Chapter 52: I’ll Just Hold You While Sleeping and Won’t Do Anything
After Cynthia left, Sheen stood alone in the courtyard of their residence. The morning breeze ruffled his hair, but couldn’t dispel that lingering sense of unease in his heart.
Why did the Celeste family head fall gravely ill at precisely this moment?
He returned to the living room and sat on the sofa, hand stroking his chin, fingertips lightly scraping the newly sprouted stubble. This timing was too coincidental—it was almost like a carefully designed trap.
Could the Ouroboros Cult be manipulating things behind the scenes? Was there some necessary connection?
Before his thoughts could settle, an icy hand suddenly touched his shoulder.
“Who?!”
Sheen reflexively dodged sideways while drawing the black short gun from his waist, aiming behind him—ever since learning Scáthach might attack him, his nerves had been constantly on edge, especially at this critical moment just after Cynthia’s departure.
“Oh my, nice reflexes. Quite alert too. Feeling insecure after Cynthia left?”
A familiar sweet voice rang out. Heralice stood behind him, her violet eyes slightly narrowed, lips curved in a teasing smile. In the short time since he’d last seen her, she’d already changed into casual dress, the skirt only reaching her knees and exposing her pale legs. She looked nothing like someone here on official business.
“Why are you here again?”
Sheen sighed in relief, holstering his gun, and rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“What do you mean ‘again’? I’m worried about you~”
Heralice pouted with feigned grievance.
“So what exactly are you here for?”
Sheen was sweating, too lazy to engage with her teasing, just crossing his arms to look at her.
“To be your bodyguard now that Cynthia’s gone, of course.”
Heralice snorted lightly, fingertips twirling a strand of hair. She moved closer, her red lips almost touching his earlobe.
“Having a Saintess as personal protection—that’s treatment even the Holy Church’s high command doesn’t enjoy. You should be secretly delighted~”
“Uh, you didn’t exactly come through the door either.”
Sheen stepped back half a pace, helplessly rubbing his temples. Remembering Cynthia’s parting instructions, he figured Heralice taking unconventional routes probably didn’t count as violating orders.
“Going through doors is boring. Besides, that woman Cynthia isn’t here anymore.”
Heralice blinked.
“Well then, thank you for your concern, Lady Heralice.”
Sheen sighed, still politely thanking her, though he was clear in his heart that this saintess was probably protecting him for her own sake—after all, if he died, her “Saintess Evolution Plan” would be ruined. After a pause, he added:
“But with you here, Scáthach probably won’t appear.”
He actually already had a way to deal with Scáthach. Originally, after Cynthia left, Scáthach might have returned to attack seeing him alone, but with Heralice by his side, she probably wouldn’t act rashly.
“What, are you hoping she’ll come? That eager to die?”
Heralice raised an eyebrow, suddenly clutching her chest with a jealous expression.
“Oh my, men really are heartless pigs~ Finding new love makes you forget the old~”
“…That’s not what I meant.”
Sheen’s mouth twitched.
“Then what did you mean? Find me troublesome?”
Heralice persisted, pretending to turn away.
“Fine, I’ll leave~”
“Wait!”
Sheen reflexively reached out to grab her wrist. Heralice used his momentum to fall backward, landing directly in his lap and deliberately rubbing against him.
“Oh my, can’t bear to let me go?”
“…”
Sheen was speechless.
He tried to push her away, but found this woman stuck to him like taffy, impossible to dislodge.
The saintess wrapped her arms around Sheen’s neck, fingertips playfully toying with the hair at his nape. Sheen could clearly smell the faint rosemary scent in her hair, mixed with a hint of dangerous sweetness.
“With Cynthia away, we can finally engage in spiritual comfort freely, can’t we?”
She tilted her head back slightly, red lips curving in a sly arc.
As she spoke, her thumb gently caressed Sheen’s adam’s apple, feeling it slide slightly from nervousness.
“What, not willing?”
Seeing his lack of immediate response, Heralice deliberately pouted, her finger sliding along his collarbone toward his chest. Her nails were trimmed round and delicate, yet seemed particularly aggressive at this moment.
Sheen reflexively grabbed her wandering wrist, but she used the leverage to pull him closer, suddenly shortening the distance between them until their noses almost touched.
Heralice’s breath brushed his lips, carrying a faint mint fragrance—she was clearly well-prepared.
“I specially changed to new lipstick.”
She whispered softly, her tongue barely flicking across her lower lip. Sheen’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to this gesture, his adam’s apple bobbing again.
“Lady Heralice, your spiritual power is so abundant right now, you don’t need spiritual comfort, do you?”
He looked completely helpless, having no way to deal with this woman.
“Mm… I don’t need it now indeed.”
Heralice tilted her head thoughtfully, then her eyes suddenly lit up.
“Then let’s wait until tonight! We’ll do it in Cynthia’s bed—it’ll be so exciting~”
“…Thank you very much.”
Sheen’s expression instantly froze.
“If Lady Cynthia found out, I’d definitely be burned to ash…”
“Don’t worry, Cynthia couldn’t bear to kill you~”
Heralice smiled sweetly and pinched his face.
“By the way.”
Sheen was too lazy to banter with her, so he changed the subject.
He dropped his joking expression, arms wrapping around Heralice’s waist from behind, his tone becoming serious.
“Lady Heralice, could you help me with something?”
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
Heralice raised an eyebrow.
“I want to visit the restricted section of the library. With my clearance, I definitely can’t get in.”
Sheen said quietly.
“What are you going there for?”
Heralice was somewhat surprised.
“To research something about past spiritual comfort ability users. You mentioned it before, didn’t you?”
Sheen’s gaze darkened.
“Also, that ‘Lord’ Berkeley mentioned before dying seemed to have foreseen my existence long ago, so I want to understand.”
“It’s possible. I happen to need to research ancient manuscript fragments about saintess combination evolution too.”
Heralice nodded thoughtfully, stretching.
“But bringing you in during the day would be difficult. Let’s wait until night.”
“No problem.”
Sheen sighed in relief.
“So now… how should we pass the time until evening?”
Heralice suddenly leaned close, her nose almost touching his face.
“I plan to go catch up on sleep first. You kept me up until dawn last night—I barely slept.”
Sheen laughed dryly.
“Then I’ll sleep too. Nothing much to do today anyway~”
Heralice’s eyes lit up at this.
“…Saintess sister, please spare me.”
Sheen was instantly alert.
“Don’t worry, I’ll just hold you while sleeping and won’t do anything~”
Heralice giggled, finger lightly poking his chest.
“…”
Like hell I’d believe that.