No Such Thing as a Chaste Man! Just Give It Ten Tries! - Chapter 45
Right. It was for the best.
Seo-ah, who had reappeared suddenly exuding the unmistakable aura of a mature woman, was far too captivating. Her very presence was the most powerful fissure yet in his carefully constructed world—a fracture he could not possibly endure.
“You intend to send her back? Without even considering keeping her tied to the Holy Kingdom? What kind of conspiracy have you brewed with those government dogs, huh? Aren’t you ashamed in the eyes of Sol? Doesn’t it disgrace the name of Alife?”
His father’s lifelong scorn, which he had always obeyed, no longer frightened him. On the contrary, the more his father berated and pressured him, the more assured he felt in his decision to send Seo-ah back.
Just as he had longed for Seo-ah when she wasn’t by his side, he thought he could live the same way—sharing the same space but emotionally distant until they inevitably parted ways.
He focused on the agreed-upon date with the government, striving to suppress his other thoughts. But Seo-ah, seemingly oblivious to her disappointment with him, began closing the distance he had carefully tried to maintain, coaxing him with every method imaginable.
“I don’t want to be apart from you, Your Holiness. Do you know what kept me going throughout the expedition?”
“There are so many places I want to see again. I’ve explored all of Genève on my own two feet, but I don’t even know what Earth looks like anymore!”
“Your Holiness… you’re the only person I rely on now. I have no mother, no friends back there.”
“Please, don’t abandon me.”
Her pleas and appeals left him utterly flustered.
He had considered the possibility that Seo-ah might not want to leave, but the idea that he would be her primary reason for staying had never occurred to him.
His heart became a storm of confusion.
It felt as if he truly was someone extraordinary to her, just as she was to him—a realization that shook him to his core.
The turmoil only deepened.
Ever since their reunion, his heart had started beating in an unfamiliar rhythm, as if malfunctioning.
And it wasn’t just his heart—it seemed as though Seo-ah had caused his entire body and soul to spiral into chaos.
Whenever she linked arms with him or closed their physical distance, his body would heat up embarrassingly, as though it were morning, even if it wasn’t. When she spent late nights with him under the guise of coaxing or convincing him, she would appear in his indecent dreams, leaving him sleepless and frustrated.
Perhaps reading ancient texts about love in the library during his reverse summoning studies had exacerbated things?
The more bewildered and tormented he became, the more silent he grew, and the more silent he grew, the harder Seo-ah pushed, pleaded, scolded, and tempted him. When her persistence became too much to bear, he was tempted to spill everything—to tell her about the truth of this world’s injustices or beg her to endure them.
But in the end, he resisted, knowing such revelations would only burden her.
After all, it was a sacrifice only he needed to make. Surely, her home—a world filled with her kindred spirits—would be a better place for her than a world where she would forever be an outsider.
Above all…
Wasn’t this about his own greed?
Did he even have the right to falter as the one who had uprooted her from her home? If he hesitated now, wouldn’t he just be making selfish excuses, desperate not to lose the affection of someone so kind?
Especially when his feelings for her had become far from innocent.
Seo-ah’s love—so bright and pure—and his own love, which had grown sordid, clingy, filthy, and shameful, were worlds apart.
So Ephelinus conducted a small experiment.
“Your Holiness,” one of his priests remarked, “I’ve studied your reverse summoning ritual. Fascinating interpretation. If I may, it seems the basic activation conditions are similar to those of the original summoning ceremony. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Ephelinus replied curtly. “The summoner and the summoned must both be pure and unblemished…”
Although Seo-ah would remain ‘pure’ thanks to his life force, the information he shared was technically inaccurate. Regardless, if her feelings for him bore even a hint of similarity to his own…
If those innocent and brilliant eyes that relied on him could harbor the same heat he felt…
The response was immediate.
“Your Holiness… I had a nightmare. I still can’t get used to sleeping alone. Can you tuck me in like before? Hold me close and sing me to sleep?”
As expected, Seo-ah seemed intent on disqualifying herself from the ritual’s requirements.
Though she had confessed her affection for him multiple times, this was the first time her words hinted at something more… physical.
