HSHK 01

Episode 1

Prologue

Swoosh.

At the sound of water coming from the bathroom, Irenne bit her lip.

Outside the bathroom door, bloodstained clothes were strewn about in a basket.

From the sight of them, it was clear that the person washing inside had taken off his clothes rather hastily.

‘Strange.’

This wasn’t like him.

He always kept everything perfectly organized.

As though every object in the world had its designated place, he never changed a place once he had decided on it, and whenever he saw something in disarray, he would quietly put it back in order himself. Even if it was clothing covered in blood.

‘But why…….’

It wasn’t only the clothes that had been left scattered about. Beside the basket, a sword bearing the emblem of the Temple Knights was also lying on the floor.

That sword was more precious to him than his own life.

Having made a name for himself as a holy knight, he always took care of that sword before himself.

True to his nickname, the Sword of God, he treasured his sword so dearly that people would sometimes joke that the sword was actually his true form.

But now, the sword was rolling across the floor in an even more disheveled state than the scattered clothes.

Creak.

The sound of the valve being turned off came, and the water stopped.

He had finished showering.

Irenne nervously looked toward the bathroom.

He had definitely been covered in monster blood when he went inside. So she had thought it would take quite a while……

‘This quickly?’

Soon, he would open the door and come out.

At the thought of seeing him, Irenne’s heart began to beat rapidly.

And for good reason, because the man inside the bathroom was her husband.

Her lawful husband, with whom there would be no problem even if she spent the night together.

‘Although it is only temporary.’

Irenne and he were in a temporary marital relationship called a ‘pair.’

Pair.

It was the term used for a knight who entered dungeons to fight monsters and a purifier who was responsible for treating that knight’s wounds and purification.

Knights frequently suffered large and small injuries while fighting monsters inside dungeons.

The injuries were a problem, but the greater problem was the demonic energy emitted by the monsters.

Demonic energy slowly gnawed away at the human mind, causing them to suffer from pain, auditory hallucinations, and visions.

Once it surpassed a critical point, the person would go berserk, and a human who had gone berserk would eventually become a monster.

That was why purifiers devoted all their efforts to purifying their pair’s demonic energy.

The problem was the method of purification.

The method itself was very simple.

Make as much physical contact with the other person as possible.

Minor wounds could be healed simply by holding hands.

But when a person suffered a more serious injury or needed their demonic energy purified, closer contact was required.

Embracing each other or kissing. But the most certain and fastest method of all was deeper contact.

In truth, knights preferred the last method.

Afterward, all their wounds would heal completely, their accumulated demonic energy would disappear entirely, and their physical abilities would even increase temporarily.

That was why, before entering a dungeon, many people would become physically intimate even when they weren’t injured or poisoned.

‘But…… he hated even being touched.’

Irenne remembered the first time she had made contact with him.

It had been a serious injury that would have sent any other pair straight to the bedroom.

But he stubbornly refused Irenne’s contact, saying that he would be fine if he just rested for a little while.

Seeing that, the other pairs had whispered among themselves.

“Her abilities as a purifier are so poor that ordinary contact probably can’t heal him. Even if they become intimate, I wonder if she could barely heal a single wound?”

“Someone who even refuses other high-ranking purifiers would never accept purification from a woman like that.”

Amid the mockery she had heard so many times that she was now accustomed to it, Irenne took his hand as he breathed heavily.

Holding hands was the most basic form of purification between pairs, as natural a form of contact as breathing.

But the moment Irenne took his hand, his body flinched and trembled before becoming stiff.

Then he turned his gaze away completely and did not look at her even once until Irenne released his hand.

‘He wouldn’t even react this horribly if he touched a monster.’

Suppressing her hurt and embarrassment alone, Irenne drew out her power to its very limit in order to purify him.

Perhaps her feeble power had been of some help, because his wounds healed slightly.

Then he immediately got up and left.

Unlike usual, he didn’t even offer a polite farewell and instead left as though he were fleeing.

Irenne lowered her head.

‘He must have really hated it.’

She had only wanted to be of some help, even if just a little, but instead she had made him uncomfortable.

More than the mockery of others, the sight of his retreating back made Irenne’s heart ache.

