The Pious Priest's Sinful Collection - Chapter 45 🔞
The thought was absurd. There was no reason a bracelet she’d thought long lost would end up in the cardinal’s bedroom, of all places.
Still, her feet moved before her brain could protest. She stopped trying to wriggle out of the oversized cassock and simply gathered up the trailing hem so she could walk. The closer she got to the box, the less ridiculous the idea seemed.
It was unmistakable. That little rainbow-colored, carefully braided in a pattern in the thread tail that she knew by heart — it was definitely one of hers. She had made it with her own hands. There could be no doubt about it.
“How… What is this doing here…”
Her brows drew together as she bent over to open the box, fingertips just brushing its edge. And in that moment, the cassock she’d been half-holding slipped down in a sigh of fabric, cascading off her shoulders and baring the lines of her body.
A large shadow fell across her back.
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
“…Ah!”
A broad, warm, and entirely too familiar hand reached past her shoulder, catching her wrist just as she touched the box.
It lifted her effortlessly, the motion causing her feet to dangle briefly before coming to rest atop a pair of much larger ones.
The feel of that solid, warm chest pressing against her back, the faint scent of incense and something stronger washed over her. Daphne didn’t have to turn to know whose body she’d just been pulled against. It could have been no one else but him.
“…Your Eminence?”
“Yes.”
“W–When did you… kyaah!”
Suddenly half-draped around his neck, one foot perched awkwardly on his, Daphne flinched as something wet flicked against her ear. She turned sharply, only to be caught in the heavy glow of his golden eyes — darkened now to a smoldering amber.
“Since the moment you started seducing me with your behind.”
“What? Seduce? When did I ever—?”
“You put on my robe and brazenly swayed your hips, didn’t you?”
“…!”
Daphne’s mouth fell open.
She must have exposed her bare lower half while lifting the hem to walk.
Still, calling that seduction? All she’d done was bend over to open a box!
Panicked, she tried to pull away, but Theodore held her hand firmly in place, still wrapped around his neck.
Daphne could tell that he had no intention of letting her go. She shot back defensively:
“No, I only wore it because you didn’t give me anything else to wear…!”
“Mm. I was going to fetch your clothes, actually. But then you greeted me with such an irresistibly tempting welcome… It’s only proper I offer my thanks, wouldn’t you agree?”
“How does that make any… huh?”
Theodore gave a small nod toward the bed.
Daphne followed his gaze—and spotted it. A fresh set of clothes laid neatly on the blanket: a crisp white tunic shirt.
Not the usual dull-gray vestments worn by novices.
“That’s not something I’m supposed to—! Mmph?!”
Just as she began to protest, Theodore caught her cheeks in one large hand. His tongue slipped past her lips, winding around hers like a serpent — thick and unrelenting, filling her mouth in a single breathless instant. Her small frame jolted in his grasp, trembling against the force of it.
‘I can’t breathe…!’
With one arm caught mid-air, Daphne could barely move as she tried to catch her breath. The moment his tongue grazed the roof of her mouth, her knees gave out beneath her. As she sank, something warm and unyielding brushed between her thighs, halting her descent.
Startled, she stiffened and clenched her legs on instinct. If she wasn’t mistaken, it felt like…
“Another erxction?’
At this hour of morning?
They were supposed to be preparing for the day’s religious duties, so how could he possibly be aroused at a time like this?
Theodore met her wide eyes with a soft, almost amused smile. Still keeping her right hand looped behind his neck, he wrapped his arm around her waist, locking her gently but firmly in place.
Then, letting go of her chin, he leaned in close and murmured:
“And, Daphne.”
“Hah…!”
“Didn’t I ask you to call me by my name?”
His lips brushed her ear, his breath leaving a hot trace along the curve of it.
