Thread by @splotter_

#joongdok isekai au where kdj gets reincarnated as the saintess in a trashy web novel, but archduke yjh keeps demanding blessings from him.

contrary to popular belief, kdj didn’t mind becoming such a high-profile character. he wasn’t particularly crucial for the plot, but his—

—identity still held weight in this world.

commoners and nobles alike were careful not to make the church of eden their enemies lest they lose all their chances of receiving blessings from those with holy powers.

and kdj was at the very top of this food chain as the only—

—person in the empire with such an immense aptitude for holy power.

at first, kdj thought his job as the saintess would be an arduous one, as it often was in most novels. however, it was surprisingly mundane.

apart from the occasional priests and priestesses, kdj hardly ever—

—saw anyone in his sector of the temple. not that he minded, there was more time for him to read, after all.

on the rare occasions where he did have visitors, a retinue of priestesses would lather him with subtle scents before fitting him into ornate ivory silk robes and a—

—semi-transparent face veil. shortly after, he’d be escorted to a different room in the temple where he’d be greeted by only the most distinguished members of the empire.

performing the blessings was fairly simple. a kiss was all that was needed to transfer holy energy, with—

—a kiss on the forehead being the orthodox method of giving blessings.

while the method was foreign to someone like kdj, he quickly accepted that these blessings were the only reason he could live such a comfortable life in the temple.

time flew by with kdj repeating a nearly—

—identical schedule everyday. until one day, he saw someone new.

kdj wondered why the priestesses had dressed him in his ceremonial ensemble but hadn’t taken him to meet anyone. but the longer he waited, the more impatient he became.

kdj was sure they wouldn’t mind him going—

on a small stroll.

he sauntered down a smooth cobblestone path that he often frequented. the path was surrounded by bountiful amounts of pearl white flowers among the luscious finely trimmed greens. he never grew tired of the sight, it always looked especially nice with the—

—beautiful blues of the sky.

kdj’s short walk came to a stop when he saw someone in the distance.

a man with raven black hair was dressed in thick, dark clothes unbefitting of the warm weather. despite that, the thick garments didn’t do much to hide the man’s well built figure.

kdj watched the man curiously. forget god given powers, this man’s face was a gift from god himself.

but among all of the man’s dumbfounding features, kdj noted that he particularly liked the man’s heterochromatic eyes, one a deep onyx and the other a golden hue.

before he knew it, the man was standing a foot away from him. he was much taller now that he had gotten closer, tall enough that kdj had to crane his head up to look the man in the eyes.

just as kdj stared at him, the man stared back. kdj watched as the man slowly took in his—

—appearance, his eyes scrutinizing his veil for a few seconds before flicking up to meet kdj’s gaze.

“are you kim dokja, the saintess?” the deep voice that flowed out was slow and enchanting.

‘so, he has a nice voice too,’ kdj thought.

kdj gave him a short nod. it was likely—

—that this man was today’s visitor.

“close your eyes and bend down, I’ll give you the blessing quickly,” kdj spoke quietly, almost a whisper.

kdj yelped when he was suddenly lifted into the air, his hands finding themselves on the man’s shoulders to steady himself.

a large hand wrapped around his mid thigh as he was practically sat on the man’s forearm.

“what do you think you’re doing?!” kdj sputtered.

with the change in their poses, kdj was now the one looking down at the unknown man while the latter looked up at him, their faces—

—were considerably closer than before.

kdj did his best to ignore the warmth that spread where they were pressed against each other, instead opting to struggle in the man’s hold despite him being strong enough to pick him up with one arm.

“a member of the yoo archduchy—

—will only bow their head out of loyalty, defeat, or love,” he declared, “and I don’t think any apply to this particular situation.”

kdj narrowed his eyes at him, shooting him a dirty look under his veil. “you’re very cocky, young master.”

the young master blinked a few times—

—before a tad of mirth etched itself into his gaze. “young master..? you don’t seem very saint-like yourself, saintess.”

“duly noted,” kdj scoffed, “now close your eyes so we can get this over with.”

with surprising obedience, the man shut his eyes. kdj hesitated for a—

—moment before unclipping the veil’s latch and leaning downwards.

his hands moved to cup the man’s face, his skin surprisingly soft despite the scars littered about.

gently, kdj’s lips pressed against the man’s forehead, a faint gold glow surrounding them at the touch.

with their bodies flush against each other, kdj could feel the other’s body losing its previous tension.

kdj pulled away, moving to clip the veil back on until a hand grabbed his wrist, halting his movements.

kdj turned his gaze back to the man only to be surprised by his—

—sudden change in expression. his previous stone cold expression was gone as his eyes were blown wide in surprise.

kdj quirked a brow. “what?” he spat rudely.

kdj suddenly had an ominous feeling as he recalled something he had read in one of the church’s history books.

a book about saints and saintesses had said something about those with high holy power being required to wear veils over their faces lest they tempt followers with their ethereal beauty.

of course, kdj brushed it off since his appearance hadn’t changed when he reincarnated.

but now that this man was staring at him so intently, he started to feel self conscious.

“even the emperor kept his eyes closed when I told him to,” kdj huffed, “when will you put me down, you unruly young master?”

the man didn’t answer nor did he look away from kdj’s face as—

—he began to walk towards the entrance of the temple. kdj’s complaints and repeated “where are you taking me”s were met with silence as the man continued his march.

