Playing the Role of a Nun

---

“Should I call it bravery or recklessness…”

“……”

An awkward silence filled the room.

When I came to my senses, I realized I was already lying straight on my bed in my room inside the Nun’s Building, not outside.

“What on earth were you thinking, stepping out of the shadows?”

“……”

It seemed I had briefly fainted.

Though the details were hazy, I remember being swept up in a strange mood and stepping out of the shadows. Everything afterward felt like a dream, vague and blurry.

“Don’t forget that you’re a vampire.”

The voice of Can, coming from right nearby.

With a dazed mind, I stared at the ceiling, then let out a deep breath and slowly looked around.

“…What? Still out of it?”

Can was sitting motionless on a chair right next to the bed.

Beyond the closed door, the cheerful voices of children faintly reached my ears.

It didn’t feel like much time had passed since I fainted, but my mind felt as if I’d been out for half a day.

“What exactly happened…?”

I slowly sat up and cautiously opened my mouth.

Can, sitting right next to me, suddenly started scratching his head noisily.

“You don’t remember?”

“…No. I’m just a bit foggy.”

“You suddenly stepped out of the shadows, and it caused quite a commotion. I already knew your identity, so it wasn’t a big deal for me.”

Unlike Can, who was making a fuss, I was still blinking blankly.

“What did the children say?”

“I told them it was heatstroke. So don’t worry too much.”

“Did they buy it?”

“Of course. I explained it well enough for them to understand.”

At Can’s confident reply, I sighed in relief.

Though it was impulsive, I could’ve caused a disaster if things had gone wrong.

Thanks to Can’s quick thinking, we narrowly avoided a major mistake.

“That aside, I was really surprised. A vampire stepping out boldly in broad daylight and not burning up.”

“…I’m different from ordinary vampires.”

“But fainting means you’re still affected to some extent, right?”

“Yes. As you can see.”

“The more I learn, the more fascinating it gets.”

Since regaining consciousness, a strange pain in my chest had been nagging me.

It wasn’t severe, but it was definitely annoying.

“So, why did you step out of the shadows?”

At Can’s question, I slowly rolled my eyes to the side.

“I guess… jealousy.”

“Jealousy?”

“Seeing the children, who only knew me, getting along so well with you made me feel a bit upset.”

“Haha, you’re not a child, why would you be jealous over something like that?”

“Exactly. It’s really strange.”

At this point, the strange discomfort I felt around me, as well as the inexplicable doubts about myself, began to surface.

To act so impulsively over a moment of jealousy, leaving my mind in a daze—it was ridiculous.

I couldn’t help but let out a foolish laugh.

“I get that you care deeply for the children, but don’t overthink these little things. Kids are simple by nature.”

“I know. I’m usually not sensitive about these things.”

“Yeah, they’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Besides, I’ve never once seen those children throw a tantrum at me.”

“Huh?”

As Can tilted his head in confusion, I gave a faint smile.

“By the way, where is Priscilla now?”

“Ah, she’s outside playing with the kids. I asked her to do that so you could rest easy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she’s probably exhausted by now.”

“I’m sorry for causing everyone so much trouble.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

With that, an awkward silence hung between Can and me for a while.

I sat on the bed, slowly brushing the blanket with my fingertips, lost in thought.

Can, sitting on the chair, silently stared at the window.

Though the curtains blocked the view, it felt like he was staring intently at something.

“…Well, since you seem fine, I’ll head out now.”

“Bell Ross.”

“Huh? What?”

“Can you stay still for a moment?”

At my sudden request, Can froze mid-movement.

He tilted his head, growing more puzzled by the second.

“Why all of a sudden? You’re even stiffening your expression─.”

“……”

My mind was still foggy, as if shrouded in thick mist.

The strange pain in my chest persisted.

No matter how many small breaths I took, the pain wouldn’t subside.

“Levinia?”

Can’s voice came softly from beside me.

But at this moment─.

Only one thought filled my mind.

“…Right. How many people in this world approach with pure goodwill and no ulterior motives?”

As I muttered those words, Can, standing motionless in front of me, flinched slightly.

“I’ve been suspicious from the start.”

As soon as I finished speaking, all the furniture in the room began to tremble slightly, moving in a bizarre manner.

The walls, bed, chair, bookshelf—everything blurred and gradually evaporated into a pale mist, disappearing without a trace.

As if they had never existed, everything in the room twisted and transformed into intangible forms.

Even as I stood dumbfounded in the warping space, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of absurdity.

At the same time, a creeping suspicion began to rise in the corner of my mind, making me frown.

“How long have you been deceiving me?”

As the space grew hazier, I realized more clearly that this wasn’t reality.

