Even as her beautiful eyes rolled back slightly, Griselda still maintained a "prayer" posture with her hands.
Because to her, this was something sacred.
However, Akuto took the initiative to clasp her hands, gently prying them apart and forcing their fingers to interlace. The gesture was unmistakably possessive.
"Holy Son-sama, can you continue answering my questions now?"
Griselda glanced down at the few torn centimeters of her white tights and gave Akuto a helpless look.
She really couldn't understand it. Wasn't it a good thing for a believer to hold faith in their Holy Son? Why did Akuto seem so unwilling to let her do that?
"No problem. Which question do you want to start with?" Akuto lightly supported Griselda's slender yet soft waist, nudged her nun's habit aside, and let her long, white-tights-wrapped legs show in the open.
Her nun's habit was black, but Griselda wore white tights underneath. The contrast between the white tights and black habit only further emphasized that unique mix of sanctity and forbidden allure.
"First question... What about those saints and sisters you took away today, Holy Son-sama? Have they already served you?"
"Mm, that's right." Akuto nodded.
That had been the plan from the very beginning anyway. After all, the flow of time in the New Akame World was much faster than here, so heading there was far more efficient.
"Hu~~~"
After getting that answer, Griselda fell silent for a moment. Saints and sisters existed to serve God and the Holy Son—that was how it had always been. But wasn't the "service" in Akuto's mind just a little different from what she'd always believed?
As she sat there in silence, images of those very familiar saints and sisters automatically surfaced in her mind. The more she imagined those girls before Akuto, perhaps in the exact same state as she was now—or even more unguarded—the more Griselda's body and heart trembled.
"Th-the... second question is a follow-up to that one."
Even as her mind grew hazy, Griselda stubbornly forced herself to go on.
"You said you don't want me to treat you as an object of faith... then, in your heart, what role should I be filling? In what position should I be serving by your side, Holy Son-sama?"
"..."
Akuto didn't answer. He simply gave Asia a slight look.
Asia understood at once. With a soft smile, she moved to Griselda's side and gently wrapped her arms around her in a supportive embrace.
Griselda's figure was in the mature range; she was by no means light. Now, with Asia's full weight pressed against her as well, the combined force nearly pushed Griselda past her limit.
And that was only the beginning.
Seeing Griselda visibly struggling to keep herself together, Xenovia clapped once with a mischievous grin and slipped around to Griselda's other side.
"Xenovia, you—!"
Griselda's eyes, which had almost completely rolled back, focused for a second, shooting an icy glance in Xenovia's direction.
Xenovia instinctively flinched and loosened her grip for a heartbeat. But in the very next moment, as if suddenly remembering that Akuto was right there beside her, she quickly firmed her stance.
Hmph! With Akuto backing her up now, she didn't need to be scared of "Sister Griselda" anymore!
Griselda's glare didn't last long, because soon—
Irina, Asia, and Xenovia were all pressing in around her from behind as well.
"Mm…!"
Pure and cute, Irina wasn't at all used to doing something like this. But with Asia and Xenovia already "joining in," she could only follow her companions' lead and lend her own strength.
"Mmm… ah…"
With the weight of all three girls stacked onto her, the green in Griselda's beautiful eyes finally vanished as they rolled fully white for a moment, her mind going completely blank. Any dissatisfaction she'd felt toward Xenovia just dissolved into white noise.
In theory, Griselda should have been feeling furious right now, angry enough to lecture Xenovia for days.
But now, as she felt herself being held by three girls she had personally watched over and guided for so long, something else quietly blossomed in her heart—something maternal.
Sisters theoretically could not marry, nor become literal mothers. But Griselda had cared for so many saints and younger sisters that, in practice, she had already lived as a mother in all but name.
Now, under Akuto's influence, that buried "motherliness" was being drawn out completely.
And right at that moment, through the emotional perception and emotional resonance of his succubus bloodline, Akuto gently sent his true thoughts into Griselda's mind.
"So that's it... so that's it…"
Griselda finally understood what Akuto meant.
Rather than a simple believer, what Akuto wanted was a partner who carried the attribute of "motherliness."
He hadn't refrained from turning her into an angel because of dissatisfaction or distrust.
He had simply taken this opportunity to gently "pua" her—to loosen up that rigid, overly-straight faith and worldview she'd clung to for so long.
And judging from the result, Akuto's pua had been extremely effective.
Griselda, who had always believed her faith was unwavering and her thinking beyond reproach, had now doubted herself to the point where she literally came to him of her own accord, offering everything, just to figure out what he supposedly found lacking in her.
...
Right now, Griselda was clinging to the very edge of her rationality.
On the one hand, under the strain of the shared connection with Akuto and the weight of three angels leaning on her, her physical endurance was being pushed almost to its limit.
On the other hand, after learning Akuto's true nature, her faith was teetering on the verge of collapse.
