Keith’s ears turned red.

“No. Not at all.”

“You think I don’t know what you like and dislike?”

With the status window at his disposal, Ian practically considered himself an authority on understanding people’s preferences. He had replayed these characters countless times. He knew them better than anyone.

Well—except for the newly released merchant.

But Keith answered as though Ian had said something absurdly obvious.

“Yes... It seems Lord Ian does not know me very well.”

“Where’s your reverence for God’s chosen agent? You trust in my divine insight, don’t you?”

Seriously, this guy’s attitude never matches his level of devotion.

Keith awkwardly corrected himself.

“Of course, Lord Ian. You understand me better than I understand myself...”

“Exactly. You like being right.”

“So you believe that every time I confess my sins, I’m merely indulging my own selfish desires?”

“Not at all.”

Keith had started spiraling into another bizarre direction of self-condemnation, so Ian cut him off before it got worse.

“Right. I never thought that. I don’t enjoy pain.”

The devout Holy Knight denied it so firmly that there wasn’t even a trace of hesitation in his voice or expression. By all rights, Ian should have believed him.

And yet...

‘Does this guy actually want to be hit?’

But Ian absolutely did not want to hit him.

“No... Anyway, I’m not going to whip you.”

“I want to prove that I do not enjoy it.”

Keith lowered himself to his knees before Ian.

“If it pleases you, strike me. Since entering the temple, I have received countless lashes in repentance for my sins, yet I have never once taken pleasure in the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) pain itself. What I valued was the opportunity to acknowledge my sins and atone for them.”

Ian nearly said, ‘No, forget it,’ but paused halfway.

“Countless lashes?”

Just how many times had they beaten him?

Keith’s expression brightened slightly.

“You’re worried about me. It was never unjust punishment. There were occasions when senior brothers struck me for reasons I did not understand, but most of the time that was not the case. Before I came to know God, I committed many wrongs. The priests and senior brothers corrected me through discipline.”

Ian’s expression darkened as he listened.

“Afterward, the pope personally instructed me. I regret that I failed to realize sooner he had already fallen under demonic influence, but his teachings rarely strayed from scripture. Of course, he must have deceived me with great cunning. There are likely still distorted teachings rooted within me.”

Keith gave a small nod to himself.

“I understand now. The demon’s whispers and curses are influencing me. I truly do require Lord Ian’s guidance.”

“Yeah, no, I see the problem here. You say violence is wrong, but somehow the beatings you took count as ‘education’? There’s clearly something rotten in that temple. And everyone just accepted it?”

Ian was furious.

He had thought he understood Keith’s past from the game scripts, but the deeper he looked, the uglier it became.

“Lord Ian. The temple was not at fault.”

The fanatic answered without the slightest wavering.

“What are you talking about? The temple literally fell under demonic control.”

“I misspoke. The temple may have temporarily fallen into the hands of demons, but God Himself was never wrong. The survivors of the temple continue to serve Him in unity, therefore the temple itself cannot be wrong. Was it not you who made that possible?”

Even with tears shimmering in his eyes, Ian remained completely unmoved.

“How often did they hit you?”

“...?”

“When you were young. Why? How often?”

“Lord Ian. Who keeps count of punishment? Only those who cling to resentment and refuse repentance would do such a thing.”

Keith answered with the kind of logic that sounded reasonable at first glance.

So they hit him so often he stopped remembering?

Ian pressed further.

“Why did your seniors hit you? You said there were times you didn’t even understand the reason.”

“...They rebuked me for arrogance. For lacking manners. For failing to greet people loudly enough.”

Arrogant? Keith?

Ian couldn’t picture it at all.

Not that Keith was particularly humble, but he was always impeccably polite—especially toward older apprentice priests.

‘Those bastards.’

Ian was certain now.

“They were jealous of you.”

“...What?”

“You were abused.”

“...?”

“You learned the wrong thing back then. That’s why you associate getting hit with relief. Even now, it comforts you. Stop it.”

The idea that losing HP could feel comforting made absolutely no sense to Ian.

More importantly, he hated it.

Wasn’t Keith supposed to belong to him?

“Lord Ian. As I have already said, I do not enjoy being struck.”

“Oh really?”

Irritated, Ian smacked him in the stomach.

It wasn’t even where he’d intended to hit. Keith’s hands were bound, they were standing too close together, and there simply wasn’t much space between them.

But the moment Ian struck him, his hand brushed against something strange.

“Uh...”

— Ding!

“......”

Wait.

What the hell was that?

Unable to believe what he’d just felt, Ian touched him again.

Beneath the fabric was a hard bulge of flesh near Keith’s thigh—definitely not muscle.

Keith let out a strained sound.

“Lord Ian... If you touch me there...”

“...And you’re telling me you don’t like getting hit?”

Ian stared at him in disbelief.

Even with his ears burning bright red, Keith answered with deadly seriousness.

“It is not because the beating excited me. My heart was already racing from the moment I entered this room with you, Lord Ian... and from the moment you began worrying about me.”

“Your heart was pounding because you thought you were going to get scolded?”

Wasn’t Keith the one who dragged him in here while rambling about confession and sin?

Ian looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

Keith blinked several times, as though suddenly realizing something himself.

Then his expression shifted into grim understanding.

“I see now. The curse has already taken root within me.”

The sincerity on Keith’s face was almost convincing enough to fool Ian too.

“Who the hell gets hard from being beaten?”

Ian wasn’t exactly an expert, but he was pretty sure there was a word for that.

“There... probably are people like that... right...?”

“And how would Lord Ian know such a thing?”

Keith asked the question with the suspicious tone of someone catching a lover in betrayal.

That reaction alone was enough to convince Ian.

“Yeah. You’re definitely cursed.”

“...Yes. I believe so. I do not wish to blame every failing of mine on the curse, but there are times when even I cannot understand my own actions.”

Keith lowered his head.

‘The demon who cursed him was Belial.’

The demon of lust.

Keith’s entire character archetype was built around the seductive image vampires carried in popular fantasy settings.

Back when Ian played the game, the whole ‘demon of this, demon of that’ lore had mostly felt like meaningless flavor text. But maybe one of the developers had been absurdly obsessed with worldbuilding and hidden details.

Maybe Belial really had been designed that way.

Near the end of Keith’s route, he storms the Vatican and confronts the mid-boss duo: Pope and Malveric. What shocked him most was the realization that the two genuinely believed their own twisted logic.

To them, joining hands with demons was justified if it meant preserving the Vatican.

How could anyone accept that?

Of course, Belial specialized in corrupting and seducing people into his way of thinking. The pope and Malveric weren’t pretending—they sincerely believed the demon’s logic was righteous.

In the game, Keith would shout lines like, “Snap out of it, Malveric!” while suffering status effects. But the player, controlling Keith, could simply open the status window and see the truth displayed plainly:

[Belial’s Brainwashing]

Keith himself hadn’t been fully brainwashed.

But the curse had clearly pushed him into a state warped by lust.

Fortunately.

Ian let out a quiet breath of relief.

Up until Keith started talking about jealousy earlier, Ian had been genuinely horrified by where the conversation seemed headed.

Keith hadn’t actually confessed to him.

This was just the curse—and the game’s broken reality settings—screwing with his head. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

“Alright. Then from now on, I just won’t act nice to other guys in front of you.”

That should stop Keith from getting weird, right?

Ian felt completely confident in that conclusion.