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Chapter 17
Reunion (4)
Cedric swallowed hard.
Careful not to let his voice tremble, he asked,
“What is it?”
“Lately, I’ve been missing the past. The time I lived in Kieto.”
He felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“Ten years ago, there was a big fire at the house I lived in. I lived there with fifty-two kids around my age.”
“I… I see.”
“I managed to save my younger sibling from the burning house and tried to get out myself… but it didn’t go well. I often recall that moment.”
Her tone was calm.
“I regretted it.”
“…Why?”
“At the very end, I should’ve smiled brighter.”
Cedric looked at her back, eyes bloodshot.
“To be honest, I cared about that kid a lot back then. I didn’t show it, but… still, a little more, something…”
“……”
“I might’ve liked him.”
Her emotionless tone made Cedric clench his fists.
“But why is it, I wonder?”
She confessed.
“When I’m with you, Lord Cedric, I keep thinking of him.”
As if stating a simple fact.
Calmly.
“Saintess.”
Cedric took a deep breath.
His body had gone rigid.
His pounding heart rang in his ears.
Heat surged through him, making his vision blur.
Unable to find words, he tried to calm the nausea rising in his chest.
“Sorry. Was that too sudden of a confession?”
“N-No, I…”
“I just wanted to tell someone, just once.”
She, who had always looked straight ahead, turned her head slightly. Through her closed eyes, it felt like her blue eyes were smiling.
“I hear confessions from people every day, but there’s no one who listens to mine. I’m sorry.”
Ripples spread through his black eyes.
It was a concept he had never considered before.
Justina was a saint.
Flawless.
As a saint, she accepted others’ malice and flaws, covering their sins with compassion.
But what about herself?
Suddenly losing her sight, then living for ten years in the Holy Nation solely as a saint—hadn’t that been painful?
Cedric slowly studied her.
Her smiling face remained serene.
There was not a single crack in her expression.
That made it even scarier.
What she endured was far too much for one person to bear.
With that thought, Cedric impulsively opened his mouth.
“I’ll listen.”
“Pardon?”
“And your eyes.”
His heated gaze turned toward Justina’s unfocused pupils.
“I’ll fix them. No matter what it takes. I swear it.”
Justina, who had been quietly listening, suddenly broke into a bright smile.
Though it wasn’t because she found him reliable. It was more like… the way one finds a child cute when they say, “I’m going to be a hero when I grow up!”
“Thank you for saying that.”
“I mean it.”
“I’m sure you do. I believe you.”
…Why does that irritate me?
Her ever-serene poker face suddenly seemed incredibly annoying. Cedric looked at her with a sulky expression.
“But Lord Cedric.”
“Yes?”
“May I touch your face?”
“…Excuse me?”
He blinked blankly.
“I’m curious what your face looks like.”
At those words, he sighed involuntarily. He had realized his own foolishness.
‘…Right.’
Justina was blind.
Which meant she had no way of knowing that he was the same “Cedric” who had lived with her all those years ago.
“Would you like to?”
At his gentle offer, Justina’s eyes widened like a squirrel’s, then she nodded happily.
‘…What is this?’
It was lethally cute.
Cedric, hiding his thudding heart, took her hand. The hand that met his was so small and soft that his breath caught on its own.
‘S-Stop it.’
Cedric squeezed his eyes shut.
This is… this is bad. I feel like a pervert getting excited just by touching her.
Worse still, she had absolutely no sexual intent. She was a pure and devout priestess. Her white robe, covering her from head to toe, was the very symbol of chastity.
And yet, at a mere touch, his blood was surging?
With a saint who only wanted to know what his face looked like?
No decent person would feel this way.
He tried desperately to compose himself.
Meanwhile, Justina’s hand moved up to his cheek. Cedric forced his racing heart to calm as he guided her hand to his forehead.
“My hair is black.”
“It’s a bit long. Doesn’t it poke your eyes?”
“…I’ll get it trimmed.”