What was barely keeping that faith standing were the very real miracles Akuto had shown her.
Even if Akuto was a lecher, even if he had sunk into lust, the things he had accomplished, the deeds he had finished—those were anything but illusions.
"Holy Son-sama, can you answer one last question for me?"
With both body and soul nearing their breaking point, Griselda wanted—needed—to hear the answer to that one question.
"What is it?"
Akuto smiled faintly, and with a hint of wicked humor, lightly tickled the sole of Griselda's foot through her white tights, making her flinch and instinctively try to pull her foot back.
But with the weight of Asia and the other two bearing down on her, Griselda could only manage the smallest movement.
And since pulling her foot back required shifting her weight further backward... that tiny attempt only pushed her center of gravity even lower.
"Ah—!"
With that little tease, Griselda jolted, her whole body quivering. Her red lips parted on their own, a thin line of drool slipping from the corner of her mouth before she slowly came back to herself.
Holding on to the last thread of her reason, she forced out her question, voice trembling:
"I... I want to know. How did God-sama choose you to be the Holy Son?"
Griselda knew that Akuto's appointment as Holy Son had absolutely been approved by the God of the Bible. Those Seraphs who wielded lightning would never have done anything that went against His will.
So—what was God's true intention? How much of God's will had Holy Son-sama actually inherited?
...
Akuto understood that Griselda's mind was fully mature.
As one of the high-ranking leaders who had long since known of God's death, she, like the others at the top, had already lied to herself once.
Talk of "inheriting God's will" and "letting His love spread across the world" was, in reality, just the rhetoric they used after being forced to accept the truth. From fanatical believers, they had been pushed into becoming "cheaper," more controversial believers who had no choice but to carry the burden.
In theory, no matter what Akuto said now, Griselda would choose to accept it.
Because if she didn't, her faith would almost certainly crumble.
For someone who had already accepted the death of the God of the Bible, accepting "the Holy Son is a shameless lecher" was, relatively speaking, not so hard.
Still, seeing the resolve in Griselda's eyes, her careful makeup—how she'd obviously come here prepared to give everything—Akuto decided he wouldn't brush her off with a perfunctory answer.
So, he slowly lifted his upper body and rested his forehead against hers.
"Instead of explaining it in words, it's better if I let you see for yourself what 'Holy Son' really means."
Golden light flashed.
Streams of information flowed out from Akuto's mind and into Griselda's.
...
At last.
Griselda received her answer from Akuto.
It wasn't a perfect answer—but it was absolutely real, and it shook her to the core.
[Seven Heavens, and the boy invited there...]
[To choose a successor, God-sama left a will and the Sacred Jewel with the Four Seraphs...]
[Because his body was unharmed by holy swords, he, like many saints and holy maidens, set foot on the path to the Seven Heavens to undergo the trials.]
[The difference was that he succeeded.]
[He earned God-sama's recognition. He passed the threefold trials God-sama laid down, gained the Holy Spear's acknowledgment, gathered possibilities from other worlds, and with his own strength alone defeated the Four Seraphs.]
[Now, he is absorbing the knowledge God-sama left behind, hoping to truly become His successor.]
[And the reason God-sama chose him as successor... was the invasion of powerful beings from another world.]
[They are a group of evil gods with the power to shatter world-lines and timelines. God-sama fell under their assault.]
[In order to break this world's limits, he fused holy power with other forces within himself—just as God-sama once wished dragons to transcend through the concept of "dragon-slaying."]
[To prevent further erosion from beyond this world, he is searching for and purifying "Evolution Cores"—dangerous artifacts that would allow this world to be devoured.]
As she read through Akuto's memories of his time as Heaven's Holy Son, a boundless sense of shock rose in Griselda's heart.
Without a doubt, these were all actions of the purest, most sacred kind. Anyone who saw them would agree that Akuto was walking the absolutely correct path.
And yet, even as he did all these "right" things, Akuto had also done many "evil path" things.
He'd taken over wicked organizations. He'd claimed girls whose souls had been damaged. He'd drawn in a whole host of saints and sisters, then brought them into the same forbidden nights.
After those nights, he was now even letting Xenovia—who was practically Griselda's foster daughter—hold onto her like this during such an intimate trial.
By any conventional standard, one could say his actions were "evil to the extreme."
But in this moment, there was no hatred or disgust in Griselda's eyes at all.
There was only helpless fondness—and a deep, aching compassion.
From now on, Griselda no longer measured Akuto in terms of right and wrong, justice and evil.
What she cared about now... was only Akuto himself. Nothing else.
"Holy Son-sama, please grant mercy to me—and to this world as well~"
With a soft prayer, Griselda finally let go of her prayer pose and, instead of clasping her hands, leaned down to press her lips to Akuto's.
As she felt Akuto's need for her and his acceptance of her, Griselda felt nothing but happiness and peace.
(End of Chapter)
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