Chapter 35 - Realization

Two weeks later, by the flower bed outside her quarters.

Bera was spending time seated beside Renée on a bench when he suddenly asked a question.

“How are your lessons going?”

He asked because he had not heard about them in some time.

Renée jolted at the unexpected words. A moment later, she realized Bera had asked her a question and hurried to answer.

“Oh, they're going well! Lady Terisa is a wonderful teacher.”

Even as she spoke, her heart thumped away with unseemly excitement. It was the thought that Bera, who almost never spoke first, had offered a topic of conversation himself.

Renée considered the feeling simple gladness. Terisa, had she seen it, would have called it a romantic thrill.

Wanting to keep talking about the subject Bera had so unusually raised himself, Renée continued with a bright expression. Her voice came out clear and buoyant.

“Lady Terisa's divine powers are really helpful.”

“The divine powers that link people together. Is that right?”

“Yes! She uses them to connect the two of us, and when she performs sacred arts like that, I can feel every movement of her divine energy. Um... It's like I'm performing the sacred arts myself.”

“That is rather fascinating.”

“Isn't it? Oh, would you like me to show you what I've learned?”

“I would be honored.”

“What's so honorable about that?”

A snicker escaped Renée's lips. Laughing at Bera's stiff reply, she stretched out her hand and released her divine energy.

“It's a healing art. She said it would be best to learn this first.”

“Yes. It is the best way to make use of the vitality inherent in divine energy.”

As Bera answered, he watched the pure white divine energy arrange itself.

The divine energy spreading like mist turned into a cluster of light at Renée's fingertips. It gathered into a sphere and drifted around the tips of her fingers.

Bera's eyes widened, and he exclaimed in admiration.

“Remarkable. It is exceptionally well formed for something you have studied for only two weeks.”

“Oh, not at all. It's thanks to Lady Terisa.”

She answered with a little giggle.

Hearing her reply, Bera reflected that the divine powers of love certainly excelled when it came to teaching.

'No wonder His Holiness treats her with such respect.'

Seeing it firsthand gave him a better understanding.

'It probably works by sharing the experience the teacher has accumulated.'

Sharing sensations was essentially the same as hammering the skills a teacher had honed over a lifetime directly into the student's body. In other words, it allowed concentrated experience to be passed on in a short time.

It had a wide range of applications. This was unquestionably an ability worthy of being called divine powers.

However...

'... It cannot be used in war.'

This ability made him immediately understand why Terisa had not gone to the front after the Demon King's rise in his previous life.

It could rapidly bring an individual to an advanced level, but it could not be used efficiently on a battlefield, where the slightest misstep could leave people wiped out in droves.

No matter how advanced someone became, if they went to war and died, wouldn't she have to train someone else all over again?

'It is inefficient.'

On a battlefield, it was an ability that was nice to have but no great loss to do without. There was no particular need to use it.

His thoughts continued branching out. As Bera fell silent, quiet began settling over them.

In the middle of demonstrating her sacred arts, Renée felt that ticklish sensation inside her again as the mood suddenly grew quiet. Looking awkward, she withdrew her divine energy.

“Um... That's all!”

“Ah, that was excellent.”

“Hehe...”

She heard his praise all the time, yet somehow it sounded new every time.

Renée idly fidgeted with her hands on her thighs. Disliking the silence already settling between them again, she searched her mind for a topic.

What should she say? What could she bring up to keep their conversation going?

Nothing came to mind. She pondered so hard her head grew hot, then blurted out the first thing that occurred to her.

“Oh, right! Sir Knight.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“What do you do while I'm in lessons?”

Bera looked at Renée. With her head slightly lowered and her hands clasped together, she waited for his answer.

What did he do?

He could not answer that honestly. After all, he could hardly say he summoned the other apostles almost every day and beat them black and blue.

After briefly considering how to answer, Bera parted his lips.

“I devote myself to personal training.”

It was not actually all that untrue. He had merely dressed it up a little.

Since those beatings did at least take the form of “sparring,” couldn't they be considered part of his sword training?

“Oh...!”

Renée nodded at his answer.

“You really are diligent, Sir Knight.”

“It is only natural. I believe I must do at least this much without complaint to become someone worthy of you, Saintess.”

Renée's shoulders twitched.

'Again...!'

There he went, talking like that again. Saying something so ambiguous that it invited strange misunderstandings.

Of course! She knew he didn't mean it in any strange way! But what if someone else heard him? Couldn't they suspect something was going on between them?

Her cheeks flushed at the thought.

These thoughts had arisen without her being conscious of them, leaving her unable to examine them closely herself. All Renée could do was grow flustered at the feelings that came with them.

“Saintess?”

“Y-yes!”

She snapped her head up as she answered. Her voice shot up in a high-pitched squeak.

