I Will Buy Divine Power With Money! - Chapter 148

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The day Rute and I first drank together at the Grand Temple.

I had asked Rute to tie me up and throw me on the bed if I got drunk.

Naturally, I thought Rute would have a higher alcohol tolerance than me.

But there was no need for that.

“I didn’t expect you to be such a lightweight.”

Actually, objectively speaking, he wasn’t that weak with alcohol.

Just the whiskey that Rute and I polished off together amounted to five bottles.

I just didn’t expect him to get drunk before me.

Come to think of it, Joo Hyun-jin really had a strong tolerance for alcohol. To the point where I wondered if she converted alcohol into water.

This body seems to have a similar tolerance.

“Excuse me, Your Grace. If you sleep here, your mouth will get crooked.”

I watched Rute dozing off with an unusually gentle expression and tapped his knee.

Rute’s eyes snapped open and he stared straight at me.

Oh, that startled me.

He glared at me menacingly as if his eyes had never been unfocused, and I quietly withdrew the hand that had been tapping his knee.

“Your Grace?”

Looking at his flushed cheeks, he seemed thoroughly drunk…

Now that I think about it, I don’t know Rute’s drinking habits.

Surely he doesn’t express his nasty temperament without any restraint?

After pondering for a moment, I quietly clenched my fist and reinforced it with divine power.

If that were the case, I would knock him unconscious without hesitation for both his honor and my safety.

Rute would understand.

“…Why.”

As I waited quietly, holding my breath, Rute’s lips, unusually moist from the alcohol, moved slightly.

I clenched my fist tighter and leaned slightly toward Rute.

“Why do you keep calling me Your Grace?”

“…?”

And at Rute’s following words, all my strength drained away.

“Why don’t you call me by my name? Why Your Grace?”

If I burst out laughing here, wouldn’t Rute, with his heightened instincts, get angry?

I bit my lips hard and barely managed to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out.

“My name isn’t even that difficult. But why do you keep saying Your Grace? Is my name Your Grace?”

From the way he was talking, he was really thoroughly drunk, yet his pronunciation and gaze were remarkably clear.

This is a new type of drunken behavior I’m seeing.

“Are you that dissatisfied with me calling you Your Grace?”

“I like that you’re speaking casually.”

Rute smiled gently as if he had never been glaring at me.

Even when drunk, he’s just as fickle.

No, maybe it’s worse because there are no brakes.

“I never said it was okay for you to speak casually to me.”

“Do you prefer formal speech?”

I, I didn’t expect him to react so immediately.

Considering the aftermath when he sobers up, I should be more careful with my teasing.

“It’s fine. You can do whatever you want. I’m not that picky.”

Come to think of it, we’ve known each other for several months now, but I’ve never seen Rute speak formally to anyone other than me.

And such a person consistently used formal speech with me alone.

He really respected me a lot. I’m genuinely grateful for that.

“What are you talking about? I’ve never met anyone as picky as you in my life.”

But then Rute became serious again.

Unlike before, he looked extremely wronged, making anyone who saw him think I really was picky.

“What? Why me? Aren’t I actually quite easygoing?”

“You’re picky because I can’t see any desires in you.”

Desires?

“Even the money you desperately saved was ultimately for others, not for yourself. So I don’t know anything about what you truly want.”

Ah, that’s what he meant.

If you put it that way, I might indeed be picky.

What I truly want doesn’t exist in this world.

Because I left everything in the original world that I can never return to alive.

“Was it that obvious?”

“How could I not know? I’m so interested in you.”

Rute’s silver-gray eyes gazed at me intently.

With that familiar gaze full of heat that I often felt.

“But you’re not particularly interested in me. That sometimes makes me angry, but it’s okay now.”

“Why is it okay now?”

“Because you quit being the Holy Maiden and ran away from the Grand Temple.”

Rute looked straight at me and smiled softly.

It was such a beautiful smile, the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen.

It was even more so because his face was more flushed than usual.

I thought I’d gotten used to it, but isn’t smiling like that cheating?

Could being handsome be Rute’s drinking habit?

“And because you came straight to me instead of going somewhere else.”

