Vanessa slowly looked around at the citizens and spoke in a deliberately heavy and low voice.

“I shall grant your wishes.”

“Your Highness…!”

At her words, people immediately brightened, but Garcia turned pale and let out a sigh.

Vanessa briefly glanced at Garcia’s worried expression and added a smile to her lips.

That smile was in place of saying ‘it’s okay.’

“However, there is something you must keep in mind.”

Unlike usual, Vanessa’s voice, weighted with authority, echoed through the street. As if overwhelmed by her presence, people focused intently, even holding their breaths.

“Receiving the blessing of vitality does not guarantee that you will avoid the plague. It only lowers the possibility of contracting it.”

Perhaps because Vanessa’s attitude was so firm, people just listened quietly, unable to voice any objections that would start with ‘but.’

“If you promise to remember this fact and not blindly believe in the power of the divine word, I will gladly use it for you.”

With those final words, a small commotion spread among the people. Amidst the murmuring mixed with hesitation, someone raised their hand high. When Vanessa turned her gaze in that direction, the man who had raised his hand spoke with a determined face.

“I will keep Your Highness’s words in mind. I won’t blindly believe in the power of the divine word, so please bestow it upon my mother…!”

Starting with that man, many others who had made up their minds raised their hands and shouted their promises. In this utterly chaotic situation, Vanessa slowly raised one hand to stop the people. Then, looking around at the crowd, she gave orders in a calm voice.

“One by one, stand before me in an orderly manner.”

Controlling the crowd wasn’t difficult for Vanessa, who had been educated and raised as royalty. Her voice carried an irresistible dignity, and people, as if enchanted, formed a line in a daze.

Thus, Vanessa began using the divine word on those standing at the front of the line.

“Well then, what’s your name?”

“Ph-Philip, Your Highness.”

“It was your elderly mother who wished to receive the blessing?”

“Yes, right here…”

Vanessa used the vitality divine word on both mother and son. The pair seemed deeply moved by her generosity and left while repeatedly expressing their gratitude.

Then it was the next person’s turn. This time it was a young woman holding a newborn baby. Vanessa greeted them with an even gentler smile.

“And your name is?”

Throughout that day, over 100 people received Vanessa’s blessing of vitality. Vanessa made sure to remember all their names.

Back in her quarters, Garcia clicked his tongue as he watched Vanessa meticulously recording on parchment the names, residences, and reasons for requesting the divine word of all those people.

“How do you remember all that? Surely you couldn’t have memorized all their faces too.”

“No? I remember their faces too.”

“…You truly possess an amazing memory…”

Indeed. While Vanessa excelled at forgetting useless or uninteresting things, she possessed remarkable memory when she deemed something necessary to remember.

The things Vanessa had forgotten throughout her life were those she herself considered not worth remembering…

‘About RauÐi… did I really forget on my own? Or is there something I don’t know…’

Vanessa touched her nose with the tip of her quill pen while pondering the question that troubled her most these days.

In the dim space lit only by three candles. Through the frosted window, faint moonlight streamed in. Like someone possessed, Vanessa wrote down the name in question.

[RauÐi]

Why does her chest feel tight whenever she recites this name?

Vanessa suddenly recalled the gentle smile Jurgen had shown while wandering in his dreams. The emotion that inevitably washed over her was one of sadness.

An inexplicable emotion that, though clearly her own, she couldn’t understand…

‘…The answer to this relationship must lie in my lost memories.’

Jurgen, or RauÐi.

I want to know who you are. Now, even more than the desire to make you my ally…

✦ ✦ ✦

The next day, Vanessa again bestowed the divine word on people who came to the clinic.

Those who came after hearing the rumors were far more numerous than the previous day. Starting from morning, she had been bestowing the divine word for six hours straight, barely able to eat lunch properly.

Though it would be understandable for a person to be exhausted, Vanessa showed no signs of fatigue and simply continued reciting the divine word mechanically, without complaint.

Garcia thought with a suppressed sigh.

‘I wonder if she might collapse at this rate…’

No matter how much divine blessing one received, human limitations were clear, and if the vessel couldn’t endure, it would break.

