READ NOVEL ONLINE Liam pressed the square button marked ’15’.
Beep.
After a unique sound echoed, the small room carrying Liam began to ascend. The speed wasn’t too fast, but it was manageable enough.
And it moved smoothly without requiring him to use his body or magic. That was the part he liked the most.
“How fun.”
After finishing his analysis, Liam smiled lightly. This mode of transport called ‘elevator’ was fascinating yet convenient.
Applying magic here could make it even more convenient, but he didn’t bother with that. He would surely get scolded for it.
– Fifteenth floor.
Soon, the elevator stopped, and the doors slid open to the sides. Liam got off and stood in front of his sister-in-law’s house.
At this point, he should have pressed the ‘doorbell.’ He pressed the round button firmly, and a cheery ding-dong sound echoed.
“Welcome.”
The moment the door opened, Eluke greeted Liam. Alone, without her children or sister.
“What’s this? Where did everyone go?”
“Well…”
Eluke hesitated and fidgeted, not answering immediately. It was an unusual behavior for someone usually so straightforward.
Something was up.
Liam instinctively felt that way and carefully scrutinized his wife’s face and figure. He could tell what she was thinking just by looking, no magic needed.
“Why is this happening?”
Her gem-like beautiful eyes were avoiding his gaze, and her entire face was slightly flushed.
The straight posture she maintained as a pope was a bit disheveled.
Unlike her usual habit of keeping her hands together, she was now absentmindedly touching her arms or thighs as if restless.
Also, different fragrant scents wafted from her hair and body. They were the scents referred to as shampoo and body wash, respectively.
“Um, you see… Seo-yoon took her out for a bit. She said there’s a comic café nearby where kids would enjoy…”
Above all, her voice was slightly trembling. She was stammering a bit more than usual.
Aside from the ‘automatic speech correction,’ it was remarkably different from her usual dignified manner.
“Aha.”
With so many clues, Liam quickly realized what Eluke wanted.
So he decided to play dumb.
“I see.”
Pretending to be entirely clueless, Liam took off his shoes and immediately plopped down on the sofa. Then he turned on the TV and started flipping through channels.
Of course, he had no intention of actually watching. Nothing was catching his eye. Yet, he pretended hard to find something worth watching.
There was a reason he needed to do this.
“…Liam.”
Soon, Eluke cautiously approached and covered his view. Just as he had expected.
“What?”
He was almost there.
Still, he had to act natural until the very end. Otherwise, the mood would instantly fizzle out.
“…I really dislike you.”
Eluke, with slightly furrowed brows, crouched down and matched her eyes with Liam’s, who was lying on the sofa.
Liam was once again taken aback by his wife’s beauty. Thanks to her superior blessings and consistent care, she looked almost the same as she did ten years ago.
And her personality had not changed much either. However, some subtle shifts had come about since so much time had passed.
“Are you going to keep pretending you don’t know?”
In her saint days, she would have let out blunt curses at moments like this, and since becoming the pope, she had conceded to Liam’s desires by pretending to be powerless.
But now she could confidently question him back. Not due to aging, but rather this was closer to her original character.
Regardless, Liam’s attitude wouldn’t change either way.
“What do you mean… pretending to not know?”
He looked truly puzzled, as if he genuinely had no clue. With all his might, Liam acted out the confusion.
After all, it was bound to be the one whose feelings were hotter who would yield first.
“…I get it. I concede.”
Eluke ultimately sighed and surrendered.
Then she moved a bit closer and continued speaking, her face completely flushed.
“Remember in the café on the first floor of Arise, I said I would do ‘that’ for you? Let’s do it… right now!”
Her embarrassment couldn’t overshadow her boldness. It was a cute and cool demeanor that could only be seen in these situations.
Liam enjoyed this so much that he always teased her like this. Today was definitely worth the buildup.
“Sure, let’s do it.”
Liam suddenly stood up and swept his beloved wife into his arms. Eluke didn’t resist and simply turned her head away.
She was shy and didn’t want to show her face. He always found this sight so endearing.
“Where should we go?”
“…To the master bedroom. Make sure to tidy up afterward.”
His sister-in-law was quite considerate. Liam smiled appreciatively at Seo-yoon.
“Thanks to her, our Rohan will be getting a sibling soon?”
“……”
Eluke lowered her head and responded quietly.
“…Make sure to use birth control correctly.”
“Understood.”
While he wondered what that even meant since they had already gone through this twice, Liam nodded for now.
“Telling me to use birth control implies she doesn’t intend to stop after one, huh?”
If it was such a request, he was more than willing to oblige.
“I’ll be waiting. I’m going to wash up too.”
That day, the two of them mixed their bodies and minds after a long time.
It was an extensive act that lasted a full four times.
*
Buzz…
I lay on the bed in the master bedroom, using sacred power to surround my waist. It was to heal my back pain.
“I’m dying…”
Could it be because of a night of activity after so long? My back felt like it was about to break.
This was a first for me. Seo-yoon was taking care of the kids, so it hadn’t been that long compared to the past, yet I hit my physical limit quickly.
What could be the reason? I thought for a moment and soon figured out the answer, but I chose to ignore it.
“Is it hurting that much?”
Seo-yoon, who was sitting on the bed, playfully kneading my arm, asked. I let out a chuckle and nodded.
