Veronica hurriedly released Greg's hand and took half a step back, lowering her head in embarrassment. Her voice held a rare note of panic:
"S-sorry, Lord Greg! Since your soul is Lady Zane's, I accidentally treated you as a fellow female believer... I-I didn't mean to offend you..."
Her face flushed and her gaze evasive, Veronica had lost all trace of her earlier calculating air of total control. Instead, she looked like a little girl who had accidentally done something wrong.
Watching her reaction, Greg came to a tentative conclusion.
It seemed Veronica had little experience interacting with men, either. That gesture had simply been an instinctive response based on her understanding that he was Zane Hardy, a female Heroic Spirit.
To keep future meetings from becoming awkward and interfering with his original plan, Greg immediately stepped in to smooth things over:
"It's all right. Even after recovering my memories of my previous life, I haven't really gotten used to this male body myself. So there's nothing wrong with treating me as a woman."
Veronica looked up at his words, a hint of surprise and gratitude in her starry eyes. "Really...?"
"Of course."
Greg nodded with a smile, his tone easy and natural:
"After all, gender isn't particularly important to me. What matters is our shared faith and goals, isn't it?"
Veronica stared at him, an indescribable emotion suddenly welling up inside her.
She had always believed her faith in the Goddess of Light was devout enough, but the person before her...
This Heroic Spirit, who had once fought for Lady Seraphina in the Ancient Era, had shown her an entirely different level of devotion.
Amid the Church's growing corruption, such pure faith stirred something in her that she had not felt for a long time.
She took a deep