She lowered her head and kissed Mowan’s forehead gently.
“Morning.”
The kiss instantly jolted Mowan awake.
She stared blankly at Iserin.
Sometimes, she couldn’t blame herself for being presumptuous; Iserin gave her too many mixed signals.
She often wondered how Iserin, as the Saintess, could possibly harbor feelings for a member of the Demon Race, yet Iserin’s behavior made it impossible to ignore the possibility.
Perhaps…
Was Iserin just projecting the feelings she had for her younger sister onto her?
It wasn’t necessarily the love she had imagined.
Mowan convinced herself and gave a sweet smile.
“Sister Iserin, should I be leaving the Church now?”
“Yes. Go find Rosa. She rarely gets a break, and it won’t be long before you two are separated again.”
That was true.
Iserin released Mowan.
Mowan got out of bed and changed back into the clothes she wore when she arrived yesterday.
Iserin remained in the room but kept her back turned toward Mowan.
Mowan no longer asked Iserin to step out.
In fact, she didn’t even have to ask her to turn away; as soon as Mowan moved to change her clothes, Iserin would naturally look away.
“Are you and Rosa like this too?”
“???”
Like what?
Mowan was confused for a moment.
Then she thought of Iserin kissing her forehead and how she didn’t leave while she changed.
“No. The most Rosa and I do is put our arms around each other’s shoulders.”
Iserin kept her back turned and said nothing more.
Then.
Once Mowan finished changing, Iserin led her out of the Church.
Mowan walked straight to where Rosa lived.
After chatting with her best friend for a while, Mowan returned to her own house.
***
At noon.
Iserin arrived at Mowan’s cottage.
“Aren’t you eating with her?”
“Well… I can’t stay glued to her side all day, can I?”
Mowan was preparing her lunch in the kitchen.
She glanced back at Iserin.
In truth, she wanted to stay glued to Iserin all day, even though she knew it was impossible.
“Why not?”
“She has things to do. I’m not Rosa’s only friend. She has to look after her captain and check with her teammates about any extra commissions. Sister Serin, for mercenaries like us, we can’t survive just on the tasks posted by The Church.”
“Is that so? I thought the duration of the tasks I assigned them wasn’t long enough.”
“Uh…”
Mowan realized she might have said something she shouldn’t have.
But given Iserin’s magnanimity, she would surely be understanding of Rosa and the others, right?
“Sister Serin, has the Princess stopped making a fuss lately?”
Mowan asked curiously.
Having nothing to do for three days straight made Mowan feel a bit restless.
“Lately, she’s been acting like a detective instead of hunting Monsters.”
“A detective?”
“Yes. She’s conducting her own investigation into the Monsters we dealt with previously.”
“Does she still not know those were Monsters created by Humans?”
“She doesn’t.”
“Do you plan to keep it from her forever?”
“I don’t want to create an even larger rift between us because of this. Some things are better left unsaid—for both our sakes. She wouldn’t forgive me if she knew that I, as the Saintess, stood by and did nothing.”
“I see.”
Mowan didn’t interfere with Iserin’s choice.
“Sister Serin, have you had lunch yet?”
She had, of course.
But Iserin had already made a new plan.
She intended to fully integrate herself into Mowan’s life.
Therefore, she had to accompany Mowan for lunch. She shook her head.
“Then, can we eat together?”
Mowan’s gaze was cautious, as if she were afraid Iserin would find the simple meal distasteful.
Naturally, she wouldn’t.
She didn’t care about the quality of the lunch; she only cared about how to make Mowan surrender her True Heart.
Iserin smiled slightly.
“Alright.”
She sat down next to Mowan.
Mowan’s new nickname for her kept echoing in Iserin’s mind.
Ever since staying over at her place last night, Mowan had suddenly switched to a more intimate form of address.
She no longer called her by her full name, but instead called her Sister Serin.
Iserin’s thoughts drifted back fifty years.
This intimate way of calling her was something only her biological younger sister had ever used.
And as if they shared a spiritual connection, Mowan had coincidentally used the exact same nickname.
Actually, shortening names like this was common in ordinary families, but the Saintess had long since lost her family, and no one else dared to address her so casually.
How nostalgic…
Iserin wouldn’t deny it.
When spending time with Mowan, the girl truly felt like her sister—ten times more so than Croll ever did.
She had never once seen Croll as a sister.
Thinking of that youthful figure, a faint ripple of emotion passed through Iserin’s mind.
Nostalgia… but it was merely nostalgia.
As the Saintess, she wasn’t so obsessive as to hoard old clothes to mourn her sister.
All of this was merely her using her past to deliberately construct a spiritual weakness in front of Mowan.
“Sister Serin, are you not used to this kind of food?”
Mowan asked cautiously, seeing Iserin staring blankly at the bread.
“No, I’m just feeling a bit sentimental.”
“Sentimental?”
“Yes.”
Iserin didn’t explain, and Mowan didn’t pry.
But Iserin knew Mowan was letting her imagination run wild regarding her past.
She knew Mowan had already come to a conclusion: Mowan felt she was giving Sister Serin a sense of “home.”
It was obvious from the way Mowan couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from curling upward.
Iserin had successfully deceived the girl’s True Heart.
Mowan would no longer hide any of her emotions from her.
Iserin didn’t believe she was corrupting the noble qualities of a Saintess.
After all, religions had always engaged in the act of charming hearts to gain followers.
As the Saintess of The Church, wasn’t deceiving a young girl’s heart precisely part of her job?
—
“Sister Serin, um… I hope you won’t shorten the task durations because of what I said. For Rosa’s sake, and for the others too.”
Before Iserin left the house, Mowan couldn’t help but make a request.
Iserin promised her.
Not only would she not shorten Rosa’s task durations, but she would also intentionally extend them.
She would indulge Rosa and Mowan, allowing them to spend their final moments together as friends.
Even Rosa herself had no idea she was about to be kicked out of the Azure Crystal Party.
It wasn’t until the day Rosa went to say goodbye to Mowan that she discovered her teammates had abandoned her.
Bewildered, she went to the Church to find Iserin.
“You can go home now,” Iserin told her directly.
“What? Lady Saintess, what do you mean by that?”
“Your family misses you dearly. The upcoming tasks are very dangerous, and I don’t want you to meet with an accident because of them.”
Rosa’s eyes were filled with confusion.
If the Lady Saintess didn’t want her to meet with an accident, did that mean it was okay for the others?
“You are still an Honorary Knight—a retired Honorary Knight. Your hometown will know of the contributions you’ve made to Visa.”
“Lady Saintess, I… I don’t want to go home. The day I stepped onto the Way of the Knight, I swore an oath. I swore to give everything for Visa, including my life. I am not afraid to die, Lady Saintess. Please, let me continue to fight!”
Rosa pressed one hand against her chest, swearing her loyalty to The Church.
Iserin’s expression shifted; she was no longer kind and approachable.
She stared coldly at Rosa, her sharp gaze like a blade piercing through the girl’s body.
“Miss Rosa, since you still remember the knight’s oath, then why did you help hide Mowan’s identity despite knowing she belongs to the Demon Race?”
Iserin’s words were like a bolt from the blue, leaving Rosa utterly speechless.
Mowan… belongs to the Demon Race?