Could it be that the Dawn Church today is not a monolith?

Vanessa couldn’t help thinking of this, but she couldn’t be sure. At the very least, there were no factions or families inside the Dawn Church that dared openly defy the Pope.

Unable to read Luna’s thoughts, Vanessa didn’t dare make a rash judgment.

“Eh, meow? Come to think of it, Miss Vanessa, why are you dressed like this, meow?” Myako asked in puzzlement, then lit up with delight. “Don’t tell me Miss Vanessa, like me, also likes twin tails, meow?”

“Miss Myako, please don’t bring that up again.” The moment the topic arose, Vanessa couldn’t help remembering how her role-play had been watched from start to finish by someone who recognized her.

She had been working very hard to repeat to herself that she should forget that shame and those memories; otherwise she truly would have to move to another planet.

“Eh—eh, meow?” Myako tilted her head, baffled as to what had just happened.

“So Miss Vanessa is short on money again—or short on something that needs burning?” Luna said with a smiling squint.

“I’m not short on money.” Looking into Luna’s eyes, Vanessa read the implication behind them and hesitated.

“Oh? Then what you’re lacking is something else—something very important to you?” Luna followed Vanessa’s logic, smiling. “Important?”

“Important.” For some reason, Vanessa chose to answer. “Extremely important.”

“Oh, I see.” Luna nodded, a light flickering in her platinum cross-pattern irises that Vanessa couldn’t read. “You should have said so earlier, Miss Vanessa. Dressed like this—are you planning to hold a concert to raise funds?”

“...What does Miss Luna mean?”

“Ah~ No matter what, Miss Vanessa is our maid café’s top-grossing honorary employee. If you’ve run into trouble, as the manager I can’t just stand by, can I?” Luna smiled.

That moved Vanessa—yet also made her hesitate.

As the young lady of the Haukekai Family, if Luna had channels to obtain those rare medicinal materials, she certainly had them. But—

Vanessa disliked owing favors for nothing, and this would be no small favor.

Yet if she didn’t at least try and test her luck, the issue of materials couldn’t be solved.

If she had Aesphyra transfer in that batch of materials—setting aside how troublesome that would be—wouldn’t that let Aesphyra know the potion had been refined by Vanessa?

Besides, even transferring the materials would take time. By the time they arrived, the term would likely have started—would she still have time to refine the potion?

But what if—what if Luna really did have a way?

“My matter is probably something Miss Luna can’t help with.” After turning it over and over and pondering for a long while, Vanessa finally spoke softly as if making up her mind.

After all, priorities differ.

“Miss Vanessa.” Luna strolled to stand before Vanessa, hands clasped behind her back, then circled her once, her delicate nose giving a small sniff. “What you need wouldn’t happen to be alchemy materials, would it?”

“...?” Vanessa was startled. She always wore the Enchanted Alchemy Robe and the Enchanted Mask throughout refinement, and after finishing she had taken a proper bath. How could anyone still smell it on her?

“No need to wonder. I didn’t catch it by scent. Miss Vanessa’s hair is nothing but shampoo and conditioner.” At some point Luna had drifted behind her, lifted a slightly wavy lock of Vanessa’s hair, and held it to her nose for a gentle sniff, a faint, barely noticeable rosy intoxication blooming on her cheeks.

“The reason I could sense it is that there are certain scents on you Miss Vanessa that a nose can’t perceive, and they told me.”

Scents a nose can’t perceive?

Vanessa didn’t know what peculiar ability Luna had, but as a member of the Haukekai Family, having a talent a bit beyond ordinary was normal, wasn’t it?

“So, Miss Vanessa has been doing alchemy lately?”

“Yes.” There was nothing worth hiding anymore, so Vanessa chose to own it openly.

“Then which alchemical ingredients are you short of?” Luna didn’t ask what Vanessa needed them for or what potion she intended to refine. She could feel how wary Vanessa was of her at the moment.

Vanessa hesitated a moment, then chose to list the ingredients. In any case, it wasn’t as if she lacked everything—only a few of the most crucial—and naming only those wouldn’t let anyone deduce what potion she was refining. Besides, the recipe for the Kiss of the Blessing Angel might already have been lost to time for being impossible to produce.

