Once Rye cleaned his body thoroughly, he wore the bathrobe and went out to dress in the bedroom. He looked at the clothes he prepared on the bed and then at his reflection in the mirror.

"…"

He wasn't as beautiful as the him reflected in Octavian's eyes. Untying the bathrobe's sash, he checked his body proportion.

Would Octavian like it more if he slim down? His body has tight muscles, but the curve of his figure made him dainty. Was this what made his body look weird? Should he ask Ash how to lose those muscles?

His legs were too thin and stiff. Not good to touch at all.

More accurately, there was nowhere in his body that was good to touch.

He should never show it to Octavian. What if he fell out of love?

He gloomily wore his clothes. Remembering he was about to meet Octavian, his mood brightened a bit.

He left the room and went to the sunflower path he saw earlier. Once he saw the chapel, his heart felt lightened from his worry.

"Octavian…" Rye called out as he closed the chapel door.

He slowly walked to the altar and looked up at Octavian's statue.

"Would you not rather stare at the real one?" Octavian appeared and hugged Rye from behind.

Before Rye could reply, his body was lifted to the altar. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Octavian's face so close to him.

He really is too beautiful…

"Did you miss me, my dearest sun?"

Rye nodded.

"Do you wish to touch me?" Octavian raised his palm.

Rye touched Octavian's fingertips with him before pressing their palms together. Octavian's hands were slightly bigger than his with long, prominent fingers.

Octavian moved his other hand to caress Rye's face. Rye closed his eyes and leaned to his warm touch. Octavian smiled and his hand traveled down to Rye's neck.

Rye trembled from the sensation as Octavian explored his whole body with his hand. No part of him was left untouched.

Octavian admired the alluring sight of Rye surrendering his body to him, powerless and helpless. The tears of embarrassment hanging on his eyelashes and the faint pink on his cheeks could make any creature and being go mad. He was distressed by how his lover didn't recognize his own charm.

His lover was worried about having a hypothetical rival when it was him who truly have people coveting both his lover's body and heart in reality.

"Octavian…" Rye looked at Octavian's hand which was at his thigh, "is there anything unpleasant about my body? If so, I will fix it for you."

Octavian was doing this must be because he heard his earlier thoughts.

"Nothing about you displeasures me. You do not require any fixing. You are already perfect."

Rye gazed down, unsure.

"Whether you are a serpent or a human, you are undeniably beautiful."

Rye glanced up at Octavian, "Is it true…that I was Der'asa?"

Octavian nodded, "My most beloved Der'asa. You were the god of the dwarven race who often sneaked out of your job to accompany me in my temple in heaven. You were the god who drank the most at the feast of god. You were the god who hated no one and nothing. Your favorite food was the fruit growing at my temple and you once tried to swallow the whole tree. You preached about my beauty far and wide until the gods begged me to make you stop."

Rye, "…"

He was much more embarrassing than what he prepared for.

Octavian chuckled, "You were lovely and still are."

"Can you tell me what promise I made to you? Why was I reborn as a human?"

"You asked the world to give you a human form after you accidentally broke several pillars in my temple. The world agreed if you could pass its test. The world told me you asked it to not give you any heritage since your only fate is me, but I am only allowed to claim it after you passed the threshold of twenty.

"I promised you before you head to the trial that we would get married once you gain your human form, but I did not expect you would truly become a human. Moreover, the world erased your memory permanently.

"I feared that you would not love me anymore. Yet, as a human, you still come visit me for one reason or another. We are indeed fated."

"I do not have the memory or might of Der'asa. I am only a weak mortal right now and my personality is completely different from Der'asa. Are you…truly fine with me?" Rye felt restless in his heart.

What if Octavian loved him because he was previously Der'asa? He was fine to be loved as a replacement, but he couldn't act like someone he never met before. Even if it was himself. What if one day Octavian realized they were completely different and–

His thought was halted when his face was cupped by Octavian and their lips fell on one another.

"You are now Rye Cazmere and I adore you as Rye Cazmere. Have I ever regarded you as Der'asa, my dearest sun? Only you are able to lull me with the sweet words of your prayer. Only you are able to delight me with the changes in your expression caused by my every action. What is wrong with being weak? I can satisfy my desire to protect you this way."

Rye felt his heart melt from Octavian's words. As his rolling tears turned into pearls, the god and mortal sealed their lips once more.

"Your body is still not strong enough to handle marital duty," Octavian caught the pearls and stored them away, "we both must be patient."

Rye flushed red and shyly nodded, "Forgive me for my impure thoughts."

"You are forgiven," Octavian gently stroked Rye's hair, "will you promise me something?"

Rye nodded again.

"I do not want your body to be seen by anybody but me. I do not want you to touch or be touched by anybody but me unless there are urgent circumstances. I also do not want you to accept gifts from anybody else but me."

Rye readily promised, "All of me belongs to you, Octavian."

Octavian smiled in endearment, "And I am yours, my dearest sun."

–––

–

Rye and the others left the dwarven country morning the next day as per planned. Their next destination was the elven kingdom to drop off Freanor and look for weapons they could use.

Contrary to their journey to the dwarven country, they encountered many high-level beasts and demons this time. They fought at least 5 of those creatures per day. Each one was bigger and fiercer than its predecessors.

Rye intentionally didn't lend a hand and only focused on protecting Freanor. Remembering Der'ete's evaluation of Ludric's strength, he needed this experience.

He also continued teaching Ash, Rock, and Marissa how to read magic circles. Ash has memorized all the symbols and how to read them, so Rye started teaching him some words. Because his objective of learning magic circles was for battle, he taught Ash how to read what the spells were targeting.

As for Rock and Marissa, he didn't teach them symbol per symbol. He gave them a list of words and their meaning. Most of them were elemental words and the rest were commonly used commands. When he wasn't teaching Ash, he would teach them the common placement of these words in a magic circle.

Seeing Rye only watch them fight on the sideline again without helping them at all, Nandia finally couldn't keep her dissatisfaction anymore.

"Sir Ludric, didn't you say that there is no preferential treatment in this team? Why is Sir Rye not helping with our fight at all? I understand that Freanor is not a combatant and that she tags along with us to go home. But what about Sir Rye? Why did you bring him along if he can't fight?"

"He is protecting my sister and our rides, Princess Nandia." Aerindel curtly said.

"And there are still nine of us even without him," Rosetta added, "Technically eight since you don't have any offensive spells."

"We keep bumping on high-level monsters that we're struggling to defeat. He could at least lend a hand when we all got injured."

"If we can't defeat mere monsters like this, how can we defeat the demon lord? Those are necessary injuries to remind us that we're still weak." Marissa said.

"Rye is not the one who has the responsibility to defeat the demons. It is us." Ash continued.

"Why are you all defending him? Because he is Sir Ludric's brother? He only gives us trouble in this journey, always disappearing to god-knows-where and worrying everyone. He wouldn't even heal us after we're done."

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice sounded from above them.

"What is this? The heroes are having a dispute? How amusing."