“It is indeed painful.”
“How rough were you guys?”
“…I held back more than usual. It was because of noise complaints. I cast soundproofing magic, but you never know.”
This is why living in an apartment is uncomfortable. Once I save up enough money, I plan to live in a country house with a yard.
That would be better for me, Liam, and the kids. Seo-yoon’s place was a bit too small for our family to live together.
Having formulated that future plan, I patted Seo-yoon’s back.
“Don’t worry too much. Since I’ve surrounded myself with sacred power, I’ll get better soon.”
“That’s a relief.”
Seo-yoon, nodding slightly, gazed blankly at the pink aura shimmering around my waist. Then she suddenly blurted out.
“Can you heal anything with sacred power?”
“Nearly everything, but it’s not omnipotent so I can’t make what’s already gone reappear.”
Sacred power, in essence, was a fragment of divine miracles.
It quickly heals wounds and erases diseases with a holy energy.
However, it was too sacred a power for earthly beings to handle, rendering the sacred power wielded by humans imperfect.
Even as a pope, my sacred power couldn’t create lost body parts.
“So… you can’t treat hair loss?”
“Sadly, no. If I could, I’d be able to help many people.”
Of course, the Goddess could, but what’s the point? Treatments requiring divine miracles were redundant.
“How unfortunate. If treating hair loss were possible, I would have made a fortune in no time. People would come flocking even at a price of ten million yen!”
Seo-yoon’s overly regretful reaction involuntarily made me smile. That was something a newly inducted follower would say.
“Don’t be too upset. Even if it could be treated, I wouldn’t have pursued such a business.”
“Why? Shouldn’t you be able to make money with sacred power?”
“Not that.”
Our Goddess was open-minded and didn’t mind what I did with sacred power.
She probably wouldn’t care even if I did something outrageous with it. She might find it amusing instead.
Still, even our Goddess had things she couldn’t tolerate.
“Seo-yoon, our order prohibits charging high prices for healing. If caught, it’s excommunication.”
Healing using sacred power had to be affordable. That was a principle directly stated by our laid-back Goddess.
“Why is that?”
“Would you prefer a noble reason, or do you want to hear the real reason?”
“Both.”
Knowing she would ask, I prepared to share both sides. I started with the more noble explanation.
“The Goddess dreams of creating a world where everyone is happy. But if expensive payments are taken for healing, what would happen?”
“Does that create unhappy people?”
“Exactly. If the price isn’t low, the poor wouldn’t be able to heal even slight ailments and would suffer. Hence, it’s forbidden.”
“……”
After a moment of silence, Seo-yoon pondered and then spoke again.
“So, what’s the real reason?”
“Seeing someone trying to make a fortune off healing makes her uncomfortable.”
“…Oh.”
“What I just said was corrected. In reality, she used harsher and rougher words.”
Our Goddess wasn’t as noble as she seemed. While her intentions were remarkably high, her thoughts and actions were not much different from an earthly being.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Goddess. Truly, I didn’t…”
Seo-yoon abruptly started praying to the Goddess, likely worried she might have offended her.
I didn’t mention not to worry because I found it amusing.
I watched my muttering sister and then placed my hand on my lower belly.
I spread my sacred power to check for life force. I felt nothing. Not yet.
“…Please don’t let me be pregnant again.”
Honestly, I was already overwhelmed with three. Adding another would be a bit challenging.
Now was the moment I needed to borrow divine strength. I clasped my hands before my heart and followed Seo-yoon’s lead in prayer.
“O gracious Sun, I’m fine with three. I trust you understand my feelings without needing me to say more.”
In truth, I wasn’t sure if she would understand. She might be snickering as she watched.
Nonetheless, I prayed. Without faith, blessings wouldn’t come.
After finishing the simple prayer, I lightly tapped Seo-yoon. Just then, Seo-yoon opened her eyes and looked at me.
“What is it?”
“Didn’t you find taking care of the kids yesterday burdensome?”
“Of course, it was tough. I genuinely wanted to cry later.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been bothering me.”
Our family was already indebted to Seo-yoon. Just taking in five members was a significant decision.
So leaving the kids to her was too much to ask.
Thus, moving forward, if situations arose like yesterday where Liams and I couldn’t care for the kids, we decided to hire a babysitter.
I already had the perfect candidate in mind.
“There’s only that person.”
Remembering that, maybe I should hire her right away.
I promptly turned on the computer and logged into Tribe, utilizing the direct message function.
[Pope: Congratulations! You’ve won the event! Please give me your phone number quickly ^ㅁ^]
The reply came in almost instantly.
[havant: ??? What event?]
Havent, Hainha.
I decided to hire this woman as our babysitter.
Being a national intelligence agent, she must have been trained to handle anything, so she should be good at childcare too.
[Pope: I’ll explain the event later, but just tell me your number for now.]
[havant: I don’t want to.]
[Pope: Why not?]
[havant: Please tell me your purpose first. I will share my number if it’s a reasonable reason.]
Being someone who worked for the state, she was indeed not easily swayed.
However, such resistance was ultimately meaningless. I possessed asymmetric power after all.
[Pope: Agent Hainha, would you like a taste of Liam? ──]
[havant: I will let you know immediately.]
Of course, Liam was the best bargaining chip.