——

kdj was in a daze. he was no longer on the holy grounds that he had spent his whole second life on but rather—

—a large (and cold) victorian style castle.

he could vaguely recall a conversation where one side had claimed they needed kdj elsewhere and promised a hefty donation for his services, but it all felt like a dream now.

besides the fact that he may have or may not have been—

—either sold off or kidnapped, kdj was agonizing over one very obvious fact that somehow did not click until he was sat in the “unknown” man’s office.

adonius-like visuals, member of the yoo archduchy, the location of his estate being in the middle of a winter wonderland, and—

—especially those heterochromatic eyes!

of all the people who he could’ve been kidnapped by, it just had to be the male lead, archduke yjh.

the information would’ve been much more useful if kdj could actually remember anything about the web novel apart from the world building.

hell, kdj couldn’t even remember the name of the book.

the object of kdj’s ire sat at his desk, his quill constantly sweeping over pages. in this weather, he was dressed rather thinly, donning only a black, halfway buttoned up dress shirt and matching slacks.

his large, heavy fur cloak long discarded and drowning kdj with its sheer size where he slouched on the sofa.

“you’re done mulling over you’re thoughts.” yjh commented, uncaring of the smaller man’s glare. “come here,” he beckoned with his free hand.

kdj crossed his arms,—

—turning his head away with a huff. the least he could do was put up an act of defiance.

the short exhale the archduke let out gave kdj a small sense of victory. that feeling, however, was extinguished by the sound of a screeching chair and approaching footsteps.

blatantly ignoring the shifting weight on the sofa beside him, kdj shrunk into the cloak, hoping to somehow generate more heat.

familiar hands snaked around kdj’s waist, and the world whirled. once again, kdj was looking down at yjh. this time, however, kdj was straddling the—

—man.

kdj didn’t like the fact that he was getting used to the larger man’s touches. he blamed it on the fact that the room was practically an icebox and yjh just happened to be very warm.

“bless me,” yjh demanded bluntly.

kdj narrowed his eyes at him. maybe it was the fact—

—that he was (reasonably) tired or maybe he just didn’t feel like dealing with the archduke’s nonsense, but he obliged.

kdj leaned forwards, kissing yjh’s forehead once again.

the archduke seemed satisfied with the blessing as pleased grin came over his features.

——

according to the letter from the temple, kdj was to stay in the yoo archduchy for the time being. those traitors…

life in the archduke’s estate was quite similar to his life at the temple. apart from the fact that there were always servants waiting on him and the fact that—

—he felt like he would freeze to death whenever he stepped away from a fire, it was the same routine of eating, reading, and sleeping.

all the same except for one thing.

“bless me, kim dokja.”

with the amount of blessings that the archduke asked for, kdj was starting to get—

—worried that the man had some sort of incurable chronic pain.

when he was eating.

“bless me, kim dokja.”

when he was reading.

“bless me.”

when he had just woken up.

“blessing.”

at this point, it was a common sight to see the archduke carrying the saintess around the—

—mansion, and the latter giving the former a kiss.

as the blessings didn’t have to be on the forehead, kdj started to get lazy and just kissed yjh’s face wherever he felt like it.

and at some point, yjh started to give kdj blessings of his own.

when yjh first kissed kdj, it was a brief peck on the cheek.

“why did you do that?” kdj asked, visibly confused.

“it’s a blessing,” he replied curtly.

“only people with holy power can give blessings, though?”

the disappointed look on yjh and the servants’ faces were so—

—prominent that kdj thought he had said something wrong.

“…what?”

everyone but kdj shook their heads slowly, none of them saying a word while yjh rubbed his temples.

kdj was sitting in yjh’s lap.

——

all the servants had already accepted kdj as the unofficial archduchess.

kdj was the only one out of the loop.

because the relationship between kdj and yjh had started out as a physical one, kdj was blind to yjh’s advances, thinking that the added kisses and more frequent touches were just an extension of the baptism of blessings.

but yjh had to tie down kdj somehow.

——

kdj and yjh sat side by side, kdj resting his head on yjh’s shoulder as the other filled out papers.

“I’m getting married,” yjh suddenly announced.

“oh…” kdj felt a pang in his heart. he knew yjh would have to get married someday. he—

—had an obligation to continue his noble bloodline after all. but deep inside kdj, he had a small hope that the two could continue to fool around like young lovers.

“…who are you getting married to?” kdj asked in a small voice.

yjh cupped his chin in thought for a moment.

“at first, they had a very bratty personality. they blatantly disrespected me and didn’t follow my orders,” yjh started, “but rather than bratty, they have a very strong personality.”

yjh turned to face kdj, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. “they’re—

—breath-takingly beautiful but they don’t seem to know it. and I think I’ve grown addicted to their touches.”

kdj forced a smile to his lips, “wow, you must be very lucky to have them.”

“I am,” yjh nodded, “so, will you give me your blessing for marriage?”

“oh,” so he had to watch yjh marry someone else too? “of course I will, who else would do it apart from me?”

“that’s good, I’d have to buy you off from the temple if you declined my proposal.”

“what?”

without wasting another moment, yjh slipped a gold band onto kdj’s finger—

—and leaned down to capture his wife’s lips. kdj’s brain short circuited at the suddenly onslaught, but melted into yjh’s touch.

once yjh finished his attack, kdj was gasping for air and out of shock.

yjh smiled at him. a smile of pure love and adoration.

he pressed their foreheads together as he tugged kdj closer into his embrace.

“bless me, kim dokja,” he whispered, “bless me, my wife.”

—— fin.

I stand by the threadfic writers who delete tweets with spelling mistakes 🧍 the anxiety I got when I saw someone retweet the parts with the spelling mistakes ⚰️

SCREAMING, DID A SKIM AND FOUND TWO MORE 💀 and they’re too far up in the thread for me to snipe… ⚰️