Chapter 18
“Uddiel, I told you to stop saying rude things.”
Julian frowned and tried to shut him up.
But Uddiel was full of endless curiosity and kept questioning me.
“It’s true, right? It is you, isn’t it?
That story spread all over the temple~!
They said Julian rushed to protect Lady Sera.”
“W—What?!”
So THAT’S how the rumor spread?!
Then the priest and the acolytes who stared at me earlier…
Was that the reason?!
“……”
I stared at Uddiel, mouth open.
At least it wasn’t a rumor about me being a possessor.
But this was still incredibly embarrassing.
Especially with the actual person involved—Julian—standing right next to me.
Then Uddiel added quietly,
“You must have been scared.”
“……”
“Praising Lady Charlotte isn’t a crime.
To think they suspected our Lady Sera over something so ridiculous—how awful of them.
Thankfully Julian resolved everything.”
He gave Julian’s shoulder a few playful pats.
Julian only threw him a mild glare, saying nothing.
Then Uddiel suddenly said something far bolder:
“Since fate brought you two together, why not give it a try?
Even brushing sleeves is fate, you know~
Seems like you two have plenty of reasons.”
“W-What are you talking about?!”
This was almost the same kind of nonsense that happened earlier with Sergei at ShashaMo.
and I shut it down immediately.
Sergei wasn’t an important character, so it didn’t matter.
But Julian was one of the central male leads.
I could not get involved with him.
If I did,
and his affection ever reached 100%…
I’d be trapped in an endless “Game Over → Continue → Game Over → Continue” loop forever.
An infinite reincarnation jail.
Just imagining it made chills run down my back.
“That kind of talk is disrespectful to Julian. Hahaha…
Besides, if he really tried to be with me, he’d have to abandon his priesthood…”
Thankfully, Julian was a holy knight.
So getting romantically involved was practically impossible.
But Uddiel turned to him seriously.
“Well, Julian, would you give up being a holy knight in this situation?”
“Sigh…”
Julian’s expression grew even more troubled.
Before he could answer,
Uddiel cut in:
“I would.”
…The Cardinal would abandon his priesthood?
Both Julian and I were speechless.
Just when the topic seemed to finally die out—
“Oh, Lady Sera, by the way—is this part true too?”
Uddiel suddenly stirred things up again.
Why did this man have so many questions?!
“What? What now?”
“I heard you’re close with Lady Angela of House Schweiden.”
Ah.
My mouth went dry.
Even coming from Uddiel,
This question felt dangerous.
But it didn’t matter.
I just had to use the same tactic as always—my ‘Charlotte-fan-girl’ persona.
“Yes, Lady Angela and I spend a lot of time together.
It’s far more than I deserve.
The blessings of beauty never stop coming to me.”
“Then that’s good.
Your presence will be a great help to the young lady.”
“…Huh?”
I blinked, confused.
Julian’s expression tightened—
perhaps noticing where this was heading.
But Uddiel ignored him and continued anyway.
“Actually, Lady Angela is a regular at the temple.
Even with her busy schedule, she visits at least once a week for confession.
She’s been struggling with her timid personality and wants to make friends.”
My jaw dropped.
Angela… visiting the temple for that?
No—
How was this man casually leaking confidential confessions?!
“A cardinal who can’t even protect a believer’s privacy…
You might as well abandon your priesthood right now.”
Julian muttered irritably.
He clearly had the same thought I did.
But Uddiel didn’t look even a tiny bit sorry.
“Well~ since Lady Sera is close to her, it’s fine.
It’s not like I told a total stranger!”
“……”
I decided right then that I absolutely had to warn Angela about this man.
And before Uddiel could reveal even more private information,
I hurried to wrap things up.
“It’s getting late.
Shouldn’t you both head back?
Thank you so much for taking care of me.”
Thankfully, getting them out of the infirmary wasn’t too difficult after that.
Uddiel went home to the clergy residence.
and Julian said he’d return to the holy knights’ quarters.
Once it was just Julian and me —
“……”
“……”
Even though he could be awkward,
Uddiel had strangely made things lively.
Without him, the silence felt… heavy.
I broke it first.
“Um… Uddiel seems like the complete opposite of you in personality.
It’s interesting that you two are close.”
“I hear that often.
He’s much more cheerful than most people.
I do appreciate that part of him.”
I blinked.
That was unexpected.
Earlier he said I shouldn’t get too close to him…
But I guess they really are friends.
While thinking about that,
We reached the temple entrance.
I would go out the main gate.
and Julian would head toward the knights’ dormitory.
So this is where we part ways.
When we first met in the hallway earlier,
Just seeing him made me want to pass out.
But after he took care of me,
and especially with Uddiel’s chaotic energy in the mix,
Being around Julian didn’t feel as stressful.
Not exactly “good,”
but not terrible either.
Still… I should keep my distance.
I must not let his affection reach 100%.
Then—
“Lady Sera.”
He suddenly called me.
I looked up.
His eyes were always calm and serious.
But right now they held an even deeper gravity.
With a pure, upright expression that suited a messenger of God,
He spoke with firm, quiet dignity:
“Did you protect me on purpose? ”
“…Huh?”
I couldn’t immediately understand what he meant.
Seeing my confusion,
Julian continued with a complicated expression.
“At the temple, they only heard that you were suspected of being a possessor…
and that I defended you.
But they never heard that the suspicion began because of something I said.”
Ah.
I finally understood.
He’d been holding onto guilt—
because Oscar’s trap had made him say something inappropriate,
which had caused the suspicion to start.
“I told you already.
You don’t need to feel that bad about it.”
Honestly, I hadn’t taken his mistake personally at all.
Being trapped in this game was the real problem.
The troubles along the way felt like bad weather—
annoying, but not meaningful enough to dwell on.
Besides, Julian wasn’t acting with free will.
He was following programming, scenario logic, and character stats.
That made it just another “unavoidable event.”
There’s no reason to get emotional about it.
Even if I did, nothing would change.
(Of course, I didn’t always act purely rationally—
like with ShashaMo earlier—
but still.)
“So don’t worry about the rumors.
Neither of us actually lost anything.
So it’s fine, right?”
I spoke honestly, keeping my tone calm.
But Julian disagreed immediately.
“No. It is not fine.”
