Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 136
Still, however, he had no intention of following the Alliance of Kingdomsā and Princess Ceciliaās desires.
Michael reviewed the regulations of the fortress established by the Alliance of Kingdoms multiple times.
In doing so, he found a way to bypass their demands.
The Contract Night, a gathering to choose a purifier to pair with.
If he failed to be selected by a purifier that night, he would be granted a few monthsā grace.
So Michael intentionally arrived late to the event.
He thought that by then, the purifiers would have already paired with other knights, leaving none available.
But his mistake was in not considering that there might be a purifier everyone else avoided.
By then, most people had already left, and the servants were cleaning up the hall.
The only ones left were the knights who hadnāt been chosen.
He could have simply registered himself as an unchosen knight like them and then left.
āPlease, pair with me.ā
A woman clung to him, her voice mixed with tears.
From the murmurs of the others, he learned that she was a rare Grade 10 purifier, difficult to find in any other sense.
In truth, he could have refused and walked away, and that would have been the end of it.
While it might go against the divine teaching to help those in need, he knew better than anyone that there should never be a woman on his path with the divine.
No one understood this better than himself.
Yet, before he knew it, he had already been paired with her.
Irene Rhodiam.
A figure who remained solitary and dignified in the fortress, which seemed inhabited only by beasts.
Although he held a deeply negative view of purifiers, his gaze began to follow Ireneās every move.
Realizing something was wrong, he scolded himself.
In front of Irene, he exercised even harsher self-discipline.
While he exchanged light greetings and casual conversations about the weather with others, he never said anything beyond a greeting to Irene.
In response, Irene would linger at a distance, only to eventually return alone to her quarters.
Michael would always observe her from afar, and then, countless times, shake his head, trying to erase the sight of her retreating figure from his mind.
āIs this what it means to be paired?ā
It wasnāt as if magic was involvedāit was just a few meaningless words of the continental law established by the Alliance of Kingdoms.
A relationship bound by something like that should have only legal effect on paperā¦
Then one day, while he was with other knights in an advanced dungeon, he suffered a minor injury.
When they emerged with the wounded, the purifiers rushed to their knights, embracing them or kissing them to heal their wounds and purify the miasma.
The scene made Michael uncomfortable.
Exposing themselves shamelessly in the open daylight, engaging in acts no different from beastly mating.
Suppressing the instinctual revulsion that seemed etched into his being, he was about to return to the fortressās temple.
āSir Michael!ā
A desperate voiceāIreneāsāreached him.
In an instant, he turned to face her, and as he did, she grabbed his hand, gasping for breath after running.
Michael would never forget that moment.
Her long, slender fingers clutched his hand, stained with blood.
In that moment, he experienced a shock stronger than anything heād felt in his life.
His vision blurred, and it felt as though the ground had collapsed beneath him.
Suddenly, all the sensations in his body focused solely on his hand that touched Irene, while everything else faded away.
The moment she touched him, his entire body felt like it was boiling, and at the same time, it felt as though a cool breeze blew through him from where they made contact.
In the midst of this horrifyingly blissful sensation, Michael realized what was happening to him.
Purification.
The act of cleansing oneās contaminated body and mind.
But whyā¦?
He shook Ireneās hand off.
While everyone else held onto each other for purification, she alone stood there, bewildered, watching him.
Michael took in her expression and immediately turned away, running to the prayer room in the fortress.
Slamming the door shut, he steadied his breath and raised his hand.
The blood of monsters that had stained his hand was gone from where Irene had touched.
Michael stared at his hand for a long time, then slowly raised it to his lips.
He pressed his lips to the place where Irene had touched him.
And in that instant, he realized something else.
The part of him below was swollen to an unsightly degree.
