Chapter 112
The place I pointed to was the desk that had been completely cleared during the kidnapping commotion.
Did anyone think I meant the bed?
Disappointing☆
I’m not that kind of person☆
True to a high priest’s desk, it was almost as long and wide as my boarding house bed. I lifted it with one hand, set it upright, and tucked books under it to stabilize it.
“Alright. Now lie down!”
“…You want me to lie there?”
“Quickly, lie down!”
“…Who would lie on a desk to get treated?”
“You, Cassian!”
“Feels like I’ve become a corpse on an experiment table…”
“Better you’re the corpse than me kneeling.”
“That’s true.”
Cassian got up and obediently lay on the desk.
He fidgeted and grimaced. Though I thought the desk was long enough, his legs were so long that everything below his knees hung off the edge, making it even more uncomfortable.
Tofu, who had been pacing anxiously nearby, suddenly leapt onto Cassian’s body.
Reacting instinctively, Cassian caught Tofu and complained.
“Seraphina, I don’t want to be difficult, but this is a bit…”
“Yeah, it does look funny.”
The high priest, lying shirtless on the desk.
Well, what can you do? You have to bear it.
I resolutely pressed a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant against Cassian’s side and rubbed it in.
“…Huff.”
“Cold?”
“It stings.”
“Oh dear.”
Well, I guess he’ll have to endure that too.
“Do you want me to put some on your lips too?”
“I’d probably just swallow it.”
“Do you usually lick your lips? Like a married woman seduced by a sparrow?”
“What do you even look at in daily life…? It’s our dog, not me, that licks them.”
“You’re not talking about my body, are you?”
“Nope, not me. Go ahead and rest, Tofu.”
Anyway, he knows immediately when someone teases him.
Tofu, who had been perched on Cassian’s stomach staring at me with triangular eyes, curled back up and closed his eyes.
He must be exhausted from keeping an eye on Skeeter all day. Three seconds later, I could hear Tofu snoring.
“Snore thump.”
Treating a side wound while someone’s lying on your stomach…
‘But how can I make him get off when he’s sleeping that cutely…?’
The little one must have been so worried. His friend got kidnapped.
Thinking about that, I couldn’t bring myself to move Tofu. Instead, I rolled Cassian slightly to the side and cleaned the wound.
Cassian must have thought the same because he silently stroked Tofu in reverse.
“Heavy… I’ll need to exercise you a bit…”
Correction: He said that while stroking him.
I carefully cleaned the wound with brown cotton and applied ointment. When my fingers touched bare skin, Cassian flinched.
“Does this sting too?”
“No…”
“Does it hurt then?”
“No…”
“Does it itch?”
“Can you just finish already…?”
“Sorry.”
I cut a bit of the bandage, covering the wound and securing it.
“Hmm.”
Stepping back to check, it looked fine.
There weren’t any other wounds on his fair skin, which seemed likely to tempt ill intentions from worshippers multiple times. Naturally, I voiced my concern.
“What if it scars?”
“It’s okay. The only person who will see this wound for the rest of my life is my partner. They’ll understand.”
“You’ve already seen it.”
“Then will you be that one person?”
“What are you saying?”
I smacked his exposed arm lightly, and he pretended it hurt.
“Stand up. I’ll put ointment on your lips too.”
“The dog will probably eat it…”
“The dog’s sleeping now. Let’s just let it absorb for a moment.”
Without waiting for a reply, I grabbed his collar to sit him up… but there was no collar. My hand just brushed his skin once.
I waited for him to sit up on his own.
Facing Cassian, leaning against the desk, I scooped a generous amount of ointment onto his lips.
Noticing bruising starting to appear on his cheeks too, I wondered if I should treat that as well.
“Did they hit you when you were taken?”
“I don’t know. I was unconscious.”
“Good thing there aren’t any major injuries.”
From now on, lock the windows. If I need to, I’ll break in. I said this while gently rubbing his lips with my finger.
Earlier, he was rushing me to finish quickly, but now he just looks down at me silently.
Finally, Cassian spoke.
“Seraphina.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m not usually this weak.”
“Huh?”
“Really. Normally, I’m not so powerless that even a cat can dominate me.”
Today, he was hurt in the side. His voice sounded almost desperate.
I looked into Cassian’s pleading eyes.
It was unavoidable while treating the wound, but the distance between us was quite close.
Close enough that…
I could headbutt him if I wanted…
At that distance, I looked him in the eyes and said:
“Cassian.”
“Hmm?”
“You are weak.”
“……”
“Especially compared to me, you’re practically a paper doll.”
“Can’t deny that…”
“So if you get hurt or sick, tell me right away. There’s no shame in it.”
Do you know how worried I was when I heard from Tofu that your side was ripped?
“I thought I needed to catch the culprit quickly and check on you, but what is this… It took a whole day just to look at this side wound.”
Expensive, expensive.
Cassian chuckled at my grumbling.
“A torn side and worried over by a magical saintess, that’s a profitable deal.”
“Even without a torn side, I’ll worry as much as you want for money.”
“By the way, did you see that thing in my bedroom…?”
“What, the diamond necklace?”
“……”
“Looks super expensive. What kind of priest flaunts jewels? Live a little humbly.”
“Want it?”
“Why are you like that.”
“Why not? Take it. I’ll try living humbly from now on.”
“It’s a perfect target for thieves if you leave it at my boarding house.”
“It’s diamonds.”
“I know.”
“I said diamonds.”
“? I know.”
“…You don’t remember, do you.”
Hmph! Cassian, acting coy as if he were Arden, turned his head away and lightly nudged me between his legs.
“Enough. Let’s focus on the important talk.”
Of course, I’m stronger than Cassian, so I didn’t budge, but I still nodded.
“Right, then.”
There’s a lot to discuss.
Starting with the fake saintess, and the cat spirit…
“So the bomb didn’t exist from the start?”
“Right. It matches Skeeter’s testimony… And even without that, realistically, there wouldn’t have been a bomb.”
“What reason?”
“The one who commands the divine beast is… the rightful ruler of the world. They’re an aristocrat based in Rouarre. Remember the plank street incident? They own land there too.”
Right. They tried to forcibly evict people near their land because they didn’t want slums nearby.
Someone who would burn others’ property for their own land…
“If they’d set off a bomb, it’d be at a major location in Rouarre. And their own house is nearby. No way they’d risk their own property value.”
Cassian nodded at my reasoning.
“True. Property value matters.”
“Exactly.”
“Then how do we tell the citizens of Rouarre about this…?”
“And Skeeter…”
“Yeah, so then…”
“Just in case, I’ll—tomorrow… no, today…”
“But isn’t the rightful ruler of the world… the one?”
“I don’t know… just call them roughly…”
After roughly agreeing:
“All right, the urgent issue is handled. Now, another question.”
The first thing I wanted to ask, but had postponed.
I calmly closed the ointment lid, tilted my body to set it on the desk, and looked up at Cassian.
“Cassian, you knew, didn’t you?”
“Knew what?”
“That Arden is the Crown Prince.”
“……”
“Don’t move.”
Don’t look away.
I grabbed Cassian’s cheeks with one hand.
“Look me in the eye and tell me.”
I opened my eyes wide.
Did my breath touch his cheeks while doing this? I don’t know.
Cassian, caught off-guard with his face in my hands, flinched sharply.
