I Will Not Fall For the Villain’s Flirtations - Chapter 51

It was news I heard only after three whole seasons had passed. I thought I had sorted out all my feelings since it had been so long, but hearing that name made my heart race again.

Then suddenly, I realized I wasn’t alone. As I looked up belatedly, I saw Keene, staring at me with a sullen face.

“The knight you said you had a crush on before, was it Peidos Carmel?”

“……”

His expression was blank, but his eyes were intense. Feeling pressured for an answer, I inadvertently averted my gaze.

“N-no, it’s not like that. C-crush, what crush?”

Damn, I stuttered too much. As I tried to clear my throat in embarrassment, I heard someone calling me from outside.

“Duna, come out for a moment!”

“Yes? Ah, yes!”

I answered hurriedly and turned back to look at Keene.

“Huh?”

The man who had been sitting on the bed had disappeared without a trace. In my bewilderment, I stood there blankly for a moment, then hastily started tidying up the medical tools and drew back the curtain.

“……”

And then, all my efforts to tidy up were in vain as I dropped the tray with the tools. The metal tray hit the floor with an unpleasant clatter.

“…Sir Peidos.”

There stood a man with silver hair. His striking features were so vivid that I couldn’t tell if the dazzling light was from the sunlight streaming through the bars or from his face.

I stared at him blankly for a moment, then knelt to pick up the fallen tools. As I squatted, Peidos also bent down and helped me gather the tools. I shyly accepted the medical scissors he handed me.

“Th-thank you.”

It had been so long that even speaking to him felt awkward. It seemed surreal that I had once gone through such dramatic events with this remarkable person.

The aura of the male lead hadn’t dimmed at all. It only reaffirmed that my place wasn’t by his side.

“I heard you were assigned here…”

Peidos stood up and slightly averted his gaze as he began to speak. It seemed I wasn’t the only one feeling the awkward atmosphere; he looked a bit uncomfortable too.

“You were ordained summa cum laude. That’s quite an achievement. Congratulations.”

“Ah.”

It was a miraculous event that had happened since I arrived here, but hearing it from him made me feel bashful. I bit my lip and stammered.

“Thank you. Did the subjugation go well? It must have been tough.”

Having been gone for nearly a year, I didn’t need to hear the details to know how difficult it must have been. Peidos responded with a light laugh.

“It was a struggle, but it ended well. I didn’t expect to see you as a proper priest when I returned.”

I had heard that the subjugation was an urgent mission due to a crack in the barrier protecting the Holy Kingdom. If the captain of Saint Gabriel’s Knights said it was tough, it must have been an extremely dire situation.

“Proper priest, hardly. I’m still just a fledgling.”

Even exchanging a few words made my heart race uncontrollably. I raised my hand to touch my cheek, trying to hide the heat rising in my face.

Peidos started to reach out towards me but then pulled back. Although the gesture was incomplete, I knew from past experiences that he was about to pat my shoulder.

This person also realizes I’m not the same as before.

“It was nice seeing you again. Let’s meet again.”

“Yes, you too. Take care.”

He smiled brightly and then turned to leave the infirmary. As I watched his figure disappear around the corner, Rancho, who had returned without me noticing, approached me, panting.

“What did you two talk about?”

His eyes sparkled like stars, filled with anticipation. He was breathing heavily as if he had just been running. Feeling burdened by his gaze, I stepped back and frowned.

“Nothing much. Just exchanged greetings.”

“Come on, don’t lie. I rushed over when I heard Sir Peidos was here. I didn’t see any noticeable injuries on him, so it’s curious that he came here right after returning.”

“…He came here right after returning?”

I asked in disbelief, and Rancho shrugged his shoulders and teased me.

“Fine. If you won’t tell me, I won’t tell you either.”

“……”

As I watched Rancho turn his head away, I tried to sort out my confused thoughts.

