Julius silently lifted his head and looked up at the ceiling.
There were several soap bubbles floating all around, and among them, a large bubble couldn’t withstand its own weight and fell onto his cheek, then burst with a ‘pop’.
Julius wiped the foam off his cheek.Then he slowly spoke to the devil who was looking on with an innocent face.
“Cecil…”
“Oh? Why? When you look at me, do you think of your wife? Don’t hesitate and enjoy that feeling to your heart’s content. If anything, you can hold her in your arms.”
“Cecil was not the kind of woman who would do something this crazy in the morning.”
After hearing those words, Julius went outside, leaving behind the stiffened devil with her arms spread out.
Squeak…
Bang!
The door was closed roughly and only silence remained in the house.
As the bubbles from the ceiling fell on the devil’s head, the devil slowly blinked her eyes a couple of times and opened her mouth.
“…? What on earth don’t you like?”
The devil, who had been struggling with a stiff posture earlier, soon smiled with a confident look on her face and shouted, lifting her mop upwards.
“Yes! Since it’s morning, of course I should have prepared breakfast, but I missed it! Hehehehe, I realized why he didn’t like it. Now I won’t make any more mistakes.”
In the middle of a dark, chaotic house, the devil continued to wander around.
A long time ago, she was called the Emperor’s Nightmare, a being who spread misfortune.
She was one of the 24 demons abandoned by God Rom…and she was a novice who had never seduced a man before.
***
Julius left the house with a gloomy mood, and walked down the path.
He could no longer bear to see the abominable devil acting like a fool, so he impulsively left.
‘Is it because it’s ‘her’ body? The way she speaks, her personality, her aura, and what she does are different, but when I see the devil, I feel as if Cecil has come back to life.’
Julius suppressed the temptation that was secretly invading his mind.
‘I must prevent her body from falling into the hands of evil demons. Even if I have to commit heresy and fall into hell.’
To strengthen his resolve, Julius headed to the church, but he was caught by the villagers he met along the way and had to mechanically greet them until it was almost lunchtime.
***
“…then Rom, the almighty God, cast out the demons into darkness and gave his grace to the sun so that they could not bask in the sun for the rest of their lives.”
When Julius arrived at the church around lunchtime, the doors were wide open.
As he carefully silenced his footsteps and entered, he saw children huddled together and Priestess Emily writing a passage from the Scripture on the blackboard in front of them and passionately preaching the word of the God.
“…all of the heretic inquisitors have a holy flame in their hearts and they execute demons according to the will of the God. Alright! Let’s stop here today, so don’t be distracted and go straight home and have lunch. Got it?”
“””Yes!”””
The children sitting in front of the blackboard responded loudly to the news of the class ending, gathered their study materials, and then quickly passed Julius and ran out of the church.
When Julius saw that scene, he remembered his childhood and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Priestess Emily, who had already come in front of him, looked at him and spoke happily.
“Aren’t they just like you used to be? When they hear that it’s lunchtime, they start drooling and rush out. It’s just like seeing you and Krail.”
Julius, who heard that, smiled bitterly and answered, “I was more quiet. The fuss was that Krail guy’s fault.”
Priestess Emily opened her eyes and looked up at him, “You’re not saying this seriously, are you?”
“…I am always sincere.”
“….”
After that, Julius had to try hard to stop Priestess Emily, who was crying and trying to drag him to Priest Brukin, saying she thought something was wrong with his brain.
‘Is this a punishment for getting involved with the devil and going against the will of the God?’
It was a very tiring day.
***
In the end, after Julius forced himself to raise the corners of his mouth and make a quivering smile, Priest Emily felt relieved and went to work.
After looking at the priestess’s retreating back for a moment, Julius assumed his usual expressionless face and knelt in front of the large statue of the main God Rom placed in the church.
Then, with his head bowed respectfully and his hands clasped in front of his chest, he confessed his sins to his God.
‘God, yesterday I committed an irreparable sin that I should not have committed as a heretic inquisitor. The punishment for my sins will be death. But please, have pity on my wife Cecile, please give me strength so that I will not succumb to false temptations, at least until the day when her body is returned to me in its entirety.
Please allow me to postpone my punishment even for a moment.’
Since he had already accepted the bet with the devil, he had crossed a river that he could not return from. But he prayed and prayed earnestly that he could get back the body that Cecil had left behind.
The flame in his heart still burned brightly.
***
After finishing his prayer to God, Julius opened his eyes and saw a black-haired girl next to him, looking at him.
“What are you doing, Thalia?”
In response to his question, Thalia twisted her silky hair and hesitantly opened her mouth.
“Well… I was going to invite you to have lunch with me, but hmm…you were praying, so I waited next to you.”
‘If you had anything to say, you could have just called…’
Thought Julius, as he looked at her strangely timid appearance, and shook his head.
“If you have any business from now on, just call me, Thalia. Even though we haven’t seen each other for a long time, aren’t we family?”
“Ah…yes! Senior, would you like to have lunch together?”
Thalia, who was staring at Julius’ face blankly, blushed and answered in a panic.
“What about Priest Brukin and Priestess Emily?”
“They said they won’t eat because they have a lot of work to do. I heard a news that something is going wrong at the Central Church, but they don’t tell me anything about their internal affairs…”
‘Is this about the disappearance of Cecil’s body?’
Julius decided to look into this matter later and got up and started walking towards the outside
of the church.
“It’s late, but let’s have lunch together, Thalia.”
“Ah.. Yes! Let’s go together hehehehe..”
Thalia clung to Julius’s back like a puppy and followed him, letting out a strange laugh.
It created a scene where a man with a blunt expression was walking at the front and a young woman was walking behind him like an excited puppy.
The villagers who saw them passing through the streets couldn’t help but smile happily.
Ten years ago, the local boss of the children walked around these streets, holding the hand of a little girl.
And now, although his personality, age, and position might have changed, the villagers still considered these two as the mischievous children of the Kente Village.
***
“Just right…”
The beautiful brown-haired woman gracefully snapped her fingers once and the bubbles disappeared without a trace.
Soon, the black threads creeping up from under her feet ate away the soot clinging to her body, and her pure white skin began to glow again.
No matter how long she waited, the foolish servant of God showed no signs of returning.
‘Where is he wandering around like that, abandoning his lovely wife?’
The devil smiled slightly and slowly opened the door to the mansion.
Before her was a path with the sun shining down on it.
Looking at the poor fallen leaves barely hanging on the branches, humming a sweet tune, and a spring in her steps, the devil joyfully set out in search of her husband.