“Helen!” Corvina tried to rush forward, but she stumbled, and she would have fallen if she hadn’t reached out to Anne to steady herself and if Anne hadn’t reached out to catch her.

“Shit,” said Corvina, so quietly that Anne could barely hear it, despite their closeness. Corvina had an arm around Anne’s shoulders, and Anne had her arms around Corvina’s waist. Anne could feel her trembling. The wound on her chest was still bleeding.

“My lady!” Helen dragged herself up from the ground and rushed forward, pulling out a handkerchief to try to stop the bleeding. But the wound, which stretched from her clavicle near her left shoulder, down and across to halfway down her right breast, was too long to be covered by a single handkerchief.

Corvina grabbed Helen’s wrist, stopping her frantic dabbing at the wound. “Don’t worry, it’s a shallow cut. I’m not in any danger.”

“But what if it leaves a scar?” said Helen, her handkerchief full of blood and her eyes full of tears.

Corvina smiled wanly. “It doesn’t matter. I’m already infamous in high society. A scar can’t make my reputation any worse.”

“But my lady!” said Helen. “You’ve always worked so hard to maintain your appearance…”

“Helen!” snapped Corvina. “Just go and fetch a physician, please?”

“Oh, of course, my lady!” said Helen, bobbing up and down in a flurry of curtsies. “Right away, my lady!”

Anne was barely paying attention to this exchange because she was horribly distracted by the fact that she was currently holding Corvina in her arms.

Anne hadn’t truly noticed before just how slender Corvina was. Her arms and waist were incredibly thin, even with the lean muscle she’d gained from regular training. It was the fashion for noblewomen of the empire to be skinny, so Anne couldn’t help but wonder if Corvina had made it a point to maintain her figure. She wasn’t doing anything dangerous to keep herself skinny, was she? Was she eating properly? Was she getting enough energy to make it through the day?

I don’t want to judge her if she’s just naturally skinny but what if she’s secretly been starving herself? thought Anne, in a sudden panic. Does all the smoking reduce her appetite? Oh shit, I never found out if lung cancer exists in this world or not. God, what does any of that matter right now, she’s bleeding, you idiot!

“You stinking piece of excrement on the Goddess’s heel!” shouted Eva, breaking Anne out of her reverie. She was advancing across the garden with a fury, her usually serene face contorted into an intense rage that took Anne by surprise. What she’d seen of Eva’s anger so far was intense and judgmental, but detached. Restrained. This was pure, unbridled wrath. It was kind of scary.

“You useless rot-worm!” continued Eva. “You Goddess-forsaken daughter of a whore!” Eva reached out and grabbed the collar of Corvina’s dress. “You promised you would keep her safe!”

“I did, didn’t I?” said Corvina. Anne could still feel her shaking, but her voice was clear and authoritative. “Or did you not notice that I’m the one who’s injured and not her?”

“And how much longer would you have lasted in a fight with that injury?” growled Eva. “If he had chosen to stay and fight, The Unseen Rain would have finished you in an instant, and then there would have been nothing standing between him and Anne!”

“The Unseen Rain?” Corvina’s eyes widened in recognition of the name. “Is that who that was?”

“Probably,” said Anne. “They did tell me to call them Rain.”

“Then we know for certain that the person who sent the assassin after you wasn’t the Emperor or the Bishop, it was the Duke,” said Corvina. “I know that he—“

“Are you listening to me?!” shouted Eva, yanking on Corvina’s collar again. “Your recklessness put Anne in danger!”

Corvina looked at Eva with a look of disdain that sent shivers down Anne’s spine.

“And how exactly do you think you would have done a better job of protecting her?” asked Corvina. “Anne already pointed this out earlier, but you carry no weapons. You have no way of even trying to fight off an assassin.“ Corvina leaned down slightly to bring her face closer to Eva’s. “Unless you have some sort of… special ability you want to tell us about. Something that would allow you to fight unarmed?”