Her hand, stroking his hair, moved down past his brow and neared his eyes.
“Lord Cedric, what color are your eyes?”
“They’re the same as my hair… black.”
She whispered softly,
“That must be handsome.”
Next came his nose. His smooth cheeks.
Then—his lips.
The warmth of her touch was especially intense. Her elegant fingers traced his upper lip delicately, then her thumb brushed across his lips entirely.
Cedric didn’t even think to hide his reddening face. Her oddly persistent touch swept along the corners of his mouth.
Gulp.
When he unconsciously swallowed—
“They’re softer than I expected.”
“…Pardon?”
“Thank you for letting me touch you.”
Justina withdrew her hand.
He let out a sigh, caught in a strange feeling of regret, but there was no further contact.
Justina returned to being the devoted saint. Cedric stared at her as she resumed her prayer from earlier, then finally rubbed his flushed face roughly.
‘Damn it.’
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…
His heart wouldn’t calm down, and his breath was short. He splashed his face with his hands repeatedly, trying to quell his excitement.
…Shame began to creep in.
I sat with my back to him and closed my eyes.
Saying I wanted to touch his face had been a ploy—to check his pulse. It’s easy to lie with your words, but you can’t easily hide your body’s natural reactions.
The result?
‘Obviously a success.’
His pulse was over three times faster than normal.
Especially when we touched—Cedric was clearly aware of Justinas.
The problem, though, was…
‘I can’t tell if it’s because it was me or just because it was a woman.’
There’s that old saying—young men who’ve never been with a woman can imagine grandkids just from holding hands. And honestly, with someone as beautiful as Justina, even another woman might get flustered.
Hmm.
‘I wish I had a status window.’
Like in dating sims—“[Cedric’s affection has increased by 5.]” Something like that.
Unfortunately, my status screen only gave quests and virtue points. It couldn’t show affection levels, nor could it read minds.
[Mind Reading: 1,000,000p]
[I can hear your heart.]
Just as I thought of it, the system offered the skill. My eyes went triangular when I saw the price.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
A million points?
It’s more expensive than resurrection or clairvoyance items—it’s like it’s telling me not to buy it.
Honestly, the prices in the system are bizarre.
Like how Analgesia costs twice as much as the 100,000-point Extra Life item. At first, I didn’t get it, but now I have a rough idea.
The cost reflects its utility.
The system adjusts quest difficulty by arbitrarily setting point costs.
I raised my praying hands and quietly covered my eyes.
Yet I could still see. Not just in front of me.
I could see the expression on Cedric’s face behind me, and the gestures of passing priests in the corridor. All thanks to the expensive clairvoyance skill I’d purchased.
‘Is he… embarrassed?’
Seeing Cedric turn red was a strange experience. It made me hyper-aware of all the little things I’d done without much thought.
A bitter taste rose in my mouth.
‘I’m doing something wrong.’
Using someone’s emotions isn’t right. Not as a saint, and not as a person.
But what choice did I have?
I couldn’t trust Cedric.
“I like you, Izumi.”
In the original story, Cedric deceived everyone with a calm expression.
The scarier part was that his affection had been real. He had genuinely opened his heart to the protagonist Izumi and their companions… even fallen in love.
And yet he still betrayed them.
‘Of course, with me alive now, the chances of betrayal are lower… but there’s no harm in being cautious.’
The safest way is to make him fall in love.
In the original, even after betraying the protagonist, Cedric still tried to protect the shadow paradise he had built. Even as he attempted to destroy the world, he fought to keep them safe. That shows how important love is to him.
So my goal is to become someone he can’t live without.
The standard? Hmm. Right.
He should be willing to save the world for me, even after I’m dead.
Lost in thought, I finished my prayer. Cedric, who had waited all this time, had returned to his usual stoic expression.
“You should go now.”
“Lord Cedric.”
My voice made his steps halt.
“I’m not feeling well today… Could you hold my hand?”
