Dreams of the Holy Knight - Chapter 18

Dreams of the Holy Knight - Chapter 18

Count Alphonse's office was brightly lit until late at night.  Inside Ian's clenched fists, a letter wrinkled to the point of being unidentifiable was sticking out.  

“Now that she has become a Saint, are you going to break the engagement?  Ha!"  

Was it a mistake to let his guard down to tame her slowly since she would have been his anyway? He didn’t know how she coaxed her parents, but he couldn’t believe how quickly they had sent a letter to break off the engagement.  The sound of grinding teeth rang through the lonely office.

This engagement couldn’t be broken up so easily. She needed remain in his grasp until she had a child that resembled Layla. Ian sat at his desk and began scribbling letters to somewhere.

Count Alphonse was known to have accumulated a lot of wealth from commerce, but it was not easy to make such a large amount of money at upper management from a Count who did not have much capital. He had also been secretly engaging in non-commercial activities, such as illegal auctions, drug trafficking, and human trafficking, to make money.

Activities that were taboo carried a lot of risk, but they brought a lot of benefits.  In the process, it was inevitable that he would collaborate with underworld criminals and black magicians.  It was because there were not enough people to deal with the mess behind the scenes.  It was time for them to repay the kindness he had shown them so far.  

After writing the letter and ringing the bell, Ian's aide came in.  He urged him to deliver his letter.  

“Deliver this letter to Fenrir as soon as possible.  And ask someone to find out where the Saintess is staying and where she often appears.”  

"Yes.  I understand."  

After the aide left, Ian, leaning back in his chair, pulled out a portrait of Layla and swept her face with his thumb.  

“Lily is the woman you sent to tell me not to forget you.  Right, Layla?  Yes?"

The hand holding the portrait became tense. He and his lover wanted a child who looked like them so much, but as Layla's condition deepened, the dream collapsed without a trace. And not long after Layla left, Liliana miraculously appeared in front of him.

She had a striking resemblance to his dead lover.  It was as if Layla had sent her to fulfill their unfulfilled dream.  

He couldn't give up on Liliana.  He would put her in his grasp, and would give his own daughter all that he could not do for Layla. His graceful lips were terribly distorted, and his dark blue eyes flashed dangerously.  

* * * (read on pink-grapes.blogspot.com)  

Liliana tossed with her eyes open.  In last night’s dream , there was a woman with bright blonde hair who was crying sadly.  The woman's eyes, from which her tears were falling, were the same color as hers, so she had a vivid image of a woman.  But why did she dream of the crying woman? 

“Was it just a silly dream?”  

After tossing and turning for a while, the scene in her dream quickly faded.  After stretching and getting up, her body felt lighter.  It seemed that she recovered quickly because of her holy powers.  

She had been locked up for two days, so she decided to take a tour of the temple today. Although she has often visited the temple, she only went to the chapel and prayer room.  

“I heard that the garden is beautiful, why didn’t I think of going before?”  

After washing up and pulling the rope, Jenna brought her food.  Jenna guided her through today’s schedule as she ate softly cooked chicken, soup, white bread and salad. 

“Since you fainted yesterday, the Holy Father said that you should rest!”  

"Yes?"

What?  When would she actually work? She tried to tell Jenna that her body was fine, but Jenna left her room after telling her to rest.  Feeling disappointed, she gave up her plan to go for a walk, and laid back in bed and rolled around endlessly until Noel came.

Around the same time as yesterday, she heard a knock on the door.  She jumped up and opened the door. Noel came in and picked her up.  His lips tickled her as he kissed her face and she withdrew her neck. In response, his lips ran down the nape of her neck.  He buried his face in her shoulder, his breath piercing her back.  

“I wanted to see you.  Lily.”  

"Me too."  

They went into the office and sat next to each other on the sofa, their hands clasped together as if they could not be separated.  Noel, who had been toying with her hair with his remaining hand, hesitated and opened his mouth.  

“Lily, there is something I want to ask you.”  

“What is it?”  

“I heard that there is someone you are to marry.  That."  

“Ah, if you’re asking about that, I already sent a letter of breaking up the engagement.  It was primarily a marriage that my parents were forcing me to enter.”  

Hearing Liliana's words, Noel's expression brightened.  As he smiled and tilted his head, his fine black hair fluttered.  

"That's a relief.  I was afraid that I would never even have a chance to court you.”  

What did he mean courtship...….  Liliana, who had lowered her head as her face heated up l shook her head at the question that ran through her head.  

"Uh……  By the way, sir Noel is a holy knight.  If it goes against the doctrine.”  