Eva was visibly shaking with rage, but she didn’t respond.

Anne’s brow knitted in confusion. What did Corvina mean by that? And why did Eva seem to understand what she meant by that? Is Eva secretly a, like, martial arts master or something?

Before Eva could respond, Helen came rushing back down the lawn. Rushing along with her was, not only a physician, but seemingly half the household. The entire Tulin family, several guards, the butler, and at least three additional maids all advanced down the lawn like an invading army.

“Oh my Goddess, what happened here?” asked Marquess Ormen Tulin, his bright pink eyebrows knitted in concern. Anne recognized him since she'd briefly met him and his wife when she’d first arrived at the estate.

Anne started to explain while helping Corvina over to a bench where she could sit down. While the doctor attended to Corvina’s wounds, Anne sat next to her, holding her hand, continuing to explain the events of that evening to a rapt audience.

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“That’s odd,” said Justine, who as Anne understood it, should’ve been the Marchioness, except that she and Ormen weren’t legally allowed to marry. “It seems to me like this assassin, who’s apparently so famous for his effectiveness and efficiency that the ‘unseen’ is his official title, has had multiple opportunities at this point to kill you. But instead he allowed you to see his face and just… ran away as soon as he was threatened? More than once? I hope you’ll forgive me for being direct, but why hasn’t he just killed you yet?”

Ormen gasped. “Darling! You couldn’t put it a little more delicately than that?”

Anne shook her head. “No, that’s okay, I don’t mind. And I don’t know, it seems like they kind of just wanted to… talk to me?”

“Talk to you?” asked Justine, raising an eyebrow. “About what?”

“Was she trying to get you to reveal our plans?” asked Corvina, wincing as the doctor applied a poultice to her chest.

Anne shook her head. “No, nothing like that, they just wanted to talk about… personal stuff,” said Anne. She couldn’t reveal what the conversations had actually been about without revealing her secret. And she was really trying not to think too much about the fact that she’d just told an assassin her true identity.

This unbelievable statement sent a wave of confused muttering throughout the crowd.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Justine. “What does that mean, personal stuff?”

Anne shrugged. “I don’t know, like… gender?”

Everyone stared at Anne like they were expecting her to offer more specifics, but she didn’t.

“What?” said Justine, looking completely baffled.

“Look, I’m confused by it, too!” said Anne. “I don’t really get what they wanted from me.”

“I suppose the scoundrel might have just been toying with you before he killed you…” said Ormen. “If he’s overconfident in his abilities he might not care that much about killing you right away.”

“Sure, maybe,” said Anne.

Eva sighed. “Look, it’s late. We should go back to the church and get some sleep and discuss this another time.”

“What? No!” said Anne, squeezing Corvina’s hand more tightly. “I want to stay here tonight. Corvina got hurt protecting me, I can’t just leave her alone!”

The doctor had just finished bandaging Corvina’s wound. Corvina smiled at Anne, but her smile looked tired. “I’m okay, you don’t have to stay with me.”

“But I want to!” said Anne.

“No way, it’s too dangerous!” shouted Eva.

“How is it more dangerous here than at the church?” asked Anne. “There’s literally an army barracks on the grounds here. Who’s going to protect me at the church?”

“The Goddess will protect you!” said Eva.

Anne scoffed. “And what, the Goddess can’t protect me if I’m not at the church? I didn’t know the Goddess was so weak.”

Eva was visibly shaking with anger at this point. But before she could come up with another retort, Marquess Ormen stepped in.

“Excuse me, I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t believe we could actually allow the Saintess to stay in our home at this time,” he said. “I do apologize, but I think it would be for the best if you returned to the church.”

“What?” said Anne. “Why? It’s a really big mansion, shouldn’t you have room for me?”

“That’s not the issue,” said Ormen, with an apologetic smile. “The issue, I hope you understand, is that you are currently being targeted by an assassin who is still at large and my family lives here.”

