A strange pale nun that Noelle can't remember much about, but they've met before, has come to Noelle looking to teach her a very important lesson. How to say No.
AN: No beta we die like hilichurls
It was best to nip problems right in the bud. It was best to get rid of potential issues before they even became issues.
At least, as Rosaria eyed the maid that was currently in charge of switching out the church's benches.
Grace tapped a finger on her shoulder from beside her as she leaned on an open door leading to the church hall. "Any more and you'll drill a hole in her head with that stare, Sister Rosaria." she stared at the pale sister oddly.
"Hush, Grace, I'm concentrating." She replied.
"Whatever you say." she shrugged and walked away from her. "Just remember to accomplish your chores today."
"I will." She wouldn't.
"Great, I'll tell Sister Gotelinde about it."
Rosaria's eyes widened.
Sister Rosaria was known to many as a cold, strange, person, maybe even uncaring at times. Though for a nun, she guessed it was only natural. The initial concept of a nun for most people would probably be Grace.
No, it wasn't Barbara. Why would it be Barbara? In her opinion, Grace was the ideal sister that everyone thought of. Barbara was the deaconess. The Idol of the Church.
Although Grace often chastised her, Rosaria couldn't help but be respectful of her. She was doing a foolish job for foolish reasons, but she was doing it well. That deserved at least some respect.
Gotelinde on the other hand…
She shivered.
That smile, coupled with that sweet, sugary tone of her voice often led people to believe her to be a kind, gentle, and warm person. Someone to come to when you need anything, someone you can confess your sins to without fear of judgment.
Wrong. Dead wrong.
If people knew what she was before she became a nun, they would have their eyes opened to the truth. They would see her true colors.
She could still feel that smile of hers. Taunting her. Daring her.
She shook her head to get rid of the image. Happy thoughts now.
Anyway, what was she here for again? Oh, right, Noelle.
Noelle was someone she took a liking to quite quickly. She was told that her attitude when she had first met her was influenced by a Caffeine crash. Yet, she was also told that the only different thing was her personality and her work ethic.
That too, she supposed, was admirable. Though Noelle seemed to be the type to accept overtime without pay. She was told that Noelle was also so kind to accept any task given to her without anything in return.
'Everyone has stories to tell, and lessons to part with. Perhaps you could give her some when you see her and you have the time?'
The voice echoed in her head. She sighed.
She liked Noelle's straightforwardness She was stubborn to a fault too. Her personality during that crash was a facet of her hidden beneath her kind, ever-benevolent self. A side of her she would never show to others, but it existed.
As she said before, it was best to nip problems in the bud. She rather liked Noelle too.
'Kindness is a good thing. The world needs kindness. But…'
Her thoughts trailed off as she saw the maid nod to herself in satisfaction. She walked out of the church with a skip to her step and a smile on her face.
Rosaria followed right after.
"Oh, Sister Rosaria, right?" the maid bowed in front of her. "I'm Noelle. A maid of the Knights of Favonius. What can I do for you?"
So bright. "Hi, Noelle. Just call me Rosaria. No need for the sister stuff."
Noelle tilted her head in confusion before she nodded to herself and smiled. "Okay!"
Too bright.
"Great."
"Now, let's do this again shall we." she cleared her throat, stood straight, then did a perfect bow. "Good afternoon, Sister Rosaria. I'm Noelle. A maid of the Knights of Favonius. What can I do for you?"
"Well, there's nothing really. Just a little-"
"Oh, hey, Noelle! Mind if you take over for me over in the hall? Just a small pot that needs replacing."
"Sure."
"Thank you!"
Rosaria blankly stared at the person that had just come and gone. She already forgot what they looked like.
"Anyway, as I was saying-"
"Oh, here you are Noelle. I've been looking for you. Can you wipe down the table over in the lounge really quickly? I think I missed a spot."
"Not a problem."
"Thanks, Noelle! You're the best."
Rosaria's eyebrow twitched. This was getting annoying. She was getting annoyed at Noelle too.
But not for the reason that Rosaria was mostly annoyed by.
One more time. One more interruption. She dared the universe to give it to her. To give her one reason.
Looking back, Noelle was still looking at her expectantly.
"You're still here?"
Noelle nodded. "It's not often that you send for me. Not to mention this may as well be our very first conversation with one another. You must need me."
"Don't you have things to do now?'
"I do."
"...Let me ask again, why are you still here?"
Noelle tilted her head in confusion. "Because Miss Rosaria needs me? I'm afraid I do not understand the question."
Rosaria sighed. So this is what she meant when she said talking to Noelle would take some getting used to.
"Alright. So, what I from you is-"
"Noelle! Just the person I wanted to see. Can you-"
"Shut it." Rosaria all but hissed. "Whatever you're asking Noelle to do, drop it, because she's not going to do it."
The maggot dared to talk back. "B-But."
"No."
The little insect scurried back to wherever they came from. Good riddance.
She looked back at the maid to see a very confused gaze.
"That wasn't very polite, Miss Rosaria. Whatever did you do that for?"
She blankly stared at the maid, before she sighed.
"We have a lot to talk about."
"How to say no? Of course, I know how to!" Noelle pouted as she sat on a bench beneath the shade of a tree near the Church.
"Cute. But somehow I don't believe you." Rosaria leaned against said tree. "Let me ask you a question, Noelle."
The maid raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Alright. What is it?"
