“You’re probably right. The patients here have experienced far worse than the patients in an average hospital.”

Estelle’s gaze rested on the patients in the hospital room. All the patients lying down were in terrible shapes.

A man without both his arms. A woman burnt all over her body. A skinny child with a bandage on one of his eyes.

The poorer a person was, the more difficult it was to live with their lives always at risk. That’s why their wounds were all serious.

Estelle’s blue eyes bore deep sorrow for them.

“I wish I had enough power to heal everyone here.”

Estelle had the ability to heal people with the power of God, but there were limitations to that power.

Once she uses it, it won’t be until a week later until she can activate her powers again.

Because of that, Estelle doesn’t use her powers unless it was a life threatening emergency.

Instead, she helps the people with the medicine she learned after years of studying.

She seemed regretful and lacking because of it, but to me, she was amazing.

‘How can she be like that?’

Maybe it’s because she’s the saint. Or perhaps because she’s the heroine.

How can she be so devoted to the people?

If she were to give me the power of the saint and tell me to be the heroine and live like her, it would have been impossible.

It’s too harsh to devote all my youth and strength to the people whose names I don’t even know.

At that moment, our gazes met.

“Is there something you have to say to me?”

It was at the moment when Estelle opened her round eyes and tilted her head.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

A tremendous scream reverberated through the building.

Surprised, Estelle and I ran in the direction where the sound came from.

I furrowed my brows the moment I saw the man on the stretcher.

His appearance was terrible.

One leg was completely crushed, and the other one was bent badly.

Estelle shouted as she approached the man.

“His condition is grave. Move him to the bed now!”

At the moment, the man screaming turned to Estelle. As soon as he saw her, his eyes changed.

“Saint, you’re the saint, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Estelle replied in a soft voice, as if to reassure the man.

“Oh, Saint.”

The man’s eyes gleamed as if he had met the savior. He then grabbed Estelle’s hands.

“S-Saint. Please heal me with the power of God. Please. If I am left like this, I will lose both of my legs.”

Estelle’s eyes wavered at the desperate plea. Nevertheless, she spoke calmly, getting her feelings in order.

“I’m sorry. I’m unable to use the power of God right now. I will do my best to give you treatment with the priests.”

But the man didn’t give up on the only way he could fully be healed.

The man added strength to his grip on Estelle’s hand and shouted, “You know that ordinary treatment is already useless. My leg has already been crushed!”

It was a distressing cry for the one on the listening side.

But Estelle’s answer has already been decided. She replied with a grim face, “I’m sorry.”

Estelle and the priests consoled him and tried to give him treatment, but the man did not cooperate at all.

He yelled, pushing away the disinfectant Estelle brought.

“Your power was given by God to heal people like me! Fix it right now! If I become crippled like this, my family will starve to death!”

It was sad to see the man pleading as tears streamed down his face. I could feel how desperate he was.

‘But isn’t this wrong?’

Why does Estelle have to listen to all those words with a look as if she was the one who sinned?

Why were the other priests just listening?

It was as if all the responsibilities fell heavily on to the Saint.

My stomach boiled in anger.

I couldn’t hold myself back and eventually spoke words I shouldn’t have.

“Did you leave money to the saint?”

“What?”

The man frowned and turned his head at my irritated voice. Estelle and the priests who were gathered also shifted their gazes toward me.

I spoke to the man in rapid succession.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something here, the saint healing your shattered legs isn’t her duty, but out of voluntary service. It’s not because it’s something she has to do, I’m saying it’s not even something she has to do for you.”

I continued my rambles with the most spiteful expression on my face.

“If you don’t think you can accept such good intentions quietly, why don’t you just shut up.”

The man’s face turned pale at my dreary remark. He looked at Estelle and the priests in confusion.

“W-What is this woman talking about? I’m a patient.”

I spoke before Estelle and the priests could respond.

“What are you all doing? He said he didn’t want to get treated. Then you should let him go.”

“H-Hey!”

“Quickly, let him go.”

Of course, Estelle and the priests can’t sympathize with my bitchy attitude.

Far from sympathizing, they will criticize how I could say such heartless words to a patient.

But the man couldn’t have thought so.

He shouted urgently as he saw my overbearing demeanor, and mistook me as someone with a high position to kick him out.

“I-I’ll accept the treatment! I will!”

Looking at him, I spoke with a cold face,

“You should. You’re the one who’s going to regret it if you won’t.”

────── 〔✿〕──────

It was around sunset when Estelle left the hospital room.

Sitting in the hallway, I looked up at her. She looked very tired.

