30.
I read it over and over again.
[The Perk has interpreted the Holy Blessing.]
[Upon a return visit, the interrupted hypnosis will reactivate.]
“…What is this?”
It interpreted the Holy Blessing?
That was something that could be interpreted?
No, more importantly.
“The interrupted hypnosis will reactivate…?”
It was a message I had never seen before in my life.
Then did that mean it would activate automatically the next time I met Serena?
My worries deepened.
I had already finished my schedule for the day.
First, I turned off the lights on the first floor, went up to the second, and lay down on the bed.
I tried to sleep, but there was no way sleep would come just because I did.
I just stared endlessly up at the ceiling.
I didn’t worry over things with no answer.
It was one of my few strengths, and I had lived that way ever since I’d been possessed.
And yet.
‘I feel like something’s gotten tangled.’
After seeing such a suspicious message, it was still hard not to think about anything.
Serena Justina Armenis.
Hypnosis would work on that person?
‘……Well, it’ll work out somehow.’
Thinking that, I buried my face in my pillow.
Because even if I thought about it more, there was no answer.
…Though it didn’t exactly feel like it would work out somehow.
***
The next few days passed as peacefully as usual.
However, I did pick up one habit.
Whenever I opened the door, I would check the line and sneak glances to see if there was a nun’s habit.
I started looking for Serena first.
It couldn’t be helped.
It felt like she would come at some point.
But I had no idea exactly when that would be.
Then one day.
When I opened the door, I saw a nun’s habit.
“…It’s been a while, Lady Agnes.”
“Yes. It has been a long time.”
The commander of the whatever knight order, wearing armor beneath her nun’s habit.
It was Agnes.
Since there was something I was personally curious about, I took her in as a guest.
She naturally sat down on the sofa and hugged the heart-patterned cushion tightly.
…Wait.
Didn’t she call that shameless when she saw it the first time she came?
Then just how shameless did that make you, hugging it like that?
Of course, I only thought this and didn’t say it aloud.
She always had a sword at her waist, after all.
Whenever I saw that manners-instiller, my mouth naturally kept itself in check.
The consultation with her was ordinary.
Consultation was too grand a word for it; it was just miscellaneous conversation.
In the middle of that, I casually asked her.
“How has Lady Serena been lately?”
Because, in truth, this was the topic I was curious about when it came to her.
“…….”
Hearing my words, Agnes frowned.
I could see strength enter the fingers gripping the cushion.
It felt like she had recalled something difficult to answer.
After a moment, Agnes opened her mouth.
“The Saintess has been sleeping poorly lately.”
“Do you know why?”
“I do not.”
A short and firm answer.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Agnes set down her teacup and added one more thing.
“Only that her time spent in prayer has increased.”
Her prayers had increased.
Since she was a saintess, prayer was probably part of her daily life.
However….
‘She’s been sleeping poorly.’
Those words would not leave my mind.
The person who had told me to take care of myself couldn’t even sleep herself?
And on top of that, she was praying more?
‘Of course that feels unsettling.’
But there was nothing I could do.
In the end, all I had with Agnes was an ordinary consultation.
Because this was all I could do.
***
A few more days passed.
Receiving the morning sunlight, I opened the shop door.
And when I saw the person standing in front of it, my body froze for a moment.
“…Good morning, Counselor.”
A calm voice.
A dark nun’s habit.
Reverent silver hair.
It was Serena.
She wore the same benevolent smile as usual, but the feeling was different.
“Lady Serena, it’s been a while.”
“…There have been matters troubling me lately.”
Faint shadows could be seen beneath her eyes.
Was she losing sleep, just as Agnes had said?
She looked visibly exhausted.
Seeing that, I hesitated.
Should I take her in as a guest, or not?
[Upon a return visit, the interrupted hypnosis will reactivate.]
Even after seeing that message, choosing to proceed as usual was not easy.
I had no idea what might happen during the consultation.
But….
‘Still, it’d be kind of wrong to refuse her.’
Up until now, even if nobles paid more silver, I hadn’t sent away the maids.
Even if the knight order paid only two coins, as long as they didn’t block the front of the shop, I took them in as guests just the same.
Guests were not something to be accepted selectively.
That was a basic principle I always upheld.
But if I turned Serena away because I found her uncomfortable, then I would be picking and choosing my guests.
“I’ll take you as my last guest for today.”
After hesitating, I accepted her as a guest.
When her turn came, Serena entered naturally.
She sank into the sofa as if half-burying herself in it.
Out of concern, I asked first.
“Have you been getting some rest lately?”
“…For a Listener, rest is akin to luxury.”
She said that with a reverent smile.
However, I could tell that her speech was slower than usual.
Her breathing was a little heavy, and her shoulders hung lower than they normally did.
How should I say this?
It seemed like she wasn’t in good enough condition to ask her anything.
And, most decisively, the situation wasn’t good.
After all, I had seen the message saying the hypnosis would reactivate.
As I hesitated, a translucent window appeared before me.
As if telling me to stop worrying any further.
[The interrupted hypnosis will reactivate.]
[Perk: Hypnosis has activated.]
“It is written in scripture. Rest is a sweet poison, and thus…….”
She could not finish her sentence.
Her eyes slowly closed.
Her head tilted ever so slightly.
There was no message this time saying the Holy Blessing had been detected, like before.
“…….”
Just like the others, she fell asleep.
For a while, I observed her.
The shadows beneath her eyes were clearly dark, and even while asleep, she occasionally took heavy breaths.
Rather than feeling like a nun….
‘She’s like a maid.’
