Miela placed her hand on the bleeding arm of the knight.

A bright light emanated from her delicate fingertips, then quickly disappeared. Along with the light, the rather large wound that had been there was cleanly erased.

Miela examined the knight’s complexion and where the wound had been, then asked:

“Are you alright now?”

“Yes, I’m feeling great! Thanks to you, Holy One.”

Miela finished treating the remaining injured and stood up. As she looked around as if searching for someone, the captain of the Delmark knights approached her.

“It seems we keep receiving help from you, Holy One. It must have been a difficult journey, thank you for coming here.”

Priests with holy power usually attended to large and small incidents that occurred in the system, treating the injured.

All tasks were arduous, but there was one job that most priests were reluctant to take on, and that was accompanying monster subjugation missions.

First, the distance to monster-infested areas was far, the risk was high, and generally, the number of injured tended to be high as well.

There was no reason for anyone to volunteer to come along.

Because of this, the captain of the Delmark knights didn’t think at all that Miela had voluntarily joined the monster subjugation mission.

“It’s nothing. This is my job.”

Miela smiled at him, then asked with eyes full of expectation:

“But, didn’t the Duke come?”

“He had other matters to attend to. Also, the monsters that appeared today weren’t that dangerous.”

“Ah… I see.”

Miela turned her gaze away, trying to hide her clearly disappointed expression, when she noticed something and her eyes widened.

Among the knights, there were things that looked like tulip roots tied up and struggling.

“What are those?”

“Ah, those are captured baby monsters. They usually live deep in the forest, but it seems they were swept here by the recent commotion.”

At the word ‘monster’, Miela’s expression hardened with disgust.

“Why didn’t you kill them?”

“They’re still young, and more importantly, they help the forest grow. They usually run away at the sight of humans, so they rarely cause harm.”

The Delmark knights, having faced countless monsters in the north, knew everything about monsters.

While Delmark conducted large-scale monster subjugation, they tried not to kill monsters that were beneficial to the forest or non-threatening. After all, there was much to gain from the forest.

“Once we finish cleaning up here, we plan to go deep into the forest and release them.”

However, despite his explanation, Miela maintained her negative stance.

“But aren’t they still monsters? You never know when they might suddenly turn and harm people.”

“That’s true, but…”

“I think it’s better not to leave any possibility of danger. I don’t want to see people, including the knights, getting hurt anymore.”

Worry settled in Miela’s brilliant golden eyes as she calmly stated her opinion.

Seeing those eyes, the captain found it difficult to insist on his own view. Moreover, wasn’t she saying this out of concern for people and themselves?

A subordinate watching this scene gave the captain a look suggesting to just go along with her.

The captain felt uneasy about the unexpected killing, but reluctantly gave the order to his subordinate.

“…Take them away and deal with them.”

“I’m sorry. I was being too insistent…”

“No, I completely understand your concern, Holy One. Especially as someone who works closest to the injured.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Miela answered with a bright smile, as if she had never worn a worried expression.

“Then I’ll be going now. There might be other duties the divine is calling me to.”

As Miela’s back receded, the knights could be heard whispering.

“She’s an angel, a real angel. There’s no one else like her.”

“An angelic face and an angelic heart, I tell you.”

Healing the sick, worrying about them, and performing acts of service – Miela was naturally good.

It was a reputation that had followed her since becoming a priest, something so natural to her.

Miela arrived at the temple by carriage.

‘I should take a bath first.’

As always after working outside, she headed to the annex to wash away any bad energy that might have clung to her body. On her way, she heard several people whispering nearby.

Looking in that direction, she saw young noblewomen and ladies gathered under a flowering tree, talking.

It was a common sight to see noblewomen and ladies who came to pray or donate at the temple having conversations.

Especially in spring when the weather started to warm up.

Miela was about to pass by without much thought as usual, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard their conversation.

“But the two of them seemed to be getting along fine at the recent banquet.”

The recent banquet they were referring to was the one held at the Delmark duchy.

Miela, not being a noble, hadn’t received an invitation to the banquet, but she had picked up bits of information from the nobles visiting the temple.

She had a feeling that if the topic was related to the Delmark duchy’s banquet, there might be talk about Herdin.

Miela hid herself behind a wall and listened to their conversation.

