episode_0064

After the treatment was over, Elenore, now dressed in a white blouse, sat on the sofa in the reception room with Oujeni.

“Even if it’s a poor village! We are not beggars. How can His Grace speak so lightly?” Beside the priestess, a man in a black robe was speaking vehemently, veins bulging in his neck.

His demeanor, as he delved into recent capital affairs and the state of the church, seemed more like that of a businessman than a clergyman.

Having poured sanctity onto Elenore’s wounds, the priestess, her face half gone, paid no attention, absorbed in inhaling dessert from the table.

Engaged in conversation with Albris for a while, the man soon retrieved a glass bottle from a brown leather trunk inscribed with the symbol of the goddess Epona, placing it on the table.

“This is consecrated ointment. Apply it to the wound after cleansing your body.”

Pushing the bottle of ointment towards Albris, the man smiled warmly.

“When you were ill, you didn’t respond to any sanctity. Seeing you receive this consecrated ointment so well today, it seems it may have an effect.”

Like a merchant from a distant market, he continued boasting about the ointment, claiming it had received His Excellency’s blessing and was rare even in the royal palace.

As Sophie discreetly disappeared with the glass bottle, the man cleared his throat and looked at Albris.

“So, Master Albris, when would be a convenient time for your next visit?”

Though his tone was exceedingly polite, a vile greed flowed from his brown irises.

To Oujeni, who had roamed far and wide in past lives and seen various human spectacles, this demeanor evoked indescribable repugnance.

“Hmm…”

Albris, who had been mechanically agreeing with the man until now, closed his eyes momentarily, lost in thought.

Elenore had mentioned to Oujeni in passing that Albris had donated a considerable sum to the temple for this visit. Being described as a large amount by the youngest daughter of the Baern family, Oujeni found it hard to imagine the exact figure.

If such a substantial donation could make the usually calm temple members act this way, then indeed, a significant sum must have been contributed. Oujeni could only speculate on such matters.

Stroking his chin as he organized his thoughts, Albris eventually spoke up.

“I hope Elly’s scars will be erased before the coronation.”

“There isn’t much time left.”

“That’s right. The price will be paid in full, so please proceed.”

At Albris’s words, Oujeni nodded silently.

Yes, that’s how it should be!

After all, they couldn’t have Elly wear an ugly dress on the night of the coronation.

The end of spring marked the beginning of summer and the end of the social season, heralded by the coronation festival, the most celebrated holiday and festival period in the Galatea Empire, alongside the autumn harvest festival.

However, its nature was slightly different. While the harvest festival honored the labor of commoners throughout the year, the coronation festival was a celebration of nobility, showcasing authority, elegance, and grandeur.

Upon hearing Albris’s words, the man glanced subtly at the priestess sitting beside him. Apparently, she had no particular ability regarding sanctity.

Gazing blankly at Elenore’s face, the priestess of similar age soon cleared her throat softly and adjusted her dry voice.

“Hmm. Fortunately, it seems that the wound isn’t too deep since it was just a prick, so it shouldn’t take long to heal. I’ll see you again at this time next week.”

#

“Ozenny, why have you been looking so down lately?”

With a gentle and clear voice, Eleonore turned her head slightly. Eleonore, who had suddenly come closer, exuded a woman’s fragrance as she leaned her head gently to the side.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“That expression of yours. You’ve been looking unhappy since you were treated in the room earlier.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Ozenny, you haven’t made such an expression since coming to the capital.”

Eleonore brought her face so close that her eyelashes trembled above her sky-blue eyes.

Unlike the past Ellie, the current Lady Eleonore did not particularly enjoy physical contact. The platinum-haired girl who used to cling to her waist whenever she could be found was nowhere to be seen now.

However, things were different now. Somehow blushing, Eleonore continued speaking while embracing her arms around her chest.

“Ozenny, is it because of the work at the mine? We agreed to let go of all that happened due to everyone’s mistake back then.”

Looking at Eleonore, who had a slightly firm expression contrary to her voice, Ozenny let out a small sigh.

