"What are you saying?" Celitia blinked her eyes. "I don't understand what you mean."

Bren felt his legs going weak, panting heavily, barely supporting his body weight against the wall with his hands to avoid collapsing.

The girl's mischievous smile appeared demonic to him.

"You little—"

Before Bren could give Celitia trouble, a voice suddenly came from the doorway:

"What are you doing?"

The voice was somewhat androgynous, with a low register and very distinctive. Celitia immediately recognized who it was.

It was actually Ariel who had come.

Celitia tilted her head and weakly raised her hand toward Ariel: "Saintess..."

Seeing Celitia cornered against the wall by Bren, Ariel froze, and blazing anger immediately flared in her golden eyes.

Ariel knew exactly what kind of character these nobles had.

Especially certain minor nobles from other places who were used to throwing their weight around locally and still thought they were big shots when they came to Cassia.

"You are...?"

With his stomach aching so much that he was dizzy, Bren squinted his blurry eyes and barely made out the woman rapidly approaching him.

Crimson short hair, golden-brown eyes, a figure even taller than his, and that terrifying oppressive aura emanating from her entire being.

Even without knowing her, Bren could guess her identity.

The name of Saintess Ariel was known throughout the entire country.

Matching her reputation was her straightforward, fiery temperament and hatred of evil...

Bren was so frightened he forgot about his stomach pain, immediately straightening up and trying to explain to Ariel:

"Wait, wait, Saintess, I—"

Ariel didn't listen to Bren's excuses at all. She grabbed his collar and forcibly dragged him away from Celitia.

Bren frantically waved his hands: "Saintess, listen to my explanation—this woman schemed against me!"

"Oh, you still dare to make excuses?"

Hearing his words, Ariel's golden eyes blazed with fury. "Are you also going to say it's all her fault?"

"This—"

Before Bren could finish, Ariel had already raised her fist and aimed it at his face, delivering a powerful punch.

Bren's nose was completely flattened by the blow, and his entire body flew out following the force, his body forming a parabola as he crashed from inside the door to outside, hitting the opposite wall.

The observing Aiden and Sister Grela, who had just emerged from the tea room, all opened their mouths wide in shock.

"Wow..."

Celitia let out an exclamation, breaking the silence in the room.

Truly worthy of Ariel—she punched without hesitation.

Bren lay on his back on the ground, not having time to cover his nose before clutching his stomach, struggling to get up from the floor.

"Huh?"

Ariel looked puzzled, glancing at her own fist and then at Bren.

That's right, she had punched his face.

How was it that Bren had been punched in the face but was clutching his stomach, looking so agonized?

Ariel couldn't help but turn around and look confusedly at the girl she was protecting behind her.

Sure enough, on Celitia's lips, Ariel saw a sly smile.

Aiden hurried to Bren's side and helped him up from the ground.

Bren's face was covered in blood, clutching his stomach, trembling all over, grabbing Aiden and saying: "Quick... quick..."

Aiden thought Bren still wanted to seek justice from Ariel and quickly advised him quietly:

"Enough, enough, that's Lady Ariel—who can afford to provoke her? Just swallow this loss obediently!"

While speaking, Aiden showed Ariel a terrified smile from afar.

Bren grabbed his hand, veins nearly bulging: "I mean... quickly take me to the washroom! I can't hold it in anymore!!"

"What?! You'd better hold it in!!"

Aiden's face turned green, afraid that Bren would have diarrhea right there in front of him. He quickly hoisted Bren up and, not even having time to bid farewell to Ariel, rushed toward the depths of the corridor.

"Pfft."

Watching the two hurriedly departing figures, Celitia couldn't help but laugh.

A sound escaped from her throat, and she quickly covered her mouth, blinking at Ariel with an innocent expression.

"You did something to him, didn't you?" Ariel said, her tone not questioning but stating with certainty.

It seemed that before she had intervened, Celitia had already dealt with Bren.

Even if she hadn't happened to pass by, the one who would have ended up in trouble would only have been Bren.

Ariel once again revised her impression of Celitia.

So she appeared fragile on the surface but was actually quite strong at heart—definitely not someone who would take a loss lying down.

In this respect, she might be somewhat similar to herself.

"Maybe he just ate something bad and got diarrhea," Celitia shrugged innocently, refusing to admit anything. "But speaking of which, he was a noble after all. Won't the Saintess have trouble for openly hitting him in a place like the church?"

Ariel snorted coldly: "How can such a sacred place as the church tolerate his insolence? I believe the goddess will forgive my rudeness."

Thinking that Celitia might be worried about getting entangled in trouble, Ariel glanced at her and softened her voice slightly.

"You don't need to worry either. If he still wants to spread nonsense, I can give him another punch to make him shut up again."

Truly worthy of Ariel.

Never mind a minor baron—even if she punched a duke, the other party probably wouldn't dare say anything.

Celitia thought to herself silently.

But she didn't forget to smile on her face: "Then I thank the Saintess."

Ariel looked around and only saw Sister Grela standing there in a daze holding a teapot.

"Didn't Sophia come today?" Ariel asked.

Seeing her suddenly mention Sophia, Celitia's smile inevitably dimmed a few degrees.

"Sophia has been a bit busy recently and has already gone to the palace. These are just trivial matters on my end—it's normal that she can't attend to everything."

For some reason, from Celitia's words, Ariel vaguely detected a somewhat sour tone.

"It's because Sophia is preparing for the upcoming birthday ball," Ariel said. "Indeed, Mother has always disliked extravagance, but this time she's holding such a grand ball."

Marianne had always been frugal and disliked waste, so her sudden decision to hold such a lavish event surprised many people.

However, Ariel thought this was normal—in fact, they should have done this long ago.

"It should be just like the rumors say—Mother is starting to consider Sophia's engagement."

Seeing Ariel also bring up this matter, Celitia's eyes dimmed further, becoming misty.

"Are you here to find me? Then let's go. The Saintess is always busy—we can't delay your time because of me."

Ariel was startled, feeling that as soon as she had spoken those words, the girl's mood had immediately worsened.