After-Story Chapter 33: Souma Goes to Yumuen (Part 4)

Arriving at the main cathedral in Yumuen, we immediately had a meeting with Souji and Saintess  Mary. In the Archbishop’s office, I shook hands with Souji, who was properly dressed in his vestments today. The only thing that suggested the vestiges of his “Fallen Bishop” days was his unkempt beard.

“My apologies, Your Majesty, for making you come all this way.”

“Don’t worry about it. I was meaning to visit eventually.”

As I was talking with Souji, Mary stepped forward.

“I, too, wish to express my gratitude… for taking Anne’s situation into consideration.”

“Ah, yeah. I can’t guarantee we can save her, but I intend to do everything I can. Fuuga ultimately entrusted his remaining affairs to me, after all. If Anne’s heart was broken in the process of his great undertaking… it would weigh on my conscience to just leave her be.”

“Even so. Thank you, Your Highness Souma.”

Mary bowed her head, her eyes welling up with tears. She must have been in a great deal of pain over Anne’s plight. …I should probably tackle this before the Lunar Inscription [Lunaris]. I looked over at Brad.

“So that’s the situation, Brad. Can you give Anne an examination?”

“Fine. Where is the patient now?”

“She’s waiting in her room,” Mary replied when Brad asked.

Brad nodded and stood up. “I’ll examine her right away. Please lead the way. …Shall we go, Ludia?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Huh? You’re taking Ludia-chan too?” My eyes went wide as Brad suddenly took Ludia’s hand.

He nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Hilde told you already, didn’t she? I need Ludia to perform an examination as a psychiatrist.”

◇　◇　◇

“…“

Inside the private room provided to Anne, Anne sat on a chair facing Brad, who sat on a chair he had brought in. It was a sterile room with only the bare minimum of impersonal furniture. Although there was a large window letting in light, there were iron bars outside the window. We observed the scene from outside the room, standing by the door.

“It’s clean, but… the iron bars on the window make it look like a prison,” Liscia murmured.

“Yes… you’re right,” Mary said, lowering her gaze. “We made it a room where a lot of sunlight enters so she wouldn’t be afraid. However, with a large window… well… we were worried that if a sudden moment of weakness came upon her, she might jump. So we installed the bars.”

“I’m sorry. That was thoughtless of me to say.” Liscia apologized to Mary.

Iron bars to prevent suicide by jumping, then. I’d heard Anne was still plagued by nightmares. Mary apparently slept with her at night, but the bars were likely there to prevent her from jumping during a lapse in supervision during the day. I really wish we could help her.

As I was watching Anne and Brad, I noticed something.

“…Now then, is your name Anne?”

“!” (Flinch)

Anne flinched and trembled when Brad spoke to her. Anne seemed terrified of Brad, who was a complete stranger, an adult male, and whose default expression was a scowl. Just one word gets that reaction, huh? …It’s late to realize this, but when I really think about it, Brad doesn’t seem suited to be a psychiatrist.

I always pictured a psychiatrist—like a counselor or therapist—as someone who performs examinations with a gentle expression, a soft voice, and calming words so the patient doesn’t feel pressured. Even if he’s a famous doctor, I wouldn’t think a scowling, intimidating person like Brad would be suited for it. While wondering what he would do, Brad sighed.

“I figured this would happen… Ludia, I need you.”

“Yes, Daddy!”

Ludia, who was beside us, trotted into the room, walked past the bewildered Anne, and approached Brad. Brad then lightly lifted her up and placed her on his lap. Huh? What is this? Soul-Blazing Fusion? Pilder On? The only thing I understood was how adorable Ludia looked sitting neatly on Brad’s lap.

“Hello there, Big Sister.”

“H-hi. Hello.”

“My name is Ludia. Mommy calls me Ludy.”

“Ludy… chan?”

“Yes! What about you, Big Sister?”

“I’m… I’m Anne.”

“So you’re Big Sister Anne. It’s nice to meet you.”

“N-nice to meet you, too.”

Th-that’s amazing. The conversation is flowing smoothly. But why? Just a moment ago, Anne was startled and afraid of Brad, and wasn’t Ludia-chan supposed to be shy and nervous around strangers? Yet now she was showing such a friendly smile. Just as that question slipped out of my mouth—

“…I think it’s probably because she’s sitting on Dr. Brad’s lap, Brother-in-law,” Tomoe-chan, standing next to me, offered her opinion. “Ludia-chan is feeling emboldened because she’s sitting on her Daddy’s lap. She must feel safe and protected. As for Anne-san, her gaze is fixed on the adorable Ludia-chan, so she seems to have stopped paying attention to Dr. Brad. Even if she does see him, the current Dr. Brad only looks like a doting father.”

“I see, I see.”

This must be the reason Hilde insisted he bring Ludia. She must have known Brad wouldn’t succeed on his own.