Even the air felt heavy and unreal.

“……”

Can, now exuding a strange aura, kept his mouth tightly shut.

Though I knew there was nothing behind his helmet, I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

“…How did you figure it out?”

“I asked first.”

At first, I thought it was just my mood.

The discomfort and strange sense of unease I’d felt since this morning—I thought it was just a lingering feeling from my petty jealousy.

But after fainting and waking up, those feelings began to accelerate strangely.

Things that had seemed natural now felt suspicious, and I began to wonder why everything had flowed so smoothly.

“Could it be because of the sunlight?”

“……”

Especially during that brief moment when the conversation with Can had paused.

I had wondered why Can didn’t respond to my words at all.

Out of curiosity, I tried to call up my status window, but it didn’t appear.

I hadn’t checked my status window immediately after defeating the demon that day.

Whether I had absorbed the demon’s skills or not wasn’t important at the time.

Checking the children’s condition was more urgent.

After that, I hadn’t had the chance to check due to various overlapping events.

Though it was important enough to warrant a quick glance, my usual habit of not relying on the status window had unexpectedly backfired.

– Bang─!!!

With a loud explosion, a powerful gust of wind swept through, clearing away the pale mist that had filled the room.

“……”

My eyes were now closed.

When I slowly opened them, I saw not the daytime scenery of the church, but the familiar nightscape of a forest.

“…Even after all that, this is all you could trap me in?”

Now, all my senses began to return to their rightful places.

The air touching my skin and the faint breeze blowing from around me felt vivid.

The discomfort and unease I had felt earlier had also disappeared.

Finally, I realized everything had returned to normal.

“Was the reason I suddenly fell into this illusion because of this greatsword?”

The greatsword, cleanly piercing through the center of my chest, emitted a strange energy.

It seemed the source of the odd pain I had been feeling was this sword.

“Yes. This sword is called Severance. When it deals a fatal blow, it traps the target in a space like the one you were just in.”

“…It shouldn’t be easy to land a fatal blow on me.”

“That’s why I stayed here. To enter the same space as you and make sure it didn’t break.”

“What do you mean?”

“Normally, just touching the sword would be enough. But even after stabbing you, your rapid regeneration made it tricky.”

The way it was embedded in my back.

Can, holding this massive greatsword, had approached me so stealthily that I hadn’t noticed.

Though the ambush was successful, the awkward way the sword was embedded showed how much Can had been flustered by my tough body and rapid regeneration.

“I had no choice but to amplify the effect by forcibly intervening during the brief moment it was active.”

As Can spoke, the greatsword piercing my body began to lose its form and melt away.

“You’re definitely not an ordinary vampire.”

“The wielder of this sword can freely traverse spaces, it seems.”

“Yes. And the longer you stay in that space, the more it heightens your senses.”

“…Then, how many days have I been under the sword’s influence?”

“As you can see, it hasn’t even been a full day.”

At Can’s indifferent reply, my brow furrowed.

I had spent what felt like days there, but in reality, less than a day had passed. It was suspicious.

But I didn’t have the luxury to dwell on that.

Because─.

────────────

【Levinia Fallen Grace】

[Race] Vampire

[Level] 87

[Active Skill] Blood Transfusion

[Passive Skill] Rapid Regeneration

────────────

When I checked my status window, the “Words of Power” skill was nowhere to be seen.

I wondered if I was still under the illusion, but since the status window appeared this time, it was clear this wasn’t an illusion.

Given this, there was only one possibility I could think of.

“Did I fail to finish it back then…?”

The situation made me think I had been ambushed just before finishing off that demon.

If it had naturally continued from there, it made even less sense that less than a day had passed in reality.

“What the hell is going on… No, more importantly, where is that demon now?!”

“…If you’re talking about the mid-tier one, it’s probably recovering and heading to the church by now.”

“The, the church…?”

All sorts of ominous thoughts flooded my mind.

The cold sweat trickling down my left cheek heightened my unease.

“Don’t glare at me like that. I told you before.”

As Can began to speak cryptically, I couldn’t help but grimace, feeling even more anxious.

But unlike me, Can remained calm and continued speaking.

“When orders come from above, my personal thoughts become irrelevant.”

Those words, spoken by Can that early morning.

At the time, I thought nothing of it, but now, understanding the situation, I could roughly grasp what he meant.

But regretting it now was pointless.

What’s done is done, and there’s no turning back.

“To go this far just to reclaim a forest… how absurd.”

Moreover, even for a demon with strong regenerative abilities, recovering from such injuries in just a few hours would be difficult.

Therefore, the worst-case scenario I was imagining likely hadn’t happened yet.

“This is the first time I’ve felt this much anger.”

 

---