Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Saintess Rainy (2)
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Once I decided to force some food into her one way or another, I followed the head maid to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, the estate's two cooks were busily preparing lunch.
I felt bad for asking so abruptly, but I requested that they make some rice porridge before getting to the lunch preparations.
For a saintess who hadn't kept anything down for over three days, there was a high chance she couldn't even swallow plain porridge properly.
The food particles needed to be as small as possible.
Fortunately, they had already soaked grains to make porridge for the saintess, so the most time-consuming step in preparing the rice porridge was taken care of.
*Thud thud thud.*
The cooks brought over the soaked barley and wheat and took turns vigorously pounding the grains.
If this were modern times with a blender, they could have simply ground up the grains and been done with it, but in this era, making rice porridge required manually grinding or crushing the grains by hand.
Since the grains had to be ground almost into powder, it was no easy task.
As I nervously chewed my nails while watching, the head butler came rushing over with a deathly pale face.
“The saintess's condition seems worse than we thought…”
“How bad is it?”
“Even when we keep calling out to her, all we can hear from inside the room are groans.”
“Ha…”
The realization that she couldn't even hold a conversation anymore sent a chill down my spine, and sweat beaded on my forehead.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the cooks' hands moved even faster.
They couldn't grind it into a perfect powder, but they hurriedly moved on to the next step, straining the crushed grains through a fine sieve.
Fortunately, this process didn't take long.
The final step was to slowly simmer the rice porridge.
It was a task that required constant slow stirring to keep it from clumping.
“Even if it clumps a bit, get it to me as fast as possible.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
Even if lumps formed in the porridge, they could be discarded, and only the smooth parts fed to her first.
Understanding my impatience, the cooks finished cooking it quickly, even with some texture remaining, and handed over the porridge.
I took it and rushed to the saintess's room without delay.
The lord's castle, which usually felt compact, seemed vast today.
I ignored the creaky stairs that I always navigated carefully and ran up them.
Every minute, every second might count.
Finally arriving at the saintess's door, I found the servants already gathered in a group outside, whispering among themselves.
“Has the Family Head arrived?”
Led by the head maid at the front, around ten retainers bowed their heads in unison.
I gave their greetings a cursory acknowledgment and stood before the slightly worn door.
*Knock knock.*
“Saintess? It's Raden. Are you in there?”
“Ugh…”
Straining my ears, I could only hear the saintess's groans from inside.
Given her current state, it seemed she wanted to open the door but lacked the strength.
“Wait, can you hold this for a second?”
“Y-Yes…”
I handed the bowl of porridge to a young-looking maid, closed my eyes, and drew up my mana to wrap it around my fist.
It was still a weak level, but the difference in power between mana-wrapped and unwrapped was significant.
“Hoo…”
Taking a deep breath to steel myself, I slammed my fist into the door with all my might.
*Boom!*
The saintess's door shattered with a single punch.
I snatched back the porridge from the maid and charged into the room.
‘My god…’
The scene inside was a disaster.
The saintess had apparently tried to crawl out of bed to open the door and was now writhing on the floor midway between the bed and the door.
The room's furnishings were scattered everywhere in chaos, and the floor was soaked with some unidentified liquid.
I knelt beside her, not caring that my pant legs got wet in the mystery fluid.
“Saintess? Saintess?”
“Ugh…”
She lay there with unfocused eyes, unable to respond to my calls.
I hurriedly sat her up on my lap, supported the back of her neck to make swallowing easier, and brought a spoonful of porridge to her lips.
Her tongue twitched unconsciously as if trying to eat, but...
Her strength was so depleted that even the porridge dribbled out from the corners of her mouth without being fully swallowed.
Since it wasn't perfectly pureed like modern baby food, it must have been hard for her to swallow.
Pondering what to do, I suddenly recalled a scene from movies or dramas I'd seen.
I had no idea if it actually worked in real life or if it was just dramatic flair to captivate audiences.
For now, in this emergency, it was worth a try.
I took a tiny spoonful of porridge myself and swallowed it.
It was unsalted and bland, but nutty.
Chewing it to liquefy it further, I carefully brought my lips to the saintess's.
Even though she was a former saintess, kissing someone who had once held that title...
Under normal circumstances, it would be unthinkable, but with her life on the line, I felt no real resistance.
Our lips—hers dry and chapped—met, and I slowly passed the porridge little by little, ensuring it went down her throat without choking her.
“Ugh…”
Her face twisted in pain as the food hit her parched throat, but I succeeded in getting her to swallow.
Without pause, I repeated the process.
It was only a minuscule amount, even if fed mouth-to-mouth.
There was no time to rest.
“Ugh…”
The more porridge I fed her, the more her energy seemed to return—color came back to her face, and she started accepting it more easily.
Confirming she could swallow on her own now, I shouted outside.
“Bring some honey water!”
“Yes!”
The servants, who had been staring blankly, finally sprang into action.
A quick-thinking maid brought a warm damp cloth, which I used to gently wipe down the saintess's body.
About an hour passed like this, feeding her porridge and honey water.
“F-Fuuuuck…”
Still pillowed on my lap, the saintess muttered a quiet curse.
It had been uncomfortable holding the same position for an hour, but I kept a gentle smile and didn't show it.
“Are you awake?”
“Th-That…”
Whoa, drool was dribbling from the saintess's mouth.
I gently wiped it away with the damp cloth.
As I cleaned her mouth, the saintess gazed at me with a strange look and muttered in a hoarse, raspy voice that hadn't fully recovered.
“Why... did you... save me...?”
The saintess's once clear, beautiful voice was shredded, emitting an unpleasant rasp.
Sympathizing with her humanely but not letting it show, I flashed a playful smile.
“I don't know if you're aware, Saintess, but if you die, our baronial family is in deep trouble too.”
“B-Bullshit... Who the hell... would care if... a bitch like me...”
Seeing her struggle to speak pained me, so I covered her mouth with my hand.
Why was someone with a sore throat trying to talk so much?
“You did your best back then, didn't you, Saintess? There might still be people who received your help and are grateful to you.”
“…”
The saintess seemed about to say something but fell silent, giving up against my hand over her mouth.
“And besides, you were saying stuff like ‘leave me to die,’ but your survival instinct seemed pretty strong.”
“…”
Her cheeks flushed as she recalled crawling to seek help.
‘Looks like we've passed the worst.’
I let out a quiet sigh of relief inwardly and carefully pulled the saintess into my arms.
The classic princess carry.
“Wh-What...?”
“You can't stay pillowed on my lap forever. Let's get you to bed.”
“Virgin bastard... acting like a pervert...”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Taking a woman... to bed...”
“Ah, come on, that's not what I meant.”
I really couldn't fathom how this woman had been a saintess.
The holiest of figures, and her mind was in the gutter like this.
With absolutely no ulterior motives, I carefully laid her on the bed.
The grown woman, blushing with embarrassment from the princess carry, thankfully didn't resist much.
I tucked her in warmly under the covers, sat on the edge of the bed, and lightly touched her forehead.
The saintess's brow, cold as a corpse before, now emitted a faint warmth.
“Sleep well and recover. I'll wake you when it's time to eat.”
“Mm... Okay...”
Confirming her eyes had closed, I quietly left the room.
What a high-maintenance woman.
***
Once Raden left the room, Rainy cautiously opened her eyes.
Her mind had been half-delirious, but that last scene remained crystal clear.
Raden's face, filled with genuine worry as he desperately pressed his lips to hers.
For her, who had never experienced sincere concern from anyone, it felt unfamiliar and novel.
‘Not bad.’
Unbeknownst to herself, a faint smile spread across Rainy's face.