2-person hospital room (3)

And that night.

Ethan, Celista, and Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot, along with all other visitors, returned to their respective places. Late at night, only Agnes and I, the original occupants, naturally remained in the hospital room.

I hadn’t yet discussed the second item needed to eliminate Machart. Since it was a matter that required as few people as possible to know, it was naturally not something to talk about in front of everyone.

As for the Saintess, I would have to talk to Celista alone later. If absolutely necessary, I’d only call the Hero.

Anyway, with all the exhausting events yesterday and today, my body was reaching its limits in many ways. It was just yesterday that I had a serious Evaluation Duel, engaging in all sorts of mind games with Agnes, and today, the meeting dragged on, preventing me from resting until late, so a considerable amount of physical fatigue had accumulated.

‘I need to rest well and recover quickly. To participate in the Noble exchange meeting that Machart will attend this vacation…’

Just as I was about to drift off to sleep with such thoughts, Agnes’s voice calling me from the opposite bed instantly jolted me awake.

“Lilith, are you asleep?”

“…I was just about to fall asleep.”

“…Sorry, should we talk tomorrow?”

“It’s fine as long as it’s not too long. If we put it off until tomorrow, I might forget again, so just tell me now.”

“…….”

Breathing continued in the quiet silence, without a reply.

Just as I wondered if she had fallen asleep from exhaustion, Agnes’s voice cautiously spoke again.

“I’m sorry I fought seriously during our duel yesterday.”

“Huh?”

“Lilith said she had no ill will, but I did. …So, I’m sorry.”

“…Now that you mention it, you did say something like that.”

And right after hearing that, I got caught up in Agnes’s Flame Explosion and just glossed over it. So at the time, I didn’t fully understand her words, but it seemed her claim of having ill will wasn’t just talk; she was truly serious.

I don’t recall saying anything that would make Agnes hold a grudge. I did provoke her a bit as part of Agnes’s final assignment, making it seem like a fight, but Agnes, with her high magical cultivation, wouldn’t genuinely get angry just because someone disparaged her magic.

Other than that, the only thing I might have said to anger her was teasing her about her physical characteristics, not her magic, during the duel….

“By any chance, were you really angry because I mentioned your height and chest a week ago?”

“…You didn’t know?”

“……No.”

Agnes looked at me with a bewildered expression, as if utterly dumbfounded.

I had just thought it was an incredibly realistic angry act for Agnes, but realizing it wasn’t an act actually made it all click into place.

“I truly didn’t know you were hurt. I’m sorry, Agnes-yang.”

“…No. I brought up the chest topic first. It was my fault, but I just took it out on you.”

“Still, in the end, the plan worked out well, and we even ended up sharing a hospital room, so it’s a good thing. Let’s look at it positively, both of us.”

“…So, we’re making up, right?”

“Huh? Make up?”

“…Do you still dislike me?”

“That’s not what I mean… I was never angry with Agnes-yang in the first place, you know? We’ve always been friends, haven’t we?”

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

With her final words, Agnes quietly closed her eyes and turned her flushed face away.

Understanding that her words meant she had said enough for now, I also closed my eyes and quietly drifted off to sleep.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

It was the fourth day since Agnes and I had been admitted to the Academy Church.

Two days had passed since the meeting, and Agnes quietly rose from the bed opposite mine, her luggage bag in hand.

Today was Agnes’s discharge day from the hospital room we shared.

“It seems the Elizabeth Family’s carriage has arrived, Agnes-yang.”

“…Should I stay a little longer after all?”

“Huh?”

“You never know. That Machart might attack you when you’re alone.”

“We already heard from Gyeotmwa Josyegigot Yongsa-nim that Prince Machart returned to the Imperial Palace. He said it was information obtained through Princess Seraphine-nim, so it must be true.”

“…Still.”

“And I’ll be discharged in a day or two anyway. Young Master Ethan will also visit frequently until then, so you don’t have to worry so much.”

“…….”

“The carriage is waiting outside, Agnes-yang.”

Agnes still wore a subtly worried expression, as if concerned about me, but she seemed to make up her mind at my firm demeanor and quietly nodded.

“Alright. I’ll go first then. Take care of yourself.”

“Please be careful on your way.”

-Drrrk.

For reference, Celista had advised me that I should continue treatment for a little longer.

Even though it was a double knockdown, my injuries from the duel were more severe than Agnes’s, so as a result, I ended up staying at the church longer. This happened because Agnes’s explosion magic was that much more powerful.

Normally, I would have only taken one Flame Explosion, while Agnes took both a stab wound to the heart and a Flame Explosion, so her injuries should have been greater. However, to say that would ignore the fact that Agnes’s Flame Explosion magic hit me with nearly double its usual force.

…Perhaps the fact that Agnes wedged her staff between my breasts at the very end of the duel had a significant impact. Considering the size of this mass of fat that I’m reminded of every time I stand in front of a mirror, it might have absorbed some of the impact of the explosion magic that would have reached Agnes.

“Your bag looks heavy. Shall I carry half of it for you?”

