༺ A Short Day (1) ༻
Early in the morning.
Upon returning to his cabin from training, Vera glanced at his casual clothes hanging on one of the walls.
The all-black suit was obviously a far cry from his usual priest attire.
It was something he had prepared for the date.
He had accepted Renee’s invitation for a date and had prepared himself accordingly.
Vera thought back to the events of two days ago with a wide smile on his face.
— A date. Let’s get some air together. We can also eat some tasty food and bask under the sun.
— The work….
— Are you going to die from not doing it for a day? It’s okay. It’s okay.
It was such an outrageous statement to say, but Vera didn’t care.
After all, there was nothing wrong with Renee’s words.
Elia wasn’t such an unorganized place that it would fall apart just because he was away for a day.
Besides, staying cooped up in one place wouldn’t make him find Alaysia, the only problem at the moment.
‘…Just for a day.’
As Renee had told him the other day, it wouldn’t hurt to take it easy.
Having shaken off his thoughts, Vera reached for the suit.
Then, he began to put it on.
The blackness of the garment against his pale skin could have made him look grim, but Vera’s physique made up for it.
His robust muscles, packed all over his body, accentuated the lines of the suit.
His height, which far exceeded the average for the continent, made him look more imposing than grim.
Completely dressed, Vera walked over to a mirror on one of the walls to check his appearance.
‘I guess….’
This would do.
While he had that thought…
— Your hair has grown a lot.
Renee’s words echoed in his mind.
“Hmm…”
Vera grabbed a few strands of his forelock with his fingers.
As he tugged at it, he realized that it had indeed grown long enough to reach the tip of his nose.
Vera contemplated.
Renee probably wouldn’t mind if he went out like this, but there were the others’ prying eyes.
Vera didn’t want to look shabby while walking around with Renee.
He had his own pride, and he wanted to look as good as Renee’s dazzling beauty.
Rustle—
Vera swept all of his forelock back, then gave it a quick whisk to part it naturally.
Then, he smiled with satisfaction.
‘That’s it.’
A thought that Vargo, who usually called him ‘a gloomy punk,’ wouldn’t be able to call him that today suddenly crossed his mind.
***
“…Who are you?”
Rohan asked as he headed to the dining hall.
Vera’s face slightly crumpled at the question.
“Are you farsighted?”
“Ve…ra?”
“Do you think I’m his twin?”
Rohan gasped.
‘What the…?’
What kind of situation is this?
What’s with Vera’s look as he stood in front of him?
The neat and crisp suit, the lines well-tailored to his big figure, the exposed forehead and prominent nose, and his pale skin.
It was very different from the Vera that Rohan knew.
“Are you going somewhere, sir?”
A respectful question came out.
Vera wondered what was wrong with Rohan as he answered.
“I have an outing with the Saint.”
“Aha…”
Rohan understood.
However, it didn’t alleviate the awkwardness.
Rohan was suddenly confronted with a painful memory that flashed in his mind.
It was a memory from a day not far away.
It was only a few weeks ago when he had visited a tavern in a neighboring city.
— Ladies? Do you have any compa…
— Yes.
— Oh, may I join your com…
— They don’t like you.
— What? They didn’t even see me.
— They just don’t like you. That’s it.
There was a woman who was putting up walls against him, and a neat man who approached that woman.
— Excuse me, do you happen…
— I have a lot of time.
And then they walked away together.
“Ugh…!”
Rohan grabbed his head.
The way Vera looked now reminded him of that honey-trapping bastard.
A bastard relying solely on his looks…
…No, that’s just how he wanted to remember that handsome man.
The painful memory stabbed Rohan in the gut.
His resurging resentment led him to grind his teeth.
Vera looked at him coldly.
He assumed that the reason why Rohan suddenly touched his head was, as always, a hangover.
“Have you been drinking excessively again? Please do it moderately. Don’t you remember what kind of time it is?”
Vera clicked his tongue, and it would be strange if that didn’t piss Rohan off.
‘What about you?’
In such a situation, you’re going on a date?
You, who’s excitedly going out, dressed up to the nines?
Rohan’s eyes turned bloodshot.
His hands trembled with resentment.
However, Rohan couldn’t pour it out.
Merely facing Vera was enough to remind him of some painful moments.
Hesitantly, Rohan stepped backwards.
Then, he turned on his heel and ran away.
Vera, left alone in the hallway, stared at his back for a while before shaking his head.
‘When will he grow up…?’
He felt frustrated inside.
Vera didn’t know.
He didn’t know that the concern he was facing now was something Vargo had often considered while looking at Rohan.
He didn’t realize that he was becoming like Vargo.
Vera wasn’t objective enough towards himself to realize that.
***
Renee’s quarters were in an uproar.
It wasn’t for any other reason.
It was because of Vera, who suddenly dressed himself up today.
As it wasn’t a small accommodation, there were a lot of attendants.
Moreover, all of them were apprentice priestesses around Renee’s age.
What could be more interesting to talk about for girls, who were holed up in the temple to pray while they were in their primes?
It would undoubtedly be love and men.
In the midst of all the commotion, Renee’s expression turned pouty.
“Saint! This is awesome! Really awesome! Super duper awesome!!!”
Annie made a fuss, slapping Renee’s shoulder.
Renee swayed with that slap, showing her discomfort, but no one paid Renee enough attention to notice that right away.
Tap.
Tap.
