That reaction—it was just like Raizen. And yet, something felt off.
‘Has Raizen ever answered my questions so honestly before?’
He always gave me ‘appropriate’ answers.
If something was hard to answer, he’d respond ambiguously.
And I’d interpret those vague answers however suited me. All the while, deep down, I never truly trusted Raizen.
To be honest, I’d never trusted him.
When I first came to this world, I didn’t because I knew he was the one who’d eventually kill “Sean Kreveta.”
Even after realizing my feelings for him, that didn’t change much.
‘I hoped, maybe. But I knew—Raizen wasn’t proposing because he loved me.’
At the banquet in the Duchy of Pantheon, I’d asked if he liked me.
That was the first time Raizen ever lied. He said he did. That lie hurt me more than anything.
‘You said it yourself. That it’s just the two of us in this world.’
Suddenly, I remembered something Raizen had said during his rut cycle.
That had been a lie too.
Something he said just to avoid being killed by me.
Something childish, without even a sliver of sincerity—something said just to show affection toward the young future villain that Raizen was.
“Sei.”
His voice brushed against my ear.
I looked at him, and—like always—his expression was calm.
But… he looked oddly anxious.
‘Am I just seeing what I want to see again?’
I wasn’t sure. Whether I really understood Raizen, whether what I was feeling was right.
But I couldn’t completely believe everything he said either.
Even so, my lips moved on their own.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah.”
Whenever I called, he always answered.
At least when my voice reached him, he never ignored me.
And I—more than anything—liked moments like this.
“Back when I was little, right after I regained consciousness… I clung to you all the time. Back then… the things I said, the way I acted… Did you think I was being sincere?”
I already knew the answer.
‘No.’
Most adults were convinced I’d regressed mentally because of trauma.
But Raizen—he was the only one who knew I was calculating everything.
He even warned me outright once.
‘Ah… he’s flustered.’
Faintly, I saw him avert his gaze.
Had I ever seen him do that before?
I wasn’t sure.
But what I did know for certain was that something in my heart stirred from that simple movement.
Raizen opened his mouth slightly… then closed it again.
It was the opposite of how readily he had answered earlier.
But unlike before, it didn’t feel like he was pretending.
Was I just losing my mind, or had something really changed?
At last, he spoke.
“…No.”
“…”
“I didn’t believe you. Not back then.”
The way he said it—for some reason, he felt like a child to me in that moment.
“I see. So that’s how it was…”
If I kept talking, I felt like my heart might burst.
‘Not yet. Just… not yet.’
This much—I could manage only this much right now.
I told myself that and quickly changed the subject.
“Let’s just check the inside first… then we’ll decide what to do.”
Raizen didn’t respond to my evasive words.
∗ ∗ ∗
The so-called ‘tour’ happened the very next day, proof that Priest Aysol was thoroughly spooked.
“Welcome.”
Contrary to my assumption that this would happen discreetly at night, Priest Aysol summoned us to the temple in broad daylight.
Seeing his smug face, as if he had nothing to hide, made me clench my fists without realizing it, then let go.
He still wore the face of a devout priest.
“Please follow me quietly.”
His voice was more excited than before.
Maybe it was the expectation that he was finally forming a connection with real nobles.
We had set this trap, but I still felt uneasy at how easily he accepted it without any real background check.
‘Where’s all this confidence coming from…?’
Staring at Priest Aysol for a moment, I slipped back into the role of the spoiled young master and followed behind him.
The inner part of the temple, off-limits to outsiders.
Unlike the wide open courtyard, the hallways were narrow, and the rooms were sparsely placed.
Every door was firmly shut, as if they were desperate to hide something.
‘This doesn’t feel like a place for priests… more like an anthill.’
Honestly, it felt more like a divided storage area than living quarters.
Even more suspicious was the contrast between the outside, plastered with decorations symbolizing the god Sinoa, and the bare, undecorated interior.
[Looks like they stripped everything and sold it.]
I heard Seol’s voice echo in my mind—he was perched on my shoulder.
Unlike me, who had to act naturally under Aysol’s watchful eyes, Seol was invisible and could observe everything freely.
[They sold it all?]
[Yeah. You can see marks on the walls where things were removed. When they sent in the new staff, they probably didn’t send them empty-handed. During renovations, they must’ve installed all kinds of expensive symbolic decor.]
As if to confirm his words, I spotted a small statue left in the corner of a hallway.
It was of a man raising a sword, probably a depiction of one of the past Saints.
The eyes, which likely once held gems, were hollow, and the sword was missing something in the center.
‘…He’s right.’
There were more neglected statues like that as we walked.
It wasn’t like only I could see them, yet Priest Aysol didn’t spare them a glance.
Neither did the other priests. Even though outsiders were violating temple rules by being here, no one questioned it.
‘It’s really gone to hell.’
I was so tired of being disappointed.
How much time had passed?
After walking for a while, when I stepped onto the stairs at the end of the hallway and started going down, Priest Aysol stopped walking.
He then took something out from his pocket. It was a bundle of keys.
In front of him stood a heavy iron gate.
‘No way… this can’t be the “training room,” can it?’
Even though I already knew the answer, I still hoped, as much as I could, that it wasn’t.
With a click, the gate opened.
Slowly turning back, Priest Aysol made eye contact with me and smiled.
“This is it.”
‘Shit.’
I cursed under my breath but forced myself to smile.
The dampness soaked into my nostrils from the cold stone walls.
The hallway was still narrow, and small rooms that were no bigger than solitary confinement cells were cramped together.
It automatically reminded me of a prison.
Beyond the closed door, I could hear the sound of prayers being recited.
They all had youthful voices.
“Every child here was once begging on the streets. They were the lowest of the low. They must have committed some terrible sin to be born into such a life. It’s original sin, wouldn’t you agree, Daniel?”
Priest Aysol spoke with certainty.
He seemed fully convinced that Daniel, with his noble background, would follow his logic without question.
He had probably said the same thing to other wealthy people on the island of Crete up until now.
There’s a reason people are born poor and unfortunate.
Just as there’s a reason people are born into wealth and good circumstances.
The reason for being poor is because of the sins you committed in your past life, and the reason for being born into wealth is because you accumulated great virtue in your past life.
So, someone like you, born into wealth, is chosen by God.
‘Oh, this is exactly the kind of talk rich people love.’
He must have spread this twisted doctrine around.
I now understood why Tommy was so desperate for salvation.
He must have made them believe that the only way for someone like him to find happiness was to be saved by God.
‘…It’s dirty and disgusting.’
I thought at least they would let me live in an environment that wasn’t so bad.
Tommy had genuinely seemed sincere when he said the temple was a good place.
But now… even the last shred of good had been completely destroyed.
“Ah…”
Holding back the rising anger, I said the line I had prepared in advance.
“Anyway, I want to check on the kids’ condition. My father told me to at least make sure they’re healthy and in good physical condition before coming back… Could you gather all the kids in one place?”
It was more important to check on the children’s condition than to focus on my anger.
