Chapter 49 Alena

Alena had a terrible night's sleep.

Tossing and turning during the first half of the night, she even cast several calming and concentration spells on herself during the second half, yet sleep still evaded her. Just as she abandoned the pursuit of sleep and decided to simply lie there until dawn, drowsiness finally crept up on her. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, preparing to seize this hard-won sliver of sleep, only for the monastery's bell to ring right beside her ear.

"..."

It was time for the nuns to wake up.

Alena opened her eyes. The faint light of dawn filtered through the window, and looking around the still-dim room, she had no choice but to get up.

She was no longer the head nun. Although she still occupied her former single room, she no longer enjoyed any special privileges, having to crowd with the ordinary nuns even for morning washings.

"Alena... Mother Superior..."

Seeing her, Sophie started to call out instinctively, but the final title grew softer and softer as she caught herself.

"Good morning," Alena replied calmly, her demeanor unchanged.

Sophie squeezed over, stared at her face for a moment, and whispered, "Didn't you sleep well?"

Alena forced a faint smile. "Is it that obvious?"

"Very." Sophie nodded heavily, worry written across her face. "Is it because of the Saintess...?"

"Shh." Alena raised a hand to press against her lips. "Don't speak of it."

Sophie could only nod.

"Go wash up first."

Even after washing up, Alena's complexion failed to improve. She knew the reason well: not only last night, but the night before as well, she had barely closed her eyes, relying entirely on refreshing spells to carry her through the daylight hours.

Fortunately, although today was a special occasion, it had nothing to do with her, and her presence was not required.

"I can't believe Mr. Eric actually became the Saintess's successor." Sophie had slept soundly and was now full of energy, excited by the news, though her expression dimmed a moment later. "But in that case..."

Alena lacked the energy to comfort her, nor did she know how. After a brief pause, she offered a reminder anyway: "Remember not to mention what happened during those past half-months in front of outsiders. The task the Her Ladyship gave us is already over. Talking about it too much will just make others think you're showing off."

"Ah? Oh..."

Sophie muttered a response, then, suddenly thinking of something, looked left and right before leaning in closer. "If you asked Mr. Eric to put in a good word with the Saintess, he would definitely agree. Then you could get your position back as Mother Su—mm-mm-mm..."

Alena pressed a hand over Sophie's small mouth, a look of pure helplessness on her face. "Don't mention this ever again."

"Mmm..."

"Sophie—"

A tall nun hurried over from the other side, looking somewhat awkward when she saw Alena standing with Sophie.

"Alena... don't take it to heart. The Saintess was probably just displeased for a moment; in a few days, she'll let you return to your original position."

Alena nodded without a word.

The newcomer was the head nun of the Ninth Cloister. Following Alena's dismissal from her post as head nun, she had temporarily taken over the management of the nuns in the Seventh Cloister, which included Sophie.

"Sophie, come with me. They're short a person for the ceremony, and I need your help," the tall nun said.

"Ah? Understood..." Sophie looked at Alena, deeply unaccustomed to taking orders from anyone else.

"Pay attention later and don't let your mind wander. Today is a very important day for Mr. Eric," Alena reminded her.

Sophie nodded heavily, giving her word before following the tall nun away.

Alena, who was always rushed and busy whenever such major events occurred, found herself with nothing to do today.

She was just an ordinary nun now. Without special arrangements from a superior head nun, her only duties were daily practice and scheduled prayers, or passing the time by making holy water, just like most of the nuns in the monastery.

"What should I do..."

It had been many years since Alena had faced such a moment of utter bewilderment.

The last time was probably when she was around ten years old.

Back then, her parents had just frozen to death in the biting northern blizzard, leaving only her in the household, with very few survivors left in the entire village—what proved fatal was not merely the freezing wind and snow, but the persistent, gnawing starvation.

Should she perish alongside her parents, or leave this place to seek a way to survive, only to freeze or starve to death out on the snowy plains?