“The Duke isn’t the type to show such things. Even if he looks fine on the outside, who knows what’s going on inside?”

The noblewomen and ladies were talking while covering their mouths with fans. Rachel, who had been quietly listening after throwing out the initial topic, slowly spoke up.

“From what I’ve seen, Blair… I mean, the Duchess, seems to be a bit obsessive towards the Duke. You should have seen how anxious she got whenever the Duke so much as made eye contact with another woman.”

The name ‘Blair’ rang clearly in Miela’s ears.

“Oh my. Isn’t that a sign of morbid jealousy?”

“Hmm, it might be. The Duchess has always had a tendency to be excessively possessive of things she considers hers since she was young. She was quite obsessive towards me too.”

“Lady Seldon, you must have had a hard time.”

“No, not at all. For me, being a long-time friend and family, I find even that side of her pitiful and understandable, but…”

Rachel spoke as if she was genuinely worried and concerned about Blair.

The noblewomen and ladies who heard this story first sympathized with Rachel who must have suffered from Blair’s behavior, and then started worrying about Herdin.

“If the Duchess is so controlling, the Duke must feel quite suffocated. If even Lady Seldon can see it, imagine how much she must be controlling the Duke himself.”

“The Duke really has it tough. He finally returns as a national hero, only to be married into what could be considered an enemy relationship with the imperial family.”

“That’s right. Someone of the Duke’s caliber could have easily married any lady of his choosing.”

After talking for a while, they noticed that there were many ears listening here, and one by one they left, saying they had other matters to attend to. Miela, who had been listening, quietly turned away as well.

As she mulled over the recent conversation, Herdin naturally came to mind.

A man indifferent and cold in everything.

Nevertheless, the moment Miela first saw him, she felt as if the world she had known was shaken to its core.

It seemed as if God had created him that way. For all creatures in this world to love him.

‘How could anyone not love such a person?’

Miela fell in love with him at first sight, as if following divine providence.

But he was already a man who had made vows with another before God.

Miela had no intention whatsoever of trying to do anything about him. Even if it was a love that couldn’t be returned, it was enough just to watch him from afar.

She only wished for his happiness.

But what if he wasn’t happy?

What if that unhappiness was because of the marriage?

Miela was well aware of the bad blood between the imperial family and the Delmark duchy.

If that long-standing bad blood had made that man as cold and dry as he was now.

‘The marriage to the imperial princess is too cruel for him.’

She had no ill feelings towards Blair, but she began to hate her for making him unhappy.

She didn’t know if what the noblewomen and ladies were gossiping about earlier was true. Rumors often fabricate non-existent stories.

But one thing was clear.

Blair, who accepted the marriage knowing full well about the past animosity, was a bad person.

Miela was lost in thought.

‘Is there any way I can save the Duke from this unhappy marriage?’

* * *

“Shall we end here for today?”

Agnes and Blair came out of the greenhouse after finishing their tea time.

The temperature difference between inside and outside the greenhouse wasn’t significant now that the weather had warmed up considerably. Agnes seemed to notice this too, as she said:

“It really is spring now. Next time, we could have our tea time outdoors.”

“I’ll prepare a spot in the backyard around the time the cherry blossoms bloom.”

“Oh my, that sounds romantic. I can almost smell the flower fragrance in the tea.”

Blair smiled as she watched Agnes rejoice, then looked at the cherry trees with buds forming and asked, recalling something:

“Lady Lorelaine, did he say anything in particular?”

“What kind of talk?”

“About hypnosis.”

“Ah, hypnosis. He didn’t say anything special. I think he still believes it’s too early.”

“What do you think?”

“In my opinion, I think it might be okay to start for overcoming the fear of fire… I guess His Excellency is quite worried about you.”

Agnes had the ability to phrase even ordinary words in a way that made the listener feel good.

Blair saw Agnes off and went up to her bedroom, thinking:

‘Herdin’s overprotectiveness towards me… is probably due to the guilt from the fireplace incident.’

But that wasn’t helping her at all.

Blair blankly stared at the scenery outside the window.

A world covered in light green with growing sprouts. It was now in full spring.

And the time she would conceive Asiel would be at the beginning of summer.

‘I don’t have much time left.’