He felt indebted, for he indeed owed more answers and well-structured reaffirmations. If his foundation wasn't secure, Kael would break him in half.

  His previous defense, though consistent, was already evident to his adversary; he had anticipated that response and had shown awareness at different moments.

  The first time it occurred was during the tour,while explaining about the MEDs, and it truly wasn't that natural, but it certainly also wasn't expected.

  The second time happened after his thank you, for guiding him through that youthful bustle on his first day of school. And the third, at that very moment, revealing his succinct, potent plan.

  "My freedom is real."

  "Your freedom is conditional, Lucian."

  Entering that clash was a conscious choice, and staying in it was too; however, it was beginning to sound like masochism to try to defend himself against him.

  Debating calmly in a language that wasn't his own complicated things unimaginably and condescendingly; he was condemned by a very bittersweet fate.

  "Not when the condition is consented to."

  "How much of it was truly consented to by you? There's the variable," he leaned in, taking the book from Lucian's hands, "it was imposed upon you forever, so if you never questioned it, it's not exactly consented to, my dear."

  Now that the expression was imposed with a clear meaning, the sensation was different. It wasn't said out of force or carelessness, but completely intentional.

  He was placing himself in the role of a detective and reading him like a board of evidence, full of clues to be connected and translated.

  And worse, the detective was very good. However, it could just be a game. Kael could be an investigator without a cause.

  If he wasn't, he needed to know what he wanted to know about him. Not only that, but how and why, and for what end this knowledge would be used. He laughed briefly and moved closer mutually.

  "My grandfather was upright, virtuous, and dedicated, and because of my esteem, I will follow in his footsteps. If his support was this form of contained freedom, I will pay its price. And you are right, to question is a gift, and I know well what I consented to. But what about you? What do you gain with your libertine freedom?"

  In an organized breath, he spent his Portuguese in the best way he could; studying the language at home had its effects, but the classics were also excellent.

  "Libertine? What makes you assert that my freedom is libertine, Lucian? Are you basing it on stereotypes?"

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Indeed, he shouldn't have placed him in that box so distant from what he actually believed. He didn't resonate like the others; far from it, he was many things, but he didn't seem lascivious. Only a heretic, of the very tempting kind, in every sense.

  "I don't refer to the lascivious part of the term, but heretic." Upon saying this, he realized it sounded like a subtle insult, but what could be so offensive about saying someone wasn't a pervert?

  "So, does my freedom affect you, Lucian?" With the proximity, the question resonated like a soft sigh in Lucian's ear; that angel was whispering to him, but this was a different kind—a fallen one.

  He shuddered from head to toe, with a transparent expression, showing his embarrassment and shyness. He was right.

  If a person outside his circle differs from it, it's natural, but if that person, by differing, affects you because they are on the outside, the problem wasn't with the outsider, but with the person who was bothered by being trapped in their own condition.

  Perhaps the devil was affecting his faith, in a very beautiful way.

  "I believe a little, but because we are conditioned to rescue those who stray, but I don't think it's right to interfere in another's freedom."

  "Does your family think that way, Lucian?"

  "Implicitly, but yes," he began, hesitant—he never spoke about his family; no one had asked him before— "but at the moment, we are distant from our milieu, so the atmosphere at home is quite intense."

  "So, you're melancholy because you don't have a church to attend," he affirmed, laughing; that comical laugh followed again. "It's quite funny, Lucian, that too."

  Lucian, who was beginning to get used to the different facets of his classmate, however, following that reasoning, couldn't even predict which other face would be revealed by Kael at that moment. It could be anything, almost anything. A Pope he was not, by any means.

  "Are you a great-nephew of the Pope?" he joked; there was no way to know what would come.

  "Don't be categorical, my dear beautiful and sublime one. I'm an assistant to a volunteer instructor at Sunday school. I can give you the address of the church if you want."

  Definitely, nothing would surprise him more than that intellectualized project. But there was a tedious question: he wasn't Orthodox. How did they allow a non-Orthodox person to teach the children and youth of that church?

  Not that he cared much; if he was in that position, he was trustworthy. The priest trusted him, and that was all he needed to keep in mind.

  "Please, I'll be indebted to you."

  "Don't worry," he replied, placing a hand on Lucian's shoulder. "I was here joking with you; I'm the one who was indebted. It's facing the central park; I hope you'll go."

  He felt internally graced, but he still needed to know how he had gotten to that post. His family? Difficult. If they were like him, he wouldn't be this way; it wasn't possible. The memory of the conversation about the party was still there.

  "Are you religious in any way?" he mumbled.

  "I'm devoted only to knowledge, to the people, and to freedom. Anything that restricts me from that, I stay away from." After that playful affirmation, too close, he laughed and concluded.

  "But if you want to know what I believe, well, I'm agnostic. I don't care much if there is or isn't something out there, but studying that possibility is very inviting to me."

  "How did you manage to become a volunteer instructor's assistant?"

  "Back to the questions, huh," he reflected, rolling his eyes. "I'm a friend of the priest, and I have an appreciation for volunteering at events. And being inserted in the environment makes it easier to be able to help."

  He didn't want to continue with the questions, and the bell echoed through the school. The time to return home hammered in his mind. Kael had stood up and offered a hand to help Lucian up.

  They both went separate ways after leaving through the library door, with a brief farewell and a confident look. Lucian headed home.