In fact, Vanessa’s complexion was subtly pale, and her fingertips were trembling slightly.

Though she seemed able to endure for now, what if she had to expend energy on hundreds more people until nightfall? She might really faint.

“Well then, next…”

Her voice seemed to be losing strength too.

This clearly wouldn’t do. Having made up his mind, Garcia cut between Vanessa and the crowd and arbitrarily announced.

“Alright, that’s all for now! We’ll take an hour break, so please come back around three o’clock! Dismissed!”

“What? What did you say?”

“We’ve been waiting for six hours…”

“Your Highness hasn’t said anything, why is this knight making decisions on his own…”

Naturally, people reacted with dissatisfaction, either protesting or glaring sharply at Garcia. Ignoring them all, Garcia turned to Vanessa and suggested, “Please rest for at least an hour.”

Vanessa, who was about to say this wasn’t necessary, found herself speechless at his determined gaze and closed her mouth. Garcia supported her protectively and led her inside.

Once the door closed and they were away from the crowd’s gaze, her tension released. At the same time, hunger swept over her. Only then did Vanessa realize she was very hungry.

First, they went to the dining hall for a late lunch. The menu was stew made from the rabbits they had hunted in the forest.

Though there wasn’t much meat to chew on as they were being very frugal with it, it was enough to fill her empty stomach.

After finishing the meal, she went up to her room with Garcia and Renee. This was to rest properly for the remaining 30 minutes.

“I feel bad being the only one lying in bed… Why don’t you both go to your own rooms to rest?”

Vanessa asked Garcia and Renee while lying in bed. The two briefly exchanged silent glances. It seemed they understood each other without words. Soon, Garcia spoke as their representative.

“If we make you uncomfortable, we’ll wait in the hallway. Though nothing is likely to happen inside the castle, it would be better to properly guard Your Highness, just in case.”

Though thinking they were being excessive, Vanessa smiled. She understood that their guarding her now was exactly as it appeared. To them, Vanessa was no longer a subject of surveillance.

“Won’t you get tired standing in the hallway? Instead of that, why don’t you both lie down here?”

When Vanessa patted the space beside her invitingly, Garcia asked with rare seriousness.

“…Are you serious?”

“I’m joking.”

As Vanessa giggled, both Garcia and Renee let out laughs of disbelief.

Instead of lying on the bed, they brought wooden chairs and stools and sat in suitable places.

Vanessa blinked at them for a while, then shifted her gaze to the ceiling and asked as if talking to herself.

“I wonder what Jurgen is doing now?”

“Huh? Well…”

Garcia scratched his head after responding reflexively. Before he could speak again, Renee provided a sensible answer.

“He must be busy establishing measures against the plague. It would be terrible if the plague were to spread widely outside the castle. Also, he must be directing military training every morning. Unfortunately, this is when frost monster invasions are most frequent.”

“Frost monsters…”

As Vanessa muttered that word absentmindedly, she was suddenly seized by an ominous premonition.

It would be better if the frost monsters invaded after the plague issue was resolved, but would the timing really work out so perfectly?

Perhaps they would soon hear news of Jurgen’s deployment.

“Come to think of it, Your Highness has never seen a frost monster, have you?”

Garcia asked casually, as if it wasn’t a big deal. Vanessa nodded as she sat up in bed.

“I’ve seen them in some artist’s painting. Though I don’t know if they really look like that.”

“A painting?”

Garcia threw his head back and laughed loudly as if he’d heard something ridiculous. Chuckling, he said.

“I don’t know how well it was painted, but it must be different from seeing them in person. Though you probably won’t… have much chance to see them in person.”

Vanessa let his words go in one ear and out the other as she recalled the frost monster painting she had seen long ago.

Pale skin with a bluish tint, eyes completely red without whites and with vertically slit pupils, pointed ears, and sharp, hard claws that could pierce rock.

‘And… they said they’re 2 meters tall.’

While she probably wouldn’t have much chance to see a frost monster in person, if she were to encounter one face to face… she felt she would freeze in place, unable to move.