“Oh…” said Anne, suddenly deflated. “Right. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I’m so sorry. Of course I don’t want to put your family in danger. I’ll just… go back to the church then, I guess.”

Justine put a supportive hand on her husband’s shoulder. “I do hope you won’t see us as ungenerous or inhospitable,” she said. “If it was only the two of us, we might feel differently. But we have a young daughter here, and her safety has to come first. We can’t expose her to another incident like this.”

“No, yeah, I get it,” said Anne. “Totally. Of course.”

Justine and Ormen shared a glance.

“Perhaps you could spare some of your soldiers, dear,” suggested Justine. “Send them to the church to act as temporary guards.”

Ormen clapped his hands together once in excitement. “Oh, that’s a brilliant idea!”

“That’s very generous of you to offer, thank you,” said Eva. “I would be happy to discuss with you how many guards should be sent and what their patrol routes should be.” Her expression quickly returned to serene calm as she walked a few feet away to discuss specifics with the Tulins. Now that things were going her way she had no more reason to be angry, Anne supposed.

Anne looked at Corvina with worried eyes. “Will you really be okay?”

Corvina smiled back, her smile a bit more genuine this time. “I’ll really be okay. I have Helen with me, and the Tulins have been treating me well so far.”

“Okay…” said Anne.

“Um…” said Corvina. She looked down at her lap, a slight blush showing on her cheeks. “Anne, I…”

“Excuse me!” Liza, the Tulins’ young daughter, was tapping on Anne’s knee.

“Yes, what is it?” asked Anne, leaning down to talk to her better.

“Did the assassin use magic?” Her eyes were sparkling with an eagerness to learn.

“Oh, uh… maybe?” said Anne. “They performed some pretty incredible physical feats, but they could also just be really well trained. They also claimed that they can see… auras? Around people’s bodies and souls?”

“Auras?” said Liza. She pulled out a journal and began scribbling something down. “Around bodies and souls? Separately?”

“Um… yes,” said Anne, suddenly worried she might have said too much.

“Fascinating!” Liza ran off, perhaps to go find any reference to auras in her books.

Anne turned back to Corvina. “Was there something you were going to say?”

“Yes,” said Corvina, nervously. “I just wanted to say—“

“Anne, we have to go now!” called Eva from across the garden. “Marquess Tulin is going to lend us a carriage!”

“Okay, just give me a minute!” shouted Anne, before turning her attention back to Corvina.

Corvina sighed. “Clearly, it’s not the right timing. Just go.”

“Really? Are you sure?” said Anne.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” said Corvina. She squeezed Anne’s hand once before letting go. “Helen, help me into the mansion, please.”

“Of course, my lady!” said Helen, rushing forward to offer Corvina her shoulder as support.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Anne,” said Corvina. “Once we’ve both had a good night’s rest I’m sure we’ll be able to find a way to persuade the stubborn elf prince to help us with our plan.”

Anne beamed up at Corvina. “Definitely! There’s nothing we can’t do if we put our heads together!”

----------------------------------------

Towards the edge of the estate grounds, where imperial soldiers were still running around looking for any sign of the assassin, The Unseen Rain sat high up in a tree, unseen.

Rain was highly skilled at going unnoticed, so it didn’t bother them much when soldiers passed directly under the tree once or twice. Even with the extra challenge of having to maintain stealth while balancing in a tree and attempting to dress their own leg wound, they were confident that they wouldn’t be found if they didn’t want to be found.

It was a skill they’d developed at a young age, one that had kept them alive.

When they finished bandaging their leg, they settled down on a branch to sleep for the night. Moving now would draw too much attention. Better to wait for the fuss to die down and slip away in the morning.

My soul came here from another world, the Saintess had said. No, not the Saintess. The fake Saintess. The impostor.

Rain smiled. They hadn’t come across anything this interesting in a long time.