Despite her status as a saintess.
She gave off a feeling similar to a maid steeped in exhaustion.
Then wouldn’t it be fine to do what I did when I loosened up the maids’ bodies?
Thinking that, I naturally reached out to loosen her shoulders—
‘—No, that wouldn’t be fine.’
I had at least the bare minimum ability to learn.
Chloe and Veronica.
Looking at them, I knew at least that I shouldn’t just act with my body first without thinking.
Not that I didn’t do it for other guests….
‘There wasn’t that big of a change with people I had less emotional exchange with, even if I did.’
Anyway, it was something like that.
I simply looked at Serena.
No massage, no patting.
I just stayed still, listening only to the sound of her breathing from across the table.
Then, in that moment.
Serena’s sleeping body began to lean forward.
‘Huh?’
Was it because she had fallen asleep so suddenly?
Her body pitched forward.
Serena’s head dropped toward the edge of the table.
I reflexively threw myself forward.
Just before she struck the table, I barely managed to grab both her shoulders.
However, her body, having lost its balance, did not stop there.
She half-spilled forward.
Before I knew it, I had ended up holding the saintess in my arms.
I could feel her warm body heat through the nun’s habit.
A soft sensation.
I barely calmed my pounding heart.
Eventually, I did manage to lift her body upright, but.
There was one thing that bothered me.
[The effect is amplified upon physical contact.]
I had been deliberately avoiding touching her because of that.
But I couldn’t exactly leave her to slam her head into the table either.
Thinking there was no helping it, I laid Serena back against the backrest.
I adjusted only her posture so she could lean comfortably, then removed my hands as quickly as possible.
It already felt too late, but there really had been nothing I could do about this.
***
I looked at Serena’s sleeping face.
Her usual reverent smile had vanished, and her lips were slightly parted.
It was like watching someone who hadn’t slept in days finally manage to close their eyes.
The dark circles had not disappeared, but her expression looked far more comfortable than it had at first.
‘In the end, I guess she did get better.’
Even so, I probably shouldn’t treat people who came here because they were suffering too mercenarily.
That was what I thought, but when I considered what would happen after she woke up, my head grew complicated.
The women who fell under hypnosis.
When they woke up, they mistook all the comfort they had felt while asleep as the effect of conversation.
At times like this, the final word could determine the direction of their memories….
‘I really shouldn’t say anything.’
It might be one thing with another guest, but she had been saying a lot of ominous things lately.
If the flow veered off in some strange direction for no reason, it could be troublesome.
So I decided not to say anything, but that was what bothered me.
‘What kind of memory will she create?’
I thought of the Serena I knew.
A person troubled by the difference between how others saw her and who she truly was.
A person burdened with the heavy duty of being a saintess.
A person who seemed to know something I did not, and warned me to take care of myself.
When someone like that woke up with the fatigue of several sleepless days relieved, what sort of conversation would she mistakenly think we had?
‘…Honestly, I have no idea.’
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
I really had no talent for this sort of thing.
So all I could do was pray earnestly.
‘Please let it be filled with something ordinary.’
Not something I couldn’t handle.
While I was thinking such strange thoughts, fifteen minutes passed.
Serena’s eyelids gradually began to tremble.
Her eyes slowly opened.
The reverent light returned to her dazed gaze.
However, there was no benevolent smile like usual.
Instead, what settled on her face was an expression filled with lingering emotion, as though she were savoring something.
It was the face of someone who had heard words they wanted to cherish for a long time.
To me, who was keeping my mouth shut, she said.
“…I heard something truly wonderful today.”
What on earth did she think she had heard?
When my thoughts reached the fact that I would likely never know, my stomach turned.
But I let nothing show on my face.
If I suddenly looked troubled, it would only bewilder her.
“I’m glad if it helped.”
Instead, I said that.
A safe answer that could cover any content.
Afterward, I observed her.
The hands on her lap were not clasped in prayer, but lightly clenched.
She hesitated, opening her mouth, then closing it again.
She looked like she wanted to say something more.
“Counselor… you truly are a strange person.”
Strange.
I couldn’t tell whether that was praise or not.
“Strange? In what sense?”
I said it to check, just in case things had taken a strange turn.
But instead of answering, she only smiled.
For a moment, she stared fixedly at me like that.
Then, as though marveling at how relaxed her shoulders had become, she touched them lightly and said.
“How mysterious. I wonder if one always feels this refreshed after a consultation.”
“For some people, it suits them well. For others, it doesn’t.”
When she had been blocked by the Holy Blessing, she had probably been on the “doesn’t suit them” side.
While I was thinking that to myself, Serena rose from her seat.
She headed straight toward the door.
Then she looked back at me.
The silver cross swayed.
“……Your embrace is very warm, Teacher.”
“…….”
I had caught her earlier when she toppled forward on the sofa.
It was true that I had held her in my arms, if only briefly.
‘But wasn’t she asleep then?’
Why did she remember that?
No, more importantly.
‘In what form is she remembering it…?’
Because of my trembling heart, no answer came out.
As if embarrassed, Serena covered her face with her hand.
“……Oh dear, forgive me.”
I could see that the ears she failed to cover had turned pink.
“I am not used to that form of address.”
Her gaze, which had been directed at me, dropped to the floor.
Then went back and forth toward me again.
After a moment, Serena lowered her hand, showing her flushed face as she said.
“Isaac-nim’s embrace is truly warm.”
As if we had promised she would call me that from now on.
She said it softly, then left the counseling office just like that.
Leaving the usual two coins on the table.