#10. At the End of the Season (5)

After the treatment, Eugenie and Eleonore, now dressed again in a white blouse, sat together on the sofa in the drawing room.

“A slum, of all places! We’re not a poorhouse. How can the Archbishop say something like that so casually?”

Beside the priestess, a man in a black robe was passionately arguing, the veins standing out on his neck.

As the man went on at length about the recent situation in the capital and the state of the Church, he seemed more like a businessman than a clergyman.

The priestess, looking half her former self after pouring divine power into Eleonore’s wound, was too busy devouring the desserts on the tea table to pay him any attention.

After talking with Albris for quite some time, the man took a glass bottle from a brown leather case engraved with the symbol of the Goddess Epona and set it on the table.

“This is blessed oil. After washing yourself thoroughly, apply it to the wound.”

Pushing the glass bottle of oil toward Albris, the man wore a genial smile.

“When you were suffering from a fever, divine power had no effect on you at all. Since your body is responding so well today, this blessed oil should probably work, too.”

Like a peddler in the marketplace, the man went on at length about how the oil had been blessed by the High Priest and couldn’t easily be obtained even by the Imperial Family, proudly promoting the bottle he had brought.

When Sophie, who had been standing behind them, carefully carried the bottle away, the man cleared his throat and looked at Albris.

“Then, Young Lord Albris, when would be a convenient time for my next visit?”

His manner was exceedingly polite, but ugly greed flowed from his brown eyes.

To Eugenie, who had seen all sorts of people while wandering from place to place in her previous life, the sight aroused an indescribable aversion.

“Hmm…”

Albris, who had been responding to the man’s words in a businesslike manner until just moments ago, closed his eyes and fell into thought.

Eleonore had casually mentioned to Eugenie that Albris had donated quite a lot of gold to the temple for this visit.

Since even the youngest daughter of House Béarn had called it a large sum, Eugenie honestly couldn’t begin to imagine how much it was.

She could only surmise that he must have donated an enormous amount to make the temple’s famously overbearing people act this way.

Albris stroked his chin as he gathered his thoughts, then finally smiled.

“I hope Eli’s scar will be gone by the Founding Festival.”

“There isn’t much time, then.”

“That’s right. I’ll pay you well, so please do your best.”

At Albris’s words, Eugenie quietly nodded.

Yes, yes. That’s right!

There was no way they could let Eli wear an ugly dress on the night of the Founding Festival.

Late spring. Marking the end of the social season and the start of summer, the Founding Festival was one of the Galatea Empire’s grandest holidays, alongside the autumn Harvest Festival.

The two festivals had somewhat different natures. The Harvest Festival celebrated the commoners’ hard work over the course of the year, while the Founding Festival was a chance for the nobility to flaunt their authority, elegance, and splendor.

At Albris’s words, the man glanced discreetly at the priestess sitting beside him. Apparently, he had little aptitude for divine power himself.

The young priestess, who had been staring blankly at Eleonore’s face, gave a small cough and composed her hoarse voice.

“Ahem. Fortunately, it’s a small wound, as though she was pierced by something, so it shouldn’t take very long. I’ll come back at this time next week.”

#.

“Eugenie, why have you looked so troubled this whole time?”

At the clear, bright voice, Eugenie gently turned her head. Eleonore had somehow drawn close beside her, exuding a distinctly feminine air as she tilted her head slightly to one side.

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“That expression of yours. You’ve looked troubled ever since the treatment in the room earlier.”

“I have?”

“Yes. This is the first time I’ve seen you wear that expression since we came to the capital.”

Eleonore brought her face so close that Eugenie could see the eyelashes above her sky-blue eyes quiver.

Unlike the Eli of the past, Lady Eleonore no longer liked much physical affection. The platinum-haired girl who used to cling to Eugenie’s waist whenever she got the chance was nowhere to be found.

But now was different. Blushing for some reason, Eleonore drew Eugenie’s arm against her chest and continued.

“Eugenie, is it because of what happened at the mine? We said then that we’d consider it everyone’s fault and leave it at that, didn’t we?”

Looking at Eleonore, whose expression was a little firm despite her gentle voice, Eugenie let out a small sigh.

To Eugenie, Eleonore was more than just a childhood friend.

