Chapter 66
It was an emotion so intense it defied understanding.
To put it coldly, the enchantress and the heresy inquisitor had no real relationship at all.
She and Hailon were simply ambiguous.
Friends, lovers, enemies, rivals…
None of those labels quite fit.
Still, he had believed one thing with certainty.
That whatever feelings she held for others, they would be fainter than those she had for Hailon.
But that was an arrogant assumption.
Lichesia had shattered Hailon’s illusions and vanished without a trace.
Leaving behind only a child whose father’s bloodline was unknown.
Hailon wondered.
What kind of man could have won Lichesia’s heart?
If the kiss they shared meant nothing to her, how would she have reacted when pressing her lips to another man’s?
A scorching heat throbbed over the flower pattern on his collarbone.
It burned mockingly, as if ridiculing the holy knight who must preserve his chastity for the body dedicated to God.
Feeling the sting on his skin, Hailon thought of her.
“Are you here to capture me again, Inquisitor?”
Lichesia’s voice brushed his ear like an auditory hallucination.
How would she sound when calling another man?
When addressing someone she loved?
Meaningless thoughts kept chaining together, refusing to break.
Hailon clenched his teeth against the sensation of blood surging backward.
He knew this way of thinking was abnormal.
He was aware of his obsessive fixation on the enchantress, bordering on the sinister.
But…
Hailon was her prey.
The mark of the hunted engraved on his collarbone proved it.
The enchantress might want to abandon the hunt now, but he wouldn’t allow it.
Who was she to decide to quit on her own?
He wouldn’t let her end it unilaterally.
Even if the connection was severed, he intended to force it back together.
Lichesia had to take responsibility for the mark she’d left on his body.
After all, the heresy inquisitor of the Holy Empire had been ruined by the enchantress.
Hailon swallowed a bitter laugh.
He mocked himself for dragging an innocent baby into this just to capture Lichesia.
The child bore no sin.
She was merely adorable, like a freshly bloomed flower.
Every time he saw the child, an inexplicable fondness welled up within him.
The fact that she was another man’s daughter didn’t bother him in the least.
All he could think of was Lichesia, and before he knew it, he was treating the child kindly.
Just watching her move about in front of him brought a certain joy.
Enough to make the corners of his mouth twitch upward now and then.
At first, he had undoubtedly seized her as bait to lure out Lichesia…
But at some point, Hailon had come to genuinely care for the child.
To the extent that he didn’t want to hand her over to Count Basilian.
As Hailon pondered those clear pink eyes, he broke the long silence and parted his lips.
“Tell the Holy King that I’ll be on leave for a week.”
“…Sigh. Understood.”
Daren responded with a groan, his face still etched with incomprehension.
Whether he understood or not, Hailon thought of the child.
He hadn’t captured Lichesia.
But in the week ahead, he planned to capture the child’s heart.
So she wouldn’t want to return to the Basilian household.
Belzeon ended his short but eventful runaway and returned to the Basilian estate.
There were too many people searching for him, and Chesha—the main reason for his escape—had entered a safe haven.
They promised to meet again on the day Kierne delivered information to Hailon.
Chesha had a brief parting with the men of the Basilian estate.
Whether this would truly be a short farewell.
Or an eternal goodbye remained undecided.
‘It’s complicated, so complicated…’
If Kierne weren’t the master of the underworld, the decision might have been easier.
But right now, she was stuck in a situation where she could neither advance nor retreat.
Chesha secretly sent a butterfly to Hata.
She included a message telling him, who had gone to gather potion ingredients, not to return for now and to complete the potion that would turn her into an adult within the week before meeting Kierne.
Then, with Hailon as her temporary guardian, Chesha set out on the road late at night.
Hailon left simple cleanup orders with his adjutant, Daren, and boarded a hired carriage with Chesha.
She wondered where they were heading at such a late hour.
‘Maybe to another temple in a region near the capital?’
If so, arriving before dawn would be difficult.
She braced herself for some hardship.
But the place Hailon took Chesha to was utterly unexpected.
The carriage headed to a street lined with luxurious mansions in the capital, and then abruptly entered one that looked particularly expensive.
She was horrified, wondering if Hailon, like Kierne, was trespassing into someone else’s home.
And when she learned it was a mansion he personally owned, she nearly flipped over in shock.
‘What money does he have for a mansion like this!’
She exclaimed in astonishment, then quickly corrected herself.
‘He must have plenty of money…’
He was the head of the heresy inquisitors, of which there were only thirteen in the Holy Empire.
The salary and dignity maintenance funds allocated to him alone would be enormous.
And she’d heard that when confiscating the assets of those judged as heretics, half went to the inquisitor.
They compensated generously for working them like dogs.
In any case, Hailon was a highly capable heresy inquisitor, having captured and condemned several major figures.
It was only natural he would be wealthy.
At any rate, the days spent at Hailon’s mansion weren’t bad.
There was plenty of delicious food, and the servants were a bit intrusive but treated her well.
However, there was one fatal drawback.
Namely, that Hailon never left the house.
When he first brought Chesha to the mansion, he had said,
“Count Basilian is dangerous.”
Though the man had retreated obediently for now, there was no telling what he might do, so Hailon insisted on staying by her side as much as possible.
Since Hailon had already said something similar to her once before, she let it slide.
But she hadn’t expected to be stuck with him nearly all day long.
Even at night, they had to sleep in the same bed!
‘Ugh.’
To think she’d live to see the day she slept side by side in bed with Hailon.
It was truly a sight for sore eyes.
She doubted she’d be able to sleep next to Hailon, but surprisingly, she kept dozing off without tossing and turning through the night.
Today, too, Chesha lay side by side with him in bed.
After laying Chesha straight on her back in her baby pajamas, Hailon quietly lay down himself.
“…”
Chesha secretly cracked her eyes open without Hailon noticing.
She stared at the ceiling for a moment, then rolled her eyes to sneak a glance beside her.
She observed the man shrouded in darkness.
‘He looks like a doll.’
Chesha thought as she admired his densely layered silver eyelashes and pale skin.
As if to prove he was a holy knight, even his pajamas were stuffy, buttoned up to the neck, enhancing the doll-like impression.
Unlike Kierne, who sprawled and rolled around in bed like a cat, Hailon’s sleeping posture was impeccably straight; he simply closed and opened his eyes in the same position.
She was thoroughly enjoying the view when it happened.
His closed eyelids slid open.
There was no trace of sleepiness in his gaze.
What was unexpected, though, was that instead of sitting up immediately,
He merely turned his body to the side to look at Chesha.
Facing him so closely made her feel strange.
“…Why aren’t you sleeping?”
His usually low bass voice dipped even lower.
The husky tone tickled her ear.
Chesha looked at him with her round eyes and mumbled.
“I can’t sleep.”
Hailon faintly furrowed his brows.
He seemed to be pondering how to soothe a fussy, sleepless child.
He slowly reached out and stroked Chesha’s head.
As she received his touch, a sudden mischievous urge bubbled up in Chesha.
‘Should I tease him a bit?’
She often tormented and played with Hailon when bored, and not having done so lately made her itch inside.
Chesha found joy in breaking Hailon’s impassive facade and eliciting lively reactions.
‘Since I’m a fragile baby, I can’t play physically.’
She resolved to torment him with words.
Come to think of it, this was a fun opportunity.
She was already firmly misunderstood anyway.
And it wouldn’t be cleared up anytime soon, so she might as well take advantage and tease Hailon.
“I have something I’m curious about…”
Chesha feigned innocence, pretending not to know, and asked.
“What is your relationship with my mommy?”
