Until the Substitute Saintess is Loved: The Sister Sent to the Convent as the Villainess Heals Everyone's Hearts with Her Healing Powers - Chapter 24

How long had I been praying inside the carriage?

“Lord Landrick has slain the demon bird!”

Cheers erupted along with that knight’s shout.

Startled, I turned to look at Lady Vetta, who gave me a slight nod.

I leaped from the carriage with such urgency that I nearly ran.

If the threat was gone, I should be able to heal everyone now.

“Sir Cherid! You first, please. Allow me to heal you.”

I grabbed the arm of Sir Cherid, who was nearby, and poured all my strength into a healing spell.

The flesh of his arm, which wasn’t just bleeding but deeply gouged, swelled up and rapidly regenerated before our eyes.

“You saved me. I wouldn’t have died, but it was painful.”

“Lady Lupina. The enhancement magic is already in place. Please heal to your heart’s content.”

Lady Vetta stepped down from the carriage with a wry smile.

I healed the injured knights as instructed. Under normal circumstances, healing with such intensity would have drained my mana immediately, but thanks to Lady Vetta, I could heal with just a slight focus of power.

“Ah, Saintess, we are grateful.”

“Can she really be a former Saintess? Her skill is too impeccable.”

“…You don’t need to heal my—oh, it’s already healed!”

They expressed their thanks and surprise in turn, but as Lady Vetta had predicted, no one was seriously injured.

(Thank goodness, truly.)

As I breathed a sigh of relief, I heard the pained whinny of a horse.

“The carriage is done for.”

The driver sighed beside the crouching horse.

“Um, this one here…”

“Seems its leg was injured. The carriage shook violently earlier.”

It must have been during that intense shaking.

Thanks to Lady Vetta, I hadn’t felt any shaking after that, but perhaps the horse had been injured then.

I approached gently; it hung its head as if it lacked even the energy to struggle.

“I’m sorry. Please stay still for me.”

It seemed safe to touch, so I knelt to examine the injury.

“…Are you going to heal the horse?”

I was suddenly addressed by an unfamiliar palace knight.

“Yes. If we leave it like this, it won’t be able to move, right?”

If left untreated, this horse would likely be abandoned here. That meant leaving it to die. If my healing magic could save it, I couldn’t allow that.

Even if it couldn’t pull a carriage anymore, if I could heal its leg, we could take it back to the Rolt border territory.

I stroked the back of the listless, suffering horse to calm it, then gently placed my hand on its broken leg.

As the horse flinched and lifted its head in pain, I embraced it and applied healing to the leg.

Perhaps the effects of Lady Vetta’s wide-area enhancement magic still lingered, as the leg healed more easily than expected.

The horse stood up perkily and happily wiggled its ears up and down.

“I’m glad. You’ll be alright now.”

Relieved to see it could walk without issue.

“Do you wish to travel by carriage that badly?”

The knight from earlier was still nearby. His expression, as if holding something back, made me uneasy.

“No, that’s not it…”

“You abandoned my brother, yet you heal a horse?!”

“Eek!”

Shoved with full force, I fell to the ground.

“Because of you—because you refused to heal him! My brother can never be a knight again! Even though you can heal so easily in an instant, why did you refuse?!”

He grabbed me by the collar and slapped my cheek hard through the veil.

“It’s your fault—all your fault!”

My legs froze, unable to move, as he raised his sword in rage.

But that sword never cut me down.

Lord Landrick, noticing the commotion, had twisted the palace knight’s arm upward.

“Lord Landrick, release me! This one—she’s the one who—!”

While twisting the resisting palace knight’s arm, he used his other hand to flip up the visor of the helmet.

The revealed face was contorted with pain and humiliation, eyes bloodshot.

“No, I won’t release you. You’re Jif Serona, aren’t you? Why are you here?!”

“Haha, are you angry for this woman’s sake? You too have been made to swallow bitter medicine by her, haven’t you?”

