****The Archpriest’s Reckoning****
Hereis gently laid Jeha face down on the bed. As the tension eased, or perhaps as reality set in, his body—which had only felt a dull ache until now—began to scream in protest.
Jeha bit his lip tightly, enduring the immense pain that felt as if his back were being split by an axe. He didn’t want to show his pain and cause Hereis to blame himself. Yet, though he made no sound, cold sweat streamed down his face.
“I will do it.”
Paimon spoke in a cold voice, roughly pushing Hereis away from the bedside.
“What are you going to do? I can just do it myself.”
Jeha said, suppressing his senses as much as possible. Such a trivial arrow could be dealt with by a mere flick of his finger.
However, this was Encarosha. Using demonic power here, in a place teeming with those wielding divine power, was too perilous.
“Are you truly going to do it yourself?”
Paimon asked, gazing intently. After a brief calculation in his mind, Jeha pursed his lips and buried his face in the pillow. It was his way of saying, ‘Please do it for me.’
Paimon, with an ‘I knew it’ look in his eyes, grasped the arrow shaft embedded in Jeha’s back. Without further ado, he simply yanked it out.
“……!”
His body stiffened. Even with his senses minimized, a searing pain still pierced him.
The sight of the gruesome, four-pronged crossbow bolt, with crimson flesh clinging to it as it was pulled out, made the pain feel even worse.
“Ah, couldn’t you have pulled it out more gently?”
Jeha grumbled irritably. Paimon then thrust the blood-soaked arrowhead, still covered in flesh, right before Jeha’s nose.
“Consume it.”
Jeha gasped in horror at Paimon’s words.
“No, why would I eat that?”
“Then shall I eat it?”
Paimon asked nonchalantly, then added, “It is your blood and flesh, Master. Would you discard it in the trash? Imagine what a rat that consumed it might become. Or should we burn it? Who knows how a bird inhaling its smoke might transform? It’s fortunate you arrived with the arrow still lodged. Had you bled profusely on the way, all of Encarosha would have erupted into chaos.”
Upon reflection, Paimon’s words held undeniable truth.
Even though he had sealed his own body, Jeha’s very being was a fragment of a demon god. Even a single drop of his blood contained immense demonic power. Should it fall into the hands of another creature or human, an unimaginable catastrophe could unfold.
“…….”
Jeha silently opened his mouth. Just as Paimon was about to scrape the flesh from the arrowhead and push it into Jeha’s mouth—
“I will do it.”
Hereis, who had been standing with a rigid expression, snatched the arrowhead from Paimon’s hand as he spoke. Noticing the frown deepen on Paimon’s brow, Jeha subtly gestured for him to let it be.
Hereis sat by the bed and carefully scraped away the bits of Jeha’s flesh still clinging to the arrowhead. His pale fingers were quickly stained with blood.
As he gathered the flesh and guided it into Jeha’s mouth, Hereis’s eyes were unsettlingly calm. So calm, in fact, that it was concerning. Jeha surmised a tempest was raging within Hereis’s heart.
As he opened his mouth and docilely accepted the flesh, it fortunately melted away on his tongue like cotton candy, along with the blood.
Gulp.
Hereis then slipped his blood-stained finger into Jeha’s mouth, where the flesh had just been swallowed. It seemed he meant for Jeha to consume every last drop of blood.
Jeha found the sight of Hereis inserting his blood-soaked finger into his own mouth remarkably sensual. The ensuing act of Jeha’s tongue wrapping around Hereis’s finger, licking away every trace of blood, was equally suggestive and decadent.
“…Is that enough now?!”
Feeling awkward about experiencing such sensations under Paimon’s watchful gaze, Jeha unnecessarily raised his voice. Confirming that Jeha had consumed every last bit of flesh and blood, Paimon nodded.
Meanwhile, Hereis examined Jeha’s back. Though no specific healing had been performed, the wound had, of course, vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
A deep shadow lay in Hereis’s eyes as he gently caressed Jeha’s back, now devoid of any injury. Jeha wondered how he could possibly alleviate Hereis’s self-reproach, but no clear solution came to mind. Hereis was astute enough to know that Jeha had taken the arrow in his stead.
“Could you give us some space?”
Jeha first dismissed Paimon. Once they were alone, he sat up and took Hereis’s hand.
“You did something unnecessary,” Hereis said softly. Jeha felt, inexplicably, as though he were being scolded.
“It would have been much easier to handle if I had been the one struck. And it would have escalated the situation far more effectively.”
Hereis’s words were all true. While Marquis Belgarga possessed considerable wealth and prestige, if Hereis, the Archpriest, had been struck by the arrow, the situation would have escalated far more dramatically. After all, Encarosha was undeniably a sacred stronghold of religion.
