The Age Of Arrogance

It was so creepy and horrible, but Asha gritted her teeth and scoffed at him.

 

However, instead of getting angry, Gabriel chuckled softly.

 

“To be honest… yes, that’s right.”

 

“Earlier, you seemed as if you were looking at something filthy.”

 

“That’s so strange… When I think about the fact that your life is in my hands… My body feels hot.”

 

Asha really felt like she was going to throw up.

 

“Are you a pervert?”

 

“I also find it unsettling for me.”

 

Gabriel licked his lips with his tongue, as if he was savoring something while saying it was unsettling.

 

“If you think about taking what belongs to Carlyle, it might be worth enduring the discomfort.”

 

“What on earth did you have to eat to have such crazy thoughts? I belong to His Highness?”

 

“After all, you’re still his wife on paper.”

 

As he lowered his head, his silver hair flowed down and covered his face and the sides of Asha’s face like a curtain.

 

“I’ve thought about how your lips… look delicious. Like sweet honey would flow if you pressed them.”

 

“You’re truly insane.”

 

“Maybe. Originally, I intended to inject dark magic through other means, but…”

 

Asha squirmed, sensing his intentions, but she was powerless against Gabriel’s hold.

 

“Libato would allow this much. I never hoped to come into contact with your lips in such manner, but… it can’t be helped.”

 

His smirk showed no remorse, contrary to his words.

 

Asha shook her head in refusal.

 

But there was no way to stop the approaching Gabriel.

 

‘Damn it! Damn it!’

 

As Asha violently shook her head, Gabriel’s lips brushed against her cheek, ear, and jaw.

 

He seemed to enjoy even that.

 

“I’ve changed my mind. I won’t kill you. You’ll live at my place, away from prying eyes.”

 

“Get away from me!”

 

“Accept me, Asha. Everything will be easier.”

 

With a smirk, he suddenly grabbed Asha’s chin roughly, attempting to kiss her. Asha tightly sealed her lips, squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to the end.

 

But then, at that moment, Gabriel suddenly fell backward, and a thumping sound was heard.

 

“Huh?”

 

The scent that she just thought smelled faint seemed to brush past her nose. Then, a familiar voice started spewing out harsh insults as if heard from a distance.

 

“This son of a bitch! You dare insult my wife? Did you read the scriptures with your asshole, you damn bastard?”

 

It was Carlyle.

 

Unbelievable as it was, it really was him.

 

“Your Highness…?”

 

Asha barely managed to get up, but she called out to him blankly due to the absurdity of the situation. Of course, he was too busy beating up Gabriel to pay any attention to Asha.

 

At that moment, Asha noticed that Gabriel was wrapping dark magic around his arm, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack Carlyle.

 

Whoosh!

 

“Be careful! He can freely use black magic!”

 

As expected, Carlyle, who was pinning Gabriel down and swinging his fists, rolled backwards.

 

“Ugh, cough!”

 

Gabriel, spitting out the blood that had gathered in his mouth, stood up without staggering.

 

“How in the world did you find out about this place?”

 

“God sent me, why!”

 

“That’s nonsense.”

 

Gabriel gnashed his teeth in disgust at Carlyle’s claim that he was sent by God.

 

“Alright, this is even better. I’ll kill you here and just cut off your head and throw it outside.”

 

Gabriel realized that his chance to appear as a “savior” had already gone down the drain.

 

Then, he had to go with the next best option.

 

However, Carlyle wasn’t easy either. Seeing how he stood up completely unaffected even after being hit with powerful black magic…

 

“How long have you been itching to use this dirty trick?”

 

He, possessing divine power, had a strong resistance to black magic.

 

“But what about this? I also know how to do some similar tricks to you.”

 

Carlyle drew his sword from his waist and imbued it with divine power.

 

Gabriel, who hadn’t known that Carlyle possessed divine power, doubted his own eyes as a faint light started to swirl around Carlyle’s sword.

 

“What kind of trick are you pulling?”

 

“You’re a priest, you should recognize divine power when you see it.”

 

“Divine power…? Lies! Why you…!”

 

“If you don’t believe it, then don’t say anything.”

 

Carlyle didn’t have enough patience to wait until Gabriel understood the situation.

 

Whoosh!

 

Carlyle rushed towards Gabriel at an incredible speed, swinging his sword. The sound of cutting through the air resonated sharply.

 

Gabriel barely dodged, but a strand of his hair got cut off.

 

At that fact, Gabriel’s anger exploded.

 

“You a human who is not even as good as a dog or a pig, dare…!”

 

A dark aura resembling malice rose from his hand and flew towards Carlyle.

 

“Where are you going!”

 

Carlyle swung his sword and scattered the black magic in mid-air.

