Chapter 72: Spring (1)

After hearing the priest’s words, Emily was confused.

‘Love.’

It was an emotion she had never felt in her 20 years of life. She had to marry someone to inherit the family, so she learned about love, but honestly, she didn’t listen well.

But suddenly, without any warning, love.

‘And above all, love is with a man, right?’

Her father also loved her mother, and all the nobles here are the same. All of them are paired with one man and one woman.

It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a woman loving a woman.

“Miss. Can you tell me if there’s a man who makes your chest feel stuffy and hot when you think of him?”

“Wh, why is that?”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Unrequited love is a very personal feeling.”

Emily closed her mouth and shook her head.

It’s okay to say it. But the problem here is that the person she’s thinking of is Rachel.

She feels good when she’s with Rachel, and her heart beats fast when she thinks of her. Especially when she brought her forehead to her forehead earlier, I really thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest.

What if they find out that the person she has a crush on is a woman?

They will definitely explain why it shouldn’t be.

I was confused. But I can’t just stay still.

No problem will be solved by staying still.

“P, please tell me more about love.”

“Love… I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ll tell you based on my experience.”

The god that the current priests serve is Gaia, the god of the earth. Unlike the gods of the past, Gaia does not prevent love between people.

So cases where priests and paladins marry and have children are not as uncommon as one would think. Rather, there are many. Because they are attached to the temple all day.

The female priest blushed and cleared her throat.

“First of all, in the case of a loved one, there are two cases. Love at first sight and falling in love with that person while looking at them.”

“What is love at first sight? Can you fall in love with someone you don’t know well?”

“Of course. Usually, it’s cut according to the person’s appearance, voice, and outward behavior.”

The priest explained the example of the former.

I was reading a book in the library, and a handsome man came in from afar. The light coming in through the window combined with it to create a mysterious atmosphere.

“In this case, it’s usually called love at first sight.”

“But the inside is more important than the outside. Maybe that love won’t lead to marriage, and the ending of a person who marries just by looking at their appearance won’t be very good.”

“Of course. That’s why marriage is done with the latter, not the former.”

The priest began to explain the example of the latter.

A man I was acquainted with and I had the same hobby. It was reading. The woman, who was bored of reading books alone, started reading books with her friend the next day.

At first, I just read the same book in the front seat. But after that, the title of the book becomes the same, and while talking about the book, they fall for each other.

Same hobbies and same interests. So slowly, like clothes getting wet in the drizzle without even realizing it, they fall in love with each other.

“Usually, you fall in love like this.”

“Then what changes when you fall in love? You said you were friends.”

“Of course. Usually, if you’re friends, you just feel friendship. But human love is more special than you think.”

The priest smiled and spread her fingers.

“First of all, it’s good just to see that person. Just eating rice or sleeping still makes you feel good. Especially when you see that person smiling and being happy, you feel more energetic that day.”

“Just by looking…”

“Secondly, I want to have skinship. Objectively speaking, holding hands is just an act of holding hands.”

The tool that humans use the most is the hand. So, strictly speaking, holding hands doesn’t have much meaning.

“But it’s different if the person is a loved one. When you first hold hands, or when you hug. You feel indescribably good.

It’s not just good, but your heart beats fast, and you even worry that the other person might hear your heartbeat.”

“Just by hugging?”

“Of course. Ordinary hugging and holding hands all change when you’re with someone you love. It means that ordinary experiences become special.”

Emily thought carefully.

How did she feel when she first held hands with Rachel?

Honestly, I don’t remember well.

But I remember when I first held hands.

Coffee class that was decided to be held every week. It was when I helped her with drip coffee and our hands overlapped.

But if you ask if I was in love with her at that time, I don’t think so.

When Emily was tilting her head, the priest spread her third finger.

“Thirdly, I want to spend a lot of time with that person. Whether I’m sleeping or eating, I keep thinking of that person. If it’s severe, my heart flutters just by thinking of it.”

“What’s next?”

The priest chuckled again.

“Of course, there are not only these advantages.”

“Are there any disadvantages to love?”

“Of course.”

The priest spread her fourth finger and thought for a moment. She is recalling the experience of when she was in a passionate love with her husband.

“First of all, when that person is with someone else, you get jealous. Especially when they’re laughing with another woman, I get really angry.”

“Hey. Just for that?”

“Yes. Honestly, it’s no big deal. When you live, you can talk to women, and especially when you’ve grown up together since you were young, you can play with female friends. I know that too. But when you fall in love, it changes.”

“How?”

“I want that person to only look at me. I want to monopolize all of that person’s time, and I want that person’s attention to be focused only on me.

It’s possessiveness. That possessiveness soon turns into jealousy. Many couples fight because of this part. They hurt themselves with the jealousy they created and stab their lover with sharp words.”

Of course, this part varies from person to person.

Emily’s eyes sharpened.

It’s because I can’t understand the priest’s words no matter how much I think about it.

Rationally, I know that it can happen, but how can it be?

Emily, who has lived a life based on reason, couldn’t understand it even more.

“Of course, not everyone is like this. You can take it lightly to play with the opposite s*x. But I was like that.”

“Then did you fight a lot with your husband?”

“Yes. I fought a lot. I broke up, and I cried a lot. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. The relationship between people cannot always be consistent.

Fighting and reconciling, crying and laughing, the relationship with that person becomes stronger. Like twisting and twisting a string to make a strong rope.”

“Wow.”

Emily still couldn’t understand and let out a soulless exclamation.

The priest understood her reaction and laughed. Because she didn’t understand love before she fell in love.

“It’s too long, so I’ll just say one more thing and move on. The wounds received from a loved one last longer and are deeper than the wounds received from others. Look. What kind of relationship do friends have?”

“Hmm. Isn’t it friendship and trust?”

I’ve felt these emotions while meeting Rachel.

Emily fully trusts Rachel, and she vaguely knew the feeling of friendship.

“That’s right. And love contains friendship and trust. There are many more emotions involved. Of course, even if you receive the same wound, it will hurt more.”

“It’s difficult.”

“Of course. Love is bound to be difficult. It’s complicated because it can’t be explained in one word, and because it’s such a complicated emotion, it remains deeper.”

Emily slowly got up as if she had listened well. Her body has also recovered to some extent. My complicated head was still the same, but it seems that this will not be solved in a short time.

“I’ll be on my way now.”

“Yes. Goodbye.”

Emily, who went outside, went back to the priest again and put her finger to her lips.

“Priest. This matter. If you divulge it outside, you know, right?”

“Yes? Of course. Of course. I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Don’t report it to my father either.”

“Uh, yes. Of course. It’s not even a relationship, it’s a crush.”

The priest nodded as if he fully understood.

Emily thanked her and headed to the banquet hall.

The banquet hall was still crowded with many people. No matter how wide the imperial banquet hall is, there were so many nobles. Especially now that it’s dance time.

So, as I was about to return to my original seat, I suddenly noticed that the eyes of the people around me were focused on one place.

There, Prince Heimer and my friend Rachel were dancing with smiles.

“Ah.”

A groan that came out without realizing it. And at that moment, all the stories the priest had told me were understood.

The desire to be with a loved one. Unreasonable actions that hurt with jealousy. Possessiveness. Ownership, skinship, happiness, etc.

It’s not all stories, but I was able to understand most of them.

Only then could Emily admit her feelings.

‘I.…like Rachel.’

It was the moment when the first spring came to the daughter of the Iron-Blooded Duke, the woman who destroyed the imperial family in the original work.