“…”

“But saying I could kill you was too much. I was really pissed off then.”

Rute scowled fiercely.

At the beautiful smile that disappeared in an instant, I unconsciously let out the breath I’d been holding.

“But it’s okay now. Because you’re in my estate now.”

Rute took my hand.

His hands were already warm, but now they were hotter than usual, probably because of the alcohol.

“Here, I’ll give you this. You like this, right?”

Rute placed the portable wine cellar pouch that I often coveted in my palm.

“I’ll give you this too.”

And he dropped the sapphire gem he had taken out earlier on top of it.

“Also, what else is there? This is strange. I have a lot of things, so why do I only have these right now?”

Rute frowned deeply.

As if he would give me everything else he had, whatever it might be.

I watched his actions quietly and then asked.

“Why do you keep trying to give me things?”

“Because I want to hold onto you so you can’t go anywhere.”

Hold onto me?

“You left the Grand Temple where you lived for years without a trace of regret, so how easy would it be to leave me after just a few months?”

“…”

“Don’t leave. I’m fortunate to have many things, and there might be something among them that you want. I’ll give you everything. I’ll give you anything you want, so don’t leave and stay here.”

Rute gripped my hand holding the pouch and sapphire tightly with both hands.

Despite his dry expression, as if he were desperately clinging to me.

“If you saved me, you should take responsibility.”

And at the shameless words that followed, I let out a hollow laugh as if all my energy had drained away.

What, what did he just say?

“You didn’t save me, I saved you, but you’re telling me to take responsibility?”

“Yeah.”

Ha! I’ve never heard such shameless words in all my life.

“Of course I have to take responsibility. I made you into someone who can’t live without me.”

Hey, when you say it like that, it sounds strange.

“Your face is red. Are you cold?”

Rute stared at me intently as he asked.

“Well, it has gotten cold enough for that. Let’s get up now.”

Rute stood up from his seat and pulled on my hand that he was holding.

When I obediently stood up without refusing, he took off the outer coat he was wearing and draped it over my shoulders.

“You can warm me up with magic. Is magic just for show?”

When I asked while looking at the top covering my shoulders, Rute firmly shook his head.

“No way. Then I can’t take my clothes off for you. Keep this on.”

As if worried I might take it off, Rute pressed down firmly on my shoulders.

“Then let’s head back now.”

And he held my hand tightly as we headed toward the estate.

I quietly followed behind while looking at Rute’s back.

To be honest, I wasn’t cold.

I was very hot.

‘I should have drunk in moderation.’

Who would have known that Rute would get drunk before me, and that he’d have drinking habits like that?

I stared quietly at his round head that I wanted to hit, then sighed.

What’s the point of blaming Rute?

The real problem is me, not taking off Rute’s coat even though I’m hot.

As soon as Rute got drunk, instead of having a conversation, I should have just quickly gotten him up and put him in his room.

Now I’ve just made myself all worked up inside.

Rute, you bastard, I’m never drinking with you again until you’re drunk.

* * *

A strange sound came from somewhere.

‘Don’t leave. Stay here by my side.’

My voice.

But it sounded like I was pleading with someone.

‘I’ll give you everything you want, so don’t go.’

Despite my earnest pleading, the person standing in front turned their back with heartless indifference.

‘If you saved me, you should take responsibility.’

‘I’m so interested in you.’

And the moment I said that, the person in front whipped around to look back.

‘What? Why should I?’

Along with words so cold they made my heart feel chilled.

Flash!

“…”

Rute, who had jolted awake from his sleep, blinked several times.

What was that? That last part, it was definitely Ordel.

Ordel coldly rejecting my pleading.

“That can’t be right.”

Rute scrunched up his face.

Right, that can’t be. There’s no way Ordel would treat him so coldly.

‘What? Why should I?’

But why is that voice so clear? As if I’d actually heard it before.

Was that really just a dream?

Come to think of it, my last memory was drinking heavily with Ordel last night, so why am I in the bedroom now?

Don’t tell me I got drunk and acted like a fool toward Ordel and got dumped?

“…That can’t happen.”

Rute’s face hardened seriously.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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