“Why are you accompanying me? It would have been enough to send a maid.”
“If I take my eyes off of you, I’m afraid what you will be up to again.”
“You seem to think I am some kind of mischief-maker.”
“You look like an angel but when you walk around by yourself I find you coming back to me bleeding. How can I let my guard down? It’s full of thrills and amusement—our marriage.”
As she peered at Lucerne, she almost tripped on the threshold. He clutched Elisha’s arm and pulled her gently. Her cheeks turned red as her body leaned on Lucerne’s.
“… … .”
Again—she was having strange symptoms like before. She wanted to avoid eye contact and, at the same time, wanted to keep looking at him. They had already done everything there was to do, yet she shivered as if her tongue had been deeply mixing with his with this light contact.
[L] “I guess you’ve never prayed in your life.”
[E] “I did it when I was very young. When I was in the temple. It was so boring that I had nothing to do but pray.”
[L] “What did you pray for?”
[E] “Don’t let my mother who raised me be born again and suffer in pain.”
[L] “…….”
[E] “If she were to be reincarnated, let her be free from the burdens of our family.”
Elisha nodded. One day, after countless hours, if Lucerne and her divorced…. while she would be enjoying life, maybe she would suddenly remember him. She would like to say such a prayer for him too.
[E] “It’s a good prayer. I often said it for my mother. Next time… … . I will also pray for you and my mother.”
“Do what you please.”
This time, Lucerne turned his gaze away. When Elisha tried to return home, he dissuaded her.
“Let’s take a rest first and then go.”
“I’m alright.”
“You haven’t fully recovered yet, so it’s not good to get on the carriage right away. Let’s go drink something.”
Elisha felt that she was spending too much of his time. Lucerne took her to the terraced café attached to the temple.
‘Wait, this feels slightly odd.’
Elisha paused. She remembered the day when Lucerne suddenly took her to the hotel restaurant. That day, she had watched Carola’s father, the Marquis of Fullmoon, running around half-naked in disgrace. It felt a little unnatural, just like that day.
‘Why are you suddenly taking me to this cafe?’
There were no customers in the cafe. Led by Lucerne, she sat on an enclosed terrace. It was winter, so the windows were closed, but the front yard of the main temple was clearly visible.
A clerk with a bored face approached and politely took her order. Upon closer inspection, the clerk was a boy priest.
“I’ll have the rose tea.”
Elisha ordered a cup of tea. She looked out and found it quiet and peaceful.
‘I must have developed a disorder of suspicion from living with this person.’
As she sipped her tea, she internally scoffed at herself when she realized she was being overly sensitive. At that moment—
—Ahhhhhhh!
From a distance came an exclamation. It sounded like a shout of excitement, so Elisha figured some people were playing sports. It sounded similar to the cries of an audience.
Her head tilted. She got up and opened the window on the terrace. At first, what she thought was a yard was a gymnasium similar to the one in Lucerne’s house.
Several bleeding men were running there. Elisha was startled.
“Was there a battle?”
“Something similar,”
Lucerne replied calmly.
Soon two people ran out of the building and knelt to them.
‘Ian, Nora?’
Elisha’s eyes grew wide.
“Help me!”
‘Isn’t that person Ian?’
Of course, that gorgeous blonde was Ian. He sat on top of a man and had a dagger in his shoulder. Just the sight made Elisha feel a tingling sensation in her shoulder, and without realizing it, she wrapped her hand around her wound.
As Nora kneeled, she skillfully grabbed the two fleeing men and kicked them in the belly.
“How dare you touch someone else’s hostess. You should have been prepared to pay it back with blood,”
she said icily. Elisha was startled.
‘Nora, who is usually so gentle… … .’
It was so unexpected that she had goosebumps all over her body for a moment. It wasn’t that she was scared; she was precisely positively startled.
At that moment, their eyes met. Nora flinched, and then she ran back into the building without saying goodbye.
Now she realized a suppressed scream came from inside the building attached to the sparring hall.
“Oh, come on! I told you not to let anyone escape! Take care of it inside! It’ll get too noisy.”
Someone inside the building yelled angrily.
‘That’s Lapis’s voice.’
Elisha could clearly imagine the scene without seeing it. Instead, the memory of seeing them in Marco’s mansion in her previous life came to mind. One second it was a duel between knights and the next moment it had become hell in an instant.
‘Like back then… … . Did the people of the Black Lion Knights overrun the Temple Knights?’
Then Elisha bumped into someone while backing up. It was Lucerne. Startled, she looked around. The inside of the cafe was as quiet as a dead mouse, utterly empty except for the two of them. The clerk seemed to have run away.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s a prelude. The most precious lioness of their pride had been wounded. If they stood still, they would not be a Black Lion,”
explained Lucerne. Elisha rested her back on his arm. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
“Why are you doing this?”
“It’s obvious.”
Lucerne wrapped his hands familiarly around her waist. And he whispered:
“I don’t think you’re quick to understand when it comes to certain things.”
“… … .”
“So now I have decided to teach you physically.”
“What… … . do you mean?”