“I see. All very precious ingredients,” Luna remarked casually, then asked nothing further. She turned to Myako. “Myako, those ingredients Miss Vanessa just named—we should still have them in our Carillian Academy storeroom, right?”

“Ah, I’ll go check, meow! One moment, meow!” Myako bounced in place and scampered to the back kitchen.

A storeroom located at the Carillian Academy?

Vanessa’s eyes showed open astonishment.

Truly worthy of Haukekai—such largesse was beyond ordinary imagination.

Soon Myako came skipping back out, a ledger balanced on her head. “We have them, we have them, Miss Manager, we have them, meow! All those ingredients are still in stock, meow!”

“Good. Then give all the remaining stock to Miss Vanessa,” Luna said as Myako answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Understood, meow.”

“Eh?” Vanessa’s eyes flickered. “Miss Luna, I don’t think I’ll need that much.”

“Really?” Luna looked back at Vanessa, and in those platinum cross-pattern irises it was as if nothing she kept in her heart could hide.

“Then why, Miss Vanessa, after consuming so many materials and conducting so many refinements, have you still not succeeded?”

“...?” Vanessa had been surprised enough that Luna discovered she was refining potions; she hadn’t expected Luna to know, down to the last detail, that she had failed so many times.

“Please wait in the shop a bit, Miss Vanessa.” Luna chose a seat, sat, and sipped black tea with elegance.

“Don’t stand on ceremony, Miss Vanessa. Sit.”

“...Thank you, Miss Luna.” Vanessa also took a seat and sat with poised deportment.

She didn’t know how long had passed before Myako returned to the hall with several maids in tow. Each maid carried a black-wrapped bundle. Needless to say, inside were the alchemy ingredients Vanessa needed.

“Have you counted the quantities?” Luna asked.

“All counted, Young Lady,” the maids replied in unison.

“Good. Then hand them over to Miss Vanessa.” Luna motioned toward Vanessa.

“Yes.” The maids set the black bundles before her, one by one.

Vanessa unwrapped and inspected them. After confirming that they were indeed the ingredients she required, she rose with care, lifted her skirt slightly, and curtsied to Luna. “My heartfelt thanks for delivering charcoal in the snow, Miss Luna. I will not forget this favor.”

“More than that, I’m curious—what kind of person could make Miss Vanessa value them this much? You aren’t refining this potion for yourself, are you?” Luna teased.

“...” Vanessa said nothing.

“Since Miss Vanessa doesn’t wish to say, I won’t pry. You’re not in a rush, are you? Stay for lunch before you go?”

“I appreciate the kindness, but time is a bit tight,” Vanessa said.

“Very well. Then I look forward to next time, Miss Vanessa.” A long, meaningful curve hung at Luna’s lips.

“Goodbye, Miss Myako. Miss Luna.” Carrying the black bundles, Vanessa left the maid café.

The materials weren’t light, but for Vanessa’s strength, she could carry them all in one hand.

What she hadn’t expected was that the one helping her this time would be Luna.

Was this Luna extending goodwill to her?

But if Luna didn’t know her identity, on what grounds would she give such generous help? Sheer kindness?

And if Luna did know her identity, why not report to the Pope?

For a moment, the truth felt mired in fog.

Hauling the bundles back to the lab, Vanessa took out the ingredients Mirexia had been sending daily, cooked a simple meal, then donned the Enchanted Alchemy Robe again and returned to the alchemy workbench.

After a long simmer, with Vanessa’s comprehension she had finally grasped a great many key points. Difficult as the Kiss of the Blessing Angel was to refine, Vanessa—by virtue of astonishing talent and intuition, and experience piled high from enough failures—at last reached the final step.

Staring at a potion that was once again on the verge of being exhausted, Vanessa drew a deep breath.

She knew she absolutely could not fail this time.

Controlling the flame with one hand, her eyes fixed on the degree of mixture in the pot. She stirred the liquid by the method.

When the liquid’s color turned a pale tangerine, Vanessa knew she had succeeded this time.

