PMEVBO 135

Jin Atalef Sarachephon. That was the Pope’s name.

“This system is a fucking piece of shit…”

I muttered the curse through clenched teeth. Isser’s shoulder, pressed against mine, twitched. Only then did I come back to my senses.

“Oh, sorry.”

I covered my mouth with one hand and glanced at him. But since his head was resting on my shoulder, I couldn’t see his expression.

He buried his face in the crook of my neck and wrapped his arms around my waist. Since I was sitting on the sofa with both knees up, I could feel his firm forearms between my thighs and lower abdomen.

Soon, his body began to tremble, and the vibrations reached me. I realized this guy was laughing right now.

Come to think of it, Iser always laughs whenever I curse.

The laughter brushing against my neck tickled. I lifted the hand on the side where Iser [Read on]was clinging to me and tapped his smooth cheek gently.

“……Do you like it when I curse?”

He barely managed to reply.

“No, it’s just funny coming from someone who never does it.”

“I do it a lot normally.”

If I compiled all the times I’d cursed at the system, I could easily fill two or three books.

“You don’t do it to me.”

“Why would I curse at you?”

I chuckled and stroked his cheek, but then paused at a sudden thought. I turned my head toward where him and asked seriously.

“…You actually want to hear it?”

“Just once?”

What…?

Honestly, I wasn’t confident I could do that.

How can I curse at someone I like…?

I was frozen in shock when I felt a hard, damp sensation at the tip of my thumb.

“Calm down. I won’t ask you to curse at me.”

He bit my fingertip gently and spoke in a voice tinged with laughter. Then he continued in a languid tone as he patted my lower back.

“I was just curious what it felt like, but that’s enough now. I think I understand.”

“……You think you understand?”

The cursing just now was directed solely at the system. I didn’t even curse at him, so how could he say he understands?

Ah, come to think of it… I do tend to personify the system when I curse at it.

When I curse at it like I’m talking to an inanimate object, it just doesn’t feel satisfying.

Just then, Iser asked in a gentle tone.

“So? What’s going on this time?”

“……I’m supposed to praise the Pope.”

It wasn’t like I was performing a ritual to appease a quest god or anything… I buried my face in my knees and let out a heavy sigh. Just then, soft, plump lips touched my neck.

“Do you really hate praising His Holiness that much?”

His lips parted with a soft smack. Shivers ran down my spine, and my toes curled up.

“It’s not that I hate it…”

“It isn’t?”

I leaned my head against my arms, which were propped up on my knees, and laughed listlessly.

“…It’s just that I don’t have the confidence.”

It wasn’t as if I could be recognized for giving a compliment just by spouting some nice-sounding words. It was a system where a compliment was only valid if the other person was pleased by it.

But the Pope…?

It would be easier to praise a wall. I’d spent most of my life as Lucariel beside the Pope. So, even if I didn’t want to know, I couldn’t help but know. That man felt no joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure.

Well, I suppose he at least pretended to smile in front of other people.

But with me…

I had never once been a source of joy for him.

“…You were always the target, so I don’t understand why it’s acting like this all of a sudden.”

As I ran my hand through my hair and muttered irritably, a cool hand slipped inside my shirt.

“Are you disappointed it’s not me?”

As his hand slowly traced a path from my hips up to my ribs, my breath caught and my lower back tensed against my will. He chuckled softly and continued.

“You wanted to praise me because I’m the easiest target?”

I bit my lip to stifle a moan. My grip on his arm tightened. I managed to catch my breath and opened my mouth.

“……It’s not that I think you’re easy. I’m just grateful that you’re happy with even my smallest words and actions.”

“I know.”

The hand that had pulled down the hem of my shirt, which had ridden up, wrapped around my waist again. As it did, my ragged breathing gradually settled.

“But you’re making things too difficult for yourself when it comes to His Holiness.”

……Because it is difficult.

He clasped his hands together while still holding me. Instead of answering, I just fiddled with his arms.

“You said His Holiness looks like your older brother, right?”

“……Just his face.”

I said that, but I knew that my brother and the Pope might also be connected through this life and a past life. But I didn’t want to think that way. If that were really the case… I felt like I wouldn’t be able to look my brother in the face even after returning to my original world.

“Do you remember when you apologized to me after we had tea with His Holiness in the reception room?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Then do you remember why you apologized?”

“I remember.”

I’d apologized because he looked uncomfortable being forced to drink tea by the Pope.

Come to think of it, I think he asked me the same thing after we got back to the prison cell that day too.

Was it that memorable?

Iser, who had been silent with his lips pressed against my shoulder, spoke in a calm tone.

“When I was little, my older sister once attended a tea party by herself. She must have been nine at the time.”

Isabelle?

It was hard to follow the flow of the conversation, but I replied while gently stroking his hair.

“So you were four at the time.”

The breath that had been tickling my collarbone stopped abruptly.

“……Yes, that’s right.”

He held me tighter and rubbed his cheek against my shoulder. It was so cute that I couldn’t stop myself from kissing the top of his head.

“So? What happened at the tea party?”

“My older sister beat a noble her age.”

“Huh?”

His voice was calm, but the content was anything but.

“That noble was throwing a tantrum, demanding unauthorized copy she stay by his side. So she pulled out all his hair to teach him a lesson.”

“…She must have really hated it.”

“I guess so.”

Iser chuckled softly and continued in a low voice.

“In the end, Father went to see the noble himself and settled the matter.”

“What did he do when he went to see him?”

“He apologized and scolded her.”

“What a wonderful father.”

Ah.

I think I finally understood why Iser had suddenly brought up that story.

“……Do you think I regard the Pope as family? Like how I treat my brother?”

“You apologized to me on His Holiness’s behalf that day.”

“…….”

“But apologizing on someone else’s behalf is something people usually do only with those they’re close to.”

There had definitely been a time when I thought of him as family. I thought of him as a parental figure. After all, he had been by my side ever since I first began to think.

But ever since I realized why he kept me by his side, ever since I began to think that one day I might die by his hand… I had to strangle every last trace of even the tiniest bit of affection.

Just then, Iser kissed my cheek. I turned my head reflexively, and his face, resting his chin on my shoulder, was close. At a distance where our lips could touch, he whispered.

“You wanted to be that person’s joy, am I right?”

My breath caught in my throat. The breath I couldn’t exhale stabbed somewhere in my chest. I bit [Read on]my lip and lowered my gaze.

“……How do you know that?”

I don’t even know myself.

Then he chuckled softly and kissed my chin.

“I had to know.”

Iser sat up. As I leaned my elbows on the sofa armrests, he wrapped his arms around my knees. Then, resting his cheek against the tips of my knees, he smiled.

“Because I only see you. Even more than you do.”

“Hah.”

……I’m going crazy.

I covered my mouth with the back unauthorized copyof my hand and looked away. But only for a moment; I sighed and stroked his cheek.

“But it doesn’t matter what I think. That person…”

……wants to kill me.

The words I couldn’t bring myself to say got stuck in my throat. My throat hurt as if I’d swallowed the sun. Iser, who had been watching me, gently stroked my thigh up and down. The turmoil inside me subsided.

“Then let’s take this opportunity to find out how His Holiness feels about you?”

“……”

“It’s alright. It’ll fine.”

He lowered his gaze and smiled. In that moment, I felt that maybe everything really would be all right.