Bird Kiss.
It's a simple, innocent kiss that's nothing more than a light touch of the lips, like a small bird's beak.
I don't know who named it, but I thought it was a good name.
The way she pecked at my flesh with her pale pink lips, like ripe prickly pears, made me think of a newborn bird.
Not a cuddly parrot, though, but a carcass-pecking crow. At least, that's how it looked to me at this moment.
''My Lord. I am your finger. Just a little----''
''Chu.''
''All, under your power---- shall rest all things in this land----''
''Chu.''
''The glory of that, ah, all----!''
''Chu.''
''To you, saintess, I dedicate---- khut, be still for a moment!''
''Chu.''
I'm going crazy.
Every time I tried to recite a prayer of healing, a lustful wave-like sound that seemed to try to disrupt it constantly disturbed my consciousness.
Clumsy kisses that were mysteriously sensual, yet tinged with a wistfulness that tickled the small of my back. The whole affair embraced an otherworldly decadence that made me wonder if it was a divine intervention designed to completely melt away my rationality.
Her silken white hair, lush and tousled over her body, had lost none of its original brilliance, and her unnatural weight on my thighs was a constant arousal of the bodily sensations that had been trying to scatter and stir the lust within me.
It was an ecstatic floating sensation, as if someone was forcibly digging up the vein of lust I had buried deep in the recesses of my mind. It was a trial of fascination I would never have endured if I hadn't been trained to suppress my emotions during my priestly training.
''Saintess!''
He jumped to his feet, trying to clear his head of the disturbing thoughts.
Then, like a child caught sneaking sweets by a parent, I saw the figure of Saintess, who quickly hid her crimson hand, stained with a terrible wound, behind her back as she watched me closely.
I knew what that blunt demeanor, that disgruntled look in her eyes, meant.
That was a declaration of intent: 'I will not let you heal this hand unless you lower your body's altitude so I can kiss it.
I'm freaking out. Really.
''Saintess. Didn't we not make a pact? Except for your lips, I will not allow you to kiss any part of my body this time, so I will cooperate with you to heal my hand in the meantime.''
''----''
''But you don't even give me a chance to finish my prayer, and you keep doing that----, isn't it the case that you're pressing your lips to mine! You've been sneakily pressing your lips to mine since earlier----, and I can't concentrate on my prayer if you keep doing that. If you keep delaying the treatment time like this, and I end up with an indelible scar on my hand, what will you do----!''
''----''
The unfamiliar yelling sapped my mental strength to lift the floor.
A sting.
His heart sank.
If the scars on the venerable saintess's body leaked outward, the level of punishment that would befall me would be something from the abyss, far beyond my tiny imagination.
Therefore, I had to heal the wound on the saintess's hand as quickly as possible, and destroy any other evidence that remained.
Even if I didn't do anything, even if the saintess were to say that she had harmed herself on her own accord, there was no way the others would believe it, and even if they did, it wouldn't make any difference because the entire congregation would want to tear me limb from limb for aiding and abetting the saintess' self-harm.
'' ''Chu---- will do it----.''
''Haha----.''
Seeing Saintess, who didn't seem to know my anxious state of mind, rushing at me like a bulldozer to satisfy her own greed, I felt a pang of irritation, and the nightmarish words that used to haunt me on social media suddenly came to mind.
Is this what you want me to do?
Yes, this must be how you feel.
In my previous life, it was a good thing that I'd come to understand a little bit more about the woman who couldn't even fathom Lin's decision, but it was little consolation, as the current situation that was the source of this fantasy hadn't changed.
More than that, I couldn't understand why she was so obsessed with something as insignificant as my lips.
Saintess's stubbornness was nothing new to me, but it had usually been managed within the lines of compromise I'd drawn. To see her so stubbornly assert her will was a new side of her I'd never seen before.
I wonder if she's just awakened to the frog-like instinct of children who want to do things even more when adults say no, and I hope she'll put up with it.
''----saintess. That's enough----. Hurry up and give me your hand----.''
''I'll do it----. Chu---- will----.''
As if intimidated by my firm demeanor, saintess hesitantly backed away. She didn't seem to have any intention of breaking her stubbornness.
One would think I was trying to steal her valuables. I'm the one whose precious breakfast time is being exploited.
Oh, crap. I'm going to have to eat a potato for breakfast after all. I'm so happy to be alive. Just like that.
Just. I turned my gaze to my wristwatch, which was still singing a regular tune in spite of my erratic heartbeat. Nine-thirty. Breakfast had ended long ago in the evening, and I couldn't afford to delay any longer.
''I can't help it, I'll have to use my last resort.
''Welna. You promised your brother.''
''----!''
Ordinarily, a guardian priest, who is supposed to protect the safety and authority of a saintess with his life, would have no qualms about speaking against her, and even more so, trying to pretend to be a family member by using the vulgar title of 'brother', a crime so egregious that it would be enough to strip him of his title and behead him on the spot.
For me, the title of 'big brother' is a magic word, one that possesses enough merit to make the aforementioned demerits worth it.
''A promise is a promise that must be honored unless there are unavoidable circumstances, and since you gave Welna what she wanted, you should give her what you want. You want Welna to accept the treatment for her hand gracefully.''
''Aww----.''
''You don't like Welna who doesn't keep her promises.''
''Aaah, aaah----! Aaah!''
For the first time, she showed emotions of agitation at my words and actions.
It meant that my words as her 'big brother' were of great importance to her.
Her pathetic behavior, alternating between glancing at her injured hand and my face, was stirring protective feelings, but the negative ions from the irritation of having lost precious breakfast time were easily outweighed by the positive emotions.
Yuck.
''----Good.''
I would have said that a long time ago.
After a bit of a stutter, the saintess finally gently extended her injured hand to me.
From then on, it was all one big thing. I prayed, I healed, and this time there were no interruptions. The saintess's wound healed neatly, and the traces of blood scattered around her were cleaned up, so it was safe to say that the job was done.
Someone might say to me, "You know what?
"Why didn't you just use your brother Chance from the beginning, and everything would have been smooth sailing," is a fair question. In fact, I'm not too far off the mark.
But.
I have a lot of mental resistance to the idea of asking an older, older girl to do this or that for me while calling me a big brother, because I honestly feel like a parasitic orphan who clings to women and makes a living from them, or a male prostitute.
The closest I can compare it to is when I look at an acquaintance who is sometimes a bit too introverted, or a Japanese idol who speaks in the third person, which is how they say their name.
It's like playing small talk with a fully grown adult with the mental age of a five-year-old, and you can't fully appreciate the strange sensation that tickles your back until you experience it for yourself.
Anyway, from this point on, I survived what could have been the biggest crisis of my life.
The kissing incident was a minor blip on the radar of a poorly curated children's book, and if we're careful in the future, it won't happen again.
Children get tired of things quickly, and I'm sure that by tomorrow, what happened today will have been erased from Saintess's mind.
It was only a few days later that my carefree thoughts were shattered into a million pieces, not even a circle left.
''Good morning, saintess----. It's time for breakfast----.''
'' Chu will do it.''
Lord.
* * *