After an unknown amount of time, Elena collapsed onto the bed.
Milly straightened her collar. She was actually quite excited herself, but she didn’t let it show. The defense of her armor had given her the upper hand in their scuffle.
Now was the time for a victory speech.
Milly’s cheeks were slightly flushed, but she swallowed hard and spoke.
“Hmph, you’re quite supple! ~~”
‘Ah, how embarrassing! What kind of line is that?!’
If Elena or Felusa had said it, it wouldn’t have felt out of place. Milly’s heart would have fluttered, and she would have felt like she was being conquered…
But saying it herself felt incredibly strange.
However, things had already come to this, and she had to press her advantage.
‘As long as I’m not embarrassed, then Elena will be the embarrassed one!’
“Well? Do you still dare to bully me?”
Milly lifted Elena’s chin.
Elena’s face was flushed, and she glared at Milly with indignation.
“Oh? Still glaring? Take this!”
Milly lunged forward, and Elena let out a sharp cry, not forgetting to counterattack. She wrapped her arms around Milly’s neck and, taking advantage of Milly leaning down, pulled her into a tight embrace.
She planted a forceful kiss directly on Milly’s lips.
Caught off balance, Milly was forced to accept the kiss.
When she finally managed to break free, Milly continued to put on a brave front.
“That kiss… deserves an award! ~~”
“Heh, keep acting tough. You’ve been itching for it for a long time, haven’t you?”
“Who’s itching for it?!” Milly shouted, but she quickly calmed down. “Heh, say whatever you want. At least I got to see Elena’s cute side.”
Before Elena could retort, Milly ran off.
Why? Because if she stayed any longer, she felt like she might actually lose herself!
She had finally achieved a tactical victory; she couldn’t let Elena turn the tables now.
—
At noon, Elena and Milly boarded the carriage.
Elena wanted to continue humiliating Milly, but she was worried Milly would shift from defense to offense. After all, Milly was wearing that metal inner armor, and her defensive power was at its peak.
She had originally intended to bully Milly under the guise of training.
Now, training was no longer necessary; Milly was capable of fighting back.
Milly was also quite proud of herself, a mocking glint in her eyes. Elena wanted to retaliate, but since there were others in the carriage, she had to exercise patience and stay calm.
With the crack of a whip, the carriage slowly rolled forward.
Inside the carriage sat Elena, Milly, and the girl in the black robe from before. The girl wore her hood up, making her face almost impossible to see.
However, Milly could tell she was quite cute.
The girl in the black robe glanced at Elena from time to time and cast unfriendly smiles toward Milly. Milly understood the situation perfectly and nudged Elena with her elbow.
“Elena, is she into you?”
“It’s just gratitude.”
The girl in the black robe was named Loki, and she had originally been an ordinary village girl.
Six months ago, she went to the city to sell agricultural products.
While passing the temple, she entered the hall on a whim to pray to the goddess’s statue. Unexpectedly, she caught the eye of a Cardinal with ulterior motives.
Much like Milly’s experience, the Cardinal claimed she was tainted by miasma.
Loki was terrified and followed the Cardinal to the confession room.
Once they entered the room, the Cardinal revealed his true colors.
He lunged at her like a predator. Loki resisted desperately, but it was futile.
At the critical moment, Elena made a dashing entrance.
It turned out she had long since infiltrated the Church of the Goddess, intending to steal records from the archives, but she had been discovered and forced to hide in the confession room.
She hadn’t intended to show herself, but Loki was too pitiful to ignore.
Elena had rushed out and killed the Cardinal in an instant.
Back when Elena was disguised as the Saintess, she truly wasn’t skilled in offensive magic because all her offensive spells were of the witch’s dark attribute.
If she used them casually, wouldn’t her identity be exposed?
That was why she had lied, claiming she wasn’t good at offensive magic.
As for healing magic, that was Elena’s actual talent. Witches possessed all sorts of strange abilities, and many were skilled in healing.
Elena had played the hero and saved the beauty, leaving Loki deeply grateful.
Considering a life had been taken and the deceased was a Cardinal, Loki likely wouldn’t have been able to clear her name even if she jumped into a river. Thus, Elena invited her to join the [Moon Chanting League].
Originally, many had opposed it.
However, Loki had a talent for magic, especially defensive magic. After some simple guidance, she reached a level suitable for actual combat.
After that, no one opposed it anymore.
Elena also treated Loki as a confidant. Loki was one of the few companions who knew Felusa’s true identity.
“I’m starting to think it would have been a happy ending for everyone if you and Loki attended the party. Why did you insist on dragging me along?”
“I don’t like Loki. I don’t want to be involved with her.”
“Heh, does that mean you like me?”
“I certainly don’t like you,” Elena said, rolling her eyes at Milly. “My involvement with you is purely to humiliate you. It would be best if I made your life a living hell!”
“You! …”
Milly clenched her fists but ultimately calmed down.
Things had already gone this far; it wasn’t easy for her to back out now.
Felusa was a hostage. Just a moment ago, Elena had given her a lock of Felusa’s hair. The purpose was clear: to remind Milly to stay in line.
Milly didn’t want the child in her belly to grow up without a mother.
And then there was the fact that this mother might also be Elena.
This caused Milly to subconsciously hesitate from using lethal force. She couldn’t be like she was with the Cardinal, where a single hand-chop would have separated his head from his body.
Finally, Elena was no pushover.
Milly might be stronger than her, but she couldn’t achieve an instant kill. Elena could retreat at any time, and Milly didn’t want to take hostages herself—that was too low.
The goal of coming to Gothram was to stop the Silver Party.
Since they were catching a ride, why not take advantage of it?
“Milly, did you encounter something when you went to Gothram?”
“Hmm? … None of your business! …”
Milly didn’t want to talk to her and turned her head away.
“When you came back, you seemed to have the scent of blood on you.”
“You can even smell that…”
Elena smiled. In truth, she hadn’t smelled anything; she was just baiting Milly.
She hadn’t expected it to be true. Had Milly actually killed someone?
Actually, it wasn’t hard to guess. Milly would have definitely used her village girl identity to go to the Gothram branch. Combined with how cute she was, the Cardinal would have certainly made a move.
Milly wasn’t a girl who would just take it.
The only reason she endured Elena was because Elena held so many cards against her.
If it had been anyone else, Milly would have probably killed them before they even touched her hand.
“The culture in Gothram has always been like this. If it weren’t, [Scarlet Phantom] wouldn’t be so rampant,” Elena said, leaning closer to Milly. “To tell you the truth, even the Archbishop has disguised himself to sneak into the Silver Party.”
“What? The Archbishop?”
Milly looked at Elena in disbelief.
An Archbishop was a position second only to the Pope. There were three in the Holy Capital, and in the branches of other cities, the Archbishop was the highest authority.
In other words, an Archbishop was equivalent to the Pope of a branch.
Elena was actually saying that an Archbishop had sneaked into the Silver Party?
“How is that possible? Stop joking around!”