Until the Substitute Saintess is Loved: The Sister Sent to the Convent as the Villainess Heals Everyone's Hearts with Her Healing Powers - Chapter 33

(What’s going on here?)

I visited the monastery as usual to see Lupina.

The nuns who should have welcomed me brightly instead gave formal greetings and left.

The entire monastery, which had always been enveloped in a gentle atmosphere, was now wrapped in a tense, unpleasant air.

Had an emergency patient been brought in?

If so, Lupina would probably be at the treatment center.

Putting off my greeting to the head nun, I hurried toward the treatment center.

(She’s probably pushing herself to the limit with healing again…)

Lupina—no, the woman calling herself Lupina—overworks herself too much.

It must be her innate personality.

I can’t take my eyes off her, someone who helps others even at her own expense.

As I approached the treatment center, I could hear arguing voices.

(…Lupina?)

I tilted my head at the familiar voice that now contained a sharp edge.

“Why should I have to treat commoners?”

I could tell it was Lupina from her distinctive, radiant silver hair, even though she had her back to me.

Several nuns seemed to be complaining to her.

“Lupina, you’ve been acting strange lately. You used to help proactively.”

“We’ve been relying on Lupina too much, and she’s reached her limit. Lupina was suffering too. You understand, right?”

“Sister Mona. But…”

“Alright, alright, you’ve been working nonstop too. But hey, Lupina’s maid Bennett? She’s working hard in Lupina’s place, isn’t she?”

The nuns who had been confronting Lupina were pacified by Mona and returned to their respective posts.

But Lupina didn’t even thank them—instead, she brushed her hair back with an arrogant attitude and left.

(What was that? That gesture was just like…)

Lupina noticed me.

“Lord Landrick! I’ve been wanting to see you.”

She ran over and smoothly took my arm, sending an unpleasant shiver through me.

“Ah, yeah. But just now…”

“Just now?”

“Aren’t you treating patients?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m properly seeing patients who are worthy of me.”

“Worthy…?”

—There are commoners everywhere you look. Why should I have to treat them?

The words Lupina had once spoken echoed in my head.

“Ah, well, of course, I mean critically ill patients. If medicine can cure them, there’s no need to waste magical power, right? See, Lord Landrick, you’ve told me not to overexert myself, haven’t you?”

She smiled through her veil as if covering up, her fingertips beautifully manicured with long nails.

I could tell because I’d been watching her all along.

The voice was the same.

Her appearance from behind hadn’t changed.

But her fingertips, her nature—everything about this woman was different from her.

I was overcome with the urge to push her away.

(This is Lupina. Not the woman I loved. The real Lupina…)

“Lord Landrick?”

I resisted the urge to shake off her touch on my arm and managed to nod.

(No good. If this woman realizes what I’ve noticed now, what will happen to the woman who called herself Lupina?!)

First of all, is she safe?

I want to grab her by the collar and demand answers right now, but I can’t.

If this woman is the real Lupina, she wouldn’t hesitate to harm the woman I love.

I don’t understand why Lupina, who used to regard me as an enemy when we met at the royal castle, has suddenly become friendly toward me.

I don’t know where she’s been hiding all this time, but if I upset this woman, my beloved will be in danger.

Suppressing nausea at her unnecessarily clingy behavior, I forced the brightest smile I could manage.

(That’s right, this woman was like this. Only healing those with good looks, flattering them.)

Apparently, my face was to this woman’s liking.

Still, she probably resented that I’d protected my childhood friend Bejular.

She wanted a wedding more extravagant than Bejular’s, the finest jewels, and so on.

I let her rotten, frivolous chatter go in one ear and out the other, and by the time I was finally free, the sun had already sunk considerably.

(Why didn’t I ask her real name?)

I confessed my feelings to her at Count Rolt’s frontier castle.

I knew she wasn’t Lupina, that she was being forced to act as Lupina’s substitute for some reason.

Thinking there must be some deep circumstances, I didn’t press her for answers—something I now regret.

(If only I had pressed her then, she might still be safe.)

Thump. I slammed my fist against the monastery wall with all my strength.

If she was living as Lupina, where was the real Lupina?

If I had at least investigated secretly, things wouldn’t have come to this.

“Ha, haha…”

I had been elated.

That I had confessed my feelings to her and been accepted.

I’m too foolish, pitiful.

I intended to protect her from everything, but I couldn’t protect anything.

“Lord Landrick…”

I turned at the timidly called voice.

It was Mona.

Even through her veil, I could tell she was despondent.

“Hey, Mona. That woman…”

“That’s not Lupina! It’s not Lupina. Please believe me—what we saw before wasn’t an act, but the woman we knew and the woman now are the same yet different!”

“Mona, calm down.”

As I spoke, I deployed a soundproof barrier and a concealment spell around us.

Now we’d be hard to detect from the surroundings, and no one would hear what we were saying.

“Lord Landrick, I know this is disrespectful, but she’s gone. Because the current her won’t even ring the monastery bell or open the gate. It’s because she’s not the real Lupina.”

“So, Mona, you’ve noticed too that she’s not the Lupina we know?”

“Of course. There’s no way Lupina would treat patients so roughly. The current Lupina can’t even identify medicinal herbs. She said the Sennagi grass she was growing in her room was creepy and tried to throw it out. She’s pushing all her personal care onto her maid Bennett. She even refuses to mix herbs, saying it’ll dirty her nails. There’s no way she’s Lupina.”

“Mona…”

“But everyone’s starting to say that maybe her true nature is showing that the rumors about her being a wicked woman in the royal capital might be true… But Lupina isn’t that kind of girl… She’s someone who works harder than anyone, who prioritizes her patients’ lives over her own.”

I gently supported Mona as she cried, her shoulders shaking.

“I saw it. The back of Lupina’s sister who brought Bennett. I was shocked at how much she looked like Lupina. I couldn’t see her face well because it was hidden by a hat, but that beautiful silver hair was very similar to Lupina’s. I know it’s impossible, but maybe…”

Could they have switched places?

I considered what Mona was implying.

The Iven Count family is a clan skilled in healing magic. So, if it’s someone related to them, it wouldn’t be strange if they could use healing magic too.

I’ve never met the sister, but I remember because the real Lupina once made a fuss about her.

I believe the sister is an illegitimate child. I remember a young nobleman at some party asking Lupina about the rumor. “I heard you have a new sister. Didn’t you bring her today?”

Lupina flew into a rage, and her brother Dangard and I had to intervene.

According to Lupina, her stepsister was a fake with mixed lowborn blood who couldn’t use healing magic. That she was sickly and useless, unable to socialize.

After that, no one dared ask Lupina about her sister, and I never even remembered her existence.

But what if that sister closely resembled Lupina?

Lupina’s silver hair and indigo eyes closely resemble Count Iven’s.

If she took after her father rather than her mother, perhaps?

Maybe that’s why Lupina showed such anger back then.

Lupina said she was sickly, couldn’t socialize, and couldn’t use healing magic, but whether that’s true is doubtful. Lupina doesn’t hesitate to belittle others.

What was the sister’s name?

“I heard she called herself Rosalina.”

I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but apparently I had. I nodded at Mona’s words.

(Rosalina. Is that your real name?)

I recalled indigo eyes just slightly lighter than Lupina’s.

The irreplaceable person who was kinder than anyone, who even healed those who mistreated her.

(I will definitely find you and save you.)

Light broke through the gloomy, overcast sky.