“Julius, don’t you even see any woman other than your wife as a woman?”
As a fellow heretic inquisitor walked through the br0thel, he glanced at Julius, who was walking next to him with an expressionless face, and asked.
“…So, even though you are a heretic inquisitor, do you lust for such a vulgar place?”
At Julius’ harsh words, his colleague flinched and cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Hmm, that’s not what it sounds like. I’m just talking about a physiological reaction.”
Julius looked at him briefly as the man sweated and fumbled with excuses, but he simply walked away without answering. He was clearly in a foul mood.
Golden eyes, like the intense sun, burned with displeasure. It was unbearable for Julius to see any woman other than his beloved wife, Cecile, in a place like this.
You must prove your purity.
Julius, who was seriously considering burning the entire town to the ground, finally reached his destination.
[Night Flower]
A br0thel where a vile devil hid.
You’re lurking in a place like this, sullying my eyes. Rage toward the faceless, hideous devil swelled inside him.
‘I just want to go back to Cecile. Make love with her. Let’s have dinner together.’
Ignoring the thoughts of his wife flooding his mind, Julius’s body began to move on its own. His feet stamped the ground with violent purpose. Flames erupted from the soles of his boots, blazing past the br0thel’s entrance and spreading throughout the building.
“Are you insane? Are you planning to kill all the guests here?”
“Hmph. I’m not worried about the guests—just wondering if you’re a regular, visiting with flowers in hand every night.”
Is it really acceptable for the Church of Telmere to employ a man like this as an inquisitor? Julius shook his head and left without bothering to report anything to the church.
It goes without saying that Julius’s mastery of flame manipulation was unmatched in the history of the Telmere Church. The flames, though they engulfed the entire br0thel, touched only the devils and heretics hiding within, leaving no trace of them behind.
That evening, Julius returned home. Wrapping his arms around Cecile, he begged her to join him for dinner.
However, after hearing from Krail about where Julius had gone to hunt devils and heretics, Cecile grew furious. Julius spent the entire night proving his innocence without even managing to eat dinner.
***
Two years later, only a pile of ashes remained where the br0thel [Night Flower] once stood.
The golden beast, holding a pure white holy sword stained with blood, knelt in the ruins and looked up at the sky.
“To the day I die… No, even after I die, I will love only you.”
It was a vow whispered to his dead wife.
A story of a winter’s day when pure white fireworks embroidered the earth.
***
Julius, descending the hill toward the mansion, made eye contact with Priestess Emily, a silver-haired priestess smoking a cigarette beneath a cedar tree.
“Good morning, Julius.”
“…Good morning, Priestess Emily.”
The air between them was suffocating, likely due to what had transpired the previous day.
Julius gave a brief nod and turned to leave, but he froze when he heard a single word from her lips.
“…Devil.”
“…What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“No matter how much I think about it, something is off—your wife.”
“Has Cecile done something disrespectful?”
“No… I’ve only spoken with her a few times, but… she doesn’t seem like someone who would marry a man like you.”
“She is too good for me,” Julius replied, smiling bitterly.
Emily’s purple eyes narrowed as she studied his expression. After a brief silence, she licked her lips and continued.
“She’s incredibly skilled with sacred flames. I wonder… did she learn that from someone other than the inquisitors?”
“She is Saint Erman’s daughter. Naturally, she was taught by him.”
“…I see. The saint’s daughter, huh.”
“I understand your suspicions, but she is my only wife. Even you shouldn’t test my patience when it comes to Cecile.”
Julius growled faintly, lowered his head as if the conversation had ended, and left without another word.
Emily stared at her burnt-out cigarette.
When she had reunited with Julius after ten years, he had seemed lost. But after Cecile entered his life, his face began to light up with genuine happiness.
What did he lose when he returned to the church after all that time?
An unsettling thought crept into her mind, bringing back the image of the woman she had killed long ago by giving her holy water with her own hands.
He lost his wife… yet she came back.
A terrifying realization washed over her. On the breeze, she thought she smelled the faint scent of blood.
“Ha… raising a child is pointless.”
Her heart wavered. As a mother, it was her duty to keep an eye on this situation.
Emily exhaled a deep sigh and began walking slowly toward the church.
A black bird perched silently on the tree above, watching her with unwavering focus.
***
Priestess Emily was growing more suspicious of him.
Julius bit his lower lip, trying to calm the nervous tension building inside him. Even as he struggled to steady himself, memories of the day he lost Cecile came rushing back.
The Cecile who whispered sweet nothings on her deathbed… overlapped in his mind with the Cecile from yesterday, whose kisses felt like chains binding his soul.
“Julius, I’m such a bad woman…”
“I should tell you to forget me… and live happily.”
“…But I can’t say it…”
“Please… look only at me for the rest of your life…”
“Promise me.”
She had died after speaking those words. He had failed to respond to her last request.
The curse of those unspoken words haunted him, a promise forever unfulfilled.
In his mind, he saw Cecile weeping bitterly, accusing him of being a traitor, a man who kissed a devil in her place.
‘That day, I swore an oath.
I vowed never to betray my love for Cecile.
I do not love the devil. When I look at her, I only see you, Cecile.’
But no matter how much he reasoned with himself… the weight of her memory coiled around his neck, strangling him without mercy.
Things are Not Looking Good:
Yes, things are not looking good. As you know, translation requires a lot of time and energy. I translate, edit and proofread the chapters on my own. I will be honest here, I started translating as a hobby, then it evolved to a hope of earning a living by doing something I enjoy.
However, I suffered a chain of misfortunes during and after the pandemic, and earnings from FSM and RTV helped me a lot. It became a significant part of my life. As long as my monthly income bordered around $200, I could make the time to translate in the middle of other works. Then RTV ended, and the earning decreased. Now, it has decreased to around $90-$100. And with PETTV nearing completion, that would decrease even more. A*dsence gets me about $ 0.50 per day, and you can’t get the payment until it reaches $100, so I can’t depend on that either.
It wouldn’t be an issue in normal circumstances, but it matters a lot to me since I am still dealing with a lot of financial troubles. I am currently looking for a job, and will have to invest my time and energy in it once I get it.
Long story short, if you enjoy reading this novel, support the translation if you can, either by becoming a Patron in Patreon, or sponsoring chapters at BuymeaCoffee. You can also take some time to watch a*ds to increase the revenue on A*dsence. Grains of sand together can form a desert.
FSM supporters has been supporting me from the start no matter what, so I would continue to translate FSM as long as I am alive. But for the other projects, I now desperately need your support so that I can spend the time and energy to serve them to you all. That’s all. Thank you.