It felt as if something heavy dropped in the pit of his stomach, shaking his core.
He felt nauseated by the heavy, sticky thing .
“Do you know something about Eric?”
He clenched the hand that was still outstretched into a fist.
Eleanor had been averting her gaze just moments ago, but now she was staring right back at him.
This time, he was the first one to turn away, unable to bear that serious expression painted on her face.
‘Ugh, so disgusting, disgusting, disgusting.’
The current him was now filled with that squelchy, sticky feeling.
The human filth that had previously wrapped his body was now inside him, warping his thoughts.
‘Eleanor-san is just worried.’
There’s nothing wrong with worrying about her fiance whom she just met the other day.
Originally, he would’ve felt admiration for her kindness and consideration towards the whereabouts of the person who hurt her.
However, he couldn’t do that now.
Only this ugly feeling filled his chest, crushing him.
‘Even though I’m right in front of you.’
Why would you think about another man…
“… Eric-san is—”
He tried to swallow his disgust, and quietly spat those words.
He felt more nauseous by the second even as he tried to be calm. He was desperately holding on to his shaken emotions.
“He was already carrying filth within him when he came into this room the day before yesterday. Filth attracts filth. Moreover, the filth within him was similar to the filth abounding in this Shrine…. Thus, I thought that that might happen…”
— “Pretend.”
This was something humans did — deceiving others, coaxing them and the like.
It was unbelievable that he just did something like that.
However, he couldn’t bear exposing this ugliness within him to her.
Jealousy, ostracize — heck, he even felt annoyance towards her.
He never wanted to show this side to him at all costs.
‘Why did this happen…’
He couldn’t understand his own emotions.
Just what is this that I’m feeling?
Eleanor is precious to him. She had worked hard for him, the ugly, Incompetent God, and even treated him as a deity — but that’s not the only reason.
And it’s not just because she’s a saintess. Not because he accepted her filth into him, either. Eleanor is already precious to him even way before that. She was special; he wanted to treat her well and treasure her.
That should be the case, and yet —
‘Why?’
Why was it that only unsightly emotions overflowed within his chest?
It was different from the great affection held by a deity.
It was also different from the unconditional love that humans talked about.
The more he thought of being kind to her, the more he noticed the deep, abounding filth within his body.
“Eleanor-san.”
He tried once more to touch her hand while carrying the ugliness that made him feel nauseous.
She tried to escape again, but he didn’t let her this time.
He put some strength into it and pulled her towards him.
“Kami-sama!!”
He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the flustered Eleanor.
The fingertips within his grip were stiffly fidgeting.
It made him happy, somehow.
He was usually the one who was flustered, so it’s nice that she’s becoming more aware of him now.
“W-What suddenly came into you?”
“Please cast a good luck charm on me. Sorry, but let me borrow your hand for a while.”
“Good luck charm?…”
Eleanor dubiously asked, to which he nodded.
Thinking about several excuses for himself, his lips turned up into a fake smile.
“I already told you this a while ago, the place around here is abounding with filth. We cannot guarantee that the Filth won’t attack you, just like what happened before. Thus, this is a good luck charm that will ward off filth.”
He said as he gripped Eleanor’s hand.
He slowly poured divine power that he himself didn’t know what it was.
“Actually, I won’t do this just to anyone — I’ll only do this for someone special to me. I wonder why.”
If he dropped his gaze, he’d be able to see his hands connected with hers.
The corners of his lips turned up even more as he thought about how they were connected more deeply than where their skin was touching each other.
Oh, it was a filth warder , alright.
Be it Filth, or other deities, no one would be able to make a move on her with this.
Humans called this power as the deity’s [Protection].
Depending on the deity, it was something that people would be happy about, and yet —
“I wonder why it’s you, only you that is this special to me.”