Standing beside her parents' corpses, she stared blankly at a choice that was no choice at all, when the iron-shod hooves of the Varanian cavalry suddenly trampled into that small border village.

She no longer remembered whether she had heard the weeping and crying of the villagers back then, but she would never forget the sound the charging cavalryman made as he thrust his blade into her parents' remains.

"Already dead stiff? Then you're coming with me!"

Before the soldier could drag her out of the village, however, a succession of flying arrows pierced his body, and she lost consciousness from sheer terror.

When she finally awoke in an unfamiliar camp, standing before her was a nun with a resolute yet tender face.

"You're awake? I am Dania, an army chaplain with the Imperial forces. Don't worry, those Varanians have been driven away, and you're safe now."

It was right then that she mustered the courage to say she wanted to follow that nun. For the next seven or eight years, she stayed by her side, studying divine arts, treating the wounded, and even participating in sudden skirmishes, where she used a dagger with her own hands to end the life of a Varanian soldier... until a letter of recommendation from Teacher Dania sent her to study at the Saintess Monastery, where she had remained for ten years.

During these ten years, she learned that Teacher Dania also originally hailed from the Saintess Monastery, having been dispatched to the army on the empire-Varanian border by the Saintess's Court, the body that assisted the Saintess in managing monastery affairs;

She also learned that Teacher Dania, nearing fifty, had stayed with the army for nearly five or six times longer than other chaplains, yet still had not received permission to return to the monastery;

Ultimately, she found out that a senior female official of the Saintess's Court had blocked it all.

"As long as I remain in this position, Dania will never return to the Saintess Monastery. Never."

Because of her exceptional ability, that female official enjoyed the Saintess's deep favor, and decisions made in the name of the Saintess's Court could not be altered by anyone.

Unless she, too, could climb to that position.

Thus, she began to throw herself into her work, striving aggressively to attract the Saintess's attention. Several brilliant and flawless missions propelled her, at the tender age of twenty-fve, to become the youngest head nun in the monastery, with every prospect of entering the Saintess's Court within a few years.

Yet, she had stagnated in that position for four or five years, her meticulous caution proving entirely futile, until she was suddenly cast back to her starting point the night before last.

Everything was over...

Coming to her senses, Alena realized she had been standing in the deserted courtyard for a long time.

Faint sacred hymns chanted by the nuns drifted from the direction of the Saint-Sagittary Cathedral, signaling that the ceremony was about to begin—once the ceremony officially commenced, only a select few were permitted to speak.

Without an assignment, an ordinary nun like her didn't even qualify to attend as a spectator.

The exhaustion of going two days without sleep made Alena's head swim, causing her body to sway slightly.

She bit down hard on her lower lip, the pain piercing through the haze to restore a sliver of clarity and suddenly arresting her sinking heart.

Was it truly going to end like this?

Teacher Dania—was she really destined to grow old and die in such a bitterly cold border army... No, given the perils of that place, she likely wouldn't even have the chance to grow old.

"..."

A sudden smell of blood hit her nose, and Alena realized she had accidentally bitten through her lip.

Welling up alongside the blood was her own burning resentment.

Yet, what more could she do? Wait another decade?

But the Saintess no longer favored her.

[“...Instead of pinning your hopes on me for certain things, you’d do better to pin them on him. I gave you such a fine opportunity, yet you kept blinding yourself to it...”]

In a daze, Alena suddenly understood.

No wonder, out of all the nuns in the monastery, she was the one dispatched to welcome the Saintess's successor.

As her standing plummeted and her vision was no longer clouded by her single-minded obsession, Alena finally understood everything.

"Your Ladyship..."

On the path leading from the Saintess's chambers to the cathedral, she intercepted the Saintess's procession as it prepared to head toward the ceremony.

"Your Ladyship, do you no longer require Alena's loyalty?"

Looking at the nun kneeling upon the ground, the elderly woman fell silent for a brief moment before a faint smile touched her lips.

"Gaby,"

The Saintess glanced at the female official beside her, "My time is running short."