He was but a simple priest, following the lord's teachings despite the world being wrecked with poverty and the plague; when life failed him, his faith did not. He had always supposed himself to be a man of God, and had dedicated himself to the chur...
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_ 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟶𝟺 ; 𝚊 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍'𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊 _
"𝐀... 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑?" 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐃, 𝐇𝐈𝐒 brown eyes contorted in worry, a bead of sweat rolling down his thick red cheeks. His chubby, small hands gently tugged at the black sleeve of Lucius' vestment, glancing up at the priest's uncharacteristically preoccupied facial expressions.
After a few uncomfortable moments, Lucius' face fixed itself into a gentle smile, as he kneeled down to Matthias' level and tousled his hair, his long, slender hands having a bit more roughness than usual.
"There's nothing wrong; not at all. Don't worry yourself over me, Matthias," Lucius replied, his kind face instantly soothing the previously distressed child.
"O-Okay!" Matthias nodded, his face one of repressed excitement, his cheeks a youthful red as he looked around the bustling town he typically wasn't allowed to visit. All of the colors and noises were a bit overstimulating for his young brain, and he found himself getting caught up in it all, bouncing up and down in his enthusiasm, like he was having a sugar rush.
"Father, what do you think we should get sister Amanda?" The child asked, his eyes scanning every stall as if he were looking for something specific, before his eyes lit up. "Look! Look! That stall over there's selling chocolate!"
A cautious smile came to Lucius' face, as Matthias dragged him to the stall selling the sweet treats--however, the prices were simply outrageous--five gold coins for a single piece of chocolate! Those were prices only the nobles could afford, not a mere priest like Lucius.
He let out a sigh, not wanting to disappoint the young boy. This was his first time leaving the church's land, and he surely didn't know the value of money yet and wouldn't understand why he couldn't get the chocolate. And even if they did buy it, the recipient, Amanda, wouldn't really appreciate it anyway, likely having had chocolate before during her time as a wealthy nobleman's daughter.
Truthfully, Amanda's birthday was but a mere excuse to go into town with Matthias--surely, Lucius felt some guilt by dirtying Matthias' first outing with his own ulterior motives, but he needed to do this. He would've preferred to go out birthday shopping for anyone else in the church, but Amanda was the only one with a winter birthday. After all, newborns rarely survived the winter if not born to noble households.
"Father, father, can I have some? Just one piece; I'll be good, I swear!" The child pleaded, his eyes fixed upon the chocolate stall with fierce determination, a small line of drool beginning to form on his chin.
Just as Lucius was about to solemnly decline the child's plea, a (S/C), delicate hand reached around the child, taking a grasp of the chocolatey treat and presenting it to Matthias.
"O-Oh, hello, miss!" Matthias said, with a happy smile, instantly recognizing the morbidly dressed woman despite the veil she wore. So did Lucius, his body tensing up at the sight of her. He recalled their previous interaction--well, it was more akin to an altercation with how defensive she had gotten--and couldn't help but feel guilty again.
Admittedly... he had been hoping for something like this to happen. Contrary to his last meeting with her, which had been a genuine coincidence, this one--whilst still a coincidence--was a bit more of a manufactured one. He had intended on bringing Matthias along because he had guessed that the woman would feel more inclined to speak to him rather than Lucius if they ran into one another.
And clearly he had been right. She had gone out of her way to interact with Matthias, despite how icily she had requested Lucius distance himself from her!
His eyes lingered on the piece of chocolate in Matthias' hand. The woman had crouched down to interact with the young boy, her hand gently patting his fluffy head of brown hair, to which the child happily giggled. From beneath the obfuscating veil, he could see a subtle smile lingering on her pink lips.
Lucius didn't notice his hands balling up into fists at his sides, a smile still managing to stay clasped onto his face.
For some reason, he felt the urge to snatch the piece of chocolate from Matthias. Perhaps it was simply out of his innate desire to protect the health of the church's children... but peculiarly, he felt that wasn't why.
Swallowing down whatever foreign emotion was invading his brain, he set his hand on Matthias' shoulder, smiling amiably to him and the gothically robed woman. "The two of us were out on an outing looking for a gift for one of the sisters--would you perhaps like to assist us, miss?"
Her face was that of a conflicted woman, as her (E/C) eyes moved from Lucius to Matthias' docile yet hopeful face.
She let out a small sigh. "But of course." She rather flippantly extracted five coins from a small bag she wore cross-body, and gave it to the stall's vendor. "Eat that quickly, child. It melts."
Albeit Lucius was well aware that this woman could afford to make rather sizable donations to the church, he hadn't been under the impression that she was incredibly wealthy, rather, perhaps just a bit well off when compared to the general population.
He was, well, surprised. After all, she was a woman all on her own, living in a place that generally condemned women for working jobs... ah, but that was just his own assumption. He admonished himself for yet again making assumptions about this woman in mourning--it was completely possible she had a husband to assist her, or at the very least some friends. Although he hoped not.
He ignored the strange thoughts he was having, confused with himself.
"Are you perhaps... a noble?" Lucius hesitantly asked.
She glanced at him strangely, like she hadn't expected him to speak to her. "No, of course not. They are--they were merchants. Of course that isn't far superior to nobles either..." Her tone was bitter, similar to how the peasants felt about the wealthy nobles and merchants. It was odd coming from said merchants' family.
The t̶w̶o̶ three of them walked from stall to stall in an incongruously domestic manner, Matthias holding (Y/N)'s hand tightly as he eagerly pointed out the exotic and colorful stalls, all lined with different goods: some held foreign fruits, like pomegranates, lychees, and star fruits, alongside many fabrics of differing qualities, and artisan products like candles and jewelry.
Lucius occasionally found his gaze drifting from the stalls back to Matthias and (Y/N), staring at their linked hands. He glanced down at his hands, realizing they were tightly clasped in fists, his fingernails having dug deep into his flesh. Upon relaxing his fists, he saw deep imprints from his fingernails, the flesh a pale white color.