After that, Irenne did not dare think of touching him.

No matter what she did, he would surely find it unpleasant and disgusting.

‘Of course.’

He was a holy knight of the temple.

The Sword of God, trained through an ascetic life based on devout faith and extreme training bordering on self-mortification.

Because of that, he avoided the opposite sex just like the priests of other temples.

To him, women must have been nothing more than people to keep at a distance and be wary of.

‘And yet I held his hand.’

She was already a weak purifier who was of little to no help, and on top of that, she had held his hand for so long under the pretense of treating him.

The fact that he hadn’t openly shown disgust was something she should be grateful for.

Click.

At the sound of the door opening, Irenne came out of her thoughts and regained her senses.

When she raised her head, he was already standing outside the bathroom.

“……!”

The moment she saw him, Irenne unconsciously caught her breath.

Brilliant golden hair, as though sunlight and honey had been blended together. Dark, thick eyebrows as straight as his personality. Beneath them were blue eyes holding the color of the clearest autumn sky.

And perfectly formed features so flawless that one might wonder if he really needed to be this handsome.

It was a beautiful face that never failed to inspire admiration, no matter how many times she saw it.

But his face wasn’t the only perfect thing about him.

Perhaps he had come out in a hurry. Drops of water that hadn’t yet been wiped away fell from his still-wet hair onto his broad shoulders and rolled down his tightly defined chest muscles.

The droplets continued down his strong body without hesitation, only to disappear after being blocked by an obstacle.

Following the droplets with her gaze, Irenne realized what the obstacle was and nearly panicked.

“M-Michael! Your clothes……!”

Michael was wearing nothing but a large towel loosely wrapped around his lower body.

Irenne’s face instantly turned bright red.

His body was as beautiful and perfect as his face. No, even more so.

If the God of War were to descend into the world in human form, Irenne wondered if he would have a body like this.

His firm, perfectly sculpted muscles were neither excessive nor lacking.

His body, free of even the slightest unnecessary flesh, was beautiful enough to be admired.

Perhaps he had noticed her staring blankly.

He opened his mouth.

“Irenne.”

A pleasant, low voice that made her body twitch merely by hearing it called her name.

“Didn’t we promise that you wouldn’t call me ‘Sir’ anymore?”

“Th-That’s true, but……!”

Irenne couldn’t finish her sentence. He had taken a large step toward the bed where she was sitting.

Moreover, the closer the distance became, the more clearly the contours of his body wrapped in the white towel made their presence known.

‘Oh my God. Dear God.’

Irenne desperately searched for God.

He was called the Sword of God.

Surely, he had earned that nickname because he possessed greater martial prowess than anyone else.

But for a moment, she wondered if perhaps the nickname had been given after seeing what lay beneath his waist.

Meanwhile, Michael came even closer and stood in front of Irenne. Then he pointed at the small wounds remaining in various places on his body.

“These are the wounds I received in the dungeon today.”

Wounds? They were nothing more than scratches at most. To a knight, injuries like these were probably nothing.

“Besides, I stayed in the dungeon for a long time today, so it seems quite a lot of demonic energy has accumulated as well. So……”

His body, still carrying the heat of battle, drew closer to Irenne.

The next moment, Irenne’s vision spun.

When she came to her senses, Michael’s body was already above hers.

“So, Irenne. My pair. My wife.”

His knee pushed between Irenne’s slender, long legs and parted them.

The heat of battle still remained in his body where they touched.

Overwhelmed by that heat, Irenne could say nothing and was helplessly drawn along as he moved closer.

A dizzying smile appeared on his handsome face.

He slowly lowered his body.

Thud.

Irenne felt the towel he had been wearing fall onto her body.

And she also felt his body, revealing an overwhelming silhouette, press against her legs.

“Tonight as well, I want to receive your purification.”

At his unmistakably suggestive actions, Irenne trembled, and with a low chuckle, he whispered again.

“For a very long time, slowly.”

At his words filled with desire, Irenne swallowed hard.

Strange.

Something was going wrong.

Because……

‘You, in your previous life, were a holy knight who didn’t even want a single finger of yours to touch me, weren’t you?’

You definitely were.