“Answer the question. You weren’t assigned to this subjugation unit.”

Suddenly, a hand touched my shoulder, making me jump. Lady Vetta stood beside me, with Sir Cherid next to her; both stepped forward, shielding me with their backs.

“That’s simple. It means there are many who hate this woman.”

“So, you swapped with someone? Damn it, everyone remove your helmets!”

At Lord Landrick’s angry shout, the surrounding palace knights began lifting their visors one after another.

But a few kept their hands on their helmets, refusing to remove them.

Several who tried to flee were immediately captured by other palace knights nearby.

“The palace knights seem quite well-coordinated.”

Lord Forthner sneered in a slimy, undisguised contemptuous tone.

“…I must apologize for causing such a situation. I am truly sorry.”

Lord Landrick immediately bowed his head in response to the sarcasm, making Lord Forthner gasp briefly.

But Lord Forthner’s irritation didn’t seem appeased; he glared at me and smirked, lifting the corner of his mouth.

“If Lord Landrick, a member of the royal family, bows his head, we have no choice but to relent. However, the root of the problem lies with the former Saintess over there. It seems she healed the horse because she didn’t want to walk, and since she has such an abundance of healing power, why not have the former Saintess walk for everyone’s benefit?”

“What are you saying?”

“Haha, don’t you understand, Lord Landrick? It simply means having her walk instead of using the carriage. Well, with her healing power to recover from fatigue, walking to the demon forest should be no trouble at all. After all, since demon beasts have appeared, travel by carriage is difficult anyway. It must be a great disappointment for the former Saintess, but well, two legs are meant for walking. I’d like her to use them.”

I could almost hear his inner voice saying, “As if she could do it.”

“If you say I should walk, then I have no objection.”

“Oh? A commendable attitude. By all means, let’s have you walk!”

Lord Forthner nodded with satisfaction and returned to the front.

“Lupina. Don’t push yourself.”

“No, it’s truly not a problem. I think the carriage should be used to send the captured knights back to the Rolt border territory.”

We couldn’t leave them here, and taking them along would be dangerous.

If those who hate Sister Lupina harm me, the battle with the demon beast king will be at a disadvantage.

The knights would have no recourse if they lost their healer.

I want to return everyone safely from this battle, especially Lord Landrick and all who joined this fight.

“I’ve enhanced the horses. They should be able to carry the knights back now.”

Lady Vetta seemed to have applied body enhancement to the horse I healed.

The horse shook its head lightly with a brrrrn, looking much livelier than before, and despite the circumstances, it made me happy.

We loaded the bound knights into the carriage, assigned a few knights as guards, and sent them toward the Rolt border territory. I felt worried about demon beasts, but since the earlier demon bird was a stray and any others would come from the demon forest, the return route should be safe, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

Even though they targeted me, I didn’t want them to get hurt or worse.

“Lupina…”

Gently, Lord Landrick’s finger touched my cheek through the veil.

“I’m sorry for putting you through this.”

“It’s not your fault, Lord Landrick! This was like an accident.”

I immediately denied his painfully uttered words.

No one could have predicted that, out of hatred for Sister Lupina, they would swap with official subjugation knights.

Moreover, I never imagined that healing the horse would provoke their wrath.

“But…”

“It’s alright. I can heal, after all.”

I placed my hand over Lord Landrick’s fingertips and healed the slapped cheek.

He should have felt the healing power flowing from my palm through his fingertips, mending the cheek.

I’d never used healing magic on myself before, but now I fully understood that if I were hurt, there would be people who grieve.

Perhaps because of that, though it’s harder than healing others, I’ve become able to apply healing magic to myself.

Honestly, the shock was so overwhelming I hadn’t even felt the pain.

But if left untreated, it would surely have swollen badly.

The inside of my mouth was slightly cut, too.

Lord Landrick stroked my healed cheek through the veil a few times, and once he confirmed the swelling had subsided, he narrowed his eyes in relief and withdrew his hand.