Until the Substitute Saintess is Loved: The Sister Sent to the Convent as the Villainess Heals Everyone's Hearts with Her Healing Powers - Chapter 14

“Lupina’s medicine is really effective, isn’t it?”

While administering the medicinal tea to patients, Mona said with admiration.

The medicinal tea brewed with Sennagi herb proved highly effective even for patients with severe coughs and swollen throats.

Thanks to arrangements by Lord Landrick, patients showing throat swelling were isolated in the annex of the monastery.

Originally built to isolate nuns with particularly bad behavior, the annex served perfectly as a temporary treatment room for patients who were difficult to isolate in the overcrowded clinic. Being on the same grounds as both the monastery and clinic made it convenient for treatment.

“Still, Lord Landrick is truly remarkable, isn’t he? To identify this out-of-season Zeka cold as Kuzen disease. Thanks to him, we should be able to treat it before it worsens, right?”

“That’s right. The palace immediately arranged for medicine too, so it seems the entire capital won’t be ravaged by illness.”

Lord Landrick hadn’t just ordered patient isolation—he’d also brought palace healing mages to assist with diagnosis.

The identified illness was Kuzen disease.

While its symptoms closely resembled Zeka cold, it was a dangerous disease with a fatality rate several times higher.

The throat swelling was particularly troublesome, as severe swelling could lead to breathing difficulties.

(I’m so glad I cultivated Sennagi herb.)

The medicine supplied by the palace was extremely expensive and couldn’t be used lightly.

But medicinal tea mixed with Sennagi herb could be added to our usual affordable tea with reasonable effectiveness.

If symptoms unfortunately worsened, the palace-supplied medicine could save lives. With my healing magic weakened by insufficient mana, treating multiple worsening cases simultaneously would have surely led to the worst outcome.

Even if it wasn’t medicine to use casually, having life-saving medicine available when needed was reassuring.

“Ah, we’ve run out of Sennagi herb for the medicinal tea.”

“In that case, I’ll go pick some from my room.”

Heading quickly to my room, I passed a nun carrying sheets in a laundry basket who hurried away.

(…That bright wheat-colored hair—could it be Griffe?)

She usually moved around with the maids Liesl and Lute, so seeing her alone was unusual.

(…………?)

My room door was unlocked.

Thump—my heart made an unpleasant sound.

Even though it was my own room, I gently pushed the door open.

“!”

I nearly cried out.

All the Sennagi herbs were gone.

The abundant Sennagi herbs that had been growing just this morning had all been pulled out.

All that remained were two white rectangular planters with lattice patterns and scattered soil.

(Why…?)

That’s the medicinal herb we need right now!

(What about Mona’s room?!)

She grows Sennagi herb in her room too.

I hurriedly rushed out and reached for Mona’s door next door.

Relief washed over me when it wouldn’t open.

If it was locked, that meant nobody had entered yet.

But I couldn’t be certain.

(I need to have Mona check.)

I hoped her Sennagi herb was safe.

If she could spare a few stalks, I could cultivate them again in my room.

If Mona’s Sennagi herb was also destroyed, we’d be in serious trouble.

Finding it in the herb garden had been accidental.

Back then, other herbs had provided just the right shade for it to grow, but normally it wouldn’t thrive in that sunny spot even if it sprouted.

(Anyway, I need Mona to check inside her room.)

Leaving her door made me anxious too, but staying here wouldn’t help.

I decided to return to the annex faster than I came and explain the situation to Mona.

“Ah, it seems my room is safe.”

Beyond the open door, I could see the familiar twisted medicinal herbs I saw daily.

Relief flooded me seeing Mona’s Sennagi herb still growing properly.

“For today we’ll mix this Sennagi herb, but it might be risky to grow more in your room now, Lupina.”

“That’s true… Why would someone do this…?”

My room remained ransacked. I hadn’t confirmed damage beyond the Sennagi herb, though I owned nothing valuable anyway.

But Sennagi herb wasn’t valuable either. Since Mother discovered its efficacy by chance, it wasn’t highly traded.

If someone wanted to steal herbs, they’d make more money stealing expensive ones from the herb garden.

“For now, I’ll grow the Sennagi herb in my room. I’ll also explain the situation to the head nun and have her prepare better cultivation conditions. We’ve confirmed its effectiveness, after all.”

Mona smiled as she promised this, but I felt like hanging my head.

(Will we have enough Sennagi herb…?)

With my room’s supply, we would have had plenty. But with only Mona’s portion, it seemed insufficient for all the patients complaining of sore throats.

(…I hope regular medicinal tea alone can alleviate symptoms.)

Starting tomorrow, we’d need to ration Sennagi herb.

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“You’re kidding! Why my room too?!”

Mona was speechless.

Her room was identical to mine yesterday—Sennagi herb stolen, soil scattered everywhere.

“…But not all of it, right?”

Looking at the devastation, I felt certain. Mona’s room should have had four white planters. But only two remained here.

When we first found Sennagi herb, Mona prepared two rectangular white planters for me. As the herb multiplied, she got two more for me and four for her own room.

“Just in case, I swapped them out.”

Saying this, she opened the closet.

“Eh, in here?”

I never would have guessed.

Beneath the nun’s habits were two white rectangular planters. The Sennagi herb wasn’t wilted but thriving vigorously.

“Poor sunlight is fine, right? So, I hid them here. Nobody would think to look inside here, after all.”

It was a blind spot.

“People who knew we grew Sennagi herb knew about it, right? So, after seeing your room ransacked, I took precautions. Also, you’d probably notice, but the planters in the room are fakes.”

She picked up a fallen herb from the scattered soil and showed me.

“The leaves aren’t twisted… This is just a weed, isn’t it…?”

“Yep yep. But if it looks like it’s growing importantly, nobody can tell the difference, right? The culprit probably couldn’t either. The real ones were already harvested and stored in the drawer.”

She smoothly opened the desk drawer, revealing Sennagi herb carefully wrapped in cloth.

Mona’s quiet chuckle was reassuring.

“I thought we were completely wiped out…”

“Right? The culprit probably thinks so too. So, neither of our rooms should be targeted for a while.”

“If that’s the case, I can cultivate them in my room again.”

“Patients keep increasing, after all. We can never have enough medicine, so let’s grow them entirely in the closet. Also, I’ll ask the head nun to pretend our rooms were ransacked and the Sennagi herb was almost completely destroyed.”

“To deceive the culprit?”

“Yep. Anyway, the current quantity probably won’t cover all patients. We keep getting patients who only come to the clinic after becoming seriously ill.”

It was true. Lord Landrick issued a capital-wide decree to isolate anyone with coughs. But many defied the order, pushing through until they worsened. It would take more time for the disease to subside.

“What could the culprit’s motive be…?”

What purpose could stealing Sennagi herb serve?

“That’s what I don’t get. This herb isn’t a panacea. I sense they want to disable the Sennagi herb, so we’ll make them think it’s destroyed. Well, no use thinking about what we don’t understand. Let’s just do what we can now.”

Mona was right. Not knowing the motive was unsettling, but thinking about it wouldn’t provide answers. Better to use the remaining Sennagi herb to make as much medicine as possible.

We explained the situation about secretly cultivating to the head nun and had her pretend the Sennagi herb was destroyed. We also had her claim what remained was from earlier harvests.

Then we had the locks changed on both Mona’s and my rooms. We didn’t know how the culprit opened them, but even if they had duplicate keys, we should be safe for a while.

(Now we just pray no more serious cases appear before the Sennagi herb grows back.)

After receiving some of the safe Sennagi herb from Mona, I gently hid the planters inside my closet.