The Pious Priest's Sinful Collection - Chapter 44
‘So what happens now?’
Sure, she had been the one to give in and pull him down, but he was the one who brought up curses and made it all into some kind of excuse.
‘We spent the night together, so… that means the exorcism is done, right?’
A strange pang of disappointment struck her. They always said the first time was the hardest, and it was true — when that thing had first pushed its way in, it had nearly knocked the breath out of her. But once she gave in and let herself be swept up in it, there were no worries, no fear. It was blissful.
‘No. Get a grip. Someone like Theodore Valentino isn’t going to keep playing with fire like this. Don’t get greedy, Daphne. You had your one night. That’s it. Don’t go thinking about seconds.’
With a sharp smack to both cheeks, Daphne climbed out of bed and glanced around the room.
The cardinal’s chamber was almost austere in its simplicity. Aside from what looked like a wardrobe, there was hardly any furniture at all. The ceiling was adorned with a grand, painted fresco, yet the walls remained unfinished — raw limestone exposed in plain view. It felt more like a prayer room than a place meant for sleep. The atmosphere was solemn. Sacred.
And yet, this was where they’d been rutting like animals.
Her face went hot again, and she fanned herself with both hands, trying to cool down. She looked around once more, but neither her tattered clothes nor the fresh garments he had promised to bring were in sight.
Theodore hadn’t returned, and without him, it seemed, her clothes hadn’t been prepared.
‘Am I supposed to just wait until he gets back?’
But there was no telling when that would be, and she couldn’t exactly stay naked the whole time.
“It’s cold…”
Shivering, Daphne muttered to herself as she stepped toward what looked like a wardrobe. Opening it, she found only a few black cassocks hanging inside.
‘That’s it? Just these? He must’ve lived in the temple since he was a child, and yet this is all he owns? He really is as ascetic as they say.’
At a glance, they were clearly too large for her and long enough that they’d drag along the floor.
‘…Well, better than nothing.’
She couldn’t just lounge around completely bare. Pulling one of the cassocks free, she slipped it on and immediately frowned.
“Hmm…”
Just as she’d guessed, Theodore’s cassock absolutely swallowed her. The hem hung well past her feet, the sleeves drooped far past her fingertips. She looked like a child playing dress-up in a grown man’s clothes.
Worse, the back of the robe was slit open — a tailoring choice, perhaps — and since it was so long, the open slit extended far enough down that she could feel the chill against the backs of her thighs.
At this rate, she couldn’t exactly walk around the room, let alone leave it.
‘Honestly, this might be worse than being naked.’
There was no mirror in the room, but she could easily imagine how ridiculous she must look: not so much wearing the cassock as being consumed by it.
With a long sigh, she grunted and started to wriggle her way out of it, only to notice something across the room.
Next to the bed, on the far side from where she’d been lying, there was a short chest of drawers she hadn’t noticed before, likely because it was so small.
On top of it sat a small wooden box. But what caught Daphne’s eye wasn’t the box itself. It was the corner of something poking out from inside, just barely, as if the lid hadn’t been fully closed.
“Is that…?”
It was a bunch of colored threads, the ends carefully frayed out like a tiny tassel.
Daphne knew exactly what it was. She’d made bracelets with that exact kind of knotted tail to hand out to her fellow novices.
That finishing touch, brushed out into a neat little fan of threads, was her own signature. There was no mistaking it. It was one of her handmade thread bracelets.
“No, it couldn’t be…”
