[Hmm. I’m still lacking in studying human mating. Maybe you are right.]
“No, no. What Rabes said is correct. I liked him on my own, wished for something in return, and ended up being disappointed on my own. And I’ve been ignorant and arrogant.”
[Wait! I didn’t say that…]
“I’m glad I realized that now. Because in this life, I don’t want to live feeling so miserable.”
The water that covered Elaine’s eyes suddenly turned into droplets and flowed down.
Rabes stiffened with a puzzled expression.
She was the reincarnation of Lancers, who wanted revenge, but he made the contractor cry. The beginning of this relationship was very uneasy.
[Hey, hey. then…Should I make him like you?]
Elaine laughed out loud at the nervous-looking Rabes’ suggestion.
“Can you control people’s minds and thoughts?”
[I’m not doing that but I can help you hone your seduction skills with my magical powers.]
“Then you want me to seduce L’Arch with that seduction skills?”
[Yes. Because seduction skills are used for such things.]
Although Rabes can speak human words and become human figures, Elaine once again clearly realized that Rabes was not human.
If you get love by magic, you will suffer for the rest of your life because of the fact that the person does not truly like you.
And this dragon didn’t understand that at all.
“No. I am okay. Because my love for him is already over.”
Rabes looked at Elaine, who sniffed her nose and wiped away tears with her sleeve, then suddenly stiffened his face and asked in a serious voice.
[By the way, who is L’Arch?]
Elaine, who had unknowingly thrown L’Arch’s name out of her mouth, changed the topic with a cheerful voice as she was embarrassed to reveal her relationship with him.
“Well, that doesn’t really matter. By the way, why does lord Rabes hate humans so much? Is it because of the wizard who sealed lord Rabes?”
[Uh? He’s a bastard, but none of the humans I’ve ever seen have been good.]
“Me too.…?”
When Elaine asked timidly, Rabes stared into Elaine’s eyes. He remembered the day he first met Lancers in her previous life.
Even then, she was a girl of about this age, but in a much more precarious situation. A girl with sad and pretty eyes who cried and begged to be saved and to kill all the villagers.
Rabes, who had been lost in flashbacks, waggled his tail at Elaine, who was waiting for an answer.
[The young are fine. However, humans tend to become nasty as they grow into adults.]
“In fact, some people are nasty from a young age.”
‘That, too, was quite a lot.’
Not only her cousins who had been bullying Elaine all her life in this mansion but also the group that had been bullying her in the temple were all young.
But that didn’t mean she wanted to kill them all.
‘Lorina must have hated me so much that she wanted to kill me.’
The thought of Lorina made her a little angry, but Elaine controlled herself by thinking that it was not important now.
She had the important mission of raising Rabes as a good dragon and preventing the fall of the empire, and if she was angry about everything that happened, she wouldn’t know what this dragon would do.
“I will do my best for Lord Rabes. That’s why I’ll help you overcome your hatred for humans.”
[Well, try your best.]
Rabes was talking about other people’s business.
Elaine got out of bed and quietly approached Rabes.
Rabes hesitated a bit, wondering what she was trying to do, but in fact, Elaine wasn’t even sure if this was the right thing to do.
‘Kids love it when their head is stroked.…’
All of the commoner children who came to the temple to study were like that. Even if she stroked the top of their round head a couple of times, they would show a bright smile as if they had the whole world.
And Rabes was just like those children.
Elaine hesitated, then gently reached out and stroked Rabes’s head.
Rabes’ entire body froze at the sudden touch.
[What are you doing now?]
“Ah…sorry if you were offended…”
[No, no. Go ahead.]
Elaine, who was about to withdraw her hand, carefully stroked Rabes again.
As she stroked his head, Rabes closed his eyes and pressed his scales against her body as he pushed his head further toward her.
Elaine, who was somehow encouraged by his appearance, gently stroked Rabes from his back to his tail. The scales, which looked jagged and sharp when he was in the form of a giant adult, were just smooth now.
[Hmm…why does this feel good?]
Elaine smiled involuntarily at Rabes’ childish appearance. Since the death of her mother, Mariel, Elaine had never felt this close to someone. This level of intimacy was enough to make her smile. Elaine reached out and gently pulled Rabes into her arms.
