Roseliel von Rosenwal had never been a target Lucia tried to reform right from the start.
Because she was simply too infamous.
Even within noble circles, plenty of people disliked her; they simply kept it to themselves out of fear of her family's power.
Lucia had heard plenty about her terrible reputation as well, so when they met for the first time, even though she was briefly dazzled by that overly exquisite face, Lucia had no intention of getting involved with such a person.
“Good day, Miss Rosenwal.” Out of politeness, Lucia greeted her anyway.
However, the other party immediately showed a look of disgust, as if she had laid eyes on something filthy.
With a sharp snap, she unfolded her folding fan to cover half her face, turned away, narrowed her eyes, and spoke in an exceedingly harsh tone:
“Who are you to greet me in such a manner? You don't honestly think that becoming a Saintess candidate lets you shed your commoner origins, do you?”
“Filthy blood will always flow through your veins. If you want to greet me, get on your knees and lick the tips of my toes.”
She took a step forward with her right foot, lifting the tip of her shoe as if bestowing some monumental favor.
Lucia, who was usually gentle and approachable, felt the urge to punch someone in the face for the very first time.
“Is this your noble etiquette?” Lucia growled through gritted teeth, suppressing her urge.
“Only nobles deserve to be treated with etiquette. Commoners like you are no different from pigs and dogs.”
Snapping her fan shut, she pointed it at Lucia's nose. “Would you say good morning to a pig in a sty?”
Lucia's cheeks slowly turned red.
She was boiling mad.
Anyone who wouldn't be boiling mad in this situation deserved to be sainted on the spot.
Their first meeting ended on a sour note, and from that day on, Roseliel began harassing Lucia in every way imaginable.
A year passed like this, leading up to the attack the day before yesterday.
Do people change? The answer is yes.
Could Roseliel change? Lucia put a massive question mark on that.
However, starting from that attack, she felt that Roseliel truly seemed to have changed.
The most obvious change was that the condescending noble air she was born with had completely vanished.
Not diminished—completely gone.
In fact, under certain circumstances, some of her behavior seemed a bit too unbothered even in the eyes of a so-called “commoner” like Lucia.
Another change was that Roseliel had become more mature.
This maturity wasn't physical—her childish body hadn't changed at all—it was psychological.
In the past, Roseliel's actions in Lucia's eyes could be summed up in a single word: childish—like a brat throwing a tantrum when denied candy.
Now, that feeling was gone too. All of her actions could finally be understood through adult logic, and Lucia was even starting to view her as a peer.
Lucia had once suspected whether Roseliel was possessed by an evil spirit, but during their time together, she hadn't found a single trace of it.
Combined with Seraphin's description of how Roseliel took an oath before the Goddess, Lucia believed that the Goddess must have truly manifested a miracle.
Perhaps she really had changed?
A series of soft whimpers interrupted Lucia's thoughts.
“Does it hurt?” she asked out loud.
“No, quite the opposite. It actually feels... kind of nice?” Roseliel narrowed her eyes like a cat being stroked.
Right now, Roseliel felt as if her body were undergoing a massage therapy session; pure energy circulated through her, making her feel immensely comfortable.
“It's probably because you've been dealing with living corpses since yesterday and got tainted by necromantic power. You'll feel much better once I purge it.”
Lucia smiled faintly, maintaining the ball of warm light between her palms.
Master looks so happy right now...
Mona clutched the pages of letters in her hand, standing by the desk and quietly watching the two of them.
The letters were already somewhat crumpled in her grip.
She lowered her head, reflecting on everything she had done over the past two days.
I'm... truly so useless...
Because I'm not strong enough, I could only watch helplessly as Master walked into danger.
I'm not smart enough either; Master and Lucia both guessed that there were still clues in Maple Creek Town, but I didn't realize it at all and had to ask that scout to bring me here on horseback.
It's bad enough that I couldn't help, but I only caused trouble. Lucia was so close to destroying the wraith attacking Master, but I let it escape.
In the end, I couldn't even heal Master...
Really, I'm just so useless.
What point is there in someone like me even existing?
What value do I have being alive...
“Mona!”
A shout reached her ears, making her shudder as she snapped her head up.
It was Master's voice.
Right, after making such a huge mistake just now, Master was probably going to scold her now.
Even so, she had no complaints.
Preparing herself, Mona looked up.
What met her gaze was Roseliel's bright smile.
