“How?”
Elysia asked, her eyes widening.
“Help me wash.”
She intended to agree to almost any request since his wound needed treatment, but she honestly thought she had misheard him. It was quite a shocking thing to say for someone who would not even meet her eyes.
“What did you say? Me?”
“Yeah, you. Why, you don’t want to?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to….”
“You said getting water in the wound would be bad. What’s the point of going through all the trouble of treating it if I get water in it while washing?”
Anyone who heard that would think he was insane. And not just anywhere, but in a convent.
No matter how she thought about it, it was not a suggestion anyone with a normal way of thinking could make.
When the startled Elysia fell silent for a moment, Tristan snapped at her.
“You followed me all the way to the bathhouse first, and now you’re embarrassed?”
“…….”
“You don’t see me as a man anyway. You’ve already seen me naked, so there’s no reason for you to feel uncomfortable.”
He was acting curt on the surface, but his Adam’s apple bobbed noticeably as he swallowed.
“If you don’t want to, forget it. I guess it’ll heal eventually if I just ignore it and go about my life.”
[System]
Quest: How to Wash an Injured Dog
Wash the strategy target ‘Tristan Loch’ and treat his wound.
Would you like to accept the quest?
Elysia stared at him as he rambled on.
It was bewildering, but that stubborn mule would not let her treat him unless she agreed to his terms anyway.
And she had decided to try anything now.
“Fine. I’ll help you until it heals.”
[System]
Quest accepted.
Once she accepted the quest, Tristan’s rigid expression relaxed ever so slightly.
“You promised, so hurry up and give me your hand. Let me treat it.”
“No. You start tomorrow.”
She tried to coax him, but Tristan remained stubborn.
“I already washed today, so I’ll treat it myself too.”
Without warning, he took the disinfectant out of Elysia’s bag and poured it over his injured hand. He clenched his teeth. The wound was clearly stinging.
[System]
The previous quest will automatically be canceled due to the quest change.
-Quest ‘Untamed Beast’ canceled
The previous quest had been canceled, but she could not simply let this go.
“Tristan. You look like you’re in pain. I think I should take a closer look at the wound.”
“Forget it. Treatment’s over for today. If you’re that worried, come tomorrow.”
Tristan roughly wrapped his hand in a clean towel, then held out his Holy Knights uniform jacket as though tossing it to her.
“Hurry back to your room. Don’t wander around for no reason and catch another cold.”
“Okay.”
Elysia was about to head for the entrance when she abruptly spun around and said,
“Tristan. I’m coming back here at midnight.”
The key to separating time and space was taking the initiative. The moment she let one side drag her along, the balance would collapse. She had to regain control. Recalling Madam Rosalie’s advice, Elysia added,
“Until then, don’t use that hand and wait quietly. I’ll prove that I’m worried about you, so don’t make a mockery of my concern.”
Startled, Tristan stopped breathing for a moment.
***
Simon Berg, Valentin de Arcane’s aide, knocked briefly before entering the office. The master of the office, seated behind his desk, neither gave him permission to enter nor showed any sign of surprise.
Sir Berg approached the desk and gave a slight bow. Valentin spoke without taking his eyes off the documents.
“Report.”
“After morning prayers, Sister Elysia stopped by the infirmary to organize the medicinal herbs, and around noon, she visited the laundry room to collect the washed towels.”
Scratch, scratch. Valentin’s pen moved quietly across the paper. He noted down her movements in short phrases: ‘infirmary,’ ‘organizing medicinal herbs,’ ‘laundry room,’ ‘collecting towels.’
“And she visited the annex.”
Scratch.
The pen tip that had been moving at a steady rhythm stopped.
The annex was where the Holy Knights were temporarily lodging.
“Reason.”
“She delivered towels to the Holy Knights and met with the Commander of the Holy Knights.”
“Was it for personal reasons?”
Perhaps because he was putting pressure on the motionless pen, ink was beginning to bleed into the paper.
Sir Berg chose his words for a moment before answering.
“I heard it was to treat his injury. Apparently, Sir Loch needed his wound disinfected again, but he did not visit the infirmary separately.”
“I see.”
“According to the Vice Commander, it isn’t a serious injury, so it shouldn’t interfere with his ability to carry out the operation.”
“That won’t matter. Sister Elysia will be coming to work here from now on.”
After finishing his brief notes, Valentin returned his gaze to the documents. Then, noticing that Sir Berg was still standing before him even though the report was over, he casually asked,
“Is there something else?”
“I heard that you already knew Sister Elysia.”
“That’s right. Briefly, a long time ago.”
Valentin gave a faint chuckle at the words Simon had finally brought himself to say after a moment’s hesitation.
