BDBM | Chapter 10

It was a beauty impossible to overlook.

Even with the eyes covered, the exposed tip of the nose and lips, and the facial contours all drew perfect lines.

The girl, inhaling the scent of a snapped flower, absentmindedly greeted Tenev standing beside her.

“Hello. You’re Tenev, right?”

Even her voice was beautiful.

But it wasn’t until then that Tenev could somewhat gather her wits. Though the voice was delicate and youthful, it was unmistakably that of a boy.

“…Isn’t it proper to introduce yourself first?”

The girl, no, the boy, smiled slyly.

It was hard to believe such a beauty could be a man, and Tenev frowned in a way she hadn’t before. The smoothly curling corners of his mouth were oddly familiar.

Yet, there was no way Tenev knew him from this place. The only peers from her childhood she had interacted with in the past were the ones who had bullied her in the same classroom.

“…Who are you, then?”

“A bit fierce, aren’t you, Tenev? Interesting.”

“If you don’t want to answer, I can’t help it.”

Tenev suddenly reached out her hand.

“……!”

But the boy easily dodged by tilting his head, as if he had seen her move coming, despite her muscles being enhanced by divine power!

“Your way of speaking is really cute, Tenev.”

“Huh?”

It was the same word ‘cute’ that priests like Shelly used, but it was strangely irritating.

What made her even angrier was that despite several attempts to grab the cloth covering his eyes, he dodged them all as if he were a ghost.

“Aaargh!”

Undoubtedly, no one had annoyed Tenev so much in the past ten years.

“Ahaha. Really like a wildcat.”
“This is real!”

She couldn’t take it anymore.

‘I’ll use all the divine power I’ve accumulated to bind him!’

As Tenev gritted her teeth and unleashed her divine power at once.

Bang!

The recoil felt as if it hit her like a truck.

“Ugh!”

Her small body was thrown violently to the ground, rolling several times before she managed to sit up, her hands trembling.

“What’s going on….”

It was an inexplicable phenomenon. No matter how much she searched her memory, she couldn’t understand it.

Step, step.

As Tenev looked at her hands in disbelief, a pair of white shoes approached.

“You bastard…!”

But though her body had changed, Tenev was still a warrior at heart. Once she considered someone an enemy, she wasn’t the type to shake but to attack until the end.

She sprang forward, but the boy subdued her in a single motion.

His delicate appearance belied his surprisingly strong grip as he twisted both her wrists.

“Let go of me!”
“Wow, are you angry?”

Excited, her speech became even more slurred, which seemed unbearably cute to the boy. He stroked Tenev’s cheek.

Somehow, wherever his hand touched felt prickly as if stung by thorns.

The boy appeared to enjoy Tenev’s twitching at the discomfort, smiling widely.

“I just wanted to see your face and go. So, don’t do this next time, okay?”

“…….”

Tenev clenched her teeth. But she was not the type to merely get angry when facing an overwhelming force. Her eyes, contemplating the nature of the power attacking her divine force, flashed coldly.

“Were you at the plaza the day before yesterday?”

For the first time, the boy flinched.

But soon, his lips curled into a smooth arc, rising.

“You noticed. You’re conscious of me too, right?”
“Where do dogs bark from!”

Gritting her teeth, Tenev tried to tackle his legs and headbutt him at the same time. But just when their foreheads were about to touch, the boy’s figure vanished like smoke, leaving only a faint chuckle behind.

Thanks to that, Tenev fell forward on her own.

“Ugh!”

Even though there was soft grass, the impact was still painfully startling.

“Aaargh! Damn it! Damn it!”

That Jindanye, merely a 9-year-old kid, had managed to best her like this was a blow to her pride.

Tenev writhed on the ground, suddenly puzzled.

‘Wasn’t a squire supposed to be following me?’

Yet this unknown person had managed to enter the garden and scuffle with Tenev without interference?

Tenev called out loudly for the knight.

“Sir Shome!”

The knight, who had been grabbed by Tenev the day before, appeared, startled.

