When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 897 - 848: Jia Li, Where Should You Go?

The weather has entered mid-April; naturally, it is a time when spring is warm and flowers bloom.

Even the female students at Joan of Arc Castle Girls' School have taken off their woolen nun attire and switched to lighter linen nun dresses.

Under such scorching sun, these female students are donning aprons, masks, and sleeve protectors.

They scoop up the milky white potato starch slurry with a sieve, pour it into the sieve, and watch the fine white slurry fall into the boiling cauldron.

Then, they use a wicker strainer to fish out the noodles and hang them on the clothesline to dry.

After the conscription in April, military provisions gradually became urgent, prompting the mass production of these potato starch noodles to serve as rations.

However, the manufacturing of noodles required considerable manpower; thus, the Holy Father Association provided the potato starch and fuel, while the Hundred Households District families divided the labor for production.

The frontline armies and Defensive Army avoided hunger entirely thanks to the frantic production of salted fish, noodles, and bread at the rear.

These female students, even volunteered to help; besides sewing military uniforms, they also took responsibility for making noodles.

However, today, after finishing the first batch, the female students did not start a second batch but instead gathered under the shade of the trees.

They picked flowers to adorn their nun crowns, giggling and waiting for Jia Li to read the newspaper.

Not reading for themselves, preferring to wait for Jia Li to read it to them, naturally for a reason.

Firstly, Jia Li is well-read; being from an aristocratic background, she easily recognized words borrowed from Elvish or Falan language in the newspaper.

Secondly, Jia Li is knowledgeable, understanding many newly coined phrases and concepts by the Holy Path sect that even the abbess couldn't explain.

As the saying goes, a needle placed in a bag will naturally pierce the bag and reveal itself.

For Jia Li, this certainly holds true.

In less than a month, she became a prominent figure among the group of female students.

Apart from Vanessa and Nagami, who could still converse with her equally, the other female students became her followers.

"…The end of the Battle of Redway Manor and the Battle of Tinker's Ford signifies the conclusion of this offensive…"

"… In this battle, our army suffered nearly 800 casualties, while the enemy's casualties are estimated at around ten thousand… Huh?"

"Uh, uh, this should include the Defensive Army, I guess the Leia Army suffered casualties of about three to four thousand."

Coughing once, Jia Li continued to read aloud: "To this, His Holiness the Pope commented that it wasn't a defeat but a strategic response to changes in offense and defense…

In essence, it means we originally had thirty thousand, fighting against thirty thousand could lead to victory.

Now, although the newspaper didn't say it, I suspect the reinforcements exceed sixty thousand, possibly impossible to defeat, so the Saint's Grandson withdrew the troops."

"Just withdrew the troops like that?" Nagami, who was waiting for good news, was momentarily surprised.

Jia Li folded the newspaper: "Otherwise? Didn't it say it wasn't possible to win?

If you can't win, withdraw into the fortress where you can win, why fight with your stomach against someone's fist?"

With a constipated expression, Nagami said: "This feels so cowardly, not manly at all."

"Wars are fought to win, what does masculinity mean against victory? I only recently grasped this truth.

You wonder why Horn never loses a battle; it's because he only fights battles he can win, naturally leading to never losing."

Jia Li said this with her mouth, but her heart felt much heavier.

Only fighting battles one can win, though it sounds simple, is incredibly difficult.

The most basic point is the accurate judgment of enemy intelligence and battlefield situations.

Those who can achieve this are essentially renowned generals of the age.

However, whether Horn achieves this himself or relies on his Secret Staff Monk, remains uncertain.

"You mentioned His Holiness by name again." Vanessa had been listening well originally but suddenly couldn't help reminding.

"I refuse to add 'His Holiness'; he took over my father and grandfather's estates, why should I call him 'His Holiness'?!"

Upon hearing this, the female students exchanged helpless glances.

This Jia Li was good in every aspect, except her family estate seemed to have been taken by the Saint's Grandson after the bloodless winter night, her hand was severed, and her husband was exiled.

A few days ago, they saw a little girl who bore a striking resemblance to Jia Li come to visit her, likely her daughter.

Yet she could continue staying at the girls' school.

The female students had long speculated whether this Jia Li might be related to the Autocratic Duke's family.

However, none had guessed she was from the Autocratic Duke himself.

Though her height and severed hand were reminiscent of Moliat, Grand Duke Moliat was thirty, while Jia Li appeared in her early twenties.

Besides, many tall women had black hair, while Grand Duke Moliat had white hair.

Jia Li put down the newspaper and said in a harsh tone: "I'm going to the bathroom."

Vanessa followed behind, loudly reminding: "Doctrine class, remember to attend it."