The sole reason Simon Berg had been ordained as a priest was Valentin de Arcane.
Valentin had abruptly declared that he would enter the priesthood, leaving Simon no other choice. Born into a vassal family and already designated to become Valentin’s aide, Simon’s purpose was determined by Valentin, so naturally, he had followed him.
Even before they were dispatched here, Simon Berg had consistently kept track of Elysia Gray’s movements. Especially since arriving at the convent, the reports had continued every single day.
But from the moment Valentin postponed the future promised to him as the heir of House Arcane and became a priest, all the way to the present, when he was obsessively retracing the footsteps of a mere nun, Simon Berg had never once been able to clearly discern Valentin’s true intentions.
And that remained true even now.
“If it isn’t too impertinent, may I ask why you’re investigating her? I’m not trying to pry… I simply thought knowing might be helpful.”
“Just because. I don’t really know her.”
The answer was unexpectedly simple. He had just said that they had known each other before, only to suddenly say that he did not really know her. It was somewhat puzzling.
“Even when you think you know someone well enough, it usually turns out to be an illusion. I don’t particularly like that feeling.”
It was the first time.
Throughout the entire report, Valentin had not so much as looked at him, but now he raised his head.
The instant Sir Berg met those cold eyes, he was rendered speechless.
“Who knows? Perhaps the Goddess will tell me soon.”
***
Madam Rosalie was thoroughly furious over Elysia making Tristan cover himself with a towel.
“I told you I wouldn’t help if it wasn’t entertaining, didn’t I? I told you. There’s nothing in this world I hate more than boring things. You lured me in with all that talk about playing with dolls, and now what? Are you a swindler?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care. You hopeless prude. If you’re just going to call me over and then act coy, leave me out of it from now on and figure everything out yourself!”
It had been because of his treatment. Was it really something to get this angry over just because she had covered that part of him…?
Still….
She knew she was hardly in a position to defy her teacher.
“Teacher. I was stupid. I’ll never tell him to cover himself again. If I can strip him, I’ll strip off as much as possible, so please forgive me.”
“…….”
“Please? I’m begging you.”
She pleaded, but Madam Rosalie seemed to be sulking and pretended not to hear her.
Elysia had to put in every possible effort to win back her angry teacher’s favor.
One of those efforts was a massage. Elysia was massaging Madam Rosalie’s back as the woman lay facedown on the bed.
‘Getting pushed around here, getting pushed around there. Life is one endless struggle….’
Even as she poured herbal oil into her hands and firmly kneaded the knotted muscles beneath Rosalie’s skin, her thoughts remained scattered. Inevitably, her mind returned to what had happened with Tristan in the bathhouse.
Even on her way back to the lodging, Elysia had sensed someone following at a distance. She had not looked back, but from the intermittent thud of heavy military boots, she had vaguely realized it was Tristan.
She had a lot on her mind.
…Because.
[System]
BALANCE MODE : Measuring the weight of affection.
Valentin de Arcane 39 (+9) > Tristan Loch 30
Despite spending quite a bit of time in close proximity to him at the bathhouse, his affection had not changed at all.
‘What is this? Didn’t it go up over the most trivial things before?’
It went up when she merely called his name, went up when their eyes met, and even went up when she nagged him. He had even gotten lost in his memories all by himself and received some kind of rose-tinted memories buff that made it shoot up significantly.
To be honest, she had been worried that his affection might spiral out of control again this time.
So this was strange.
‘Right, maybe affection alone isn’t everything.’
She did not know what had gone wrong, but things were clearly unfolding differently from what she had expected.
“What are you doing?”
“What?”
“You’ve been rubbing the same spot this whole time.”
Elysia tilted her head, only snapping out of her thoughts when Madam Rosalie scolded her and moving her hands elsewhere.
“I’m sorry. I got distracted for a moment.”
“Whatever. If you’re going to put no effort into it, just get lost.”
“My goodness. You’re really tense here, aren’t you?”
“I told you to get lost. Ngh, ahh….”
Apparently the pressure on her knotted shoulder felt good, because Madam Rosalie let out a sound of appreciation and slowly closed her eyes.
“How is it? Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t talk to me.”
“Oh, come on. You like it.”
Still, her voice had become considerably gentler.
Should she ask now? Talking about the game would be difficult. It would probably be better to carefully rephrase the question about affection.
Elysia cleared her throat and cautiously spoke.
“Um… Madam Rosalie. About what happened earlier. There’s something I’m curious about.”
“What, you want to know how I saw you? Even if I were a witch, do you really think a witch would tell you her secret method?”
“No, I’m just curious about how men think.”
Madam Rosalie abruptly sat upright and met her gaze.