Rabes, with his wings attached to his body, was warm like a fire-breathing dragon. It was perfect for cuddling in an attic, where the tip of her nose was cold from the cold wind.
[It feels …Strange.]
“On the bad side?”
[No. I don’t think so. Hmmp…]
Rabes rubbed his small head on Elaine’s shoulder and shook his tail gently. It was so adorable that Elaine lightly kissed Rabes on the cheek.
[What’s that!]
Rabes was startled.
“uh…that… Close friends sometimes kiss each other on the cheek or forehead.”
[then…Are you and I close?]
“I want to be like that.”
[Hmm…]
Rabes looked at Elaine and tilted her head, then nodded.
[Well, since you are my contractor,…I don’t think there’s anyone more close to me than you.]
For some reason, it seemed like an explanation to convince himself, but Elaine just nodded eagerly.
[Then kiss me one more time and hug me. keep stroking my back.]
Elaine smiled as she watched Rabes command her like she had a right to do so.
It was a little overwhelming to be back to her sixteen-year-old self, but with Rabes, she knew she could handle it.
* * *
‘Elaine didn’t come.’
L’Arch, who had trouble sleeping, started thinking about that as soon as the morning dawned.
He was sure Elaine would visit with a small knock last night, but Elaine didn’t come after all.
The visit had been so annoying that L’Arch had considered locking the door, but the slightest sound caused him to glance in the direction of the door, distracting him from the task at hand.
‘Is everything really okay?’
He’d assumed the bullying must have been pretty severe, with his siblings throwing stones at her, but seeing that Elaine didn’t come to visit, it seems that Martin didn’t do anything too harsh.
‘Well, that’s a good thing.’
L’Arch had a heavy head because he couldn’t sleep well, but he woke up on time as usual and started his day.
Washed, got dressed, said his morning prayers, drank hot tea, and read the newspaper.
‘The High Priestess of the Temple of Pavello is very skillful. He’s only been high priest for 10 years, and he’s managed to grow the temple this much’
While reading the article about the temple of Pavel, L’Arch paid attention not to the temple itself but to John, the High Priest.
John Pavello, the High Priest of the Temple of Pavello, was on the fast track to success, one of the best in the history of Roman religion.
It is great that he became a high priest at the young age of 35 years and within 10 years of being commissioned as a high priest, he raised the temple of Favello as one of the top five temples in the empire.
Before he was commissioned, the Pavello Temple was just one of the ordinary temples, except for its long history.
‘No one would have known that the treasure was sleeping in that old temple. Come to think of it, it seems that high priest Pavello is also lucky.’
underwent an extensive renovation that included gutting the entire temple, and in the process, John discovered the 500-year-old urn of the Great Wizard Lancers Aquinal under the temple.
That was the treasure buried in the Pavello Temple.
It was possible to attract the royal family and nobles to the temple by holding a large-scale ritual for the remains of the Great Wizard.
“If the remains of the Great Wizard Lancers Aquinal were not properly cared for, the magical power that sealed the evil dragon is weakening.”
If they keep going like this, the evil dragon will wake up from the seal and drive the empire to ruin.
To replace the magic of the Great Wizard They need proper imperial support to energize the priests and strengthen the seal through Sunday prayers.
His claim, as if an evil dragon would appear any moment, aroused the emperor’s anxiety, and because of that, the temple of Pavello took advantage of all kinds of benefits while establishing it as a temple of the imperial family.
Although the nobles did not know the inside, John also had a good grasp of the inside of the nobles.
He took advantage of nobles who did not like to go out of fashion.
He made it fashionable to be a worshiper at the Temple of Pavello.
‘Because of that, I heard that the temple of Pavello has the highest number of saints.…I wonder how many people will attend the temple for the entrance ceremony next year.’
‘Entrance ceremony’ was an unusual custom of the Calais Empire, where religion was a powerful force.
To show the sincerity of the family, the nobles entered one of their children into the temple to serve. The man was called a saint, and the woman was called a saintess.
Usually, they enter the temple at the age of 15 to 17, then they return home with an adult ceremony at the age of 20. Unless they want to remain in the temple and become a priest.
* * *
Wait, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t L’arch Eloise’s cousin? Since she’s an illegitimate child under the supervision of her uncle’s family.
Ty for the translation, Chewyy!