“You’re right. But at that moment, I didn’t have the luxury of thinking that way.”
Jeha fiddled with Hereis’s hand as he spoke. ‘And yet,’ he thought, ‘I still don’t regret it.’
“Before, when you called out to me in the slums, Hereis… I looked at you then and made a promise. Never again would I see you suffer like that.”
“…….”
“No matter how potent your divine power, you are still human. And for me, such things pose no threat whatsoever.”
“But Lord Jeha, even so…”
“And putting all that aside, what man could simply stand by and watch someone he cares for get hurt like that? Am I wrong?”
Jeha met Hereis’s gaze directly as he spoke.
“…I feel the same way.”
Hereis said after a moment of silence. Jeha smiled gently and nodded.
“Exactly. You feel the same way. So, from now on, let’s be especially careful to prevent such things from happening to either of us again. How about it?”
“…….”
Hereis gave him a look that clearly asked why the conversation had reached such a conclusion. His eyes conveyed that this matter couldn’t simply be brushed aside. Jeha decided it was time to deploy his ‘cheat code’.
“Jeha…”
It was then that he covered Hereis’s mouth with his own, silencing the call of his name.
Meow—
A seductive meow came from beneath the bed. Startled, Jeha broke the kiss and looked under the bed. Kkamangi, whose massive size seemed utterly at odds with the delicate, alluring meow it was now emitting, had somehow entered the room.
“Kkamangi, you…”
As Jeha called out, Kkamangi purred, seemingly pleased that it had successfully diverted Jeha’s attention. Then, with an elegant posture, it sat and meticulously licked its muzzle with its tongue.
Jeha debated whether to praise Kkamangi for tearing all the assassins to shreds earlier or to scold it. If he praised it, Kkamangi might develop a taste for killing humans. Yet, he couldn’t scold the clever creature that had miraculously sensed his plight and rushed to his rescue.
“…You seem to have eaten quite well.”
Jeha ultimately settled on that remark. The moment he finished speaking, Kkamangi let out a loud burp.
Just then, the world outside the bedroom window suddenly brightened, and a frantic clatter of hooves echoed chaotically. Hereis rose from his seat and approached the window.
“The Holy Knights have been deployed,” Hereis announced, confirming what he saw outside the window.
Given that the Archpriest had been openly attacked on Encarosha’s main thoroughfare, the swift deployment of the Holy Knights was entirely understandable.
“I suppose I should go out there,” Jeha said, getting up from the bed. Hereis quickly rushed over, gently eased Jeha back onto the bed, and pulled the blanket up to his chest.
“You still need more rest.”
“But aren’t we going to pretend that you healed everything anyway?”
“Even so, no.”
Hereis’s expression was resolute.
Knock, knock—
A knock echoed, and Paimon entered.
“Master, the Holy Knights have arrived. Even the Captain of the Holy Knights has arrived. They insist on personally verifying the Archpriest’s well-being.”
The Holy Knights alone were unwelcome enough, but for their Captain to personally grace his home with a visit… It felt profoundly unsettling to have someone practically an enemy set foot in his residence.
“I will go out to meet them,” Hereis said, rising. Jeha grabbed Hereis’s wrist.
“Why don’t we just have them come in here? After all, I’m both a witness and a victim, so shouldn’t I give a statement at least once?”
After a moment of hesitation, Hereis finally nodded.
Not long after Paimon departed, Holy Knights stormed into the bedroom.
Among them, leading the charge, was Evan, the Captain of the Holy Knights.
This was their second encounter. During their first meeting, he had openly regarded Jeha with contempt. Today was no different. Perhaps due to his duty, he didn’t glare overtly, but the fleeting glances he cast still conveyed his true feelings.
“Archpriest Hereis, are you unharmed?” Sir Evan asked courteously. His demeanor was notably different from before, likely because this was a formal setting rather than a private one.
“I am well. However, Marquis Belgarga was struck by a crossbow bolt.”
“How fortunate.”
At Sir Evan’s blunt remark, a wave of dismay rippled across the faces of the Holy Knights standing behind him. To say ‘thank goodness’ after the Marquis Belgarga had been struck by an arrow was, to say the least, remarkably disrespectful.
“On our way here, we discovered numerous bodies believed to be assassins. I have ordered them all to be collected for investigation. Do you recall the number of assassins, by any chance?”
“I believe there were about seven.”
Hereis replied calmly. Sir Evan nodded.
“The number of bodies we found on the way was precisely seven. Though we haven’t identified each one, I’ve given strict orders to ensure any still breathing are kept alive, so rest assured. We will uncover the mastermind behind this, without fail.”