The Béarn family’s estate lay at the westernmost edge of the Empire, close enough to the border for a short ride on horseback. It was a difficult place for a young noble lady to make friends her own age.

Her father, Baron Roelserar, a vassal of Count Béarn, would sometimes take his daughter by the hand and visit the Béarn estate for the sake of his liege’s youngest daughter.

The first time she crossed the entrance to the Béarn estate, Eugenie met Eleonore in a residence so vast and splendid it was hard to believe it stood in a border region.

‘Hello! I’m Eli! What’s your name?’

‘E-Eugenie Roelserar.’

‘Mm-hmm. Eugenie! Let’s be friends!’

The beautiful smile of the platinum-haired girl, dressed in a sky-blue dress that matched the color of her eyes, seemed a little special even to young Eugenie.

She approached even people she had just met without hesitation, and those sky-blue eyes showered everyone she encountered with a child’s pure affection.

“Um… Eugenie?”

It was the same now.

Those sky-blue eyes, set in a wide expanse of white, were filled with concern. And yet Eugenie was the one who had been injured and treated.

“No. I just have a little something on my mind.”

Eugenie smiled brightly at Eleonore.

“Is it something you don’t want to talk about? Even if I’m your friend and not your maid?”

A friend…

Eugenie gently shook her head, turning the word over to herself.

She had realized that what she felt wasn’t simple friendship around the time her formerly flat chest had begun to swell, little by little, like her mother’s.

It wasn’t something she could call love.

And yet calling it friendship made her heart ache.

When she was beside her, she wanted to hold her hand for no reason. When she held her hand, she wanted to rest her head on Eleonore’s shoulder. And when she rested her head there, she only wanted to embrace her.

When they were children, Eli had been the one to act spoiled around Eugenie. After realizing her feelings, Eugenie was the one who would cling to Eli.

‘Honestly. Eugenie, you’re such a clingy one!’

Even when she said that, Eli never really rejected Eugenie’s touch. If anything, she simply let Eugenie hold her hand, lean against her, and embrace her more comfortably.

But Eugenie knew that Eli’s feelings were different from her own—that they were friendship, not love—so she let the girl who had blossomed into a flower go.

And so Eleonore Ariena de Béarn, who had entered the capital, married a man named Julian Valatie, renowned as the most handsome man in the Empire.

By the time Eugenie received a letter in Eleonore’s familiar handwriting, telling her how truly happy she was…

Eugenie, who was tending to her father’s estate in his place while he was away at war, heard that her precious Eli had been poisoned.

Even now, she could barely remember what happened after that. What Eleonore’s funeral had been like. What curses she had spat in Julian’s face. What the holding cell she had been locked in for insulting the Imperial Family had looked like.

She only learned that the Margrave of Béarn had pleaded directly with the Emperor to free her on behalf of her humble father once she had returned to the small, modest Roelserar estate.

“Is it dangerous for divine power to work on your body?”

Eleonore asked, tilting her head.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that when you were young, my lady, your body definitely couldn’t accept divine power.”

Eli’s somewhat unusual older sister, Alenia, had come to Eugenie, saying there was a secret art that could turn back time. Eugenie had followed her across the Empire, all the way to the distant lands of the heathens, and when they had finally managed to activate that art…

‘The price will be paid not by you or me, but by my child.’

The Goddess’s low voice had echoed in her mind. Alenia, who had returned to the past with her, said she had heard the same voice, so it couldn’t have been a misunderstanding.

“My lady.”

“Yes.”

“Eli…”

Eugenie gently caressed Eleonore’s hand. Just like that time, when she had clung to Eli, she leaned her head against Eleonore’s uninjured shoulder and gently wrapped an arm around her.

The Goddess’s child—the Saint—had been a slender woman with black hair and brown eyes. Summoned by the Goddess to save the present world, she had crossed over from another world, and before long, she had taken the place beside Julian that Eli had left empty.

It was so unfair. So cowardly. You took my precious Eli away from me and let her die like that. And yet you kept a new woman by your side.

So, Eli, this time around, I’ll protect you. I’ll never let you die so pointlessly like you did then.

Holding words she couldn’t bring herself to say in her heart, Eugenie could only trace her finger over the back of Eli’s hand.