Renee snappily tapped her cane to the floor.
Her heart was full of frustration towards Vera.
‘Why did he come dressed up for nothing…?’
That was the reason.
His face, all dressed up, that she couldn’t even see.
A face that attracted other women’s attention.
Vera’s visual advantage meant ‘a Vera I can’t enjoy’ to Renee, and thus it made her frustrated.
Renee thought it would be better if Vera was an ugly man no one would look at.
It occurred to her that it would be good if he could never gain other women’s attention forever.
This way, she would be the only one to like Vera.
“He’s coming! He’s coming!”
Annie made a fuss again.
Renee sat on the chair delinquently and raised her gaze.
“Good morning, Saint.”
She replied to Vera’s greetings in the same curt manner.
“Do you like it?”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m asking if you like it.”
The corners of Renee’s eyes seemed as though she were pouting.
Vera tilted his head, looking perplexed.
Needless to say, Vera had no idea why Renee was so sulky.
Only then did Annie also notice that something was wrong.
Breaking in a cold sweat, she took a step backward and escaped the room.
Eventually, they were left alone in the room.
Renee reached out her hand.
“Your face.”
“…Do you mean my face?”
“Give it to me.”
Vera studied Renee’s face again.
Narrowed forehead, squinted eyes, and pouty lips.
He didn’t know what was wrong, but she didn’t seem to be in a good mood. Vera thought it would be best to comply at this moment and leaned his cheek against Renee’s hand.
Then, Renee pressed his face hard.
“Explain.”
As she spoke, Renee groped Vera’s face.
Vera felt the touch and opened his mouth.
“…I wore a black suit today. As you said, I’m going out today not as a priest, but as your lo-lover.”
As he paused for a second, feeling shy at the word lover, Renee flinched and blushed.
Even in that moment, her hand moved eagerly.
“…And?”
“Like you said, my hair has grown quite long. Since I only realized it this morning, I didn’t have time to trim it, so I swept it back.”
Renee’s hand drifted to Vera’s forehead.
She rubbed his forehead with her palm, then she tapped her thumb from the middle of his forehead down to the tip of his nose.
“…But seeing other people’s reactions made me feel like something was wrong. I thought I was decent enough, but everyone I met today looked away from me.”
Renee’s hands tensed up.
She already knew the reason for those reactions.
However, Renee would never tell him that the reason was because he was too handsome.
First, she didn’t want to see Vera hold his head high, and second, she wanted Vera to never know that he was handsome.
“I guess Vera is ugly. Well…”
“…”
Vera felt a stabbing sensation in his heart.
He knew that Renee said it as a way to vent out of her frustration about something, but still, those words hurt.
Renee also noticed Vera’s reaction and flinched.
She pursed her lips.
She lost her temper for no reason.
Renee didn’t want to utter an apology for a moment, so she conveyed her apology in a different way.
“Kiss.”
Renee held her head up straight.
“Now that you’re here, give me a kiss.”
She said, her cheeks blushing.
Vera blinked at that. Then, he realized that maybe Renee was in a better mood, and he leaned his head with a bright smile.
Smooch—
Their lips met briefly before parting again.
Renee ran her tongue across his lips once, then pulled Vera into a hug and rubbed her cheek against Vera’s.
“…I don’t mind even if Vera’s ugly.”
Vera’s cheeks were cold, perhaps from the breeze on his way here.
Renee felt compelled to warm those cheeks quickly, and she added.
“So don’t worry about other people’s reactions.”
Said the one who worried about it the most.
Renee was very possessive.
As such, she became very petty when it came to Vera.
Renee reacted that way because she was such a person.
She rubbed her face against Vera’s cheeks for a while before pulling her head away once she noticed that Vera’s cheeks had warmed up with her warmth.
“And today’s our date, so Vera only has to pay attention to me.”
Her declaration somehow resembled coercion.
A smirk tugged at Vera’s lips.
He finally realized the reason why Renee was so upset.
‘Jealousy.’
His mischievousness rose up as he realized it.
Vera reached out his arm and wrapped it around Renee’s waist, then replied to her in a voice filled with laughter.
“Of course I will.”
“Sure, you should.”
“But there’s one thing you’re wrong about, Saint.”
Renee tilted her head.
Vera held back his laughter that threatened to burst out, then said to Renee.
“I am a handsome man.”
Jolt.
Renee’s body jerked.
Soon after, a fuming expression crossed Renee’s face.
Vera added once again.
“Whether in our previous life or this life, I’ve always been a handsome man who made people take a second glance.”
He was being overconfident, but he wasn’t entirely wrong.
Vera had been courted many times in his life solely through his face.
Moreover, he was a man who made good use of that courtship to make countless profits.
Smack—!
Renee grabbed Vera’s cheeks.
“…No! You’re super ugly!”
“You’re mistaken.”
“It’s true! I can tell just by touching you!”
Her statement showed that she would never admit it, but it didn’t make Vera yield.
“Are you sure?”
His words sounded like teasing.
It made Renee’s shoulders shudder faintly.
The sound of squeaky, raspy breaths began to fill the room.
Vera felt delighted.
Suddenly, he remembered what had happened at the end of his previous life.
— I was a beauty admired by everyone.
Those were the words that she had told him so confidently.
Recalling that, Vera thought to himself.
‘I’m finally getting my revenge.’
He thought that he had finally gotten his revenge for those words that had shaken him to the core after so many years.