After becoming an adult and manifesting his powers, it was he who swore to leave his worldly glory behind and to live according to the will of the Goddess.  He became a holy knight, and everyone who saw him silently keep his oath praised him, calling him a model of a holy knight.  She feared that he, who was famous for being so celibate and faithful, would be hated by the Goddess because of her.

Noel chuckled as he looked at her who had a worried expression on her face.  The temple was not full of those who were clean and pure.  He knew many priests and knights who pursued lust, and her innocent reaction was lovely.  And last night, the Goddess...….  He lifted their intertwined hands and kissed the back of her hand.  

“I plan to return to the duchy soon.  However, the journey to the gates of the demon realm will not be easy, so until then, please let me protect you by your side.”  

He was giving up his position as the commander of the Holy Knights and relocating because of me?  Her eyes widened.  

“How can you do that because of me?  What about all the achievements that you have accumulated as the commander of the Holy Knights?  It would be a disgrace to Sir Noel!”  

“More than any other position, it would be the the greatest honor for me to be by the Saintess. Please allow it.  Yes?"  

No, why was he doing this when she wasn’t even a big deal?  It was disconcerting to see him courting a woman he had only met a few times in his dreams, but what was even more disconcerting was her own pleased heart.  Her heart rate accelerated. Something must have happened to both of them...….  

"But."  

“I keep thinking that I shouldn’t let go of you.  Even if you don't allow me, I'll be by your side.  You said you'd take care of me, Lily."  

Noel smiled softly, stroking the back of Liliana's hand with his thumb.  Her face heated up and she closed her eyes tightly.  Why was he so handsome?  She never directly said that she would take responsibility for him, but she couldn't refute that he had become like this because of her. 

And above all, she felt the same way.  She also felt like she didn’t want to let go of Noel. 

“…… okay."

Hearing her permission, he smiled and hugged her.  Liliana, who had been burying her face in his wide chest, muttered and pulled away.  She had to practice so that she could control her holy powers, but if she stayed like this, she felt like she would pounce on him.

“Are you going to teach me how to handle my holy powers?”  

“Oh, yes.  Since that happened yesterday, it should be easy for you to release your powers now.  Give it a try.”  

As she concentrated like yesterday, her hand shone brightly as he said it would.  When she was puzzled not knowing what to do, the tips of Noel’s lips rose because he thought her cute and explained the next steps. 

“Now you have to be able to fine-tune that power.  No matter how powerful you are, if you continue to let go without controlling your power, it can put a strain on your body.”  

"How?"  

“Think of it breaking up the energy little by little and letting it go.  Imagine that there is a narrow passage, and you only send out a small amount out at a time.”  

Liliana concentrated on her body, as he said. Imagining that there was a narrow passage near her wrist, she sent out the divine power little by little, and the size of the light significantly decreased. 

"Wow!  I did it!"  

“Good job.”  

She kept looking into my hands in wonder. This light could heal people, right? She was itching to use it quickly. Nothing bad would happen like when she blew Ian away, right? Now that she thought about it, a question arose. If the light that blew Ian last time was holy power, could holy power hurt people?    

“Sir Noel.  Is it possible to hit someone with holy powers?”  

“Theoretically it is possible.” 

"Oh my……  But why do priests only use their holy powers for healing?”  

“There are very few people who have holy power strong enough to harm people in the first place, and those who use their holy power to harm others lose their power.  Because it goes against the teachings of the Goddess.”

Liliana, who had already used her power to beat up Ian, was terrified when she heard him say that.  

“What should I do……?  I once hit someone with my powers!  But I didn’t know that.”

Hearing her words, Noel's expression hardened terribly.  

“Did he harm the Saintess first?”  

“Um, yes.  Kind of.”  

“What kind of bastard……  Don’t tell me, Count Alphonse?”  

Seeing her face as she nodded her head cautiously, anger grew at the Count.  What had he done that made her attack him without realizing it? Noel wanted to run and cut off his head right away, but he remembered that the priority was to soothe Lily, who looked at him with an anxious face.  

“The Saintess by her very being, means the representative of Goddess.  If it was against the will of the Goddess, it would not have been manifested in the first place, so you don’t have to worry.”  

"Really? That’s a relief."  

Thinking that since the Goddess had allowed it, she was regretful that she hadn’t beat him up even more.  Noel sighed as he hugged her again when she was grinding her teeth inwardly as she was relieved that the next time they met, she wouldn't leave him alone.  

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even know that such a thing happened.  Lily.”  

“Oh, no.  It's a thing of the past, and that was before we met."  

“I will protect you from now on.” 

[Previous Chapter] [TOC] [Next Chapter]