“Agi-nim?! Why did you suddenly fall?”

“Did you not see a man, no, a boy who looks like a woman, with his eyes covered just now?”
“A woman? A boy, you say?”

Shome seemed genuinely confused.

Tenev was at a loss for words.

‘Was I bewitched by a ghost?’

Then Shome noticed the right cheek of Tenev, narrowing his eyes.

“Did you scrape your face when you fell? It’s all red on one side!”
“It’s red?”

“Yes. I’ll treat it right away.”

Although not as specialized as a priest, a paladin could use some healing abilities.

“Ugh!”

However, as soon as Shome invoked his divine power, Tenev felt pain.

Seeing her cheek turn even redder, Shome’s expression hardened seriously.

“This is a reaction that occurs when divine power and magical power collide.”
“Magical power? What are you talking about?”

Tenev was stunned.

When she first discovered the boy, she had sensed divine power, though she found it strange he wasn’t wearing priest robes.

‘But how could that guy use magical power?’

Divine power and magical power were completely opposite forces. They couldn’t coexist in the same human body. Absolutely not.

Shome hurriedly picked up Tenev.

“Excuse me, my lady. This needs to be shown to a specialized healing priest.”

Eventually, the morning at the Holy King’s palace was once again turned upside down.

Renard had a lot to say but chose to remain silent, waiting until Tenev’s skin color returned to normal before speaking.

“Having a child really brings life to your life.”
“If it brings joy to my father, I’m also happy.”
“Ha.”

Wasn’t this child aware of being subtly scolded? How could she respond like that?

Renard looked down incredulously, but Tenev grabbed one of his fingers with a smiling face.

“…My daughter.”

There was no way to scold a wounded child behaving like this.

No choice but to hand her a plate of cream puffs. Even though the paladins were on alert and a team was secretly formed to track down the young magician who dared to intrude into the palace where the Holy King resided.

‘The method I used on my master works on this person too.’

Tenev swallowed a breath of relief, thinking back to her childhood, not as Tenev but as Jin Danye.

Back then, she used to change opponents day by day, fighting and getting scolded a lot by her master.

But when Danye shyly smiled and squeezed her master’s finger, the master would sigh yet smile back at her.

Though what Renard handed over now was not a smiling face but a plate full of cream puffs.

‘…Why does it work?’

Her question melted away with the chocolate cream inside the puff.

“I see my daughter dislikes sleeping in and enjoys walking. But for now, morning walks are forbidden.”
“I understand.”

It was a natural measure as the security of the palace was tightened.

Tenev accepted it without complaint. She had almost memorized the structure of the main palace where the Holy King resided.

‘It’s not like walking is the only exercise.’

Tenev had also realized something from this incident.

‘It was foolish to dig only one well.’

She had been too engrossed in the joy of accumulating divine power, which gathered much faster than cultivating inner energy. No matter how profound the inner energy, if the technique and body did not support it, it was only half-baked. She had overlooked the mistake of assuming there would be no threat to her life for a while.

“Phew…….”

Tenev breathed deeply, opening her eyes.

A mysterious light flickered and then vanished in her golden irises.

‘Luckily, the divine power doesn’t repel the inner energy.’

Not going for walks didn’t mean Tenev slept in. These days, she was waking up earlier than before to train both divine power and inner energy together.

Whether the two powers could be stored together in the dantian was still an unanswered question.

‘Being physically involved, I can only learn little by little.’

Meanwhile, the paladins were bewildered.

Their lady, who meditated longer than before, suddenly got up and walked around the room in strange patterns.

‘Really…’
‘Such a peculiar person…’

Tenev continued her stepping technique, unfazed by their stares. After all, just watching couldn’t teach them anything.

The problem was, just stepping around could make her weak legs cramp.

“Ah, really. End of the world.”

She kept forgetting that her body had been malnourished until recently.

‘…They said classes were delayed from today, right?’

Having stretched her legs well, Tenev arrived at the classroom leisurely.

“Agi-nim!”

But then… the person who jumped down from the podium looked eerily familiar.