Renée squeezed her eyes shut, resenting herself for making a fool of herself yet again.

“M-maybe I'm coming down with a sore throat...”

The needless excuse slipped out of her mouth.

* * *

That night, in Renée's quarters.

Leaning back against the headboard, Renée heaved a deep sigh.

Naturally, it was because of her body, which refused to obey her whenever she was with Bera. No matter how much she thought about it, she could not understand why it behaved so willfully, and her frustration only grew by the day.

Her clenched fist tapped against the blanket.

Hella, who had been seeing to her bedding, tilted her head at the sight.

“What's wrong, Saintess?”

“Hm? Oh, I think my thighs are stiff.”

She lied without the slightest hesitation.

The moment she answered, her frustration welled up again. Why did she feel so at ease with Hella, yet become so agitated only when she was beside Bera?

Watching Renée answer while tapping her thighs, Hella straightened up.

“Would you like a massage?”

“What?”

“A massage. You wouldn't know it to look at me, but I'm damn good at giving them.”

“Uh...”

Her hastily invented excuse had received an earnest response.

Feeling little pricks of guilt at Hella's reply, Renée pulled aside her blanket and nodded.

“Y-yes, please.”

“Right. If you'll excuse me.”

Hella climbed onto the bed, rested her hands on Renée's thighs, and began moving them carefully.

“My father said I might've been the best on the continent if I'd become a masseuse.”

Feeling the firm pressure on her thighs, Renée answered with an awkward smile.

“Y-yes, I can see why. It does feel good.”

She spoke in embarrassment, her conscience still nagging her. Then Hella continued.

“You're still young, Saintess, so you need to take good care of yourself. If you push yourself too hard already, you won't grow properly, will you?”

It could have sounded like nagging, but it carried Hella's own affection.

Renée was chuckling at Hella's continuing remarks when, for some reason, the words “still young” and “grow” caught her attention. She asked a question.

“Hella?”

“Yes?”

“Um... Do I look that young?”

Her heart thumped nervously. She feared the answer would be yes. For some reason, she did not like that prospect.

Hella looked Renée up and down at the question, considered it with a “Hmm,” and answered.

“You look fresh and youthful.”

“What?”

“You have that innocent freshness.”

Renée tilted her head.

So did that mean she looked young? Or mature?

Rather than a clear answer, it was oddly ambiguous. Her face twisting into a peculiar expression, Renée was about to ask again when she suddenly thought that pressing the issue might look suspicious. Instead, she nodded.

“Oh...”

The unanswered question only tormented her further.

* * *

The next day, in the outdoor garden.

Waiting for Terisa, Renée sat idly with her eyes closed.

'... It's been a while.'

How long had it been since she was alone like this?

Ever since coming to the Holy Empire, she had always been with someone. For some reason, this quiet atmosphere felt unfamiliar.

As she spent the time feeling the warm sunshine and the cool breeze, listening to the rustle of grass, Renée smiled at the comfort filling her.

A thought came to mind. Before she knew it, she had grown accustomed enough to the Holy Empire to enjoy time alone. This place, once so utterly unfamiliar, had become familiar.

In just a couple of months.

By now, Renée knew her way around her quarters well enough to move about alone, and she could distinguish the people she often met by their footsteps alone.

Chuckling at the thought, she began to feel proud of herself.

After all, she had grown used to being called Saintess. She still thought she was not worthy of the title, but she no longer felt averse to it.

That was tremendous progress.

Renée thought to herself.

'The reason I've come this far...'

It had only been possible because of Bera's help.

Of course, everyone in the Holy Empire was considerate and helpful toward her. Even so, if she had to choose the person who had helped her most, she would choose Bera.

How could she not?

He always treated her with the utmost care and remained faithfully by her side. That alone gave her strength.

Suddenly, everything that had happened with Bera flashed through Renée's mind.

Their first meeting in Remeo, the attack on their journey to the Holy Empire, the hand that had held hers and guided her ever since they arrived, and the voice that reached her ears.

And...

'H-his...'

Lips.

The lips that had touched the tip of her thumb in the meeting room on the day Terisa returned to the Holy Empire, when she had felt his face to learn what he looked like.

As she dwelled on the memory, it felt as though that sensation were coming back.

Renée felt as though her head had exploded.

Her fingers fidgeted, rubbing her thumb over and over. For some reason, she could not breathe properly and held her breath with a little gasp.

She felt the pounding of her heart throughout her entire body.

Her thoughts were falling into disarray again, and her skin was growing so hot it could not possibly become any redder.

A little later, Terisa spotted Renée in the distance and walked toward her. At the sight before her, she let out an abrupt, incredulous chuckle.

'This...'

Her eyes narrowed. There at the end of her gaze sat Renée, entirely enveloped in a pink aura.

'... This won't be easy.'

Terisa shook her head.