In the dim basement, that smile shone as brightly as a suddenly rising sun.
“You set a fantastic fire last night!”
“Even better than the Fire of Yiling!”
Drip, drip.
Her tears could no longer be held back—first a few drops, then quickly streaming down like stringed pearls.
“Eh?! Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong? Eh?” Roseliel looked stunned.
Thwack!
“Ow! Why did you hit me? I'm injured here!”
Lucia pulled back her hand-blade chop. That blow was no joke, landing squarely on top of Roseliel's head and making her grimace in pain.
“Are you even a girl...” Lucia pressed her hand to her forehead slightly and stood up. “I'll wait for you outside.”
At the same time, she flicked her bracelet, and with a crisp click, the collar around Roseliel's neck unlatched and fell off.
She looped the collar around her finger, spinning it once. “As agreed, I'll hold onto this for now. Who knows, I might use it on you again later.”
After doing all this, Lucia walked over to Mona, took the letters from her hand, gave her a gentle hug, and stepped out of the basement.
For a moment, only Roseliel and Mona were left in the basement.
“Ah well.” Roseliel stood up, patted her skirt, walked over to Mona, and pulled her into an embrace.
Mona's messy hair brushed under her nose, bringing a faint herbal fragrance mixed with the smell of scorched earth and dust.
Mona couldn't control herself any longer; her soft whimpers turned into loud wailing. She buried her whole face in Roseliel's chest, her shoulders heaving with sobs.
“I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so useless! I... Mmph!”
Roseliel's arms tightened around her abruptly, pressing her tightly into her chest and cutting her sentence off.
Only after Mona's crying gradually subsided into intermittent hiccups did Roseliel speak slowly.
“Mona.”
“Mm.”
Roseliel loosened her grip, and Mona slowly pulled back from her hug, standing up straight. Her nose was red and the corners of her eyes were stained with tears, though it was hard to tell if it was from crying or from having her face pressed against Roseliel's chest.
“You consider yourself my familiar, right?”
“I... I'm not worthy yet...”
Roseliel instantly locked eyes with her. Startled by that gaze, Mona flinched back before slowly opening her eyes again.
“As a familiar, you need some self-awareness! I haven't even called you useless yet, and here you are saying it first—are you doubting my judgment?”
“No, no! That's not what I meant, I wouldn't dare!”
“Then let me ask you, what tasks did I give you over the past two days?”
“Finding clues from the Snake Cultists' bodies, setting a fire to draw the guards' attention, and protecting Miss Lucia.”
“Did you accomplish all of them?”
“I did, but...”
Roseliel hugged her once more, cutting off her words.
“Then you are my best familiar!”
Her voice drifted down from above Mona's head, soft yet driving deep into her heart like a nail.
“You should be proud of yourself.”
“Master...”
Right, why was she dwelling on it in the first place?
She was merely Master's familiar. Obeying Master's orders and fulfilling Master's tasks—wasn't that already enough?
Perhaps the reason she had sought out Master in the first place was because she admired Master's trait of utilizing everything around her to the absolute limit.
It truly was wonderful to be able to follow a master like this.
“By the way, Mona...”
After the touching atmosphere lingered for a while, Roseliel suddenly spoke up.
Her eyes were practically glowing with excitement.
“Calling me ‘Master’ is certainly great, but could we change it up once in a while?”
“Change it up?”
Mona didn't quite grasp her meaning.
The light in Roseliel's eyes grew brighter, and her lips curled into a wide grin. “I mean, could you call me ‘Lady Sister’?”
Mona was bewildered at first, but she steadfastly obeyed Roseliel's command. However, it was so embarrassing that she stammered, her ears flushing bright red and a faint pink spreading all the way down her neck.
She was a bit worried that Master might be displeased.
“Yes, yes, that exact expression!”
To her surprise, Roseliel became even more excited, clapping her hands together as if she had hit the jackpot.
“Say it again!”
“Lady Sister!”
“Urgh!” Roseliel clutched her heart and staggered back a step as if hit by a projectile, though her face was overflowing with bliss.
“Once more!”
“Lady Sister!”
“Again, again!”
“Lady Sister!”
“Lady Sister!”
The basement echoed with Roseliel's pitch-shifted squeals of excitement and Mona's increasingly fluent responses.
...
“You pervert.”
Lucia delivered her assessment in the most blunt, direct, and spot-on manner possible.
Rate on N.U.
