Inside a luxurious horse-drawn carriage was a sullen young man, a cheerful and proud child, two girls still in a daze, and a blond man with an annoying smile on his face.
In fact, Yu should have been cheerful like Yurine instead of sulking, and he was. It was only because of the other person who was here that he was reluctant to show his joy and his discontent showed on his face.
"This guy wants me to fuck him, he can't be sticking to me for any other reason."
After the announcement of the Cardinals of Libra and Virgo, there was a congratulatory ceremony and then people began to go home. The rest of the evening was dedicated to the baptism of the new cathedral members.
"What if he wants to shoot? Shit!"
After Yurine was made Cardinal of Virgo, Link Yachi Long announced that he too would be baptized in Virgo Cathedral.
Yu said they couldn't do it with different excuses, but when someone who couldn't refuse got involved, he had no choice but to accept Link as a member of the Virgo Cathedral.
"I'm sending Link with you to Virgo to help you," the Pontifex said.
Disobeying the Pontifex could have cost him his tongue and perhaps his head, so he had to agree to take Link in. And if the price of gaining a city was keeping a man he disliked, it was worth it.
"You could try to love me a little more."
"We condemned you, and in return you latched onto us as soon as you came to city. How can I love you when I don't know what you're planning?"
Link grinned as he raised both hands and opened his palms to Yu. His yellow eyes shone.
"I try not to dwell on the past."
After changing his world, his mindset had also started to change. Especially in recent days, Yu could see a change in the way he treated himself and the way he thought about others.
"Maybe I should try the same."
Now, instead of completely ignoring people's words, he listened a little and tried to understand their feelings. The new personality he encountered was both unsettling and intriguing.
"I apologize," he said. He didn't want to talk to Link anymore.
Would he like it if someone constantly expressed his displeasure with him? He knew the answer was no. So he decided to keep silent.
He was also afraid that if he was always grumpy and expressed his displeasure with the other person, it would have a negative impact on the opinion people around him had of him. He apologized for ending the conversation and shut up to think about more important matters.
"Are you all right?" Ana asked. Yu was about to start thinking about new things.
Ana tilted her head to the side and looked at Yu, as if she would understand what was happening if she looked at him from a different angle.
"I don't know what you mean? Is there something on my face?"
Yu put his hand to his face but he couldn't feel any difference, he was as handsome as ever.
"No, I just felt like you said something you wouldn't normally say."
"I didn't think you were the kind of person who would apologize to me and shut up. It was surprising."
He could continue to show his displeasure with Link, but it would be childish. He didn't want Yurine, Sivina and Ana to see him behaving in a childish way.
"You know I apologize from time to time."
And today he was in a rare mood of empathy, he would be upset if he was in a group where he was an outsider and someone was always making it clear in different ways that they didn't like him.
There was no way he could stop Link from being there for him after that. In fact, if he wanted to, he could find a few ways, but they would be exaggerated, he wasn't going to kill someone just because he didn't like him.
Finally, even if Link didn't like them, it was impossible for him to leave because he was here by order of the Pontifex. So they necessarily had to be side by side with each other.
He still disliked him and felt uncomfortable and suspicious that he had suddenly joined them, but he decided not to show it as much as before.
Apart from all that, he was in no mood to argue today. He just wanted silence and to go back to the cathedral. Then he could be baptized and finish the day and lie down and sleep.
"Yu, we have a city now!"
That's what he wanted to think about. It was also what he wanted to sleep to avoid thinking about. Suddenly having a city had made him take it much more seriously now.
"I always took it seriously, but..."
"It is the place of the Cardinal of Virgo, but unlike other cardinals, we are not the sole judges. It bothers me that we are controlled by s council, I feel like they won't let us do what we want to do."
In his mind's eye, he envisioned a coven of rich and evil people who were blocking what he wanted to do. He felt as if the coven was going to be a burden and he wanted to stop thinking because of this feeling.
But he couldn't stop thinking, his mind was always working. That's exactly why he wanted to sleep, even if he wasn't sleepy, he needed his brain to shut up. He didn't believe he could come up with healthy ideas in his current emotional state.
"If I want to do something, it will be done! And they will learn that!"
"We'll teach them."
When they spoke to Leoral dri Vermilia after the ceremony, they learned that it was he who had helped them take the city.
He couldn't understand how a duke who had lost his land had allowed them to take a city. Leoral had mentioned that he was friends with the Pontifex, but was friendship enough to hand over an entire city on a golden platter?
Maybe in this world it was normal to be given a city because someone had one of the Blessings created by Azer, but for Yu it was still strange.
"When you think about it, it's the same logic as giving people land for the blood they carry."
Yurine was given a city only because she was thought to carry the Blessing instead of blood.
"We cannot thank Duke Vermilia enough. If he hadn't suggested appointing Yurine as governor of Virgo, we wouldn't have been in the spotlight," Sivina said.
Yu looked at Sivina and smiled. Sivina must not have known a famous expression.
"It's true that I want to rise fast, but to suddenly become governor... I have a bad feeling. The horse that runs fast drops his shit fast."
If he claimed that he was not happy about their appointment to the governorship, he would be lying, but if he said he was not worried, he would be telling a much bigger lie than the first one.
"Whenever something good happens, the world brings something bad in its wake. It has always been like this, it is always balanced and if the balance is disturbed, it is always disturbed in a bad way."
When they arrived at Virgo Cathedral, they still had work to do. Duke Leoral was due to leave a little later and was probably on his way to Virgo Cathedral by now. He had come behind them to watch Yurine's first baptism and the servants were already preparing for his arrival.
There was no need to prepare a meal as it would be past dinner time by the time the Duke arrived, but it would have been nice to have some snacks ready for the guests.
There was no important work to be done in the area to be used for the baptism. They thought that the Duke would come in his own wheelchair, so they moved the chairs that were normally there to the back of the area so that people who had difficulty standing could sit down.
The cleanliness of the cathedral was second to none. The girls here worked hard all year round to keep the cathedral clean and tidy.
If there was nothing to do at the cathedral, it was time for personal preparations. He wanted to confirm one last time that Yurine was fit for the ceremony.
"You remember your words, don't you?"
"Yu, of course I remember. Great beings do not forget."
"Your outfit."
"That's okay too."
She was going to wear the same outfit she wore when she was made Cardinal of Virgo. Seeing that she was not lacking, he went to the full-length mirror to check himself.
"Y-Yu..."
"Yes?"
Yu smoothed his hair and turned around. Yurine had opened her arms to him and was waiting for him to pick her up.
"Handsome as always."
Yu smiled as he lifted her up and Yurine kissed him on the cheek.
"The young lady is always trying hard not to lose my heart to other girls."
"Don't say such things!"