 

Meanwhile, Asha watched Gabriel’s condition and clenched and unclenched her fists.

 

‘My body strength has almost returned.’

 

Whether exerting strength while lying down earlier helped, her body recovered enough to attempt a counterattack, although not perfectly.

 

‘Seeing how he’s attacking His Highness Carlyle away from the magic circle, it seems like that magic circle is extremely important… .’

 

However, there’s no way for her without divine power or black magic. Even holy water is hard to find these days…

 

‘Huh? That… .’

 

As Asha desperately looked around for something to do, her gaze fell on Gabriel’s coat.

 

The neatly unbuttoned priestly coat revealed the priestly items he carried with him neatly arranged. A stole for the shoulders, a rosary necklace, a portable scripture, and… a small holy water bottle.

 

Asha quickly glanced at Gabriel.

 

He was so focused on fighting Carlyle that he wasn’t paying any attention to Asha.

 

‘There’s not much holy water left. Can I use that to remove the magic circle?’

 

Although it wasn’t a lot of holy water that was used to destroy the magic circle in the Pervaz Castle, the black magic circle now floating in the air was quite different from the one in the Castle. It was much larger and even emitting a dark aura.

 

‘I don’t know if it will work or not, but I have to try.’

 

She had just learned that Carlyle possessed divine power, but she didn’t know how much power he had or how much longer he could hold on.

 

So she needed to distract Gabriel at least a little.

 

Asha crawled slowly on the ground, face down.

 

And then, at that moment, she made eye contact with Carlyle.

 

He noticed Asha is up to something and quickly pushed Gabriel towards Asha with his back to her

 

‘In any case, you’re quick to catch on.

 

Taking advantage of the opportunity created by Carlyle, Asha swiftly crawled towards Gabriel’s coat and quietly grabbed the holy water bottle lying on top of it.

 

At that moment, Gabriel suddenly reached out in that direction.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Asha narrowly rolled aside to avoid Gabriel’s attack, but the chair on which Gabriel’s coat was draped was smashed.

 

‘You tried to humiliate people like that, yet you insist on using honorifics diligently.’

 

TL/N: In Korean it’s common to use honorifics/formal language to talk to someone higher in rank than you (like a senior or your boss) or older than you or you and them are strangers(but that stranger is older than you too)

 

Asha quickly hid under the altar.

 

Gabriel, sensing danger, tried to find Asha, and Carlyle struggled to prevent it, leading to a chaotic fight.

 

There wasn’t much time to catch a breath.

 

How can I sprinkle the holy water

from this tiny bottle all the way up there?

 

The holy water bottle that priests always carried was small enough to hold in one hand.

 

Perhaps there was only one opportunity to sprinkle holy water, at most twice.

 

‘I need to secure enough space to swing my arm.’

 

In fact, the best place was right on the altar.

 

She needed to get to a slightly higher place, and since the magic circle was floating in front of the altar.

 

Of course, there was a problem of being vulnerable to Gabriel’s attacks, but Asha, who had always fought in the worst situations, was definitely not in her right mind.

 

‘Well, let’s give it a try.’

 

Crawling around the corner of the altar to get a little further away from Gabriel, Asha firmly grasped her leather gloves.

 

If she missed holding the holy water bottle before sprinkling the holy water, she wouldn’t be able to bear the embarrassment even if she died.

 

Meanwhile, the fight between Gabriel and Carlyle became more intense.

 

“Die already, you demon!”

 

“It seems like you’ve been introducing yourself over and over again!”

 

Clang!

 

The clash of the divine powered sword against dark magic produced an eerie sound unheard from anywhere else.

 

Peeking behind the edge of the altar, Asha saw that Gabriel’s dark magic was definitely dominant.

 

It seemed like he was constantly receiving mana from the dark magic circle.

 

Asha removed the cap of the holy water bottle, plugged the opening with her thumb, took a deep breath, and waited for her chance.

 

“Cough!”

 

A faint groan of Carlyle was heard, seeming to be pushed back.

 

His sword continuously clashed with dark magic, making a booming sound.

 

It seemed like it would break any moment.

 

‘One, two……’

 

By the time Asha was counting numbers in her head, Gabriel had driven Carlyle back with a voice confident of victory.

 

“You blasphemer! You who disregard tradition and order, you who don’t know your place! You’re nothing but…!”

 

Asha gritted her teeth as she sensed Gabriel trying to unleash some great power.

 

‘Three!’

 

She jumped up on the altar and swung her arm wide towards the black magic circle.

 

“Please…!”

 

She didn’t let go of the holy water bottle.

 

The holy water that poured out of the narrow mouth of the bottle flew straight towards the black magic circle, just as Asha had intended.