He was a man who returned after nine long months. He must have had a mountain of people to meet and tasks to handle. Although I couldn’t fully trust Rancho’s words, the fact that I hadn’t heard of Peidos Carmel’s return until now suggested he had come to the hospital shortly after arriving at the temple.

Could he have had other business here? Or was it really…

“To see me?”

It’s still uncertain whether a supporting character like me can change the original story. Seeing Prim’s remarkable achievements, it seemed highly unlikely.

In terms of appearance and ability, the male lead was undoubtedly Peidos Carmel. He was a person destined to be the protagonist in any world.

Given that, I had just thought a few seconds ago that he couldn’t possibly be mine.

“…This makes me want to be greedy.”

* * *

“I knew this would happen.”

Rancho, clutching the Pope’s decree, almost cried out.

“I knew this would happen someday! The gods are so indifferent!”

With his arms stretched out towards the sky in resentment, he was on the verge of blasphemy.

“Why, it’s a refreshing change from the usual volunteer work.”

“What? Refreshing? Fresh?”

Rancho looked at me with an incredulous expression and pounded his chest like someone choking on food.

“Oh dear, such a naive rookie! You can’t even recognize the road to the afterlife and you’re talking about freshness.”

“The road to the afterlife? It’s not like we’re going to a battlefield.”

The sigh stemmed from being drafted for a relic expedition. Since it was an environment where complex surgeries couldn’t be performed, selections were made from the lower-ranking priests, excluding the high-ranking ones. Among those selected were three healing priests, including Rancho and me.

An expedition, just like Keene said.

[Should I give you an example? Soon, the Holy Kingdom will send a relic expedition team.]

[Relic expedition team?]

[Because they’ve lost so many holy relics, the existing barrier’s strength isn’t what it used to be. The aim is to excavate new holy relics.]

Although it was called an exploration, the ultimate goal was likely the retrieval of relics. Given that they were forming a full-fledged expedition team, it seemed that preliminary surveys were already completed.

I felt a bit excited, since it was something I hadn’t experienced before. However, Rancho grabbed my shoulders and shook me, wailing as if he were dying of frustration.

“Get a grip, kid! Do you know how dangerous the places where ancient relics are buried can be?”

“Are they really that dangerous?”

“Of course! Those places were designed by crazy engineers. They’re filled with all sorts of bizarre traps! Don’t you understand why high-ranking priests weren’t selected?”

“…No way.”

Realizing the implication of his words, I asked with an uneasy expression. If they deliberately excluded high-ranking priests, it meant…

“Because we might die there! We’re the expendables!”

“…”

Rancho, who usually didn’t speak so harshly, rubbed his eyes and whimpered. He went on for a good five minutes about writing his will and how it was a relief he had no family to support.

My brain, frozen in shock, started working slowly. The only certain thing after repeatedly going over it was that there was no mention of an expedition in the novel. This was evident from the fact that Prim wasn’t selected.

Could it be that the plot changed because I became a healing priest instead of a purification priest?

However, there were parts I couldn’t understand if I were to accept Rancho’s hypothesis as it was.

“It can’t be. They wouldn’t send a rookie without combat experience to such a dangerous place. Even if we’re expendable, it would be a loss for the temple if we died before being properly utilized.”

Moreover, I was a priest ordained summa cum laude. I wasn’t an exceptionally great person, but I was identified as someone with potential worth nurturing.

The temple puts a lot of effort into nurturing talent. No matter how harsh the temple might be, they wouldn’t push a top student, a newly ordained priest, into such a dangerous situation.

Of course, when combined with all the seniors, I might just be one of many indistinguishable chickens.

“Yeah, that’s a bit strange. Why would they include a novice priest in the expedition team…”

Rancho, with wide eyes, nodded his head and then contorted his face again. Soon, tears welled up, and an unpleasant metallic sob burst out.

“I don’t care, what’s important about that! I’m about to die! Waaaah!”

“…”

There was no time to reflect on the situation. As I comforted my senior, who was crying like a child at thirty-five, I kept thinking about my survival rate in an incident not involving the protagonist.

* * *