Chapter 101
It had been three days since the monster made its full appearance, and at some point, Sophia began to call those two cockroaches.
It was a sarcastic remark, saying they would come out for a bit and then return noisily.
“Ugh, Sophia. Speak quietly.”
“Tch.”
Sophia pouted, and Nadia glanced at them before suddenly placing her hand on her forehead and staggering.
“Ahh.”
“Saint! Are you alright?! Healer over there! Come quickly and check on the saint’s condition!”
Johannes shouted urgently, his finger pointing toward Philome.
Philome lowered her head to look at her attire. It was difficult to get the blood out, so she had deliberately worn shabby clothes while tending to the injured, and blood was smeared on her face and hands.
Her hair was also a bit disheveled. However, it was not so tangled that her face was unrecognizable.
“What is that cockroach saying…!”
Sophia was shocked to realize that Johannes had called Philome.
Philome calmly brushed Sophia’s curly hair aside.
“Shh. Calm down, Sophia. An injured person is coming. Right? You need to stay by my side and help with the treatment.”
Sophia flicked her lips but eventually turned her head away when she saw Ken bringing in the injured.
“Healer! Can’t you hear me? Come here quickly!”
Johannes, seeing them not taking action, huffed and shouted again.
“No, Your Excellency. The healer must be busy; I should go myself.”
“But if it’s the saint, they should come!”
Nadia tried to stop Johannes, and approached her with his support.
“Philome?”
Then she widened her eyes as if she had just discovered Philome.
“Ah, is this Lady Philome?”
Johannes seemed to recognize Philome only after coming closer.
“I didn’t realize because you look so shabby, haha.”
He burst into a cheerful laugh, feigning pleasantness.
However, Philome was too busy examining the injured person that Ken had just brought in to pay them any mind.
“You’ve done well to stop the bleeding. I’ll just disinfect it to prevent infection.”
Philome examined the wound that the local had hastily tied with torn cloth and began to disinfect it.
“Um, Lady Philome? Could you take a look at our saint as well? It seems she’s become anemic from using too much divine power.”
Philome narrowed her eyes.
“Your Excellency, can’t you see I’m treating another injured person right now?”
“It looks like nothing serious, so please attend to our saint first. Isn’t she the more important one? Huh? The number of monsters the saint has defeated is quite substantial. The locals will understand. Didn’t the saint eliminate the monster that could have killed them!”
Philome suddenly had a strong suspicion that Johannes and Nadia might not be unrelated by blood.
Otherwise, it would be hard to explain their shameless and ignorant personalities being so identical.
Philome, momentarily taken aback, resumed her work.
“Sophia, hand me the bandages.”
“Yes, miss. Should I place them here?”
“Hey, Lady Philome?”
“Yeah, over there.”
“Um, saint. It seems these people are busy. If you could just wait a bit longer…”
“Not too tight, okay?”
“Yes, Lady Philome. It’s fine now. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
“Don’t lift anything heavy.”
“Thank you, Lady Philome!”
The local who had been treated got up, and only then did Philome turn her body toward Nadia.
Nadia, biting her lip and staring at Philome, awkwardly smiled and asked, “Philome, what are you doing here?”
“You can see. I’m treating the injured. Ah, could you step aside? This is a busy area.”
As soon as Philome finished speaking, locals quickly passed behind Nadia.
Johannes and Nadia hesitated and moved aside.
“…Treating them must be tough. You look a mess. Your clothes are a wreck.”
Nadia said this while scanning Philome from head to toe. Her gaze was overtly filled with undisguised scorn.
“Yeah, it’s a bit tough. But what about you…?”
This time, Philome looked Nadia over.
“You’re dressed quite nicely. Even wearing makeup.”
“What?”
“Aha, so the reason you showed up late today was because you were meticulously putting on your makeup?”
Philome’s guess was not wrong. Nadia flinched slightly at being hit with the truth.
Meanwhile, those around them reflexively glanced at Nadia. Until now, they hadn’t had the mental space to properly assess her, but with the monsters having retreated, they had some time to spare.
Nadia was wearing a white cloak with lace, and the dress underneath was made of a very thin material. The dress flared out significantly towards the bottom, which suited Nadia well, but it seemed lacking in elasticity and warmth.
Her hair was loosely half-tied, with waves in the loose strands. The makeup was light, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that she had put in meticulous effort from the base up.
In short, Philome and Nadia presented very contrasting appearances.
Nadia also realized this.
In a crucial battlefield where countless lives were at stake, she had been caught indulging in her appearance.
“T-This is… I mean…”
Philome, looking a mess, approached as if she had a headache to embarrass her. However, contrary to her intentions, Nadia stammered in confusion.
Nadia glanced at Johannes, but he wore a similarly awkward expression.
‘That useless…’
As she resented Johannes for being unhelpful, surprisingly, it was Philome who came to her aid.
“It’s okay. I understand, Nadia.”
“Huh?”
“Looking good might be more important. So don’t worry too much.”
Philome nodded gently with a generous gaze and a soft smile.
It was true that Nadia had wasted a lot of time on her appearance, but she couldn’t outright agree due to the stares from those around them. Ultimately, Nadia chose to keep her mouth shut.
It was then that Johannes spoke up.
“Um, excuse me, Lady Philome. How can you speak informally to the saint?”
Philome turned to Johannes with a slightly incredulous expression.
“…It seems you don’t know. Until recently, Nadia and I were friends.”
After glancing at Nadia, Philome smiled sweetly.
“Though that was in the past.”
“Then it’s a past connection, isn’t it? No matter how close friends you were, isn’t the saint’s status higher than that of a count’s daughter? There’s a significant difference in status between you two.”
Nadia tried to stop Johannes, but he continued speaking faster.
“So you should use honorifics.”
“…Honorifics?”
Nadia avoided Philome’s gaze.
But at the same time, her heart raced and her breathing quickened.
‘No way… If we can’t speak formally, she wouldn’t bring up the past here, would she?’
From the beginning, Nadia didn’t think she had done anything that wrong. She had just made a minor mistake with Emon.
However, contrary to her thoughts, the public viewed her unfavorably and saw Philome as a pitiful victim.
‘But that’s not true. It was all Philome’s plan!’
Nadia recalled that her escape with Emon was entirely Philome’s scheme and turned to look at her.
‘How shameless… pretending to be the victim after orchestrating everything…!’
If Philome mentioned her past here, Nadia planned to expose her scheme.
With narrowed eyes, she waited for Philome to speak, but surprisingly, Philome merely sighed and stared at them coldly. Then her eyes widened in surprise.
“Duke?”
At Philome’s words, Nadia and Johannes turned their heads.
Kaien approached, wearing armor splattered with monster blood.
“Oh, Duke, you’ve arrived! Our saint has been such a great help…”
Ignoring Johannes’s words, Kaien walked past them and immediately stood beside Philome, lightly kissing her cheek.
“Did you come to take a break?”
“Yeah. I came to see you. Is it difficult?”
“Not at all. Everyone seems to be adapting well. The number of injured has decreased significantly compared to the first day.”
“Let me see your hand.”
Kaien casually took Philome’s hand, which was stained with dried blood, and examined her palm.
His brow furrowed.
Then Kaien spoke with a tone of sympathy.
“Your hands have become quite rough. They’re precious, you know.”