No answer was given, leaving them only with a tall figure in a black-and-white nun's dress.

...

The sunset was like fire, dyeing the spire of the monastery's loft gold.

Stepping on the creaking staircase, Vanessa pushed open the wooden door filled with cobwebs.

Sure enough, she found Jia Li sitting by the window.

"Jia Li!" She stormed over, "Why did you skip Doctrine class again!"

Since the previous Battle of Malumpor, this noble lady has become much more restrained, yet she still refuses to attend theology classes.

"I'm not going to those theology classes, what they teach is all that pious stuff, 'The Saint's Grandson throwing a spear to kill Prince Kongdai's horse from a hundred miles away,' 'The Saint's Grandson winning fifty victories in one day'..." Jia Li disdainfully took a sip from the silver pot.

Kusvania's nose twitched, and she was immediately shocked: "You're actually drinking alcohol?"

"So what?" Jia Li took another sip right in front of her.

Kusvania was momentarily flustered, not knowing what to say.

After holding back for a long time, she just carefully sat at the edge of the window sill, watching Jia Li drink in small sips under the sunset.

"I've never understood why."

"What do you mean why?"

"You see, you know the teachings of the Holy Path so well, and you're even clearer about the deeds of the Saint's Grandson. You should know how great the Saint's Grandson is, right?"

Jia Li chuckled, that swindler dancing in Gulag, the one always thinking of escape, that half-baked theologian?

Kusvania whispered, "You must really love your husband; otherwise, you wouldn't hate the Saint's Grandson so much..."

"When did I have a husband?" Root wine dripped from Jia Li's mouth, and she quickly wiped it with her sleeve.

But Kusvania smiled cunningly like a little fox that had stolen some chicken: "Everything you wear and use is the best, but I saw the hair ribbon you use to tie your hair last time; it was the simplest one. Didn't your husband give it to you?"

Jia Li reached into the nun's cap and felt around, only to discover that it was the one she had snatched from Jeanne back in Gulag.

She then shook her head, "Yes, but my husband hasn't been exiled, he... he's working as a high official in the Holy Alliance."

Kusvania was initially stunned, then clapped her hands: "That makes sense."

"Makes sense of what?"

Kusvania stuck out her tongue but didn't say anything more.

Now, isn't it all clear?

Jia Li, born into the Hemashi Clan, married the new nobility, but during that bloodless winter night, that new noble betrayed Jia Li.

So on one hand, her family's legacy was taken away, on the other hand, she herself didn't suffer and instead ended up attending the girls' school.

"What kind of person is your husband?"

"Slick-tongued, thick-skinned, cowardly, but extremely decisive and ruthless."

"What do you like about him?"

Jia Li fell silent.

That day, after the great flood broke out, she was unintentionally swept in.

Rather than being muddled by Holy Water, it was more accurate to say she was made to lose her memory.

She even forgot that she was Moliat, which is why she became Jia Li when she met Horn.

The Jia Li at that time was a Jia Li who had just lost her father, not the Moliat who strived for her father's last wishes.

And Horn, coincidentally, filled that void.

When she needed a father the most, that cowardly yet extraordinarily kind person became her "Papa."

She originally thought that after Moliat recovered, she could forget.

But as facts proved, Horn increasingly resembled her father.

The same perseverance, the same calmness, the same devotion of almost all his personal time to the Thousand River Valley.

If it were someone else, using the bloodless night to get rid of Jia Li, she would only admit defeat and give a thumbs-up, then think about making a comeback.

Only when it was Horn, when her Papa did such a thing, would she become so broken.

"Did he remarry after you left?"

"...No."

"Did he get engaged or affiliate with anyone from the Saint's Grandson's side?"

"...No."

"You and he have continued corresponding, right? Otherwise, how would you know things not even in the newspapers?"

Jia Li fell silent.

Kusvania shifted her position, moving closer to Jia Li:"I suspect he is a true believer of the Holy Path; he accepted you but couldn't accept you being a noble.

I used to be a noble, you know? As the daughter of nobility, everything feels hollow.

Our task is to decorate the family name and marry off for family alliances.

But after the Saint's Grandson, I can learn; I can go where only men used to go, and I can choose whom I like.

My dream now is to pass the entrance exam of the Holy Machinery Court; I want to be the first female college student of Holy Machinery Court University.

So I'm very grateful to the Saint's Grandson.

He allowed me to be myself, not just a noble, not a vase, not a tool for marriage in my father's eyes.

Maybe your husband hopes for you to revert from a noble to a human.

You've always been clinging to your father's legacy, but what is your dream?"

Dream?

For the first time, Jia Li's face showed bewilderment.