Until the Substitute Saintess is Loved: The Sister Sent to the Convent as the Villainess Heals Everyone's Hearts with Her Healing Powers - Chapter 9

At the Count Iven household, aside from Bennett, there was no maid who would follow me, Rosalina.

But since I’m now here as Lupina, the Count’s beloved daughter, it would be better to have a plausible reason for not having a maid—such as having committed a crime.

“I see. If you had a maid, Lupina, you could rest more. Like Griffe.”

“Was Griffe a noble?”

“Yep, yep. The daughter of a baron. The two always with her, Rizel and Lute, are her maids.”

“But in that case, wouldn’t Miss Rizel and Miss Lute be allowed not to wear veils?”

At the convent, it’s a rule that all nuns wear veils.

But maids are different.

When noble daughters become nuns, they’re allowed to bring a few maids with them.

The convent’s veils are magically treated, so while others can’t see their faces, the wearers can see their surroundings clearly.

However, maids are distinguished from nuns. Their attire is usually nun’s robes to match the young lady they serve, but as long as it’s not flashy, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a nun’s habit.

“Somehow, from the moment they arrived, all three of them wore veils. Homemade ones, you could say. Right now, aside from Lupina, Griffe is the only former noble daughter who’s a young girl, so it feels like they’re treating Lupina as an enemy.”

Is that so? Is it because they’re nobles?

“Anyway, we need to hurry and gather herbs. I’m just no good at telling herbs apart. They all look the same to me.”

Mona sat down beside the herb garden and stared intently at the growing herbs.

“These here, the blue herbs with thick leaves and the yellowish-green herbs, are the ones used for ointments.”

“Hmm, they both just look like green leaves to me. Is it from here to here?”

“Yes. Even if they get mixed up, I can sort them out, so it’s fine if you gather them roughly, Mona.”

Quite a few nuns, like Mona, can’t distinguish herbs well. To me, they’re clearly different, but apparently, all herbs look similar to them.

Perhaps because space is limited, the fact that they aren’t clearly separated is also a problem. Although natural stones are placed on the soil to mark boundaries, when herbs that look similar are next to each other, mistakes are bound to happen.

The person who first created this herb garden must have been very knowledgeable about herbs, which is probably why they didn’t notice this issue.

As we gathered herbs for a while, Mona called out from a distance.

“Ah, hey, hey. There’s clearly something weird growing here. Should we get rid of it as a weed?”

At the herb Mona pointed to, I couldn’t help but look twice.

(Sennagi grass, why?)

The twisted, slightly eerie grass was unmistakably Sennagi grass. It’s a perennial herb that prefers shade over sunlight and indoor settings over outdoors.

With this, we can make medicine that suppresses coughs and soothes sore throats.

“Why is this herb here?”

“What, what? Is it such a rare herb?”

“Yes. With this herb, we can enhance the effect of cough medicine and even relieve sore throats. It’s a herb that occasionally grows wild, but I’ve never heard of it growing alongside other herbs.”

It probably wasn’t planted by the convent. Since there are only a few stalks, it’s safe to assume it grew naturally.

But if it stays outside like this, it will likely wither before long.

This spot gets plenty of sunlight.

It might also be mistaken for a weed and pulled out. Right now, it might be thriving in the shade of other herbs, but it would be better to move it indoors soon. Ideally, I’d like to increase its numbers.

“Mona, are there any spare pots? This herb would be better grown indoors. Once we’ve increased the numbers a bit, I’d like to show it to the Abbess as well.”

The nuns already have plenty of work as it is.

If I suddenly ask them to grow this herb too, it would only cause trouble.

It would be quicker to brew it into medicine and demonstrate its effects, but I hesitate to use the small amount of Sennagi grass we have now.

I want to grow it in my room, increase the numbers, and then propose it.

“Yes, yes, we have plenty! I’ll go get one from the storage room.”

“No, if you just tell me where they are, I can get one myself—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll go. In the meantime, Lupina, finish gathering the herbs. You’re much faster at it than I am. The right person for the right job!”

Looking at the gathering basket she pointed to with a laugh, I understood. Indeed, my basket was already full of herbs, while Mona’s was only about half full. Even though I said I’d sort them out later, she must have been carefully identifying them as she gathered.

“Understood. Then I’ll leave the pot to you.”

“I’ll pick out a nice one!”

Even through the veil, I could tell Mona was smiling as she energetically ran off.

Watching her retreating figure, I carefully dug up the Sennagi grass from the roots.