Volume 4, Chapter 26 – Interlude

The torrential rain had not stopped.

After Camilla returned to the stone house, Yisi set off immediately. First, she brought back her companions from Margaret, then took them along with Refina to the outskirts where the assassins were stationed. There were spare carriages and over a hundred assassins, plus the three “pets” who could serve Edith. It was currently the safest place to be.

Although the lord of Termi City was Edith’s uncle and on her side, it was hard to guarantee that he wouldn’t turn against her under Samael’s threat. Therefore, Yisi had taken the safer option.

Along the way, there were soldiers everywhere searching for Edith and Refina. Although Yisi had used teleportation magic to get Refina out of the Count’s mansion, teleportation magic was not unheard of in this world, and its range was usually no more than a few hundred meters. That’s why Count Pescia was certain that Yisi hadn’t gone too far.

Of course, these soldiers weren’t even worth Yisi’s vigilance. She easily evaded the search parties and arrived at the designated location in the outskirts.

The assassins were hidden in the muddy, dense forest.

Upon detecting someone approaching, the assassin on watch immediately came forward. But Refina simply took out the whistle hanging from her chest and shook it, and the assassins all retreated.

Yisi, holding an umbrella for Refina, couldn’t help but feel strange.

“Can’t they see you? They seem to care more about this whistle than you, Refina.”

Refina, who needed Yisi’s support even to walk, paused and looked at the wooden whistle on her chest.

“They are assassins who have been trained by the Count since childhood. They have lost their human emotions and only recognize the fixed commands they were trained with. They won’t treat any specific person as their master.”

“If you were to give me the whistle now, would they immediately listen to me?”

“Yes… but I cannot give it to you. They are Master’s property.”

“I wasn’t asking you to give it to me…”

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Yisi couldn’t help but turn her head and look at Camilla, who was following behind her. As if sensing Yisi’s thoughts, Camilla, holding an umbrella, spoke up.

“My training was different from those assassins. In order to assist Edith in governing in the future, I retained my basic way of thinking.”

“Huh, but you were almost like a doll at the beginning.”

“Onee-sama has only ever seen the real me, so that’s why you think so.”

Camilla pouted, displeased with the “doll” comment.

Yisi couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“Then where has the other Camilla gone now?”

“There is only one Camilla now, the one who loves Onee-sama.”

“Uh…”

The sudden confession made Yisi freeze for a moment. She unnaturally twisted her neck back to look forward.

“Irresponsible.”

“Tiffany, you can’t just say things like that.”

Concerned about Yisi’s feelings, Mary admonished Tiffany in a very soft voice. However, because the group was so close together, Yisi had already heard it.

This kind of concern is even more hurtful…

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Yisi could only pretend not to have heard and continue to hold the umbrella for Refina as they walked through the dense forest. The misty forest was full of vines and branches blocking the path, and the ground was extremely slippery. Occasionally, small poisonous creatures would even appear. Coupled with Refina’s limited mobility, the group’s progress was incredibly slow.

“Let me carry you.”

Enduring the stinging gazes from her companions behind her, Yisi looked up at Refina’s slightly weary golden eyes—the count’s eldest daughter was a little shorter than Refina.

“N-no… that’s not necessary. I am already overwhelmed that you are willing to do something as lowly as holding an umbrella for me, Miss Yisi. How could I ask you to do something even more outrageous? Besides, you are using Master’s body right now. If Master were to suddenly wake up…”

She would surely punish Refina.

Since that was the reason, she couldn’t really say anything more about carrying her.

However, Yisi wouldn’t give up just like that. Or rather, she never thought Refina would agree in the first place. The reason she said it was just to get Refina to agree to the following compromise.

“Then let me carry you.”

Camilla picked up the conversation.

Yisi froze again for a moment.

No, that’s not it. The compromise I wanted to suggest was to have Refina drink the healing potion.

Camilla must be volunteering because she doesn’t want Refina to get close to me.

Even though she had been fine with leaving her and Refina alone before, she had suddenly changed her mind now. Yisi didn’t think that less than half a day could change anything.

A woman’s vigilance is a scary thing.

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A hesitant look appeared on Refina’s face. Yisi would naturally not let Camilla carry Refina. There was no direct relationship between them; Camilla was only involved because of her connection to Edith.

Yisi stopped in her tracks. With the hand that was supporting Refina, she held up the umbrella, and with her free hand, she offered a magic potion.

“Refina, drink this magic potion. Edith will wake up soon. If we wait for your wounds to heal on their own, who knows how long it will take.”

“O-okay.”

Unlike the first time, Refina did not refuse. She carefully took the medicine and drank the pale yellow liquid inside. In just a few breaths, a bit of vitality returned to her. The look of fatigue on her face disappeared. She let go of Yisi’s support and tried to move her body.

“To recover so quickly… Miss Yisi, is this really a magic potion?”

“Don’t worry about that for now. The important thing is to get back to the carriage. I don’t want to stay in the rain any longer.”

Yisi shrugged. The umbrellas in this world were not of very good quality. Not only were they small, but raindrops would also slide down from the connection between the center and the frame. On the way, to hold the umbrella for Refina, half of her silver twintails had gotten wet.

Finally noticing this, Refina lowered her head, her face full of guilt.

“I’m sorry…”

“Instead of saying sorry, ‘thank you’ would be more appropriate, Miss Refina~”

Mary said the words that Yisi had once said to her.

Yisi shrugged.

“Well, that’s how it is.”

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“Thank you, Miss Yisi.”

“ahaha…”

Brushing it off with an awkward laugh, Yisi’s group soon arrived at the place where the assassins were stationed. It wasn’t so much a station as it was them resting on the trees. The wyvern knights of the Pescia territory could search for targets from high up, so cutting down a large area of forest to set up tents was not a wise move.

And when Yisi arrived at the encampment, the downpour finally stopped, leaving only dark clouds circling high in the sky.

Getting into one of the three carriages, Yisi breathed a sigh of relief. The summer downpour had gotten everyone more or less wet. To prevent her companions from catching a cold, Yisi had them go to a carriage to change clothes, while she went to an empty one herself.

“It’s a good thing there are three carriages. Otherwise, I’d be treated as a criminal.”

Not just Camilla, but Mary and Tiffany were also changing clothes in the carriage. If she didn’t leave, she would definitely become a criminal watching girls change their clothes.

“Well, I should change my clothes too.”

As she spoke, Yisi stood up in the carriage and untied the ribbons of her gown. Thanks to Edith, the clothes had once again become the type that required someone else’s help to wear.

Fortunately, with the help of magic, although Yisi couldn’t put on the clothes by herself, she could take them off. After spending more than half a year in another world, while she couldn’t say she was used to the way women dressed, she wasn’t so clumsy as to not know how to undress.

“It’s a good thing Edith doesn’t have much of a chest, or I’d have to learn how to use a chest wrap.”

That would be too much trouble. To be honest, just washing this hair that reached her hips was enough to drive her crazy. At first, she had to ask Camilla or Mary for help every time. It only became much easier after she met Tiffany.

However, just as Yisi had taken off her last piece of underwear, the curtain of the carriage was lifted from the outside.

Refina entered as if no one else was there.