Chapter 292

"Well then, good night, Lord Clael."

"Yes, good night."

After the new year began and the soba dishes were cleaned up, Reina headed into the bedroom.

After seeing Reina off, Clael walked to the chapel of the shrine.

"Happy New Year, Gieville."

"Oh, Saint Clael. Happy New Year... Is something the matter?"

When he opened the chapel doors, there was a figure at the entrance—not Gandhi, but Gieville.

Under the cold winter sky, Gieville was sitting cross-legged completely naked, glowing and floating.

Although he looked like a complete pervert... the light obscured his private parts, creating a strange mix of the grotesque and the divine.

"Reina has already gone to bed, so how about you come inside too, Gieville? The bath is ready."

Gieville had been outside all day, glowing and floating.

He had been driving away trendy tourists so that Clael and Reina could welcome the new year peacefully.

"No, I am perfectly fine like this."

"But... isn't it a bit too cold?"

"Do not worry. I do not feel the cold."

Gieville smiled with a serene expression, radiating a divine glow.

"If the mind is extinguished, even fire feels cool... and so does the cold. If you elevate your spirit, you can endure any amount of cold with sheer willpower."

"...I see."

If the mind is extinguished, even fire feels cool.

The human who coined that phrase died in a fire... so how accurate is it, really?

"Ah, and that pasta was very delicious. I liked its unique bitterness."

At Gieville's feet was a tray with an empty bowl.

It was the container of the soba they had shared. Even the broth was gone.

"I'm glad it suited your taste... You don't have to worry about us, so please come in if you'd like."

"If I feel like it, I shall... but I doubt that will be necessary."

Gieville spoke with an enlightened smile.

Though his breath turned white, not a single shiver ran through his body.

"Since you two returned, the divine energy flowing from the shrine has clearly increased. It must be the goddess's blessing. I'm not being stubborn—I truly don't feel cold."

"I-I see... You're steadily becoming less human."

Perhaps he was trading away his human senses in pursuit of becoming an angel.

Clael genuinely thought that this guy might be more of a saint than he was.

"It's not my place to say this, but... please continue to take good care of Saint Reina this year as well."

"Of course. And you, Gieville, please continue to watch over the shrine in Eggbell."

"Naturally. I shall protect it well in your absence... Oh?"

Gieville suddenly looked up.

Clael followed his gaze upward... White petals were falling from the sky. One landed on his cheek, melted by his body heat, and turned into a droplet.

"Snow..."

"Indeed, it feels as if the goddess herself is celebrating the arrival of the new year."

"That's quite a romantic thing to say... At this rate, it might be piled up by tomorrow morning."

The snowfall was gradually picking up.

If it kept falling like this, the whole town would be draped in snowy makeup by morning.

"By the way... are you really, truly not cold?"

"Of course not. If anything, my heart feels like it's boiling over!"

Snow continued to fall and pile up on Gieville's confidently declared body.

If he were an ordinary person, he'd probably be frozen into an ice sculpture by morning.

"Well then, I'm going to bed too... but please, come inside, okay? Don't make us hold a funeral in this shrine on the first day of the year."

"Naturally. Once I've meditated to my heart's content, I shall sleep!"

"...Well then, until next time."

Clael went inside and gently closed the door.

Gieville was under some sort of divine protection. He likely wouldn't freeze to death... but just in case, Clael prayed for his safety while putting away the soba container in the kitchen.

"Time to sleep... Forget the unnecessary thoughts."

Clael pushed thoughts of Gieville to the corner of his mind and returned to his room.

"Suu... suu..."

"...Huh?"

And then... he froze at the sight before him.

"Munya munya... Lord Clael..."

Reina was sleeping in the bed of the bedroom.

She was supposed to have gone to her own room earlier... but here she was, changed into pajamas and wrapped in a blanket.

"Did she go to the wrong room... no way, really?"

Come to think of it, when they lived in this shrine, Reina would occasionally mistake rooms.

There was even a time when she woke up half-naked, clinging to Clael, and let out a scream early in the morning.

"Suyaa..."

"...What am I supposed to do?"

Looking down at the peacefully sleeping Reina, Clael held his head in despair.