What came next was the final step: adding a sufficient amount of the Blessing Angel’s vital blood.

Vanessa slipped off her gloves, took up the small knife prepared at her side, and opened a line across the white of her forearm, letting blood flow from it into the boiling liquid.

Upon contact with Vanessa’s blood, the liquid changed—shifting from pale orange toward pale pink, though the change was agonizingly slow.

And as the blood flowed, Vanessa’s face grew ever paler. She felt her vitality draining away with it, bit by bit.

As the source of the [Saintess], the blood of the [Blessing Angel] carried potent life and vigor—an immense restorative power that could nurture all things. Thus, the sensation of losing blood was entirely different for a Blessing Angel than for an ordinary human.

Vanessa felt a black cloud of despair spreading overhead, a pall called death that might descend at any moment to shroud completely her dimming vision.

She bit the tip of her tongue to keep from fainting, pressed down her fear of that pall, and continued to bleed without hesitation.

No. If she gave up here, everything would be for nothing. She had to—had to turn the liquid fully pale pink.

Her legs went numb and weak, and she slumped against the alchemy bench with a soft thud, head bowed. If not for her other hand bracing on the bench, she might already have lost her balance and fallen.

Seeing the blood still insufficient, she cut the wound again, letting it keep bleeding, over and over.

Very soon, Vanessa couldn’t hold out. Forcing her eyes open, she felt as if thousand-pound weights hung from her lids; even keeping them open took everything she had.

Fine sweat beaded her forehead; her bangs were soaked. When she lifted her gaze, her vision blurred. Her whole body was ice-cold; she could hardly feel temperature at all.

But she could make out, faintly, that the pale orange had become pale pink.

At the same time, a strange, fragrant scent reached her nose.

That reaction told Vanessa she had succeeded.

But it still wasn’t over.

With the last of her strength, Vanessa cut the flame, added the final ingredient, and let the residual heat bring it to harmony. Only then did she staunch her bleeding—and collapsed softly to the floor.

She didn’t even have the wherewithal to sit on the nearby stool. The last thought before she blacked out was still a replay of whether she had succeeded.

When her consciousness surfaced from the murk, she found herself lying on a broad bed. A fresh citrus scent filled her nose, a smell that gave her an indescribable sense of safety.

When she took in the room around her, it looked familiar. It seemed like...

Creak. The door opened, and the golden twin-tailed girl she knew all too well walked in. The sapphire eyes full of worry only relaxed when she saw Vanessa awake. She hurried over.

[Virtue +150.]

[Current Virtue: 9524.]

“Vanessa, you’re finally awake. How do you feel?”

“...Mirexia? Why am I here?” Vanessa still felt ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ terribly weak, unable to move much.

“You lost too much blood in the alchemy lab and fainted.” As Mirexia spoke, there was a hint of reproach in her eyes, though she couldn’t quite bring herself to press it. “If I hadn’t happened to decide that day to check on you, no one would have discovered you’d collapsed. If that had happened, the consequences would have been serious.”

Vanessa glanced, unthinkingly, at her current Virtue.

If she remembered right, previously her [Current Virtue] had been 9074. Now, with +150 it had become 9524—which meant that when Mirexia found her, there had been a +300 Virtue burst.

It seemed she had made Mirexia worry again.

“Next time, don’t be reckless,” Mirexia said in a low voice.

“It’s fine. Don’t I have a reliable childhood friend?” Vanessa smiled.

“Mirexia, the potion I refined?”

“Don’t worry. I put everything away for you afterward,” Mirexia said, her gaze complicated as she regarded Vanessa.

Though sacrificing one’s life for a dear friend was a kind of virtue, when she had seen Vanessa lying motionless in the lab—and the terrible wound on her arm—Mirexia had truly panicked.

After ensuring Vanessa’s safety and thinking it through, she couldn’t help feeling that Vanessa’s relationship with Aesphyra didn’t seem like that of ordinary close friends.

Was she... just being small-minded?

“The potion you refined—I’ve set it aside for you. In addition, there were a few extra by-products.” Mirexia wasn’t versed in alchemy, but she had learned the most basic procedures for drawing off a finished liquid from the pot.