To Ozenny, Eleonore was not just a childhood friend.

At the edge of the Imperial West, a land belonging to the Beauregard family that faced the border when ridden for a short distance, it was a land very lacking for a young noble lady to make friends with peers.

Her father, Viscount Roelcerar, who was a retainer of the Beauregard Marquis, occasionally visited the Beauregard estate for his youngest daughter.

When she first crossed the entrance of the Beauregard estate, Ozenny met Eleonore for the first time in that vast and splendid mansion that was unimaginably grand for a border area.

“Hi! I’m Ellie! What’s your name?”

“I… I’m Ozenny Roelcerar.”

“Yeah, Ozenny! Let’s be friends!”

The beautiful smile of the platinum-haired girl dressed in a sky-blue dress resembling her own eye color seemed somewhat special even to young Ozenny.

Approaching strangers without hesitation and scattering her pure affection everywhere she went, her sky-blue eyes resembled those of a child.

“Um… Ozenny?”

Even now, it was the same.

The sky-blue eyes in the large white bandage were filled with worry, despite the fact that she was the one who had received treatment.

“No, it’s nothing. I just have something to think about.”

Ozenny smiled broadly as she looked at Eleonore.

“Is it hard to talk about it? Even if you say you’re not a maid but a friend?”

A friend…

Ozenny gently shook her head and chewed on the word ‘friend’ alone.

She realized when her once flat chest began to swell slightly like her mother’s.

It wasn’t just simple friendship.

It couldn’t be called love.

This feeling was too complex to be called friendship.

Wanting to hold hands unexpectedly when beside her. Wanting to lean her head on her shoulder when holding hands. Wanting to hug her when leaning her head on her shoulder.

When she was a child, if Ellie played pranks on her, after realizing those feelings, she always ended up playing pranks on Ellie.

“Really, Ozenny is such a prankster!”

Even if Elly spoke that way, she didn’t reject his touch. Instead, she willingly offered her body so that he could hold her hand a little more comfortably, lean on her, and embrace himself.

However, Elly’s feelings were different from his. Knowing it was friendship, not love, Waijenny let go of the girl who bloomed like a flower.

Eleanor Arène de Beaune, who entered the imperial court, married Yulian Vallatiera, a man known for his exceptional beauty.

When he received Eleanor’s message of true happiness in a familiarly written letter.

Upon hearing that his precious Elly had been assassinated while taking care of the fiefdom in place of his father on the battlefield, everything after that was still not remembered. How Eleanor’s funeral was, what curses he spat at Yulian’s face, or how the prison cell for the crime of insulting the royal family looked.

Upon arriving at the modest and humble Roelcerar fiefdom, he learned that the Beaune family had petitioned the emperor directly to release him.

“Is receiving divine power really so dangerous?”

Eleanor asked with a curious tilt of her head.

“No, it’s not like that. You surely didn’t receive Miss Divine Power when you were young.”

Ellie’s sister, Alenia, who was somewhat unusual, came looking for him, claiming to have the ability to turn back time. Following her across the empire, even to the distant land of the heretics, they finally managed to activate that ability.

“The price will be borne by neither you nor me but my child.”

The faint voice of the goddess echoed in his mind. Alenia, who had returned to the past with him, claimed to have heard the same voice as him, so it was definitely not a delusion.

“Miss.”

“Yes.”

“Elly….”

Waijenny gently held Eleanor’s hand. Just like back then. He leaned his head against her injured shoulder, just as he did when he teased Elly, and gently wrapped his arms around her.

The goddess’s child. The saint was undoubtedly a slender woman with black hair and brown eyes. She had come from another world to save this world at the call of the goddess, and somehow, she had taken Elly’s place next to Yulian.

Cowardly. Despicable. Taking away precious Elly from him and making him suffer, yet now he embraced a new woman by his side.

So, Elly, in this lifetime, I will protect you. I will never let you die so meaninglessly as before.

Unable to utter the words he held in his heart, Waijenny only brushed his finger over Elly’s hand.