There was a heavy atmosphere surrounding her, like a surgeon who had just completed a long surgery operation.

I felt sorry for her.

I stood up from the chair and asked.

“Did the treatment go well?”

“Yes, it’s just a broken bone, and it’ll go back to normal once it recovers. However, the rest of the leg was in a severe condition so it had to be amputated.”

I lowered my eyes at Estelle who spoke with a gloomy face.

“You did your best, Miss Estelle. So don’t make that face.”

“…..”

“Really, you did well.”

At that moment, she fell down like a solid rock.

Estelle’s big eyes trembled.She bit her lips, holding back her tears.

For the first time, she looked twenty-two years old. (Meaning she’s starting to look her age.)

After a while, Estelle spoke in a quivering voice,

“Thank you very much, Miss Pernia.”

“What?”

“For everything you said just now and a little while ago. It gave me a lot of strength.”

‘I thought for sure she’d be disappointed at how I could say that to a sick person.’

Fortunately, her expression says that didn’t seem to be the case.

With confidence in my voice, I said what I wanted to say to her.

“As I said before, you’re too patient, Miss Estelle. It’s very kind of you to be considerate of people, but if it gets too much, it’ll cause pain in your heart. Especially since you’re the saint, people will ask too much of you. If you think they’re talking shit, kick their asses out right away. Whoever they are, whether it’s a sick person, a nobleman, or a priest.”

Estelle stared at me blankly.

She soon nodded vigorously with a smile as sweet as a peach.

“Yes.”

I laughed, delighted at her lovely answer.

Estelle put her hands together and squirmed as if she was hesitant about something and murmured to herself.

“This is only my second time meeting Miss Pernia. I don’t know much about Miss Pernia, and Miss Pernia also doesn’t know much about me but…..”

I was beginning to wonder the point this young lady was trying to introduce. I waited patiently for her to continue.

Estelle said with a slightly flushed face.

“I want to be friends with Miss Pernia.”

I think a similar development came out before. Such development that threatens to change the genre.

‘No. It doesn’t matter if the genre changes at this moment.’

I won’t let this opportunity slip and curl my eyes happily.

“Me too.”

“….!”

Estelle’s peach-like face turned red like an apple.

Not giving her the chance to speak, I continued.

“Then, shall we be friends from today?”

Aka Operation Lovey-Dovey^[1] Friends!

It was a strategy I came up with after constantly worrying about Estelle. Estelle, who was born a saint, found it difficult to establish normal human relationships.

There were many people around her, but they only treated Estelle as a saint.

‘Though that’s how Estelle was used by that trashy male lead.’

It would come as a fresh shock to Estelle when without permission, he would grab her wrist and scold her every time they meet, glare with terrifying eyes at all the men she talked with, and later would complain that he’s the only one who she should like.

Because no one tried to face Estelle head on with their honest feelings.

I was thinking of inserting myself into that gap.

“Friends?”

It was as I expected.

Estelle carefully repeated the word in her mouth as if she had never heard of it before.

“Yes.”

I asked, lowering my eyebrows.

“Do you hate being friends with me?”

“No, not at all!”

Estelle shook her head. Then she grabbed my hands with both hands and shouted.

“I am really happy to be your friend!”

She repeated that she was my friend as if she had heard the most wonderful thing in the world.

She was truly a loveable heroine.

────── 〔✿〕──────

“Teachew Nia, pleathe shing for me. Pleathe?” (Baby talk.)

“Please shing~”

Excuse me, elders.

You swore at me yesterday saying I was a witch but in just a day the settings have changed. Aren’t you living too comfortably?

However, the grandmother, who could not know the thoughts of my heart, looked at me innocently like a child.

‘Yeah, I hate dementia, but it’s not good to hate people.’ 

In the end, I put my hands on my waist and sang a song full of hopes and dreams in the hospital room.

“There were three main characters in one house. The male lead, the female lead, and the second male lead. The male lead was a bastard. The female lead was very pretty. The second male lead was very scary. Oh yes, you did a great job.”^[2]

The grandmother and grandfather who were gathered in the hospital room cheered and clapped.

Estelle was also there and joined in.

Looking at her clapping like a seal at the terrible song, I thought, ‘Maybe we could talk about the banquet today?’

Notes:

[1] The hangul 알콩달콩 literally means lovey-dovey. I guess Pernia wants to be chummy with Estelle but of course in a platonic way. Lol.
[2]  She made a parody of the Korean song ‘Three Bears’.
(LMAOOO, points for creativity. XD)