“A patient? Mind your own business.”

“I’m just worried you might accidentally fall down the stairs.”

“Who do you take me for, a child?”

Honestly, just looking at her, I’d believe she was a middle schooler, so that’s practically a child.

Well, it was illogical for me, a patient, to help Agnes anyway, so I just quietly waved my hand and saw Agnes off.

“…See you at the Imperial Palace on the promised day.”

“Yes, Agnes-yang.”

-Drrrk.

After confirming Agnes had closed the door and left the hospital room, I immediately woke one of the two spirits sleeping beside me and made a request.

After all, I figured Agnes wouldn’t be able to outright refuse if it wasn’t me directly helping her.

“Sei, could you see Agnes off to the church entrance? It would be great if you could quietly reduce the weight of her luggage with Wind Magic.”

‘…Okay. Got it.’

Watching Sei secretly follow Agnes, I briefly looked around the hospital room, now empty except for me. It felt a bit cramped when two of us used it, but now that I was alone, it felt empty.

As I thought that and quietly waited for Agnes to appear outside the window, the hospital room door suddenly opened, and Celista, who was currently in charge of my treatment, entered.

“Oh, how are you feeling today, Lilith-nim?”

“Thanks to Saintess-nim’s great care, I’m much better. I feel like I could run around right now.”

“Th-that said, you know you shouldn’t actually run around, right? Lilith-nim will probably recover by tomorrow or the day after, so please bear with it until then. Your injuries were a bit more severe compared to Agnes-yang’s to begin with.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

Watching Celista check on my condition, I thought seriously to myself.

About her title, ‘Lilith-nim,’ which she had been using for me since some point, for reasons I didn’t know.

Up until now, I had tried my best not to pay attention to it, but no matter how I thought about it, this situation where she addressed me with such a high honorific was extremely strange. In the original work, there weren’t many characters Celista addressed with the ‘-nim’ honorific throughout the entire story.

There was the Hero, the protagonist character whom Celista admired, the church elders who held higher positions than her in the Aurelia Church, and the Imperial family, whom everyone naturally addressed with honorifics.

Of course, it wasn’t that Celista didn’t use polite language with others. Celista always used polite speech when conversing, whether the other party was a child or an animal.

However, at the very least, when she addressed others, she usually used more common titles like ‘-yang’ or ‘-ssi,’ and adding ‘-nim’ was a designation reserved for individuals whose status difference was entirely distinct.

Even if it were Ethan, a high-ranking scion of a ducal family, it would be understandable, but there was absolutely no reason for her to use the ‘-nim’ honorific for me. Yet, Celista was doing the opposite, using ‘-nim’ only for me.

‘Moreover, all my attempts to correct her were rejected.’

If so, there was only one reason: Celista had started using the ‘-nim’ honorific for me.

It wasn’t that I had absolutely no idea. I had recently recalled that there were indeed times in the story when Celista used the ‘-nim’ honorific for Lilith.

‘The period when Lilith awakened as a Saintess, and Celista had not yet awakened as one. That was definitely when Celista called Lilith ‘Lilith-nim’.’

It was an event that you could only experience very rarely while playing the game. The reason it was rare was because the ‘Saintess Awakening’ event in the story was usually performed by Celista before Lilith.

Celista was a character who accompanied the protagonist almost continuously from the middle of Part 1, so the protagonist’s experience points and Celista’s experience points usually increased proportionally. However, Lilith was a character who only joined around the end of Part 2, so there was naturally a difference in accumulated experience points compared to the existing Celista.

Of course, Lilith didn’t start at a low level, joining mid-game at level 15, but usually, by the middle of Part 2, main characters like Celista would have grown to almost level 20.

In the first place, it was almost impossible to defeat Ethan, the mid-boss of Part 2, without raising characters to around level 20. Even Ethan during his ‘pig prince’ days was quite strong with the support of a level 15 Lilith, so to face him, it was advisable to stably raise characters to about level 20.

In the process of leveling up, Celista naturally leveled up alongside the Hero, and it was the most common situation in 『Luminor Academy』 gameplay for her to be a higher level than Lilith from the moment she joined.

‘And I wasn’t a typical player of 『Luminor Academy』.’

Since I had tried all sorts of strategies to achieve the ‘Lilith Virgin Ending,’ naturally, ‘awakening Lilith before Celista’ was among them.

This involved grinding only the protagonist character to an exceptionally high level in the early part of Part 1, and then having Celista join later. Using this method, it wasn’t impossible to face Ethan with Celista’s level set lower than Lilith’s.

And if you progressed to Part 5 with Lilith in the party, you could awaken Lilith before Celista. I remember that during the short period from then until Celista awakened, Celista referred to Lilith as ‘Lilith-nim.’

And if this hypothesis, which had barely surfaced in my mind, applied to the current situation as well….

‘…It would mean Celista already knows I am the true Saintess.’

If she truly knew I was the Saintess, there was no longer any reason to hesitate.

Because the time and opportunities for me to talk to Celista alone were now limited.