"Do you have anything else to do after this?" Rosaria gave the maid her full attention.
"I do, yes."
Rosaria wasn't surprised. The maid had a reputation for always being busy, yet always being available.
"No surprise there. Now, how many of those were given by Master Jean?"
"Around… three. Four if we include the optional one that Master Jean had given me."
Rosaria nodded. "And how many do you have in actuality?"
"Sixteen until this evening." Noelle smiled with pride.
How cute.
"Now." Rosaria pushed off of the tree and walked close to Noelle. "If I were to give you one more task, what would you say?"
Noelle's eyes lit up in an instant. "Of course. You can leave anything to me-"
"Failed." Rosaria sighed.
Noelle's eyes widened.
What?
"I'm… I'm sorry, what?"
"You failed." Rosaria regarded her with a blank stare. "You were supposed to decline the proposition."
"But I would-"
"You were supposed to say no." Rosaria sighed. "See, Noelle? You can't say no."
"I can!"
"Prove it. Say no to me, right now."
Rosaria was rather liking this. A sadistic part of her mind enjoyed toying with people to some degree, but it was different with Noelle. She resisted the urge to crack a smile.
Now, she never said she was a nice person, did she?
Noelle was getting snappy too. Wonderful. So she did have some form of anger hidden beneath that kind personality of hers.
"Fine, I will." Noelle took a deep breath as she sat straight on the bench, glaring at Rosaria.
Well, she tried to. It came out as a pout instead.
"Miss Rosaria. To your proposition, I am afraid I am going to have to say…"
The sister already knew what was going to happen. She closed her eyes and leaned in. "Go on? I'm listening."
"N…. N…. N–"
"N…? What is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm trying my best to say n… that word."
Rosaria thought her attempts were cute. But she didn't want to waste even more time. Even if it would be absolutely adorable.
"See? You can't say no. You're too nice, Noelle." Rosaria shrugged.
"I simply do what is asked of me, and I do it well." Noelle pouted.
"And normally, that wouldn't be a bad thing. You'd be the perfect knight or maid." Noelle brightened up. "But just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should."
"What… what do you mean?"
Rosaria sighed. "Think about it. You're doing almost everyone's work every day. Everyone is giving you what they need to do for the day while they go off somewhere and laze about." she regarded the maid with a stern gaze. "Do you see the long-term repercussions of these actions? Do you see what I see, or do I need to make you see it?"
Noelle pursed her lips. "I don't think I'm doing anything bad."
And now she was acting like a hurt puppy. Great. Rosaria couldn't help but sit on the bench herself and put a hand on Noelle's head. It didn't help that Noelle nuzzled in the physical affection, with her head as scrambled as Rosaria was making it.
"You're partially responsible. After all, a transaction has to have two parties." Rosaria told her. "By accepting everyone's requests all the time, you've made them think it's okay to do this. That this will be all they'll do for all their lives. And when the time comes that they have something to do, and you're not there, they'll be lost. You know what happens then, Noelle?"
Noelle slowly nodded. "It'll cause some effect on the Knights of Favonius as a whole. If one knight doesn't manage to live up to code, and word spreads, it might reach Master Jean. And if it does…" her eyes widened. "It's a cause of termination."
"Correct. Complacency isn't progress. If anything, it can be a cause for stagnation and even regression." Rosaria ruffled her head as the Maid simply stared at the ground in front of her with a conflicted expression.
It seemed she was successful at one part. Making Noelle see that there was a problem. Once that step was done, Noelle would take as many steps as necessary to fix it. That was just who Noelle was.
Though Rosaria did want to bring CoffeeCrash!Noelle into the maid's default personality. Not like she'd tell anyone that.
"Teach me."
Rosaria snapped out of her musing to find the maid staring at her with a determined gaze.
"Hmm?"
"Teach me how to say no." Noelle asked. "You're right. I am partially responsible for the long-term outcome of my actions. And if declining rather than complying will be more beneficial to the knights, then I want to do it."
"Are you sure? And by me, nonetheless?" Rosaria smirked. "I'd have thought some of the knights taught you not to be swayed by suspicious-looking nuns."
"They did. But Sister Gotelinde told me about you."
Rosaria almost choked on air. "She what?" her eyes widened. "What did she say?"
"That you were a strange person. Almost going out of her way to stay inconspicuous yet at the same time drawing attention to herself nonetheless," she said. "Oh, and also that you had a sadistic streak. And she said you were also scared of the sun."
"That bitch."
"Swear word!"
"I'm not scared of the sun! My complexion is fine as it is. I just have trouble waking up in the-" she immediately caught herself on that tangent. She tried to regain some of her earlier grace and cleared her throat. "Anyway, you wanna learn how to say no?"
Noelle dutifully followed the sudden rebound back to the earlier conversation.
"Yes. I do."
"Then come on." Rosaria stood up, and Noelle followed right allow. "We have a lot of work to do."
The maid nodded.
"Right!"
AN: And so starts a new, albeit will probably be a short new subject for future chapters to get into. I've found that this does well for my schedule, with multiple chapters about a certain topic. Rather than doing my best to cram something into a single chapter, I can spread it over multiple ones, giving me the time that I need.
Though I will eventually post an interlude during midterm week.
Expect next week's chapter to be just this short. Daddy is coming, Sumeru. I will 100% you faster than I can type a single chapter of this story.
