“Sorry. I got a little carried away.” After rubbing her freed right hand, Sherry stood up and apologized.

This was the first time she’d completely lost her composure in her entire life. She’d almost failed to keep up her Saintess act.

No man had ever proposed to her before, because none of those guys had even managed to confess their feelings successfully.

That’s right—in her eyes, this wasn’t a confession at all. It was a marriage proposal!

What she couldn’t understand most of all was how Carlisle had skipped straight past the confession stage and proposed to her after only meeting her a few times!

Did this guy have no idea how things were supposed to work?!

Or was he just a frivolous, irresponsible womanizer?

After getting slapped yet again, Carlisle covered his cheek and retreated to his spot. His eyes looked much clearer now.

“Car…” Sherry stopped after uttering the first syllable.

It suddenly hit her that Saintess Liya had apparently never asked Carlisle his name! Even the wanted poster hanging in the city had no name beneath his picture.

If she didn’t ask, Liya had no way of knowing his name.

She’d almost blown her cover.

Standing in front of the sofa with her arms crossed, she said, “Sir, I don’t even know your name. How could I possibly marry you?”

“Carlisle. Just call me Carlisle. As for getting married, actually…”

Carlisle was clearly taken aback by what she said. He hadn’t expected that, after all their encounters, Liya still didn’t know his name.

Sherry had no intention of listening to him now. She cut Carlisle off and headed for the stairs as she spoke. “I’m not holding what you did earlier against you. You don’t need to feel guilty. As the Saintess of the Church, I’m not so fragile that I’d be hurt by something like that.”

“But…”

“There’s no ‘but.’ If you have nowhere to stay tonight, you can stay here.” She stopped on the stairs and glanced at the sofa. “You can sleep there.”

There was a guest room in her home, but she didn’t want Carlisle staying in it.

A guy like him deserved the sofa at most!

“That’s settled. I’m a little tired today, so I’m going to rest.”

With that, she disappeared at the top of the stairs.

But before long, her head peeked out from the upstairs hallway.

“Hmm?” Carlisle looked puzzled.

“Oh, and don’t forget to clean up the floor. Call it your rent for tonight.”

Sherry wasn’t about to pass up free labor.

Besides, she was the owner of this house! When a guest came to the owner’s home, shouldn’t they do something to make the owner happy? The owner was obviously higher in status than the guest, right? Otherwise, why take a guest in at all?

He was lucky she hadn’t made him pay to fix the door!

Even though all his money was on her.

With that thought, she returned to her bedroom.

She’d been tired all day. It was time to sleep, and she didn’t have the energy to deal with Carlisle any more tonight.

She didn’t wear a bra when she slept in her nightdress. She’d only put one on because she was going to see Carlisle; otherwise, two very noticeable bumps would’ve shown through the front of her nightdress.

Now she needed to take her bra off.

She slipped a hand beneath her nightdress and was just about to take it off when she suddenly shuddered.

After checking that the door was firmly shut, she opened the wardrobe doors one by one. Then she bent down to check under the bed. Only after confirming that no one was there did she finally feel safe enough to take off her bra.

She was getting a little traumatized. It was all that bastard Carlisle’s fault.

She pulled the covers over herself. The clear moonlight fell across her cheeks, and she slowly closed her eyes—but her consciousness didn’t sink into darkness.

A white church wedding. A girl in a white bridal gown, holding a bouquet and smiling happily. A boy in a suit…

Rumpled sheets. A smear of crimson. A naked girl biting her lip as she leaned against the wall…

Whoosh—

She suddenly threw off the covers and sat up, clutching her burning-hot face as she let out a strange cry.

“Get married? How could that ever happen?!”

……

Downstairs, a human-shaped figure sank into the sofa.

“You’re done for, you’re done for! You and the Saintess are probably over before you even began,” the Ghostling on his neck cried in a shrill, strange voice.

Carlisle seemed used to its antics. With both hands behind his head, he gazed out at the full moon and stars and sighed softly. “I was too hasty.”

“What was too hasty?”

“The confession. Or rather, the proposal.”

Seeing that Carlisle was feeling down, the Ghostling surprisingly sobered up, too.

“What do you mean?” it asked.

“I’m a Knight of the Round Table. The responsibilities and mission I carry are too heavy. They mean I can never marry and have children like a normal person.”

“……”

“I figured all that out a long time ago, but now I’ve forgotten it all because of love.” He sighed again. The light of countless stars fell across his face, yet somehow only made him look more alone. “Marrying her would only bring her misfortune. None of the Knights of the Round Table who struggle at the edge of sanity ever meet a good end. And that’s without even mentioning you.”

When the Ghostling heard him bring it up, it scoffed and mocked itself. “Me? I’m just a pitiful monster tainted by the power of an ancient god.”

Carlisle wriggled deeper into the soft sofa, as if he wanted to bury his whole body in it.

He rubbed his nose, guessing that Liya often rested on the sofa. Her scent lingered in every corner of it.

“She deserves a better future, doesn’t she? I’m not good enough for her. Maybe those books are right when they say, ‘If you love someone, let them go.’ I’ll just wish her well from afar. She makes me look forward to tomorrow, but she won’t be there in my tomorrows.”

“I’ve got no idea where you picked up all this crap. Why are you getting all mopey out of nowhere? You’re talking like she actually accepted your proposal.”

Carlisle was at a loss for words.

“…Sometimes I think you’re even more annoying than Sherry.”

“Isn’t that just the truth?”

That was right. Liya hadn’t accepted his proposal at all. Maybe he’d been pining for her alone from the very beginning.

But maybe that was for the best. Better for an impossible love to never exist in the first place. He’d bear the pain of longing alone. Time would smooth over his wounds anyway.

His future belonged to the world’s strange and twisted fate. Liya would only be an insignificant passerby in his life.

“Come to think of it, I should probably thank Sherry. Without her potion, my impulsiveness might’ve led me to make a terrible mistake.”

No man could resist the Saintess’s body, especially not a vigorous young man like him.

As it turned out, impotence had its perks. For instance, it helped you stay true to yourself instead of getting seduced by a woman.

“So you really are giving up?”

“I am.”

He believed love came as quickly as it went. As long as the person he longed for wasn’t right in front of him, time would blur her image. One day, she’d be like a star in the sky: still shining, but impossible to pick out from all the others at a glance.

It was enough to keep Liya in his heart as a faint shadow.

He closed his eyes. The girl’s sweet scent lingered in his nose, but he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Part of him still couldn’t let go, and he felt a pang of sadness.

Along with it came a suffocating feeling, like he’d just been through a breakup.

At last, he sat up helplessly and looked at the bottle of green potion on the table.

“I’ll keep it with me, then. As a gift from Liya…”

“Hmm… Maybe it’ll come in handy if I get poisoned someday.”