though it was still early evening, only the spot where Saint stood was swallowed by darkness.
Saint reached into the shadows and gripped the hilt of his longsword.
There was no guarantee he would win, but he also didn’t think he’d lose.
Still, something weighed on his mind. If they clashed here, the entire area would be reduced to ashes.
The young lady liked the front garden of the library—she would surely be upset. But even so, he couldn’t just back down.
It was a volatile moment. And then, a faint green light leaked from the ring on Nox’s hand.
At the sight of it, Nox’s expression softened for a moment.
“Looks like she already knows I’m here.”
With those words, Nox turned away. Without the slightest hesitation, he opened the door and walked out.
The spot where he had stood was scorched black.
A mark of Estella. If not for the ring’s light, the library might’ve been incinerated in an instant.
“What a rude man.”
Saint pressed the back of his sore neck, tense from strain.
With a wave of his other hand, the cracked lamps transformed back to their original state. As the library brightened again, he furrowed his brows.
As if none of that tension had ever existed, silence once again settled over the library.
Now that it had come to this, the reason Nox had come here was clear: a warning to stay away from Olivia.
How laughable.
To Saint, Olivia was of no interest. His attention was fixed on one person only.
Even after Nox had fully disappeared, Saint waited a while longer before pulling back the curtain.
Sitting where he had left her, Lilith was wrapped in the blanket he’d covered her with, reading a holy text.
“When did you wake?”
“Hmm… about a minute ago?”
She tilted her head as if she couldn’t make sense of the text.
But that didn’t last long. Lilith closed the book with a thump, clearly having lost interest.
Her gaze turned directly to Saint. Her ruby-red eyes widened in surprise as they studied him.
“Did something happen?”
Her words carried genuine concern.
When he was irritated, Saint never showed it on his face—except for a slight frown.
So he found it surprising that she could read his mood even now when his expression was stiff.
Was there something about the way she stared into people’s eyes all the time? Could she actually read their emotions?
Maybe I should start covering my eyes.
Either way, letting his emotions show would only be a disadvantage.
“Not really.”
Saint answered calmly, taking a seat opposite her.
Lilith narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously.
But she knew he wouldn’t answer properly anyway, so she quickly gave up and reopened the holy text.
“…Wow, this is really boring. How do people read this?”
“Finding amusement in the words of God is what’s truly strange.”
“Oh, that actually sounded kind of priestly.”
Lilith gave him a goofy smile, as if she’d discovered a new side of him.
Saint looked at her quietly. She didn’t seem to mind his gaze and just lowered her head again.
“Here, take this.”
He pulled out a small pouch and pushed it toward her. She grabbed it cheerfully, thinking it was a gift.
“What’s the first thing you need to do to use magic?”
But when he immediately followed with a question, her face fell.
“Manifest mana into objects.”
She answered while grabbing a notebook and pen, clearly thinking this was another tutoring session.
“Take one out before bed and leave it on your bedside. These are leaves that help you feel the flow of mana.”
“Really?”
Her expression brightened instantly. Seeing her face lit up made him want to tease her again.
“They’re not exactly obtained through legal means, so don’t show them around.”
Peeking inside the pouch, Lilith froze for a moment and looked up at him.
“…Kidding.”
He suppressed a laugh at her horrified glare.
“Some jokes are just not funny, you know!”
Lilith huffed angrily, but Saint memorized every one of her little reactions.
The words that followed were a lecture, but he didn’t care about the content.
He just enjoyed hearing her voice full of emotion.
He liked that she wasn’t afraid of him and approached him so openly. He liked her clear, cheerful smile.
Being with someone who treated him comfortably… that felt surprisingly good.
“I’m afraid I might find a reason to give up being High Priest…”
Suddenly, he recalled what Olivia had said earlier that morning.
He knew exactly what she was worried about—that he’d become infatuated with someone for the first time and lose all sense of reason.
That won’t happen.
What he told Olivia hadn’t been a lie. Nothing was more important to him than God.
As a child, Saint had been cast to the bottom by his parents and raised as an assassin in the underworld.
The High Priest and the god worshipped by the temple had been the ones to pull him out of that life. He admired them deeply.
So when the High Priest asked him to become a priest and give up everything else, he had agreed. And again, when he was named as a High Priest candidate.
Was Lilith as important as God?
No, she wasn’t.
When they first met in this library, he hadn’t even known how to define his feelings. But now, he understood.
It was just curiosity.
A fleeting interest that would fade if left unseen.
Once the deal with Olivia was complete and he rose to the position of High Priest, this was a life he’d have to let go of.
And so, Saint was certain—he would never become obsessed with Lilith.