(Oh, right. “This state” is Brad’s style as a psychiatrist.) Brad, who lacks communication skills, had pushed the guidance of junior doctors onto Hilde. While Hilde was away, Brad had to look after Ludia. He must have brought Ludia-chan along even to his research on training psychiatrists. Ludia-chan’s presence must have calmed the patients’ minds.

(Brad as a psychiatrist is a set package with Ludia-chan… they’re two people who make one whole professional.)

It felt like watching a plot thread from a story finally get resolved.

◇　◇　◇

With Ludia-chan’s intervention, the examination concluded without a hitch, and we returned to Souji’s office. There, we heard the results of the diagnosis from Brad.

“The biggest factor preventing her recovery is an extremely low sense of self-worth,” Brad said, looking at the notes he took during the examination. “She herself has become convinced that she is an unforgivable existence. The very person who should be seeking salvation is rejecting the idea of being saved.”

“No… why?” Mary cried out sadly. Souji supported her as she looked ready to collapse.

Brad showed a concerned expression for Mary as he continued. “I read her history… and I think it’s understandable why she ended up this way. She was an orphan with nothing, and she found a place in the world by becoming a Saintess. However, becoming a Saintess must have burdened her with responsibility and karma, making her feel immense pressure. She seems to have tried to ignore that pressure.”

“…”

“Ultimately, she lost even her position as a Saintess and realized the path she had walked was stained with blood. I’ll be blunt. She has too little experience of being rewarded for her hardships and too little time feeling happy compared to her suffering.”

“Not enough reward and happiness?” Is that true? As Fuuga’s Saintess, didn’t she receive all the glory during Fuuga Khan’s reign? When I asked this, Brad shook his head.

“It’s meaningless if she didn’t feel happy herself, even if others saw it that way. Her position as the Saintess was likely something like a duty or mission for her. She didn’t indulge in excess luxuries; she simply tried to fulfill her role as the Saintess. …As an orphan who originally had nothing, she must have been desperate not to let go of the place she had finally gained.”

“I… I think I understand,” Mary said, her eyes welling up with tears. “Saintess candidates are gathered from girls who have nothing and are raised as tools to win over those in power. I was a Saintess candidate myself.”

“Mary…”

“Lord Brad, what can we do for Anne?”

“…Well,” Brad answered seriously to Mary, who asked with an earnest gaze, “It will take time, but first… we need to thoroughly spoil her.”

“Spoil her…?”

“Yes. She is overwhelmingly lacking in the experience of being coddled in her life. Affection that is divorced from duty or position. That is what will heal her.”

Then Souji raised his hand. “Hold on a minute. I think Mary is already doing that, you know? She sleeps beside her every night and allows Anne to call her ‘Big Sister.’ I believe she’s been supporting Anne quite devotedly, hasn’t she?”

“What she is doing is certainly not wrong in itself. However, I wonder if she lacks resolve?”

“Resolve?”

“Doesn’t Saintess Mary have a subtle thought that ‘It might be bad to keep spoiling her forever?’ Conversely, hasn’t the thought sprouted in Saintess Anne’s mind that ‘I shouldn’t keep relying on Big Sister Mary forever?’ If the one giving affection hesitates to give it, and the one receiving it hesitates to accept it, the effect will inevitably be diminished.”

Does that mean the degree of spoiling still isn’t enough?

“So you’re saying we need to spoil her more?” When I asked, Brad nodded.

“Whether you’re spoiling her too much or not is something you can worry about after she gets better. If she wishes for you to sleep next to her, happily do it. If she wants to call Saintess Mary her older sister, why not just genuinely make her a younger sister?”

“Make Anne Mary’s sister? How…?”

“Adoptions are common among the upper class. For Your Majesty, finding a house that would adopt both Saintess Mary and Saintess Anne should be trivial, shouldn’t it? All you need to do is lend your name.”

“Ah, I see what you mean.”

That would be possible. If I, the King, put in a good word, no family would object. Still, it would be better if it were a family connected to Mary. In that case…

“I know. How about the Butchy family? The family of Morse, who was the conductor for the Lunarian Girls’ Choir. Morse is a Walrus beastman, but there shouldn’t be any problem adopting human girls.”

“Lord Morse? He is certainly a kind gentleman with a wonderful baritone voice.”

Mary seemed to have a high opinion of him as well. If Mary and the others wish it, I might ask him after returning to the capital. But that would definitely take time, so we should start with what we can do now. Therefore, I made a suggestion to Mary.

“I’ve been thinking of one way to help heal Anne.”

“And what would that be?”

“Well, watch the grand finale. After all, that’s why I brought Tomoe-chan along.”

When I said that, Tomoe-chan, whose name had been called, blinked her eyes in surprise. Me? Her expression seemed to say. But I was sure she held the key to opening Anne’s heart.

I called it: The Tomoe Doting Wolf Plan.