Today, the sun was shining brightly. However, Elia, the Saint, sat in a chair behind Kiz, staring listlessly at the ceiling with a vacant expression.
Three months. It had been exactly three months since that great war.
During these three months, things had been exceptionally calm… there were no secret letters, no assassins, and certainly no suspicious black shadows suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
The Wolf organization had seemingly vanished into thin air, and there had been no movement from the Holy Grail Order either… to say nothing of the Church and the Heavenly Saint Race.
‘Actually, I never really thought about it before. Since the humans have the more powerful Holy Grail Order now, why does the Church still exist? Could it be… that the Church has some trump card I don’t know about?’
“Elia, are you spacing out?” Kiz turned around and asked softly.
“No, I’m just contemplating life from here.”
Kiz rolled her eyes and said, “Does contemplating life require staring at the ceiling?”
“The ceiling helps with thinking.”
Kiz didn’t bother arguing and simply continued discussing border defense issues with the Lords in front of her… honestly, rather than listening to these boors drone on, the Little Princess wanted to spend more time with Elia. Who knew? Maybe she would find another opportunity to get revenge on this Devil Saintess.
The Devil Saintess herself leaned back against the chair again.
She realized that the biggest change over these three months was that… she was becoming more and more dependent on Kiz, psychologically speaking.
The first thing she wanted to do when she woke up was see her; the last thing she wanted to do before bed was hug her. If they were away for more than 2 hours, she would miss her, and she felt a twinge of concern whenever she saw Kiz talking to someone else.
Elia naturally knew what this was. It was *that* kind of emotion.
Another 10 minutes passed before the meeting finally ended.
Seeing that the Lords had all left, Kiz stood up and stretched her stiff shoulders. “Being a princess… it’s exhausting.”
“Come here.” Elia patted the spot next to her.
Kiz obediently sat down beside her.
Elia then began massaging her shoulders and asked, “Are they sore here?”
“Mm… a little.”
Elia’s fingers pressed gently into Kiz’s shoulders, making the princess squint in comfort. “Your technique is getting more and more skilled,” Kiz noted.
“Of course. After all, I massage you every day. How could I not be skilled?”
The corners of Kiz’s mouth curled up slightly.
During these three months, Elia had massaged her every day. At first, she wasn’t used to it and felt embarrassed, but slowly, she had grown accustomed to it and even began to look forward to it.
“Oh, right. Laura is coming this afternoon,” Kiz said suddenly.
Hearing this, Elia’s movements paused for a moment.
“Laura? She’s coming again?”
“Yes. She said it’s been a long time and she wanted to come see us.”
“To see us? Or just to see you?”
“To see both of us, of course! Don’t get any weird ideas!”
“I’m not getting any weird ideas. You’re the one thinking too much, aren’t you?”
“I am not!”
“You are.”
“I am not!”
The two of them proceeded to bicker like children for a few more rounds.
***
In the afternoon, Laura arrived right on time.
She was the same as always, lunging toward Kiz the moment she stepped through the door. Of course, Kiz skillfully dodged her once again.
“Ugh, still so cold,” Laura said, pouting dejectedly.
Kiz looked at her expressionlessly and said, “Behave yourself.”
“Fine, fine… also, Elia! Long time no see!” Laura pouted again, then waved to Elia, who was standing to the side.
“Hello,” Elia nodded slightly.
“Oh, right! I brought good things for you again this time!” Laura pulled out two boxes… just like last time, there were two.
“This is the newest Moonlight Wine brewed by the Elves for Kiz! And this is a special hand cream for Elia. You said it worked well last time, so I brought a few extra bottles!”
Elia took the box and sniffed it. It still had that faint, delicate fragrance that made one feel pleasant just by smelling it.
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome!” Laura said with a giggle. “Hey, did you guys know? The continent has been quite lively lately!”
Kiz raised an eyebrow and asked, “Oh? What’s happened?”
“Lots of things! Over in the Human Empire, the Church and the Imperial Family are fighting again over which side the Saint belongs to! And the Heavenly Saint Race isn’t even just arguing anymore—they’re fighting! Various factions are locked in a civil war! Then there are the Demons… I heard the Demon King has gone into seclusion, and the Night Demon Empire is currently a total mess of power struggles between several Grand Dukes.”
Kiz and Elia exchanged a look before Kiz asked, “Is this intelligence… reliable? It’s not just more gossip and fake news, is it?”
“Of course it’s reliable,” Laura said, patting her chest. “You should know that our Elves’ intelligence network is nothing to scoff at!”
Kiz fell silent for a few seconds before asking, “What about the Wolf? Any news?”
When that question was asked, Laura’s expression became more serious.
“Nothing.” She shook her head. “That organization has completely vanished. I specifically sent people to investigate, but they couldn’t find a single lead. To be honest, it’s terrifying… an organization capable of completely disappearing for three months must have power hidden behind it that is beyond imagination.”
Kiz nodded. “I know.”
The atmosphere became a bit heavy due to the topic. Laura quickly returned to her giggling self and said, “Oh, don’t think about it so much! I didn’t come here to talk about that today! I’m here to play!”
She jumped up from the sofa.
“Let’s go, let’s go! Take me to the Garden!”
Kiz stood up helplessly.
“Fine, fine. I’ll go with you.”
***
On the way, Laura continued to chatter incessantly.
“By the way, Kiz, did you know that the Dwarf Clan’s princess came to see me a few days ago?”
“The Dwarf Clan’s princess?”
“Yeah! Her name is Milly. She’s a super cute little girl! She said she wanted to meet you because she heard the story about you and Elia.”
“The story about me and Elia?” Kiz froze at that.
“Yeah! Think about it. The outside world basically knows the Saint is with the Blood Clan and staying with the Blood Princess… and the two of you are almost never apart. So, everyone is speculating whether there’s some kind of *romantic* feeling between you two. This is a love story between a human and a member of the Blood Clan! Especially among us Elves, everyone is saying it’s the most romantic thing ever!”
Kiz’s face turned red at her words, and she shouted, “Who—who’s romantic?!”
“Don’t deny it. I can tell your relationship is unusual—”
“What—what nonsense are you talking about! Believe it or not, I’ll punch you!” Kiz actually raised her small fist and aimed it at Laura’s grinning face.
“Eek! Someone’s getting defensive! Looks like I hit the nail on the head! If you like her, just be bold and say it. Why keep dragging it out? You know, the tsundere archetype has been out of the meta for a long time now!” Laura laughed as she dodged the Little Princess’s punch.
The scene then shifted… Laura ran ahead laughing, while a red-faced Kiz chased after her, flailing her arms.
“You… just wait until I catch you! I’ll tear you apart, Laura!”
“So go and confess bravely, Kiz! The benevolent angel calls to you from afar! Brave girl, go and create a miracle! Hey, hey, hey! Using Magic is cheating! Stop hitting me, I was wrong!”
Following behind them, the corners of Elia’s mouth couldn’t help but curl up.
She really is cute, Princess Kiz.